Teaching method: We will meet in weekly face to face sessions on campus. You will need access to Stud.IP. and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities.

This introductory course will attempt to offer students access to literary studies in English at university level and try to balance scholarly considerations with aesthetic enjoyment. As this is a continuation of the foundation module course “Introduction to English Literatures, Part I”, students will review the methodology of poetry, drama and narrative analysis. Having gathered historical and textual skills in dealing with various genres, this course will explore a considerable range of theoretical key concepts in literary and cultural studies.

Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further detail. Strongly recommended, but not mandatory: Please sign up on Stud. IP. for our weekly tutorial sessions offered by a tutor “10-76-2-Basismodul A-03 Übung/Tutorial: Introduction to English Literatures (Part II) (Online Angebot) (SoSe 2024))” Friday 11:15 a. m. – 12:00 noon

Requirements:
• Interest in the topics discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material and course materials,
• final written test at Test Center (University Boulevard)

These tutorial sessions correspond to the weekly study units of the course "Foundation Module A: Introduction to English Literature (Part II) and they will provide participants with the opportunity to ask questions regarding the weekly theoretical explorations and cultural movements, complete excercises and quizz sessions as exam preparation.
Students may gain 1 credit point for General Studies.

This course continues the general introduction to English linguistics from last semester, focusing on how to do empirical research in linguistics. You will be introduced to research methodology and design, different types of data collection and preparation, and various data analysis approaches. The coursework will focus on real-life linguistic data and exercises which are designed to help you apply selected methods and tools and critically discuss their usefulness.

By the end of the semester, you will be able to
● formulate research questions and hypotheses,
● identify quality criteria for linguistics research,
● describe ethical issues related to linguistics research,
● apply various research methods in applied linguistics,
● evaluate various research methods in applied linguistics,
● develop a research proposal.

Basic introductory textbooks:
Sealey, A. (2010). Researching English Language. A resource book for students. Routledge.
Voelkel, S., & Kretzschmar, F. (Eds.) (2021). Introducing Linguistic Research. Cambridge University Press. E-book available at https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316884485
Wray, A., & Bloomer, A. (2012). Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies (3rd ed.). Hodder Education. E-book at http://lib.myilibrary.com/Open.aspx?id=368803

This course continues the general introduction to English Linguistics from last semester, focusing on how to do empirical work in linguistics. Students will be introduced to the different methods and tools to collect, process and analyze linguistic data. In this course, we focus on both data collected with the help of participants and without.

Coursework and assessment
You are expected to read and prepare selected texts for each session. The coursework will focus on real-life linguistic data and exercises which are designed to help you apply selected methods and tools and critically discuss their usefulness. By the end of the term, you are required to submit a portfolio comprising three data-based tasks.

Literature
Rose, Heath & Jim McKinley & Jessica Briggs Baffoe-Djan. 2020. Data Collection Research Methods in Applied Linguistics. Bloomsbury Academic.
Wray, Alison & Aileen Bloomer. 2012. Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies. 3rd edition. London: Hodder Education.

This course continues the general introduction to English Linguistics from last semester, focusing on how to do empirical work in linguistics. Students will be introduced to the different ways, methods and tools to obtain, process and analyze linguistic data. The following topics will be covered: research methodology and design, types of data collection, experiments, corpus linguistics, online dictionaries, linguistic fieldwork, and transcription.

Coursework and assessment

You are expected to read and prepare selected texts for each session. The coursework will focus on real-life linguistic data and exercises which are designed to help you apply selected methods and tools and critically discuss their usefulness. You are required to submit a portfolio comprising different data-based tasks ("worksheets") and other assignments that will be worked on in the course of the semester.

NOTE: This course will only commence on the 11th of April, meaning that there will be NO class on the 4th of April.


Basic introductory textbooks

Sealey, A. (2010), Researching English Language. A resource book for students. London: Routledge.
Wray, A. & A. Bloomer (2012), Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies. 3rd edition. London: Hodder Education.

This course continues the general introduction to English Linguistics from last semester, focusing on how to do empirical work in linguistics. Students will be introduced to the different ways, methods and tools to obtain, process and analyze linguistic data. The following topics will be covered: research methodology and design, types of data collection, experiments, corpus linguistics, online dictionaries, transcription, and basic statistics.

Coursework and assessment:
You are expected to read and prepare selected texts for each session. The coursework will focus on real-life linguistic data and exercises which are designed to help you apply the methods and tools and critically discuss their usefulness. Participants are required to submit a portfolio comprising different data-based tasks ("worksheets") and other assignments that will be worked on in the course of the semester.

Basic introductory textbooks
Sealey, A. (2010), Researching English Language. A resource book for students. London: Routledge.
Wray, A. & A. Bloomer (2012), Projects in Linguistics and Language Studies. 3rd edition. London: Hodder Education.

In this seminar, students get an introduction to the history of English, i.e. Old English, Middle English and Early Modern English. This class includes weekly discussions and tasks. In the second half of the seminar, we continue to study the historical events, current status of major varieties and differences of world varieties from North America, Australia to Africa and Asia with a focus on their structural and phonological features. We will follow the debates about English as a cause of language death, and talk about the place of English in language policies and language planning.

In this course we will look at some key historical events that have impacted the historical development, standardisation, global expansion and diversification of the English language around the world. The course aims to help you to understand and explain how the linguistic development of the English language is related to events in the political and social history of the British Isles and beyond, and, as a future teacher, how apparent irregularities in Present-Day English which are, in many cases, remnants of earlier, regular patterns, can be explained historically. We will also examine the reasons for the the global expansion and diversification of English in various cultural contexts that has given rise to an enormous linguistic variation across English-speaking cultures around the world.


