Profile of the Institute

The Institute of German Studies and Media Cultures focuses on linguistics, literature and cultural studies from a historical, contemporary and didactic perspective.

In the field of linguistics, its theoretical foundations and the various application-related processes and structures of the German language form a central focus. In addition, comparative analyses of written and spoken language from a synchronic and diachronic perspective as well as intra- and intercultural communication are central.

Within the literary and cultural studies focus, literary and cultural history from the Middle Ages to contemporary literature form the central focus alongside literary and cultural theory. An important focus here is on processes of literary canon formation, its mechanisms of inclusion and exclusion, in which gender and media theory aspects are also taken into account.

The didactics of German language and literature area is dedicated to the processes of learning and teaching in the school context. On the one hand, this involves the subject-specific modeling of skills in German lessons and questions of acquisition. On the other hand, teaching processes in the classroom are examined and didactic and methodological concepts as well as educational policy frameworks are reflected upon.