54
German Language and Translation
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
By the end of the course the student should be able to
- communicate in simple and routine activities requiring a simple exchange of information on familiar and common topics
- be able to describe in simple terms aspects of his/her life and university career
- know the relevant characteristics of German-speaking countries
Phonetics and phonology
- correctly pronounce words, sentences and short texts in German
- know the phonetic and phonological structure of German and the phonological rules;
- use the appropriate specialist terminology to describe a phonetic-phonological phenomenon
Morphology
- know the basic aspects of German word structure
- know the nominal declension and verbal inflection in German;
- use the appropriate specialist terminology to describe a morphological phenomenon.
The course aims to provide students with the knowledge and methodological tools necessary for the following activities:production of texts in German (at least level A2) belonging to various genres and text types (letter, e-mail, brief description of objects, people, environments or events, etc.);
- comprehension of short, simple texts of everyday use (advertisements, programmes, menus, timetables, personal letters/emails) from which specific, predictable information can be obtained;
- active use of learned morphological and phonetic knowledge (e.g. recognition of morphemes, identifying the meaning of words, adequate pronunciation);
- terminologically adequate description of various linguistic phenomena (e.g. types of compounds, types of morphemes, types of phonemes and phonemes);
- production of short texts in German relating to subject areas discussed during the course
- comprehension of short German texts relating to subject areas discussed during the course
FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Autonomy of judgement:
At the end of the course students will be expected to demonstrate the ability to autonomously make correct morphosyntactic choices in written and oral production activities.
Communication skills:
At the end of the course students will have to demonstrate the ability to communicate clearly and correctly in German consistent with the context. They will also be able to identify and communicate the main information contained in a general German text.
Learning ability:
At the end of the course students will have to demonstrate a good ability to learn and apply the morphosyntactic structures and the phonetic and phonological characteristics that are the object of the course, which will form the necessary basis for continuing your studies in the field of the German language with full autonomy and methodological awareness.
Course Prerequisites
In order to deal with the teaching content, no German language competence is required; knowledge of the grammatical categories of Italian and their functions and the ability to analyse a text under a linguistic point of view are required.
Teaching Methods
Teaching involves three types of activities
a) frontal and interactive lessons with the teacher (54 hours), aimed at guiding the students in the learning of topics related to morphology, phonetics and phonology. The lessons, conducted in Italian and with a communicative approach, will favour comprehension, reading skills, written and oral expression. In order to verify in itinere the acquisition of the topics covered during the lessons, in-class exercises are planned in the form of exercises, written/oral comprehension activities and self-assessment tests, the partial results of which may guide the teacher in the organisation of the course.
b) language exercises with the Language Experts (CEL). The exercises last one year and constitute the practical part of the course
c) Self-study activities. The self-study course (30 hours) can be completed also using the facilities of the CLAOR self-access centre. The self-study activity must be recorded on special forms, which can be downloaded from the CLAOR website or from the professor's personal page (teaching materials), and which must be handed in on the day of the oral examination.
Assessment Methods
The examination consists of a WRITTEN TEST and an ORAL TEST.
The ONLINE written test consists of two parts: 1) grammar test 2) short writing test (Schreiben). The grammar test consists of multiple-choice and free-response questions.
The written test is preparatory to the oral test. The oral test relates to the programme outlined above (phonetics, phonology, morphology and hints at the culture of German-speaking countries).
TESTING OF THEORETICAL LANGUAGE SKILLS
Theoretical language skills relating to the syllabus content will be tested by means of an inter-course examination and/or by means of an oral examination in one of the examination sessions from June onwards.
Language in which the examination is conducted
1. The examination of practical language skills (grammar test and short writing test) takes place in German.
2. The test of theoretical language skills takes place in Italian.
Texts
Language
Birgit Braun et al., DaF kompakt NEU A1 (Kurs-und Übungsbuch) e DaF kompakt NEU A2 (Kurs-und Übungsbuch), Stuttgart 2014, Ernst Klett Verlag.
DaF kompakt NEU A1: ISBN 9788853622228
DaF kompakt NEU A2 : ISBN 9788853622235
Birgit Braun, Margit Doubek, DaF kompakt NEU A1 (Intensivtrainer) e DaF kompakt NEU A2 (Intensivtrainer), Stuttgart 2014, Ernst Klett Verlag.
DaF kompakt NEU A1 Intensivtrainer: ISBN 978-3-12-676316-5
DaF kompakt NEU A2 Intensivtrainer: ISBN 978-3-12-676317-2
Linguistics
C. Di Meola, La linguistica tedesca, Roma, Bulzoni, 2014
S. E. Koesters Gensini, Fonetica e Fonologia del tedesco, Bari, Edizioni B.A. Graphis, 2004 (ch. 3, 4, 6)
Further references
Paola Bonelli e Rosanna Pavan, Grammatica attiva della lingua tedesca. Morfologia, sintassi, esercizi, Milano, Hoepli, 2012.
S. Leonardi – E.-M. Thuene, Il tedesco in prospettiva pluricentrica (Mooc open access)
Contents
- Phonetics of German and comparison with Italian
2. The phonology of German and comparison with Italian
3. The morphology of German: classification of German words
4. The morphology of German: the morpheme
5. The morphology of German: the nominal declension
6. The morphology of German: the verb inflection
7. The morphology of German: internal inflection (metaphony and apophony)
8. The formation of German words: composition, derivation, conversion, abbreviation, contamination
9. The graphic representation of German
10. Outlines of the geography and culture of German-speaking countries
Course Language
Italian
More information
There are also opportunities to attend lectures and seminars held both by German language and literature scholars from the Department of Literary, Linguistic and Comparative Studies and by visiting scholars.