For an entertaining and insightful quick introduction see the series of short videos "The History of English in Ten Minutes" produced by the Open University: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA03075BAD88B909E

IIn this seminar, students get an introduction to the history of English, i.e. Old English, Middle English and Early Modern English. This class includes weekly discussions and tasks. In the second half of the seminar, we continue to study the historical events, current status of major varieties and differences of world varieties from North America, Australia to Africa and Asia with a focus on their structural and phonological features. We will follow the debates about English as a cause of language death, and talk about the place of English in language policies and language planning.

This is the second part of the foundation module. It provides an introduction to the history of the English language from Old English to Present-Day English, the spread and transplantation of English to other parts of the world as well as the subsequent diversification of the English language into World Englishes.

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.

While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, passive voice, conditionals) will be part of the course’s syllabus.

Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudIP

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.

While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, passive voice, conditionals) will be part of the course’s syllabus.

Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudIP

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.

While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, passive voice, conditionals) will be part of the course’s syllabus.

Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudIP

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.

While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, passive voice, conditionals) will be part of the course’s syllabus.

Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudIP

University Language Skills 2 is the second part of the SP1 module and will earn you a total of 6CPs. It is a four-hour class with two consecutive time slots, both of which MUST be attended.
The following seminar will build on skills acquired in ULS1. We will review and further develop writing skills regarding the different phases in writing, essay structure and good writing style. In addition, we will explore and develop more complex writing strategies including problem/solution, argumentation, cause/effect, and comparison/contrast.
Emphasis will be placed on the ability to recognize individual errors and work on challenging aspects of language. You will therefore continue to work on grammar and lexis at an individual, needs-based level and will be able to access self-study material to work on independently according to your own requirements outside of the classroom. This is essential in developing an autonomous learning style which will subsequently enable you to critically assess and correct your own work.
Students will be required to hand in TWO assignments based on TWO different writing strategies dealt with during the semester. These assignments will be graded and constitute the grade for the SP1 module. In addition, you will be expected to attend class regularly and actively participate in group discussions and activities. Task assigned to be completed between sessions must also be completed on time.

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.

While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, passive voice, conditionals) will be part of the course’s syllabus.

Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudI

University Language Skills 2 (ULS 2) is a four-hour class. You have to attend the entire class. ULS 2 is the second half of the SP-1 module. As such it builds on the basic knowledge of academic writing established in ULS 1.
While the focus during the winter semester is on the basic structure of an academic essay, during the summer semester you will be introduced to key rhetorical strategies. These strategies include essays of argumentation, cause & effect as well as comparison & contrast. Furthermore, grammatical and stylistic structures needed for writing (e.g. syntax, conditionals, preciseness of word choice, transition markers) will be part of the course’s syllabus.
Requirements:
• Regular and active participation
• Thorough preparation of each session
• Written assignments (approx. 2000 words)

Materials are provided via StudIP
Registration mode

After enrolment, participants will manually be selected.

Potential participants are given additional information before enrolling in the course.

Art has transformative power. Social movements use art to protest against inequality and oppression, to raise awareness and to stimulate activism. Thus, art may contribute to an aesthetics of change. We will examine posters, fliers, murals, graffiti, photography, paintings, installations, mixed media works, and digital art in order to understand the role of visual art in resistance cultures. Possible topics include feminism, anti-racism, environmentalism, gay and queer interventions, labor movements, First Nations etc. Students will work in groups and present their findings in class sessions. Exploring the cultural expressions and aesthetics of intervention may give new insights into the interaction of cultural, aesthetic, political, economic and social forces.

Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will critically dicuss how discourses about climate change transform cultural ideas of progress, human-nature relationships, agency and participation. Employing different scholarly approaches and methodological frameworks we will gain insight into different conceptualizations and narrativizations of environmental issues.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will examine the multifaceted relations between feminism and popular culture. On one hand feminist approaches have been productively used in critically analyzing power structures in popular texts on the other hand feminism has become an integral element of mainstream representations. We will develop feminist critiques of cultural representations and assess the possiblities and limits of mainstream and populist feminist cultures.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)

This course is designed to introduce students to critical scholarship on US-American film history and culture. Basic introductions to the analytical categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality will help students to analyze how films construct and limit representations of African-Americans, Native Americans, women and femininity, men and masculinity, sexuality, class struggle and class difference.
Our major textbook will be Benshoff and Griffin: America on film: Representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. (Purchase is is suggested.)
Essential readings from the textbook will be available for download on Stud-IP.
Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

This class will introduce students to German colonialism in Papua New Guinea and Samoa. We will read texts and watch documentaries about German colonial history and contemporary issues in PNG and Samoa. The class will be co-taught with INPUTS Writer-in-Residence Anthony Brunt (Samoa / NZ), who is a historian working on German photographic collections from the colonial era. We will also include a visit to the Hafenmuseum Bremen and its exhibition on the artwork of PNG artist Lisa Hilli followed by a presentation of Anthony Brunt.
With research-based learning, students will develop their small research projects on German colonialism in the Pacific.

All texts will be provided electronically. Requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, active class discussion, and developing small research projects. Please be advised that the museum visit will take longer than the 2 hours reserved for our class. Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American journalist, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

In this seminar we will examine how dystopian fiction and film use the technique of defamiliarization to comment on social, political, and cultural conditions of the world. Dystopian fiction and film work with distant settings and shocking scenarios to de-familiarize the fictional world from the known world; by understanding how certain novels and films use de-familiarization to comment on the crisis of climate change within dystopian works, we’ll investigate how specifically postcolonial worlds and societies engage with these concepts.

This class will work with two films and one novel, while also interspersing short films when needed to discuss specific topics regarding environmental dystopian fiction and film. The films we will be watching and analyzing are Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men (2006) and South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013). We will also discuss and analyze Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower along with theoretical texts about the two films and novel.

Requirements for this class include active class participation, in-depth knowledge of all primary and secondary reading materials, and a portfolio or term paper (depending on the chosen module).

