Masters Theses

Date of Award

12-1993

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

German

Major Professor

Beverly Moser

Committee Members

Nancy Lauckner, Carolyn Hodges

Abstract

As methodological emphasis in the intermediate-level German course has shifted from translation-based learning, which utilized literary texts quite extensively, to communication-based learning, literature in the intermediate-level course has been either overlooked as a viable tool of instruction or used in the classroom as a springboard to communication. This thesis argues that these approaches do not develop the students' appreciation of literature. Additionally, these approaches fail to consider the role of the intermediate course as the beginning of a transition to the systematic study of literature for students who continue in German. The use of the Kurzgeschichte, or German short story, at the intermediate level can provide students the opportunity to apply their knowledge of the German language in a way that does develop their appreciation of literature and builds the bridge of transition to upper-level German courses. The literary theory of the Kurzgeschichte is presented along with findings from a study of an intermediate-level university class. The classroom research was conducted using ethnographic methods, which relatively few studies to date have applied in the foreign language classroom for insights on how to develop activities for students. Genre theory and classroom-research findings are synthesized to arrive at strategies for teaching the literary characteristics of the Kurzgeschichte at the intermediate level. The teaching strategies presented provide both visual aid and structure, which the classroom-research findings indicate are vital to students' understanding of literature and enable students to examine literary characteristics that scholars identify as those characteristic of the genre.

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