According to the Dublin descriptors, the Course intends to pursue the following aims:

1) Knowledge and understanding

The course aims to develop and refine the learners' skills and knowledge in use of the German language, through confrontation with particular linguistic usages and registers, and their variations in usage through the history of the German language. Students are expected to demonstrate knowledge and comprehension skills that extend and/or reinforce those typically associated with the first cycle and enable them to develop and/or apply original ideas, often in a research context.

2) Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

The course aims to develop critical skills with respect to the use of particular rhetorical figures and the production of neologisms and sectorial idioms in literary and contemporary German and to refine academic writing practice. Students are expected to be able to solve problems in new or unfamiliar areas within broader (or interdisciplinary) contexts.

broader (or interdisciplinary) contexts related to their field of study.

3) Autonomy of judgement

The course includes group work on topics agreed with the lecturer concerning figures from myth and folklore. The work presented in the classroom during the course of the lessons will then give rise to a written paper aimed at measuring autonomy of judgement, linguistic level and research capacity. Students are expected to show that they can integrate knowledge and manage complexity, make judgements even on the basis of limited or incomplete information even on the basis of limited or incomplete information, including reflection on the social and ethical responsibilities linked to the application of their knowledge and judgements.

4) Communication skills

The group work will be presented in the course of the lectures to the participants. This presentation will be considered as an in itinere test and will be assessed for the purposes of the evaluation in the final examination. Communication skills will also be assessed during both the in-progress and oral examination. Students are expected to demonstrate the ability to communicate their conclusions and knowledge, and the rationale behind them, to specialist and non-specialist interlocutors.

5) Learning skills

The course aims to provide an enhancement of linguistic skills and a refinement of the fundamental tools and methodologies of research in the fields of history, language and literature, thus fostering a common reflection on learning skills and possible study and research strategies and the ability to study in a self-managed or autonomous manner.

The course will focus on the process of standardization of the German language since 1600. Stylistic, rhetoric and syntactic peculiarities will also be examined as main interests for academic and professional writing.

Part of the course will be dedicated to the analysis of texts regarding some character of German history and folklore. The analysis will take different research perspectives into account trying to unfold different layers and peculiarities An anthology of different texts  will provide the start-up discussion, in order to motivate and develop individual research skills that will be put at stake in a final research project (presentation and written papers) evaluated during the final exam.

The project of the individual or group research will be guided and followed by the teacher during the course and by the linguistic expert during the hours of laboratory.

A  History of the German language

1)      Karl-Heinz Göttert, Deutsch: Biographie einer Sprache, Ullstein, Berlin, 2010, pp. 400.

 

B Reading texts:

1)      Herfried Münkler, Die Deutschen und Ihre Mythen, Rowohlt Taschenbuch, Hamburg, 2010, Cap. 1.

2)      Friedrich De la Motte Fouqué, Undine, Reclam, Leipzig, 1998, pp. 102.

 

A reader of texts in German will be available on the web-page of STUDIUM and will be the starting point for the group works.

 

To write the final work we suggest to get information about the formal features in:

- H. Gruber, B. Huemer, M. Rheindorf, Wissenschaftliches Schreiben: Ein Praxisbuch für Studierende der Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften, UTB, 2009, pp. 240.

 

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.           

Please remember that in compliance with art 171 L22.04.1941, n. 633 and its amendments, it is illegal to copy entire books or journals, only 15% of their content can be copied.

For further information on sanctions and regulations concerning photocopying please refer to the regulations on copyright (Linee Guida sulla Gestione dei Diritti d’Autore) provided by AIDRO - Associazione Italiana per i Diritti di Riproduzione delle opere dell’ingegno (the Italian Association on Copyright).

All the books listed in the programs can be consulted in the Library.