General Focus:

Develop and practice the following linguistic, methodological, strategic, and knowledge-based skills required both in university contexts and in the professional world by working with a variety of texts from across culture and society:

• Critical reading/listening skills – The ability to understand complex information, the author’s intentions, and the communicative function and objective of a text
• (Rhetoric) skills for processing information, including implicit assumptions and the consequences thereof
• The ability to focus on a certain topic/intention; present information in a manner that is relevant to the target audience and that takes intercultural aspects into consideration

Learning Objectives:

After completing this course, students will fulfill the basic proficiency requirements of level C1 CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) in German.

Students will have the following

linguistic skills:

• The ability to work with sources effectively and with a goal in mind, to link heterogeneous material to their own research questions, and to present such information in a systematic manner
• The ability to precisely summarize complex information and compose convincing oral or written explanations of abstract or complex topics 
• The ability to present information to nonspecialists in a well-structured, comprehensible manner
• The ability to critically read texts to gather detailed, precise information, as well as more implicit information (e.g., the author’s point of view)
• The ability to flexibly and precisely apply a broad spectrum of linguistic techniques

strategic skills:

• A comprehensive repertoire of strategies for interpreting texts, as well as for planning and writing their own texts, and the ability to apply these automatically in a stylistically appropriate manner
• A number of strategies for editing their own work and improving their own language skills

intercultural skills:

• The ability to recognize and account for cultural differences and influences when it comes to topics/conventions surrounding the university

Course Topics:

History of European universities – education and vocational training – scientific and academic explanations – pheromones – robotics – time – colors – heroes in sport and society – cultural aspects of thinking – Darwin’s theory of evolution – Crowds and Power