The capture of millions of people on the African continent and their forced transportation across the Atlantic as well as the enslavement of generations of descendants in the so-called New World and their continued resistance to their oppression considerably shaped the development of North America and the Caribbean from the sixteenth century onwards. After abolition, the history of the Middle Passage, enslavement, and the fight for freedom and equality continued to have an effect on cultural, political, and social developments on both sides of the Atlantic. As Saidiya Hartman has argued, “the afterlife of slavery” continues to shape Black diasporic life to this day. In this seminar, students will explore the multifaceted history of what Paul Gilroy famously coined the Black Atlantic. The class will familiarize students with key cultural theories around the Black Atlantic in order to facilitate critical analyses of select cultural artefacts, such as autobiographies, poetry, visual and performance arts, film or fiction.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

Borders shaped the multifaceted histories and cultures of North America already before the first European colonizers set foot on its eastern shores in the fifteenth century. Changing land- and water-based borders have continued to mold the continent ever since. In this seminar, students will explore the cultural history of drawing borders on maps, on dry land, and through bodies of water on and around Turtle Island, or what we now call Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Drawing on archipelagic North American studies as well as Chicanx and Indigenous Studies, this class critically reflects not only issues of race, ethnicity, origin, and gender but also of terracentrism (Marcus Redicker) and the oceanic turn (Hester Blum). Studying an array of texts and artifacts, such as scholarly, fictional, and artistic works, the changing cultural history of borders, borderlands, and borderwaters will be examined.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round of the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

English is spoken as a first language by about 350 million people and as second or foreign language by over 600 million speakers, worldwide. Given this multitude of speakers, with varying (i.e. linguistic) backgrounds, we are very likely to encounter many different forms of spoken English in our lives. These may differ on several levels; however, often most noticeably in form of phonological and phonetic features leading to utterances which “sound different” (see e.g. “Mi cyaan believe it” Michael Smith). But what does this really mean and how can we describe these differences or innovations appropriately?
This class will introduce students to a number of varieties of spoken English from around the globe and theoretical concepts central to language change and contact (e.g. models of World Englishes, standard /national/first language, etc.). We will examine spoken data and will take a look at variety-specific phonological processes and features, but also similarities. The main focus of this course will be on the sounds of Postcolonial Englishes (e.g. Indian English) and contact languages such as English-based pidgins and creoles (e.g. Jamaican Creole, Nigerian Pidgin English).
Requirements:
BA E-SC D2b:
• Active participation: obligatory readings, some homework, some in-class (group) tasks, short presentation
• Oral presentation (20min, Studienleistung); term paper (10-12 pages, Prüfungsleistung)
SIK5:
• Active participation: obligatory readings, some homework, some in-class (group) tasks , short presentation
• Oral presentation (20min) + term paper (10-12 pages)

IMPORTANT NOTE: Deadline for term papers is 04.07.24 as my contract with the university will end soon thereafter.

This class focuses on the sociolinguistics of language contact by looking at the Central American country of Belize, a former colony of the British Empire. We will focus on the prevalent multilingualism of Belizeans and how the languages spoken by Belizeans, amongst other Belizean Kriol and Belizean English, interact. We will also consider language ideologies, and how these language ideologies manifest in public and private domains.

Students will develop their own research projects to investigate selected aspects of sociolinguistics of language contact in Belize.

Note: This course will only commence on the 11th of April, meaning that there will be NO class on the 4th of April.

When we look around, it seems that humans try to destroy nature, and nature tries to destroy us back. What if the way we think and speak about nature encourages its destruction? In this class, from a linguistic perspective, we want to analyse the stories we live by. We will study the representation of nature in language. Topics include climate change discourse, animals in discourse, semantic engineering and greenwashing, among others. This approach is called ecological discourse analysis (EDA).
"One of the underlying assumptions of EDA is that highlighting the way that discourse may be inhumane or destructive will create more awareness of the role of language in dealing with the environment. This also includes the hope that discourses that are more harmonious with our natural surroundings will result in more ecologically conscious ways of dealing with the environment." Penz & Fill 2022: 237
We will investigate several grammatical and lexical phenomena, some manually and some with the use of corpora. In the end, you will be aware of what exactly may be wrong with the ‘us versus nature’ approach, and you will be able to create better stories.

Requirements
Active participation, reading and reflecting the literature, a small empirical study of your own that you present in class (Studienleistung) or in a term paper (Prüfungsleistung).
This class can also be taken for D1a or D1c. It is not open to the WD module or Ersatzleistung für das Auslandssemester.

References
Fill, Alwin F. & Hermine Penz (eds.) 2018. The Routledge Handbook of Ecolinguistics. New York: Routledge. ebook.
Penz, Hermine & Alwin Fill. 2022. Ecolinguistics: History, today and tomorrow. Journal of World Languages 8[2]: 232-253. Open Access.
Stibbe, Arran. 2020. Ecolinguistics: Language, Ecology and the Stories We Live by. 2nd ed. London: Routledge. ebook.
Stibbe Arran. 2023. Econarrative: Ethics, Ecology, and the Search for New Narratives to Live by. Bloomsbury.

Multilingualism is a normal condition for most people in this world. Monolingual people, in turn, are the minority.
This seminar will examine different aspects of multilingualism. We will look at individual multilingualism such as bilingual language acquisition, language learning, and different forms of multilingual speech (code-switching, translanguaging, …). Moreover, we will cover aspects of multilingualism in education as well as in the society.
The class work will consist of input, discussions, and group work. The aim of the seminar is to develop your own (mock) research project in the area of multilingualism.

For the ungraded “Seminarleistung” (SL) you will be required to
(1) write an OASIS summary (https://oasis-database.org/) of an article related to multilingualism, and
(2) present your summary in class at the end of the semester.

For the graded “Prüfungsleistung” (PL) you will—additionally to the summary and presentation—complete a portfolio with tasks related to your research project ⇐ proposal of your mock research project, comparison of articles, reflection task).

