German as a Foreign Language: Teaching Cultural Studies

The Master's degree program in German as a Foreign Language: Cultural Mediation provides students with methodological, analytical and conceptual skills in language and literature teaching, as well as in the description and communication of cultural phenomena, based on current research results. It provides foreign language didactic knowledge about the teachability and learnability of specialist scientific content that was acquired in the first professional degree and is deepened in the Master's degree program in German as a Foreign Language: Cultural Mediation. Students acquire intercultural skills and expand their own foreign language skills.

Welcome to the site of our master’s program “German as a Foreign Language – Teaching Cultural Studies.” The program is intended for candidates holding a bachelor’s degree in German philology or a comparable international degree. In addition, candidates should already have gained some practical experience in teaching German language and culture.

This consecutive and practice-oriented master’s program aims to prepare students for a profession in the field of German as a foreign language and teaching cultural studies as well as in the politics of the study of language and culture abroad.

Previously obtained knowledge in the German language and the literature and culture of German-speaking countries is deepened and systematically expanded by concepts, positions, and discussions related to language didactics and the politics of language and culture.

Each winter term, we accept a new class of up to 25 students, usually with an international composition. Thus, the master’s program provides additional intercultural competence as well as further knowledge in foreign languages.

Study abroad is mandatory during the third semester of the program. Students spend a semester in a department for German language and culture at selected partner universities in Europe or abroad, where they sit in on German lessons, actively teach, and participate in academic courses. The standard course of study comprises four semesters. During the fourth semester, students usually work on their master’s project.

Graduates of the master’s program are specifically qualified to organize and teach classes to adults in German language, literature, and culture. Potential fields of work include universities in Germany and abroad, language schools, publishing houses, media editorial offices, cultural institutions like the Goethe-Institut, associations, foundations, and organizations committed to cultural exchange.