Contemporary German Language and Literature
Postgraduate course
- ECTS credits
- 15
- Teaching semesters
- Spring
- Course code
- TYS311
- Number of semesters
- 1
- Teaching language
- German
- Resources
- Schedule
- Reading list
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
Level of Study
Semester of Instruction
Place of Instruction
Access to the Course
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
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
Assessment Semester
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).