This course provides you with an introduction to issues in intercultural communication. You will leave this course with an understanding of the ways in which our linguistic and cultural backgrounds may influence how we realize social functions using language, or – in other words – how speakers and listeners make meaning, and how they “do things with words.” You are introduced to the theoretical foundations of an applied approach to pragmatics as well as to implications for language teaching.
We will attempt to answer questions such as the following:

• Why does "It’s cold in here" sometimes mean "Please close the window" and other times "I don’t like this room"?
• Why are compliments sometimes interpreted the wrong way?
• Why is it sometimes polite to use formal language and other times offensive?
• What do we do to “read between the lines”?
• Why did the defense attorney object when the prosecutor asked the defendant when he had stopped abusing his wife?

Assessment: Portfolio

Literature: Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. (2012). (3rd Edition). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC “Key Topics in Literature”- D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic Exchange students

Teaching method: We will meet in weekly face to face sessions on campus. You will need access to Stud.IP. and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. Please make sure to attend our first session if you wish a placement in this class.

Crime Fiction is overwhelmingly popular and yet, much of the narrative literature that involves crime of some kind or another is often not regarded as ‘literature’ at all. This course is designed to familiarise students with the contemporary critical and theoretical arguments concerning popular fiction and genre studies, as well as to enable all participants of this course to relate to the genre’s wider social, historical and political contexts while discussing the individual narratives in terms of form, language and imagery. Seeking to promote an analytical, creative and imaginative engagement with the complexities of literary and cultural discourses, we will focus on excerpts of both detective- or transgressor-centred narratives from the second half of the 20th Century onwards. These narratives include examples of the police novel (e.g. Ian Rankin); of female detectives and the feminist appropriations of the hard-boiled story (e.g. Sara Paretsky); of the psychothriller (e.g. Patricia Highsmith), of Afro-American crime fiction, here the examination of literary representations and other cultural manifestations of the Black Diaspora, discussing the relevance of this form of genre fiction to the Black experience of North American Life (e.g. Walter Mosley), of Indigenous crime fiction (e.g. Thomas King), of the postmodern mystery (e.g. Paul Auster), and of representations of disability in crime fiction (e.g. Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series).

Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

Requirements:
• Interest in the topics discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material and course materials,
• final exam according to module choice.

Reading materials (we will read excerpts of these novels but you are welcome to read these novels in full especially when planning a research project):

Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy, Faber and Faber, 1987.
Deaver, Jeffrey. The Bone Collector, Hodder and Stoughton, 1997.
Highsmith, Patricia. Strangers on a Train, Vintage, 1999, 1950.
King, Thomas. The Red Power Murders: A DreadfulWater Mystery, Harper Perennial, 2006.
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress, Serpent's Tail, 2001, 1991.
Paretsky, Sara. Blacklist: A V.I. Warshawski Novel, Signet Book, 2004.
Rankin, Ian. Knots & Crosses: Inspector Rebus Novel, Orion, 2005, 1998.

Copies of some but not all novels are available for purchase at the bookstore on our campus (Universitätsbuchhandlung Bremen: www.unibuch-bremen.de)

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic exchange students

This seminar focuses predominantly on novels exemplifying the predominance and generic diversity of fictional prose in the Victorian era. We will explore selected fictional writings by two English novelists and playwrights: Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) and Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889). Using text-centred and contextual approaches, this course wishes to enable students to explore language, form, genre, and style of the novels, as well as to engage critically with themes, issues, and key concerns of Dickens’s and Collins’s writing. Along with our weekly discussions of selected chapters - reader responses are strongly encouraged - we will also touch upon key developments in the history of nineteen-century novels as well as selected historical and literary contexts of the period.
We will meet in weekly seminar sessions on campus, but students will also have access to weekly self-study units, worksheets and opencast podcasts. Since some of the participants are required to submit a research-based term paper, we will use parts of our seminar discussions to the development of topics, the formulation of a thesis statement, as well as considerations about the methodological approaches of writing such a paper. A reader with selected secondary text materials will be made available for download on Stud. IP. You will need access to Stud.IP and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. You may wish to check the sections "Information" and "Schedule" further details such as requirements, weekly schedule, select bibliography and modes of assessment.
Requirements and Assessment
• Interest in the topic discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material,
• homework assignments,
• Module exam depending on Module choice

Required primary reading materials (you may use any edition available to you):
Dickens, Charles, and Fred Kaplan. Oliver Twist (Italics). 1837-1839., Norton, 1993. (or an other edition)
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone (Italics). 1868. OUP, 1999. (or any other edition)

This class will provide an overview over the history of American literature through the various periods of literary development. The lecturer will give impulse lectures on American literary history and assign for reading selected short texts by a whole variety of American authors, from the early beginnings to contemporary times. Students will have to prepare class presentations on selected authors and their texts.

All reading and information material will be made available through Stud.IP; hence prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.
Class requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, and active class discussion. Reading the texts is mandatory.

In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American journalist, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

In this seminar we will examine how dystopian fiction and film use the technique of defamiliarization to comment on social, political, and cultural conditions of the world. Dystopian fiction and film work with distant settings and shocking scenarios to de-familiarize the fictional world from the known world; by understanding how certain novels and films use de-familiarization to comment on the crisis of climate change within dystopian works, we’ll investigate how specifically postcolonial worlds and societies engage with these concepts.

This class will work with two films and one novel, while also interspersing short films when needed to discuss specific topics regarding environmental dystopian fiction and film. The films we will be watching and analyzing are Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men (2006) and South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013). We will also discuss and analyze Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower along with theoretical texts about the two films and novel.

Requirements for this class include active class participation, in-depth knowledge of all primary and secondary reading materials, and a portfolio or term paper (depending on the chosen module).

This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round of the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam to be taken to complete the SP-2 module.

This particular class will look at different moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. We will investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term implications that came about as a consequence. You will be required to think critically and research a topic of your own choice in detail in order to prepare for the Proficiency Interview ⇐ oral exam) at the end of the semester during which you will explain how this moment has been defining. You will also work on presentation skills and familiarise yourselves with the situation of speaking in front of others.

Materials are provided via StudIP.

