31187 - German Language and Linguistics 2 (A)

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course, students will be versed in metalanguage; in particular they will have acquired some knowledge of several aspects of one of the analytical and descriptive models of the German language. Their knowledge of the language will be at the level B1 in all four skills.

Course contents

Erasmus students intending to attend the course are requested to contact Prof. Rieger (marie.rieger@unibo.it).

This course includes the following parts:

1. Lezioni frontali: lectures in linguistics taught by the course professor. This component is made up of a total of 30 hours held within one semester.
2. Esercitazioni di lingua: German language course with native German speaking teachers held during the first and the second semester (4 hours per week). For information reguarding the 2nd-year language course, please, contact Dr. Birk (andreameta.birk@unibo.it).

Lezioni frontali

The course is held two times: the course (A) is held in German and is aimed at students with a good pre-knowledge enabling them to follow and participate actively in German; the course (B) is held in Italian and is aimed at those students who had been absolute beginners in the first year.

Students are free to choose which of the two courses to take. The markings A and B for the lectures do NOT coincide with the markings for the exercise groups.

The aim of the "lezioni-frontali-part" is to provide an in-depth insight into the rules of German syntax. In a nutshell, one can say that syntax deals with the organisation of the sentence. Especially with regard to the internal structure of complex sentence constituents and the order of sentence constituents, the German and Italian languages differ significantly from each other. This also has an impact, for example, on the possibilities that each of the two systems provides for emphasising certain sentence constituents. Particularly suitable for explaining the rules of German syntax in a simple and coherent way is the theory of Dependenzielle Verbgrammatik (DVG), i.e. Grammar of Verbal Dependency. The DVG is in turn based on the so-called Valency Theory. In the course you will learn the basic features of these theories so that you can better understand and apply the rules of German syntax.

As a basis, the course uses the electronically available volume "Die Struktur des deutschen Satzes. Eine Einführung in die Dependenzielle Verbgrammatik für Studierende mit Ausgangssprache Italienisch. Teil I: Der einfache Satz" " (see bibliography: Rieger 2008). During the lessons we will work through the rules together using examples and you will also be provided with a series of exercises (on Virtuale). At the end of each thematic unit, the corresponding PP presentation will also be uploaded on virtuale.

 

Language course (esercitazioni di lingua)

The part language course aims to develop the student's linguistic pragmatic, and sociolinguistic competence in German. All German language courses are based on the theoretical and methodological principles described by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR).

At the end of the second year, students should have reached at least B1-level:

 

Oral production (speaking): S/he can reasonably fluently sustain a straightforward description of one of a variety of subjects within his/her field of interest, presenting it as a linear sequence of points.

Aural reception (listening): S/he can understand straightforward factual information about common everyday or job related topics, identifying both general messages and specific details, provided speech is clearly articulated in a generally familiar accent.

Written production (writing): S/he can write straightforward connected texts on a range of familiar subjects within his field of interest, by linking a series of shorter discrete elements into a linear sequence.

Visual reception (reading): S/he can read straightforward factual texts on subjects related to his/her field and interest with a satisfactory level of comprehension.

Readings/Bibliography

Lezioni frontali

Course and exam are based on [download from Teaching resources on Virtuale]:

Rieger, Marie A. (2008): Die Struktur des deutschen Satzes. Eine Einführung in die dependenzielle Verbgrammatik für Studierende mit Ausgangssprache Italienisch. Teil I: Der einfache Satz. Bologna: Biblioteca Digitale dell'Università di Bologna.

During lessons, powerpoint presentations are used, which will be available at the end of every thematic unit. [download from: virtuale.unibo.it]

 

Basic references for further reading for interested students are: 

Bianco, M.T. (1996): Valenzlexikon Deutsch-Italienisch. Dizionario della valenza verbale, Heidelberg: Julius Groos. [Testo bilingue: Sala consultazione della Biblioteca del Dip. LLSM]

Lo Duca, M.G. (2007): “Il modello valenziale in L1 [= in italiano]”, in: C. Siviero (a cura di): Lingue e verbi a confronto. Fare grammatica in L1, L2, L3, Azzano San Paolo (edizioni junior), 45-49.

Rieger, M. (2007): “Il modello valenziale in L2 [= in tedesco]” in: C. Siviero (a cura di) : Lingue e verbi a confronto. Fare grammatica in L1, L2, L3, Azzano San Paolo (edizioni junior), 49-54.

Rieger, M. (2012): “Valenz und Wortstellung”, in: Fischer, Klaus/Mollica, Fabio (Hgg.) (2012): Valenz, Konstruktion und Deutsch als Fremdsprache, Frankfurt a.M. et al. (Peter Lang), 207-234.

Italian examples are based on:

Prandi, Michele (2006): Le regole e le scelte. Introduzione alla grammatica italiana, Bologna (UTET).

Sabatini, Francesco/Camodeca Carmela/De Santis, Cristiana (2011): Sistema e testo. Dalla grammatica valenziale all'esperienza dei testi, Torino (Loescher Editore).

 

Language course (esercitazioni di lingua)
The chosen textbooks follow the CEFR's theoretical and methodological principles and are suitable for university students. Each learning group will adopt a book corresponding to its initial competence level.

Teaching methods

Lezioni frontali

The method adopted will be interactional-inductive. Students are required to participate when the central concepts will be elaborated from text examples. The approach adopted will also be contrastive (Italian-German).

Language course (esercitazioni di lingua)
Lessons are interactive requiring the students' direct participation. We have 4 different learning groups each of which corresponds to a different initial level of learner competences. For absolute beginners we offer special support during the first and second year, with courses of 6 hours a week (instead of the used 4).

Assessment methods

Exams are the same for attenders and non-attenders.

Lezioni frontali

The final assessment is based on a written exam. Students are required to analyse sentences on the ground of the concepts acquired during the course. 

Exercises and mock exams will be available on virtuale.

 

Language course (esercitazioni di lingua)

Final exams are written and oral. Students must pass the written part before taking the oral exam.

The written exam comprises two parts. The first part (30 min) will assess vocabulary range and control as well as grammatical accuracy (multiple choice test). The second part (30 min) will assess the level of written production. Students will be required to produce a written text (formal/informal e-mail or similar) along given key issues. Assessment criteria are lexical and grammatical competence, textual coherence and pragmatic competence.

In order to pass the written exam, students have to pass each part with a minimum of 60% (18/30).

For the oral exam (15 min) students will be given a topic in advance. During the exam they have to present and discuss this topic. Assessment criteria are phonetic, lexical and grammatical competence as well as fluency and the ability to use strategies in order to overcome communication problems.

The topics chosen for the oral and written exams are relevant to the study of the German language and the culture of the German speaking countries/communities. The assessment of correctness, range and control is relative to the level required for the second year.

The language course mark will be the average mark between the oral and written exams' results.

 

The final mark of the course “Lingua e Linguistica Tedesca 2” will be the average mark between the lezioni frontali exam's result and the esercitazione mark.

 

Teaching tools

The part lezioni frontali uses powerpoint presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Maria Antoinette Rieger