This course is an advanced German Studies course. Students will be exposed to academic papers in German, as well as historical and cultural texts. The course content will vary from year to year depending on the lecturer. In any given year, the course will provide intensive and advanced study of a topic or topics in an area of German Studies.

The first topic to be offered in 2012 is "The German Language Today"

By the end of this course, students will be able to:

1. Analyse from a linguistic, as well as a sociological and political perspective, the way the German language functions.
2. Reflect on and discuss the interaction of linguistic structures with social structures and with political diversity and interests.
3. Transfer such knowledge to other languages and language communities and thus deepen their general understanding of how languages and language communities develop, including their own.
4. Select and combine materials on a topic currently relevant to this aspect of German Studies, and present them in a
coherent fashion.

Students will also have the opportunity to

5. develop some generic skills, e.g. critical thinking, written and oral communication, research skills, teamwork.

1) an in-class, 10-15 minutes' oral presentation (20%) [learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5];

2) a 2-hour, end-of-course test (40%) [learning outcomes 1, 2, 3];

3) a 1500-1800-word paper/project (40%) [learning outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5].

For the duration of the 7 weeks in 2012, the workload will be 5 hours of lectures and seminars per week, with the expectation of a further 10 hours per week (including the teaching break) of independent study (reading of, application of, and online access to, relevant materials).

Prerequisite GERM2106 or equivalent

Assumed knowledge – a language ability equivalent at least to completion of GERM2106, Intermediate German 2.

A reading brick.