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam to be taken to complete the SP-2 module.

This particular class will look at different moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. We will investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term implications that came about as a consequence. You will be required to think critically and research a topic of your own choice in detail in order to prepare for the Proficiency Interview ⇐ oral exam) at the end of the semester during which you will explain how this moment has been defining. You will also work on presentation skills and familiarise yourselves with the situation of speaking in front of others.

Materials are provided via StudIP.

The aim of the Culture and Communication class is to help you prepare for the final SP2 module oral exam taken when you have completed the SP2 module. This class will deal with two different areas from which you will be able to develop ONE research project as the basis for your oral exam.
You will be looking at defining moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. Your task will be to investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term consequences. A critical analytic approach be will necessary as you explore the causes and implications of the topic of your choice.
In addition, we will work on improving important aspects of grammar, pronunciation, intonation as well as developing the confidence and fluency needed to successfully pass the exam. Whereas CBIS was more about collaboration and teamwork, Culture and Communication allows you to build upon the research skills developed last semester as you move forward with your own project.

The aim of the Culture and Communication class is to help you prepare for the final SP2 module oral exam taken when you have completed the SP2 module. This class will deal with two different areas from which you will be able to develop ONE research project as the basis for your oral exam.
You will be looking at defining moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. Your task will be to investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term consequences. A critical analytic approach be will necessary as you explore the causes and implications of the topic of your choice.
In addition, we will work on improving important aspects of grammar, pronunciation, intonation as well as developing the confidence and fluency needed to successfully pass the exam. Whereas CBIS was more about collaboration and teamwork, Culture and Communication allows you to build upon the research skills developed last semester as you move forward with your own project.

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam to be taken to complete the SP-2 module.

This particular class will look at different moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. We will investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term implications that came about as a consequence. You will be required to think critically and research a topic of your own choice in detail in order to prepare for the Proficiency Interview ⇐ oral exam) at the end of the semester during which you will explain how this moment has been defining. You will also work on presentation skills and familiarise yourselves with the situation of speaking in front of others.

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam to be taken to complete the SP-2 module.

This particular class will look at different moments which have greatly influenced events within the English-speaking world. We will investigate the processes which led to a particular event, define the event itself and explore the long-term and short-term implications that came about as a consequence. You will be required to think critically and research a topic of your own choice in detail in order to prepare for the Proficiency Interview ⇐ oral exam) at the end of the semester during which you will explain how this moment has been defining. You will also work on presentation skills and familiarise yourselves with the situation of speaking in front of others.

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam and thus complete the SP-2 module.
This particular class will look at the academic concept of othering- Issues as diverse as racism, racial profiling and reactions to it, (institutionalized) discrimination, hate crimes, homo- and transphobia, sexism, classism, ableism, multiculturalism, as well as how these issues are percieved and recieved, will be examined, among others.
Students will be required to complete the required readings, actively participate in discussions, and, based on discussions around the readings, to give an original presentation on a topic of your choice. In addition, you will quality feedback on other students‘ presentations. Your presentation is practice for the module exam (Proficiency interview)
Materials will be made available via StudIP

The aim of the Culture & Communication classes is to help you to prepare for the final SP-2 module oral exam and thus complete the SP-2 module.
This particular class will look at the academic concept of othering- Issues as diverse as racism, racial profiling and reactions to it, (institutionalized) discrimination, hate crimes, homo- and transphobia, sexism, classism, ableism, multiculturalism, as well as how these issues are percieved and recieved, will be examined, among others.
Students will be required to complete the required readings, actively participate in discussions, and, based on discussions around the readings, to give an original presentation on a topic of your choice. In addition, you will quality feedback on other students‘ presentations. Your presentation is practice for the module exam (Proficiency interview)
Materials will be provided via StudIP.

This course has a closer look at how first and second languages are learned in order for future English Language Teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their own language teaching. We will deal with the following questions:
• In which way has English Language Teaching developed in history?
• How do children acquire a first language?
• To what extent can theories of first language acquisition be applied to second language learning?
• Can individual learner characteristics affect success in second language learning?
• How do learners learn a foreign language at school - and what are the consequences for teaching them?
There will be a special emphasis on primary education in some sessions in this class.

This course has a closer look at how first and second languages are learned in order for future English Language Teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of their own language teaching. We will deal with the following questions:
• In which way has English Language Teaching developed in history?
• How do children acquire a first language?
• To what extent can theories of first language acquisition be applied to second language learning?
• Can individual learner characteristics affect success in second language learning?
• How do learners learn a foreign language at school - and what are the consequences for teaching them?
There will be a special emphasis on primary education in some sessions in this class.

When teaching a foreign language class, teachers have to decide which materials, resources and activities to use in a specific context, i.e. within a specific school, with specific students, within a specific class dynamic etc. They need to be able to act autonomously in that regard as they should be the expert for their respective context. In this class we will first take a look at available teaching materials, analyze them, and discuss their structure and layout. Second, we are striving to evaluate these materials when put into practice in how well they served their in-tended purpose within a specific classroom (e.g. with regard to fostering speaking skills). For that reason, we are also going to look at action research studies and methodologies which might be used as starting points for students' own projects. All this is designed to help students become reflective and autonomous practitioners.

When teaching a foreign language class, teachers have to decide which materials, resources and activities to use in a specific context, i.e. within a specific school, with specific students, within a specific class dynamic etc. They need to be able to act autonomously in that regard as they should be the expert for their respective context. In this class we will first take a look at available teaching materials, analyze them, and discuss their structure and layout. Second, we are striving to evaluate these materials when put into practice in how well they served their in-tended purpose within a specific classroom (e.g. with regard to fostering speaking skills). For that reason, we are also going to look at action research studies and methodologies which might be used as starting points for students' own projects. All this is designed to help students become reflective and autonomous practitioners.

