Contemporary German Language and Literature

Postgraduate course

Course description

Objectives and Content

TYS311 provides an introduction to selected topics in linguistics and literature dealing with the analysis of modern works of literature as well as culturally oriented texts, i.e. texts from the 20th and 21st centuries.

TYS311 is a required part of the Master's degree in German.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge:

The student

  • has good knowledge about modern German-language authors
  • has good knowledge of the terminology and expressions that are needed to describe the characteristics of modern German-language texts.

Skills:

The student

  • can describe what distinguishes modern texts from "older" texts linguistically, stylistically, and in terms of content, and analyze them
  • has thorough knowledge on selected topics in German linguistics and literary studies
  • has good knowledge of the central terminology of these topics
  • can discuss central issues within the selected course topic, both orally and in writing

General competence:

The student

  • is capably of independently updating and expanding their knowledge about modern German linguistics and German-language literature
  • has developed the writing skills needed to write their Master's thesis

ECTS Credits

15

Level of Study

Master

Semester of Instruction

Spring

Place of Instruction

Bergen
Access to the Course
The course is open to all with admission to the Master's programme in German at the University of Bergen.
Teaching and learning methods

Teaching is given in the form of lectures/seminars. Students are expected to participate actively in the seminars.

2 double sessions per week.

9 weeks (in total 9 double sessions in literature and 9 double sessions in linguistics).

If few students register for the course, instruction can be tailored to the number of students. If this is the case, students will be informed of alternate instruction arrangements at the beginning of the semester prior to the registration deadline of Feb 1/Sept 1.

Compulsory Assignments and Attendance
Students are required to write four short (c. 300-500 words) practice papers (two in literature and two in linguistics) and to give two oral presentations (one in literature and one in linguistics). Compulsory assignments must be approved by the course teacher in order for students to attend examination in the course. Compulsory assignments are valid for one semester following the semester of instruction.
Forms of Assessment

Assessment includes a take home exam and an oral exam (ca. 30 min.). The exam is a supervised take home exam of about 4000 words, excluding list of contents, exam question and bibliography, which is to be written within one week. Students are free to choose between writing on a literary or a linguistic topic with the opportunity of receiving supervision. At the oral examination, students must give a presentation of a topic dealt with by the texts on the reading list. The topic is to be selected by the student, but students whose take home exam dealt with a literary topic must choose a linguistic topic for the oral examination, and vice versa. Students may be asked questions concerning both the take home exam and the works on the reading list.

The take home exam counts towards 50 percent of the final grade and the oral examination counts towards the other 50 percent of the final grade.

Grading Scale
The grading scale A-F is used, where F is a fail.
Assessment Semester
Spring. An exam will be offered early in the Autumn semester for students who passed the obligatory requirements
Reading List

The reading list comprises

a) selected linguistic and literary topics (e.g. selected topics on general grammar, textual linguistics and variational linguistics, contrastive analysis, genre studies, text interpretation and text analysis) totalling c. 250-300 pages and

b) literary works and culturally oriented texts (e.g. essays, media coverage, films, etc.) comprising a maximum of 500 pages).

Course Evaluation
Evaluation of the course is carried out in accordance with the University of Bergen quality assurance system.
Examination Support Material
Programme Committee
The Programme Board is responsible for the academic content and structure of the study programme, and for the quality of all the subjects therein.
Course Coordinator
The Programme Board for German.
Course Administrator
The Department of Foreign Languages at the Faculty of Humanities has the administrative responsibility for the course and the study programme.