MGDE6100 German Language Structure and Acquisition Course description

See the admission requirement for the programme.

After completion of the course, the student has acquired the following learning outcomes, defined as knowledge, skills and general competence.

Knowledge

The student

• is familiar with the sound system and intonation of German, the language’s grammatical structure and possesses insight into cultural conventions on the use of the German language
• has knowledge of daily life, traditions, customs, values and cultural expressions in German speaking countries and in Norway (contrastive view on cultural practices across disciplines and situations)
• has knowledge of language learning and acquisition theories and can relate them to children and young adults’ language learning from a multicultural perspective
• has knowledge of the curriculum, the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the European Language Portfolio ages 6-12 and 13-18, as well as the European Language Portfolio for language teacher students

Skills

The student

• possesses appropriate oral and written communication skills in German across a variety of topics, situations, and media (including social situations, literature, movies, pop culture)
• is capable of understanding oral and written authentic texts German in different genres and media
• is able to plan and carry out German language lessons, and knows to assess the German language
• is capable of assessing the use of authentic texts and other learning resources in teaching
• is capable of using assessments to guide pupils in their German language skills development

General competence

The candidate

• possesses transcultural awareness and its impact on interaction in the foreign language classroom
• possesses a variety of pedagogical approaches and assessment strategies
• will be able to enhance the pupils’ language proficiency by creating appropriate opportunities to practice the language

German Language Structure and Acquisition is a blended learning course with digital learning combined with one period of campus training in Oslo and one at Pädagogische Hochschule Freiburg, Germany.There is an initial face-to-face session in Oslo and a week of training in Germany. Between the face-to-face sessions, there will be online training, with self-paced weekly modules accompanied by regular virtual meetings with teachers and other group members.

There will be weekly virtual sessions in language learning as well as sessions in linguistics and didactics for the German language sessions, we will be working with a virtual learning management system and a textbook designed for blended learning. Some parts of the sessions will be based on the platform Dhoch3 (DAAD).

There will be weekly exercises to be completed online as well as the possibility to interact with other group members and teachers on the platform.

The following coursework requirements must be approved before the student can take the exam:

1. 80 % attendance and participation in face-to-face weeks and virtual sessions.
2. Completion of the required weekly tasks on the digital learning platform every week during the 12 weeks of the course. Preparation, attendance and presentation will be 3 hours on average per week. This may be answering to questions after reading the required texts, watching short videos, attending online presentations, writing of wikis, participation in forums, writing of an own group glossary, written reflexion on the own learning, tests and quizzes etc. The purpose of all tasks is the active participation to the course, the opportunity to interact and share experience and ideas with other members and also using German language in context and thus improving the own language skills. The completion of the weekly tasks is compulsory, and all weekly tasks must be completed before the exam. The weekly tasks will be announced one week in advance.

The coursework requirements may be revised once if the first version is not approved. See also point 8 in the programme description for further information about coursework requirements.

The final individual assessment has the form of a short video (approx. 5 minutes) where the student demonstrates his/her oral and reflective skills. The student is asked to produce an audio track (oral production in German). The video focus is upon a topic which was discussed during the course. The student is required to produce a scripted text that with the audio track will be the basis of the assessment.

New/postponed exam

The resit/rescheduled exam is organised in the same way as the ordinary exam. The assessment may be revised once if the first version is not approved.

All examination support material is permitted.

A grading scale with A being the highest and E the lowest pass grade is used. The grade F means that the student has failed the exam.

There will be two internal examinators. An external programme supervisor will be used in accordance with the Guidelines for Appointment and Use of Examiners at OsloMet.