When teaching a foreign language class, teachers have to decide which materials, resources and activities to use in a specific context, i.e. within a specific school, with specific students, within a specific class dynamic etc. They need to be able to act autonomously in that regard as they should be the expert for their respective context. In this class we will first take a look at available teaching materials, analyze them, and discuss their structure and layout. Second, we are striving to evaluate these materials when put into practice in how well they served their in-tended purpose within a specific classroom (e.g. with regard to fostering speaking skills). For that reason, we are also going to look at action research studies and methodologies which might be used as starting points for students' own projects. All this is designed to help students become reflective and autonomous practitioners.

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC “Key Topics in Literature”- D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic Exchange students

Teaching method: We will meet in weekly face to face sessions on campus. You will need access to Stud.IP. and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. Please make sure to attend our first session if you wish a placement in this class.

Crime Fiction is overwhelmingly popular and yet, much of the narrative literature that involves crime of some kind or another is often not regarded as ‘literature’ at all. This course is designed to familiarise students with the contemporary critical and theoretical arguments concerning popular fiction and genre studies, as well as to enable all participants of this course to relate to the genre’s wider social, historical and political contexts while discussing the individual narratives in terms of form, language and imagery. Seeking to promote an analytical, creative and imaginative engagement with the complexities of literary and cultural discourses, we will focus on excerpts of both detective- or transgressor-centred narratives from the second half of the 20th Century onwards. These narratives include examples of the police novel (e.g. Ian Rankin); of female detectives and the feminist appropriations of the hard-boiled story (e.g. Sara Paretsky); of the psychothriller (e.g. Patricia Highsmith), of Afro-American crime fiction, here the examination of literary representations and other cultural manifestations of the Black Diaspora, discussing the relevance of this form of genre fiction to the Black experience of North American Life (e.g. Walter Mosley), of Indigenous crime fiction (e.g. Thomas King), of the postmodern mystery (e.g. Paul Auster), and of representations of disability in crime fiction (e.g. Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series).

Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

Requirements:
• Interest in the topics discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material and course materials,
• final exam according to module choice.

Reading materials (we will read excerpts of these novels but you are welcome to read these novels in full especially when planning a research project):

Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy, Faber and Faber, 1987.
Deaver, Jeffrey. The Bone Collector, Hodder and Stoughton, 1997.
Highsmith, Patricia. Strangers on a Train, Vintage, 1999, 1950.
King, Thomas. The Red Power Murders: A DreadfulWater Mystery, Harper Perennial, 2006.
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress, Serpent's Tail, 2001, 1991.
Paretsky, Sara. Blacklist: A V.I. Warshawski Novel, Signet Book, 2004.
Rankin, Ian. Knots & Crosses: Inspector Rebus Novel, Orion, 2005, 1998.

Copies of some but not all novels are available for purchase at the bookstore on our campus (Universitätsbuchhandlung Bremen: www.unibuch-bremen.de)

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic exchange students

This seminar focuses predominantly on novels exemplifying the predominance and generic diversity of fictional prose in the Victorian era. We will explore selected fictional writings by two English novelists and playwrights: Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) and Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889). Using text-centred and contextual approaches, this course wishes to enable students to explore language, form, genre, and style of the novels, as well as to engage critically with themes, issues, and key concerns of Dickens’s and Collins’s writing. Along with our weekly discussions of selected chapters - reader responses are strongly encouraged - we will also touch upon key developments in the history of nineteen-century novels as well as selected historical and literary contexts of the period.
We will meet in weekly seminar sessions on campus, but students will also have access to weekly self-study units, worksheets and opencast podcasts. Since some of the participants are required to submit a research-based term paper, we will use parts of our seminar discussions to the development of topics, the formulation of a thesis statement, as well as considerations about the methodological approaches of writing such a paper. A reader with selected secondary text materials will be made available for download on Stud. IP. You will need access to Stud.IP and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. You may wish to check the sections "Information" and "Schedule" further details such as requirements, weekly schedule, select bibliography and modes of assessment.
Requirements and Assessment
• Interest in the topic discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material,
• homework assignments,
• Module exam depending on Module choice

Required primary reading materials (you may use any edition available to you):
Dickens, Charles, and Fred Kaplan. Oliver Twist (Italics). 1837-1839., Norton, 1993. (or an other edition)
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone (Italics). 1868. OUP, 1999. (or any other edition)

This class will provide an overview over the history of American literature through the various periods of literary development. The lecturer will give impulse lectures on American literary history and assign for reading selected short texts by a whole variety of American authors, from the early beginnings to contemporary times. Students will have to prepare class presentations on selected authors and their texts.

All reading and information material will be made available through Stud.IP; hence prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.
Class requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, and active class discussion. Reading the texts is mandatory.

In this seminar we will examine how dystopian fiction and film use the technique of defamiliarization to comment on social, political, and cultural conditions of the world. Dystopian fiction and film work with distant settings and shocking scenarios to de-familiarize the fictional world from the known world; by understanding how certain novels and films use de-familiarization to comment on the crisis of climate change within dystopian works, we’ll investigate how specifically postcolonial worlds and societies engage with these concepts.

This class will work with two films and one novel, while also interspersing short films when needed to discuss specific topics regarding environmental dystopian fiction and film. The films we will be watching and analyzing are Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men (2006) and South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013). We will also discuss and analyze Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower along with theoretical texts about the two films and novel.

Requirements for this class include active class participation, in-depth knowledge of all primary and secondary reading materials, and a portfolio or term paper (depending on the chosen module).

