Objectives
Teaching and learning in German studies take place in three areas: language learning; the culture and intellectual life of the German-speaking countries; and linguistics from a German language perspective.
The Department of German Studies attracts students from different faculties and a variety of language backgrounds, each with different vocational interests. For this reason, the courses offered must be general in nature, while at the same time providing the opportunity to specialise in one or all of the three areas on which this department focuses.
Language learning
The major objective is to provide the environment for students to develop, or develop further, their communicative competence in German, which includes grammatical, discourse, sociolinguistic and strategic competence. Equal emphasis is placed on the four primary language learning skills of speaking and listening, reading and writing, and students are set progressive targets for linguistic competence. Students beginning German at Monash have the opportunity to access the more advanced courses of the post-VCE stream at third-year level. The competence aimed at for students majoring in German is a good level of achievement in the internationally recognised Mittelstufenprüfung. This requires an ability to speak German with sufficient fluency and accuracy to participate in conversation of both social and abstract types, to understand the main elements of all standard speech, to express oneself effectively in writing and to read with adequate understanding a range of German text-types.
Culture
The university study of a language subject must include the study of the culture - in its broadest sense - of the countries and societies that use the language. Students are expected to develop a coherent overview of German culture and German intellectual life. This knowledge is to be added to and deepened with progression through year-levels. Specific knowledge of key texts, writers and thinkers as well as central or recurring themes and problems in German cultural life is to accompany this progression.
An understanding of the specificity of the German-speaking culture(s) and their contribution to European civilisation is part of this overall objective. A narrow focus on purely literary culture is avoided in the attempt to develop a broader understanding of what `culture' includes. Students must therefore progressively learn to deal with a range of literary text-types presented from a sociohistorical perspective, and to identify the specificities of German culture.
Linguistics
Linguistics if the systematic study of the nature and use of language in general. The study of linguistics from a German perspective establishes the link between the learning of the German language through learning about the German language, its structure, nature and applications. By examining the structure of German, and the ways in which it differs from English, students are expected to develop insight into processes of acquisition, differences between situational usage (register), and the relationship between language and society. The fundamental learning aim can thus be viewed in terms of achieving an understanding of the relationship between language and culture both from a contemporary and a historical perspective.
General objective
Students majoring in German should have the capacity and the desire to continue to develop and use the knowledge and skills gained during their studies.
Courses
First year
Two different first-year sequences are offered. A first-year sequence, except with the permission of the head, will normally consist of GRN1030 followed by GRN1040 or GRN1070 followed by GRN1080. GRN1030 and GRN1040 (Introductory German) are for students with little or no knowledge of the language. GRN1070 and GRN1080 (Language and literature) assume that students have reached pass standard in German at least at Year 11 level or its equivalent. Other students may be admitted with the permission of the head of the department.
Minor sequence
A minor sequence comprises either (i) GRN1070 and GRN1080 followed by the language core subjects GRN2110 and GRN2120 and the culture core subjects (GRN2130 and GRN2140 in 1995); or (ii) GRN1030 and GRN1040 followed by the language core subjects GRN2270 and GRN2280 and the reading subjects GRN2290 and GRN2300.
Major sequence
A student wishing to complete a major sequence in German will take either (i) GRN1070 and GRN1080 followed by the language core subjects GRN2110 and GRN2120 and the culture core subjects (GRN2130 and GRN2140 in 1995) in second year. The third part of the major comprises the language core subjects GRN3010 and GRN3020 together with the third-year culture core subjects and one additional subject at either second or third-year level; or (ii) GRN1030 and GRN1040 followed by the language core subjects GRN2270 and GRN2280 and the reading subjects GRN2290 and GRN2300 in second year. The third part of the major comprises the language core subjects GRN3110 and GRN3120 together with the third-year culture core subjects GRN3290 and GRN3300.
Optional subjects
Extra subjects (options) are available at both second and third-year levels. Normally the appropriate language core is the pre- or corequisite for the culture core offered in the same semester, and the culture core is the pre- or corequisite for any options taken. Under special circumstances the appropriate option may count as part of a minor sequence.
The attention of students is also directed to the programs of the centres for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies, European Studies, and Women's Studies, some subjects of which, with the permission of the head, may be taken as part of their German course.
At the discretion of the department, native speakers educated in a German-speaking country may be permitted to participate in higher level language work.
Students who have already taken language work at a higher level will take another subject in second and third year or undertake additional language work to the satisfaction of the department.
Students wishing to participate in the overseas studies scheme at a German university should seek information from the department.
