Required Outcomes for this Goal

(list below)

Relevant Course/Institutional Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

Specific Assessment Method for Outcome

Understand major movements,               themes, and values in one or more cultures as revealed in literature

Reading discussion and           comprehension questions during units on Realism (Maria Magdalena), Naturalism (Bahnwarter Thiel), Neo-Romanticism (Liebelei), Modernism (Andorra), and Post-Reunification (Vom Nullpunkt zur Wende)

Students prepare brief lectures on the authors, take hour exams on content of the readings and literary theory as treated in lectures, and discuss the effects of literature on German society. For example, Vom Nullpunkt zur Wende) deals with the fall of the Berlin Wall and how social and political changes are reflected in literature. Liebelei treats the German society in Vienna at the turn of the 19^th century.

Specific questions from the unit on Maria Magdalena: How do morals of the society after the Industrial Revolution differ from those of the pre-Industrial Revolution society?

Tracking and reporting overall student performance: Mean score for the class out of the total points available on the question sheet.

Analyze particular literary texts as reflections of cultural movements, themes, and values.

Students will learn the influence of Darwinism on German society in the early 20^th century in Bahnwarter Thiel. Students will learn about the concept of societal angst in Kafka’s Das Urteil and how the idea of uncertainty is reflected in the comedies of Durrenmatt. Students will also learn about the meaning of art and the artist as shown in Mann’s Tod in Venedig.

Students analyze literary texts through essays, short quizzes on selected passages from the texts read, and class discussions.

Specific questions: How does Mann portray the artist as a diseased individual?

What is the conflict between revenge and social responsibility as treated in Durrenmatt’s Besuch der alten Dame.

Tracking: Percentage of students in the class who receive 70% or above on relevant essay questions.

Required Outcomes for this Goal

(list below)

Relevant Course/Institutional Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

Specific Assessment Method for Outcome

Develop and defend interpretations of literary texts through written discourse.

 Students will analyze the development of literary movements through three lengthy papers. One paper will be written after the reading and discussion of four of the works in sequence. 

Students must display knowledge of the literary periods demonstrated by the works read and make connections between the works and describe the development of literary movements. For example, for the first paper, students must understand and describe how Realism led to Naturalism which then led to Neo-Romanticism. For the second paper, students must discuss the understanding of the artist and the role of art in society as seen in the works of Rilke, Mann, and Hesse. In the third paper, students will wirte about the individual and the struggle for survival in a rapidly changing society as seen in the works of Kafka, Frisch, and through essays about life in Germany after reunification.

Tracking:  percentage of students who receive a passing grade of 70% or above on each of the essays.

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

1. Teach a disciplinary mode of inquiry and provide students with practice in applying inquiry, critical thinking, problem solving

Students will learn the theory of literary movements and apply these theories to the various stages of literary development in Germany from 1840-1995. They will investigate different approaches to literature from text-based to historical. Students will examine, for example in Frisch’s Andorra, from the point of view of religious stereotyping, or how the modern society may cause a form of madness as seen in Kafka’s Das Urteil.

2. Provide examples of how disciplinary knowledge changes through creative applications of the chosen mode of inquiry

During early discussions in class, students answer the question, why write and why read literature. The class discusses the different answers people have given over time and the different approaches to literary analysis that have resulted.

3. Consider questions of ethical values

Does Max Frisch claim that mankind is obsessed by stereotypes and that society can project stereotypic behavior on individuals. In what way is the heroin in Durrenmatt’s Besuch der alten Dame justified in her revenge on an old lover by bribing the townsfolk in his city so that they will kill him?

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

4. Explore past, current, and future implications of disciplinary knowledge

Discuss the reunification of Germany within the context of the works written just before and just after the reunification. What are, and what will be the implications of this reunification within the European Union.

5. Encourage consideration of course content from diverse perspectives

Exam question: Discuss the portrayal of women in the play, Maria Magdalena (1844), and the play Mutter Courage (1941). How does the portrayal change? How is it related to the historical period? How is it related to the political views of the authors? 

6. Provide opportunities for students to increase information literacy through contemporary techniques of gathering, manipulating, and analyzing information and data

Students will use the library, databases available on-line (MLA Bibliography), and the Internet in finding and evaluating sources for their papers and oral reports

General Education Criteria

Relevant Course Components (refer specifically to course syllabus)

7. Require at least one substantive written paper, oral report, or course journal and also require students to articulate information or ideas in their own words on tests and exams

Students will write three papers and make at least one oral report. They will articulate information and ideas in their own words.

8. Foster awareness of the common elements among disciplines and the interconnectedness of disciplines

Students consider the links among literature, history, politics, art, and psychology. They relate the claims and themes of literary texts to the historical, political, artistic, and psychological circumstances of their period. For example, the role of art in Thomas Mann’s Tod in Venedig is discussed within the context of disease and human degradation, and this decline parallels the decline in Western society.

9. Provide a rationale as to why knowledge of this discipline is important to the development of an educated citizen

The universal values and experiences of an educated citizen are developed through a knowledge of literature and of the techniques and vocabulary of literary analysis. Through literary texts, students can explore the particular social and cultural perspectives and practices of both the past and the present,  analyze and interpret the subtleties of human emotions and relationships as represented in literary texts, and  study the aesthetic and stylistic uses of language.