In this seminar, we want to investigate different kinds of texts, in particular novels. If you like, you can put a focus on new nature writing. We will use corpus linguistic methods, e.g. word frequencies, keywords and collocations, to describe language choices made by the author, which result in a specific style of a text. How are the protagonists characterised? What topic is foregrounded? Does the author use fancy adjectives, or are women and men addressed in the same way? You will learn how to use the Corpus Linguistics in Context (CLiC) web interface and do automatic analyses with the AntConc software (Laurence Anthony).
Finally, each student will do analyses of different linguistic aspects of a text of their own choice. In the end, you will be able to find, analyse and present aspects of literary texts. You become a proficient corpus linguist, and you will be able to verify with linguistic methods any hunches you have about a text.
Assessment: Poster presentation

Literature (no need to buy any)
Alaghbary, Gibreel Sadeq. 2022. Introducing Stylistic Analysis: Practising the Basics, Edinburgh University Press.
McEnery, Tony & Richard Xiao & Yukio Tono. 2006. Corpus-based Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book. Routledge.
McIntyre, Dan & Beatrix Busse (eds.) 2010. Language and Style: In Honour of Mick Short. Palgrave Macmillan.

This class deals with digital multimodal communication. The students are introduced to the the concepts multimodality, digital communication, digital humor and memes.
The students are expected to conduct their own research on memes and present their projects in class.

This course provides you with an introduction to issues in intercultural communication. You will leave this course with an understanding of the ways in which our linguistic and cultural backgrounds may influence how we realize social functions using language, or – in other words – how speakers and listeners make meaning, and how they “do things with words.” You are introduced to the theoretical foundations of an applied approach to pragmatics as well as to implications for language teaching.
We will attempt to answer questions such as the following:

• Why does "It’s cold in here" sometimes mean "Please close the window" and other times "I don’t like this room"?
• Why are compliments sometimes interpreted the wrong way?
• Why is it sometimes polite to use formal language and other times offensive?
• What do we do to “read between the lines”?
• Why did the defense attorney object when the prosecutor asked the defendant when he had stopped abusing his wife?

Assessment: Portfolio

Literature: Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. (2012). (3rd Edition). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Not only in linguistics, the ubiquity of metaphor and metonymy is a well-established fact. This seminar will acquaint students with Conceptual Metaphor Theory – arguably the most widely accepted theory of metaphor and metonymy – and its extensions (cultural model and blending theory). The course will, for the most part, follow Kövecses (2010), and cover, inter alia, the basic concepts of conceptual metaphor theory, the universality of metaphors/metonymies vs. cultural specificity, and metaphoric/metonymic systems. Students will be asked to produce their own analyses of metaphors/metonymies and present their findings in class.

In this course we will explore the intersections between language, sexuality, and gender. Students will be equipped with knowledge of language use by and about LGBTQ+ people (Lavender Linguistics, LL) and discursive practices of (hetero)normativity in language (Queer Linguistics, QL). Students will read texts focusing on the theoretical foundations of QL, the history of LL, as well as research papers in applied QL/LL. In accordance with the latter, students will also be introduced to various methodologies and fields of research within QL/LL. Throughout the semester, they will conduct their own small-scale study.

Content notice: We might read papers that contain linguistic examples of sexual practices, body parts, or homo-/transphobia.

Requirements (ungraded):
Active participation in class and thorough preparation of the weekly readings.

Assessment (graded/ungraded depending on your module):
1) Critical excerpt of a research paper
2) Oral presentation of your own mini study

Literature (no need to buy):
Angouri, Jo & Baxter, Judith, eds. (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality. London: Routledge.
Baker, Paul (2008). Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London: Equinox.
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don (2003). Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Livia, Anna & Hall, Kira, eds. (1997). Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Motschenbacher, Heiko (2010). Language, Gender and Sexual Identity: Poststructuralist Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC “Key Topics in Literature”- D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic Exchange students

Teaching method: We will meet in weekly face to face sessions on campus. You will need access to Stud.IP. and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. Please make sure to attend our first session if you wish a placement in this class.

Crime Fiction is overwhelmingly popular and yet, much of the narrative literature that involves crime of some kind or another is often not regarded as ‘literature’ at all. This course is designed to familiarise students with the contemporary critical and theoretical arguments concerning popular fiction and genre studies, as well as to enable all participants of this course to relate to the genre’s wider social, historical and political contexts while discussing the individual narratives in terms of form, language and imagery. Seeking to promote an analytical, creative and imaginative engagement with the complexities of literary and cultural discourses, we will focus on excerpts of both detective- or transgressor-centred narratives from the second half of the 20th Century onwards. These narratives include examples of the police novel (e.g. Ian Rankin); of female detectives and the feminist appropriations of the hard-boiled story (e.g. Sara Paretsky); of the psychothriller (e.g. Patricia Highsmith), of Afro-American crime fiction, here the examination of literary representations and other cultural manifestations of the Black Diaspora, discussing the relevance of this form of genre fiction to the Black experience of North American Life (e.g. Walter Mosley), of Indigenous crime fiction (e.g. Thomas King), of the postmodern mystery (e.g. Paul Auster), and of representations of disability in crime fiction (e.g. Jeffrey Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series).

Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

Requirements:
• Interest in the topics discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material and course materials,
• final exam according to module choice.

Reading materials (we will read excerpts of these novels but you are welcome to read these novels in full especially when planning a research project):

Auster, Paul. The New York Trilogy, Faber and Faber, 1987.
Deaver, Jeffrey. The Bone Collector, Hodder and Stoughton, 1997.
Highsmith, Patricia. Strangers on a Train, Vintage, 1999, 1950.
King, Thomas. The Red Power Murders: A DreadfulWater Mystery, Harper Perennial, 2006.
Mosley, Walter. Devil in a Blue Dress, Serpent's Tail, 2001, 1991.
Paretsky, Sara. Blacklist: A V.I. Warshawski Novel, Signet Book, 2004.
Rankin, Ian. Knots & Crosses: Inspector Rebus Novel, Orion, 2005, 1998.

