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Description
The digital transformation of lexicography has fundamentally changed lexicographic resources available for language learning and teaching. However, their integration into German language teaching – both as a first language (GL1) and as a foreign language (GFL) – remains limited. This paper investigates how the digital transformation of lexicography is reflected in contemporary German language textbooks through a qualitative and quantitative analysis (GFL: 2011–2024; GL1: 2003–2021). Drawing on a comparative textbook corpus, the study combines quantitative frequency analysis with qualitative content analysis of textbook tasks and their didactic functions. The findings show that lexicographic resources are underrepresented, predominantly conceptualised in traditional (print-based) ways, and rarely embedded in meaningful communicative or strategy-oriented tasks. Online lexicographic information systems, hybrid resources, and AI-supported language tools are almost entirely absent from the analysed textbooks. Furthermore, the development of lexicographic competence and media literacy is largely neglected. The paper argues that textbooks do not adequately reflect the digital transformation of lexicography and calls for a reconceptualisation of dictionary didactics that systematically integrates contemporary lexicographic information systems while also preparing learners to use AI-supported language tools critically and appropriately. In doing so, it contributes to current discussions on the digital transformation of lexicography and its implications for language education.