SFT11809 German Literature, Culture and Oral Communication (Spring 2022)

The course is connected to the following study programs

Mandatory course in the one-year German programme (full time and part time). Obligatory course in the 60 ECTS part of the Bachelor's Programme in Languages for students with German as one of their chosen languages.

Recommended requirements

The course builds on SFT11608 German Literature and Culture.

Lecture Semester

German One-Year Programme - Full time: 2nd semester (spring), part time: 4th semester (spring). Bachelor's Programme in Languages: 2nd or 4th semester (spring).

The student's learning outcomes after completing the course

Knowledge

Literature:

The student

• is acquainted with central literary tendencies and authors from the German area in the period from Sturm und Drang (approx. 1775) to 1945, and she/he knows about important literary epochs and different methodological approaches to literary analysis and interpretation.

Culture:

The student

• knows some main features of the history, social life and culture in this period.

Oral communication:

The student

• knows how to prepare and give short presentations in German and how to converse about history, social life and culture.

• is familiar with the use of ICT for presentations and teaching.

Skills

Literature:

The student has

• enhanced skills in analysing, interpreting and teaching literary texts using the terminology of literary science and reading the texts from a culture-historical perspective.

• improved his/her linguistic and intercultural skills in order to achieve good communicative competence in writing as well as orally.

Culture:

The student 

• has improved his/her skills in presenting and explaining a topic from a historical perspective.

Oral communication:

The student

• has enhanced skills in presenting and talking about a topic from the syllabus.

General competence

The student has

• acquired knowledge of literature and culture in a historical perspective.

• further developed his/her ability to read, discuss and analyse literary texts by using various methodological approaches.

Content

The course comprises both literature and culture in the period from Sturm und Drang (approx.1775) to 1945.

Literature: The course introduces German literature written between Sturm und Drang (approx.1775)  and 1945, including literature for children and adolescents.

Culture: Focus is on the period from Sturm und Drang (approx. 1775)  until 1945. Literature and culture are coordinated and the literary texts are described in their historical context. In addition, an introduction is given to German history in the same period.

Oral communication: With the reading in literature and culture as a basis the students are asked to present and discuss relevant topics in their group.

Forms of teaching and learning

Instruction is given in seminars and as webbased teaching. All course material is distributed digitally. Student-active learning is in focus, and both library and ICT resources are utilised. Each student is required to keep their webcamera and microphone turned on when participating in online classes.

Workload

Approx. 280 hours.

Coursework requirements - conditions for taking the exam

There are mandatory requirements related to the literary texts:

Two individual assignments, not very extensive. Each assignment consists of 3500 to 4000 signs including spaces, footnotes and reading list. Illustrations are not included.

The mandatory requirements have to be accepted before being allowed to take the exam.

Examination

Individual written home assignment (counting 50 %) and oral examination (counting 50 %)

Part 1: Individual written home assignment, literature:

An individually written home assignment, fairly extensive: The assignment consists of 8000 to 8500 signs including spaces, footnotes and reading list. Illustrations are not included. The assignment is to be in the form of a text document with 1 ½ line spacing, and with correct use of references and notes. The course instructor gives detailed information about the assignment. Assessment takes into account text comprehension, level of independence, level of knowledge, and ability to formulate.

Part 2: Oral examination (culture, literature and oral communication)

The oral exam lasts 25-30 minutes and consists of two parts: a presentation and an examination. The candidates first give a presentation of approx. 10 minutes on a self-chosen topic (approved by the instructor). The topic must be related to the period the course deals with. The topic of the presentation can not be identical to the topic of the written assignment. The candidates' ability to present a topic in an independent manner is tested. Other assessment criteria are content, presentation technique and correct language use. After the presentation the candidates are examined in their course reading of culture and literature (approx. 15-20 minutes).

As a rule the oral examination is performed webbased via the learning platform. It is also possible to have the oral examination on campus.

Each of the parts (the written part and the oral part) counts 50 percent towards the final mark. Both parts must be passed.

The grading scale A-F is used.

Examiners

One external and one internal examiner or two internal examiners.

Conditions for resit/rescheduled exams

If candidates do not pass one of the partial exams, or if they wish to improve the result of a partial exam, only that exam has to be retaken.

Course evaluation

Feedback from our students is vital in order for us to be able to offer the best possible courses and study programmes. The course is evaluated every semester.

The results are considered by/in teacher groups, the head of studies and the local programme committee.

Literature

The reading list was updated 15.06.2020. If changes to the reading list are made, the course description will be updated before the beginning of the semester. BRECHT, Bertolt: Fragen eines lesenden Arbeiters (K).

DROSTE-HÜLSHOFF, Annette von: Am Turme (K).

EICHENDORFF, Joseph von:, Sehnsucht (K), Der frohe Wandersmann (K).

GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang: Willkommen und Abschied (K), Erlkönig (K), Ein Gleiches (K)

GRIMM, Jacob og Wilhelm: Students choose two fairytales from Kinder- und Hausmärchen (the online version in Projekt Gutenberg-DEmay be used)

HAUPTMANN, Gerhart: Bahnwärter Thiel. Novellistische Studie aus dem märkischen Kiefernforst (Reclam UB 19363. The online version in Projekt Gutenberg-DE may be used.)

HEINE, Heinrich: Die schlesischen Weber (K), Loreley (K).

HOFFMANN, Heinrich: Der Struwwelpeter (Reclam UB Nr. 18569).

KAFKA, Franz: Die Verwandlung (Fischer Klassik, ISBN13 9783596900206. The online version in Projekt Gutenberg-DE may also be used) og CORBEYRAN, Erik, HORNE, Richard: Die Verwandlung nach Franz Kafka (Knesebeck 2010)

KALEKO, Mascha: Für Einen (K), Julinacht an der Gedächtniskirche (K), Großstadtliebe (K)

KEUN, Irmgard: Kind aller Länder (KiWi 2016)

SCHNITZLER, Arthur: Traumnovelle (Fischer, ISBN 978-3-596-90088-6. The online version in Projekt Gutenberg-DE may also be used)

VESTLI, Elin Nesje: Deutschsprachige Literatur und Literaturgeschichte von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe bis Irmgard Keun (Available digitally or in paper on campus).

The short texts (K) are collected in a text collection that can be had together with the compendium.

Kultur:

http://www.zeitklicks.de (a website on German history from 1890 until 1990, developed with funding from the German government)

LeMO: Lebendiges Museum Online (Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn): http://www.dhm.de/lemo/home.html