Saint-Louis University - Bruxelles
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GERM1142 - German : Linguistics and Practical Exercises I



Credits : 5

Lecturers :
Mode of delivery :
Face-to-face , first and second term, 60 hours of theory and 60 hours of exercises.

Timetable :
First term
Friday from 13:30 to 15:30 at 109 Marais 611
Friday from 15:45 to 17:45 at 109 Marais 611
Second term
Thursday from 13:30 to 15:30 at 109 Marais 610
Friday from 08:30 to 10:30 at 109 Marais 611

Language of instruction :
The course and the exercises are taught in German. For beginner students, the lecturers propose bilingual lectures during the first weeks of the course.

Learning outcomes :
This course aims to foster students' descriptive skills in German linguistics, an elementary (up to intermediate) level of proficiency in German and a knowledge of main aspects of the culture of German-speaking countries. In terms of proficiency skills, this means that - at the end of the first study year - students will be able:
1) to understand intermediate-level written or oral German texts, but also to produce short elementary written texts and to express themselves orally in elementary, but correct German;
2) to describe German linguistic phenomena with the linguistic tools described during the course;
3) to express their opinion on socio-cultural aspects of German life.
During the exercise sessions students learn to develop skills that enable them to actively apply the linguistic knowledge about the German language acquired in the theoretical course through practical and communicative exercises, both written and oral. The exercises allow them to reach a basic knowledge (level B1 in the European framework) of German (grammar, phonetics and basic vocabulary).



Prerequisites :
None

Co-requisites :
None

Course contents :
The course proposes a detailed description (definition, use, variations of forms, contexts, etc.) of the main morphological categories: the verb, the noun, the adjective, the pronoun and the preposition. It gradually introduces the linguistic terminology and the linguistic theories required to describe the structures. Moreover, it provides the strategies that enable students to gradually and more easily learn the German language (grammar, phonetics and basic vocabulary). As a language is the expression of a culture, of a frame of mind, the course goes beyond purely linguistic limits and offers a socio-cultural approach. The course is supplemented by many practical exercises integrating the issues addressed during the course and the vocabulary acquired throughout the year.
The various exercises are based not only on systematic exercises from training manuals in German, but also on authentic written and audio-visual documents (German press, internet, German radio and television, etc.) that are also intended to present some socio-cultural aspects of German-speaking countries.


Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
The course and the exercises are very dynamic and require that students take an active part in the course in the form of a reflection on various linguistic realities drawn from numerous sample sentences from everyday life in Germany and in the other German-speaking countries and based on written and oral texts (press, advertising, children's books, CDs and DVDs, etc.). The course is enriched by many exercises centered on a specific grammatical issue giving students the opportunity to put their acquired linguistic knowledge into practice. Each year, excursions or trips to Germany are planned in order to give students first-hand experience with this country (Christmas market, visits to large cities, and so on). Films in German, theatre or cinema visits are also planned.

Assessment methods and criteria :
Formative assessment:
Throughout the year, students have the possibility to evaluate their progress thanks to regular exercises and tests. In addition, after the January examination session, the lecturers meet individually with students to develop strategies to remedy possible difficulties a student may be experiencing in the course.

Certificate-based assessment:
During the second term one test is organized for the course (10 % of the final mark) and one test for the exercise sessions (10 % of the final mark). The examination in January and June consists of a written and an oral part. The written examination consists of sentences to be translated, more theoretical questions developed in the course, grammar exercises and a vocabulary part. The oral examination takes place in German; it also consists of sentences to be translated, questions which allow students to demonstrate their understanding of the different issues covered in the course, a discussion on a linguistic topic (e.g. anglicisms in German for example).
Weighting Course Linguistics I and Practical Exercises: 60/40



Recommended or required reading :
This list is by no means exhaustive and does not include all the titles of works used during the course and exercises.

Handbooks of linguistics:

BÜNTING, Karl-Dieter (1987) Einführung in die Linguistik. Frankfurt/Main: Athenäum. ISBN 3610020113.
BÜNTING, Karl-Dieter und EICHLER, Wolfgang (1982) ABC der deutschen Grammatik. Frankfurt/Main: Athenäum, 184 S
BURY, Ernst (2000) Grammatik verstehen lernen. Wortarten, Sätze, Zeiten (Lernmaterialien) Lichtenau: AOL-Verlag, Taschenbuch, ISBN: 3893120637
BURY, Ernst (2000) Grammatik im Überblick. Grundlagen und Regeln der deutschen Sprache. Frankfurt/Main: Rowohlt, Taschenbuch, ISBN: 3499606895
GREWENDORF, Günther, Fritz HAMM und Wolfgang STERNEFELD (1987) Sprachliches Wissen. Eine Einführung in moderne Theorien der grammatischen Beschreibung. Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp.
MEIBAUER, Jörg, Ulrike DEMSKE und Jochen GEILFUß-WOLFGANG (2007) Einführung in die Germanistische Linguistik. Stuttgart: Metzler.

Dictionaries:

DUDEN, Die neue deutsche Rechtschreibung (1996) Hrsg. von der Dudenredaktion. Mannheim: Dudenverlag. ISBN: 3411040114
PONS Großwörterbuch für Experten und Universität (1999)
Französisch-Deutsch, Deutsch-Französisch Stuttgart: Klett, ISBN: 3-12-517259-4
WAHRIG, Gerhard, Deutsches Wörterbuch (1968/2000) Gütersloh: Bertelsmann. ISBN: 3570016315

Grammar books:

BOUILLON, Henri (1995) Grammaire pratique de l'allemand, Louvain-la-Neuve : De Boeck. CLAMER, Friedrich und HEILMANN, Erhard G. (2007) Übungsgrammatik für die Grundstufe. Meckenheim: Liebaug-Dartmann.
DREYER, Hilke und SCHMITT, Richard (1985) Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik. München: Beck.
HELBIG, Gerhard und Joachim BUSCHA (1999) Deutsche Grammatik. Ein Handbuch für den Ausländerunterricht (Lernmaterialien) München: Langenscheidt.
HENTSCHEL, Elke und WEYDT, Harald (2013) Handbuch der deutschen Grammatik. Berlin: de Gruyter.
Vocabulary books :
TSCHIRNER, Erwin (2008), Lextra - Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz nach Themen (A1-B2). Berlin: Cornelsen.
TSCHIRNER, Erwin (2008), Lextra - Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Grundwortschatz nach Themen (A1-B1). Übungsbuch. Berlin : Cornelsen.


Other information :
Course Material
The course lecturer has prepared a syllabus for students based on the lecture topics. It contains not only a linguistic description but also translation exercises that focus on specific linguistic topics in each chapter. The syllabus is written in French at the beginning and gradually introduces the basic German vocabulary (with a translation and an explanation of the new words' morphological use). The exercises of the syllabus are supplemented by many exercises shown in context (oral and written expression, among others). The lecturers provide considerable material (such as German newspapers, German children's books, CDs, DVDs, advertisements, among others) which is used as a basis for discussion or to explain certain linguistic or cultural realities. The student has to buy the following vocabulary books:
TSCHIRNER, Erwin (2008), Lextra - Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Grund- und Aufbauwortschatz nach Themen (A1-B2). Berlin: Cornelsen.
TSCHIRNER, Erwin (2008), Lextra - Deutsch als Fremdsprache. Grundwortschatz nach Themen (A1-B1). Übungsbuch. Berlin : Cornelsen.