Graduate work
The fields in which the department desires to sponsor research are:
* studies in literature and related fields in all epochs of German, Austrian and Swiss culture; comparative literature and literary theory;
* studies in German linguistics, especially morphophonology, syntax, historical linguistics, history of linguistics, history of German, dialectology;
* German and European studies.
Service course
The Department of German Studies offers a service course (GRN0020) for staff members, graduate students and fourth-year students from Arts and other faculties who wish to acquire a reading knowledge of German for academic research. Participants can expect upon completion of the course to read texts of medium difficulty with the aid of a dictionary. This course is not offered for credit towards a degree. Information is available from the department.
First-year level
* GRN1030 Introductory German I
* GRN1040 Introductory German II
* GRN1070 Language and literature I
* GRN1080 Language and literature II
Second to fourth-year levels
In second and third years students are offered in each semester a culture core and a language core (both of which are compulsory) and additional subjects in German culture and linguistics. The culture cores operate on a two-year cycle.
Several non-core subjects (options) are also offered each year. These include second, third and fourth-year levels. In all options assignments will be set and assessed at the appropriate year level.
Second, third and fourth-year level subjects are only offered on the Clayton campus.
Second-year level
* GRN2110 Language core I
* GRN2120 Language core II
* GRN2130 Culture core: the age of Goethe I - the discovery of the self
* GRN2140 Culture core: the age of Goethe II - the discovery of history
* GRN2210 German syntax
* GRN2230 German dialects and dialectology
* GRN2270 Language core and German linguistics I
* GRN2280 Language core and German linguistics II
* GRN2290 Reading German texts I
* GRN2300 Reading German texts II
* GRN2310 Culture core: modern German literature and society I
* GRN2320 Culture core: modern German literature and society II
* GRN2410 The contemporary novel
* GRN2430 Second language acquisition and attrition
* GRN2470 German literature 1871-1918
* GRN2530 Medieval German language and historical linguistics
* GRN2750 Women and German writing
Third-year level
General prerequisite: Sixteen points of German at second-year level.
* GRN3010 Language core I
* GRN3020 Language core II
* GRN3110 Language core I
* GRN3120 Language core II
* GRN3130 Culture core: the age of Goethe I - the discovery of the self
* GRN3140 Culture core: the age of Goethe II - the discovery of history
* GRN3170 German drama, theatre and society
* GRN3190 Medieval language and literature
* GRN3210 German syntax
* GRN3230 German dialects and dialectology
* GRN3290 German culture and society 1750-1900
* GRN3300 German culture and society 1900-1990
* GRN3310 Culture core: modern German literature and society I
* GRN3320 Culture core: modern German literature and society II
* GRN3350 The cultural critics
* GRN3370 Language and society: sociolinguistics from a German perspective
* GRN3390 German phonology and morphology
* GRN3410 The contemporary novel
* GRN3430 Second language acquisition and attrition
* GRN3470 German literature 1871-1918
* GRN3530 Medieval German language and historical linguistics
* GRN3750 Women and German writing
* GRN3770 German for business and trade
* GRN3990 Language study abroad program
Fourth-year level
All fourth-year level students must take subjects to a total value of forty-eight points. Literature honours students must take GRN4020 and GRN4030, GRN4600 and GRN4610, GRN4620 and at least one further subject from GRN4180/GRN4360, or GRN4660. Students may choose one relevant subject from another department or from the Centre for Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies.
Linguistics honours students must take GRN4020 and GRN4030, GRN4380, GRN4640 and at least one further subject in German linguistics. They may take one relevant subject, normally at fourth-year level, from another department.
Combined honours may be taken in German and another discipline provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject to the approval of the heads of both departments/centres.
With the permission of the head of the department, fourth-year students may complete a part of their course at a university in a German-speaking country. In cooperation with the overseas university, the department will draw up courses for students studying away from Monash (see below under German study abroad program). Normally, students studying overseas will do so during the northern winter semester, from October to March, preceding their fourth year. Students intending to do this are required to make early arrangements with the department.
* GRN4020 Language core I
* GRN4030 Language core II
* GRN4180 German drama, theatre and society
* GRN4200 Medieval language and literature
* GRN4360 The cultural critics
* GRN4380 Language and society: sociolinguistics from a German perspective
* GRN4400 German phonology and morphology
* GRN4600 Theory and practice of literary criticism I: the theory
* GRN4610 Theory and practice of literary criticism II: the practice
* GRN4620 Honours thesis
* GRN4640 Honours thesis
* GRN4660 Special reading course
* GRN4780 German for business and trade
* GRN4990 Language study abroad program
Graduate studies
For postgraduate courses offered by the department, please refer to the Arts graduate handbook for 1995.