Copies of some but not all novels are available for purchase at the bookstore on our campus (Universitätsbuchhandlung Bremen: www.unibuch-bremen.de)

This course welcomes students who wish to complete the following modules:
B.A. E-SC D2-c, WD2-a and WD2-b
Academic exchange students

This seminar focuses predominantly on novels exemplifying the predominance and generic diversity of fictional prose in the Victorian era. We will explore selected fictional writings by two English novelists and playwrights: Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870) and Wilkie Collins (1824 – 1889). Using text-centred and contextual approaches, this course wishes to enable students to explore language, form, genre, and style of the novels, as well as to engage critically with themes, issues, and key concerns of Dickens’s and Collins’s writing. Along with our weekly discussions of selected chapters - reader responses are strongly encouraged - we will also touch upon key developments in the history of nineteen-century novels as well as selected historical and literary contexts of the period.
We will meet in weekly seminar sessions on campus, but students will also have access to weekly self-study units, worksheets and opencast podcasts. Since some of the participants are required to submit a research-based term paper, we will use parts of our seminar discussions to the development of topics, the formulation of a thesis statement, as well as considerations about the methodological approaches of writing such a paper. A reader with selected secondary text materials will be made available for download on Stud. IP. You will need access to Stud.IP and a laptop or tablet with sound and audio capabilities. You may wish to check the sections "Information" and "Schedule" further details such as requirements, weekly schedule, select bibliography and modes of assessment.
Requirements and Assessment
• Interest in the topic discussed and ideally a regular attendance and informed participation in class discussion (not part of your formal assessment);
• in-depth knowledge of the selected reading material,
• homework assignments,
• Module exam depending on Module choice

Required primary reading materials (you may use any edition available to you):
Dickens, Charles, and Fred Kaplan. Oliver Twist (Italics). 1837-1839., Norton, 1993. (or an other edition)
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone (Italics). 1868. OUP, 1999. (or any other edition)

Art has transformative power. Social movements use art to protest against inequality and oppression, to raise awareness and to stimulate activism. Thus, art may contribute to an aesthetics of change. We will examine posters, fliers, murals, graffiti, photography, paintings, installations, mixed media works, and digital art in order to understand the role of visual art in resistance cultures. Possible topics include feminism, anti-racism, environmentalism, gay and queer interventions, labor movements, First Nations etc. Students will work in groups and present their findings in class sessions. Exploring the cultural expressions and aesthetics of intervention may give new insights into the interaction of cultural, aesthetic, political, economic and social forces.

Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will critically dicuss how discourses about climate change transform cultural ideas of progress, human-nature relationships, agency and participation. Employing different scholarly approaches and methodological frameworks we will gain insight into different conceptualizations and narrativizations of environmental issues.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will examine the multifaceted relations between feminism and popular culture. On one hand feminist approaches have been productively used in critically analyzing power structures in popular texts on the other hand feminism has become an integral element of mainstream representations. We will develop feminist critiques of cultural representations and assess the possiblities and limits of mainstream and populist feminist cultures.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)

This course is designed to introduce students to critical scholarship on US-American film history and culture. Basic introductions to the analytical categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality will help students to analyze how films construct and limit representations of African-Americans, Native Americans, women and femininity, men and masculinity, sexuality, class struggle and class difference.
Our major textbook will be Benshoff and Griffin: America on film: Representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. (Purchase is is suggested.)
Essential readings from the textbook will be available for download on Stud-IP.
Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

This class will introduce students to German colonialism in Papua New Guinea and Samoa. We will read texts and watch documentaries about German colonial history and contemporary issues in PNG and Samoa. The class will be co-taught with INPUTS Writer-in-Residence Anthony Brunt (Samoa / NZ), who is a historian working on German photographic collections from the colonial era. We will also include a visit to the Hafenmuseum Bremen and its exhibition on the artwork of PNG artist Lisa Hilli followed by a presentation of Anthony Brunt.
With research-based learning, students will develop their small research projects on German colonialism in the Pacific.

All texts will be provided electronically. Requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, active class discussion, and developing small research projects. Please be advised that the museum visit will take longer than the 2 hours reserved for our class. Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

This class will provide an overview over the history of American literature through the various periods of literary development. The lecturer will give impulse lectures on American literary history and assign for reading selected short texts by a whole variety of American authors, from the early beginnings to contemporary times. Students will have to prepare class presentations on selected authors and their texts.

All reading and information material will be made available through Stud.IP; hence prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.
Class requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, and active class discussion. Reading the texts is mandatory.

In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American journalist, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

In this seminar we will examine how dystopian fiction and film use the technique of defamiliarization to comment on social, political, and cultural conditions of the world. Dystopian fiction and film work with distant settings and shocking scenarios to de-familiarize the fictional world from the known world; by understanding how certain novels and films use de-familiarization to comment on the crisis of climate change within dystopian works, we’ll investigate how specifically postcolonial worlds and societies engage with these concepts.

This class will work with two films and one novel, while also interspersing short films when needed to discuss specific topics regarding environmental dystopian fiction and film. The films we will be watching and analyzing are Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men (2006) and South Korean director Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer (2013). We will also discuss and analyze Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower along with theoretical texts about the two films and novel.

Requirements for this class include active class participation, in-depth knowledge of all primary and secondary reading materials, and a portfolio or term paper (depending on the chosen module).

The capture of millions of people on the African continent and their forced transportation across the Atlantic as well as the enslavement of generations of descendants in the so-called New World and their continued resistance to their oppression considerably shaped the development of North America and the Caribbean from the sixteenth century onwards. After abolition, the history of the Middle Passage, enslavement, and the fight for freedom and equality continued to have an effect on cultural, political, and social developments on both sides of the Atlantic. As Saidiya Hartman has argued, “the afterlife of slavery” continues to shape Black diasporic life to this day. In this seminar, students will explore the multifaceted history of what Paul Gilroy famously coined the Black Atlantic. The class will familiarize students with key cultural theories around the Black Atlantic in order to facilitate critical analyses of select cultural artefacts, such as autobiographies, poetry, visual and performance arts, film or fiction.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

Borders shaped the multifaceted histories and cultures of North America already before the first European colonizers set foot on its eastern shores in the fifteenth century. Changing land- and water-based borders have continued to mold the continent ever since. In this seminar, students will explore the cultural history of drawing borders on maps, on dry land, and through bodies of water on and around Turtle Island, or what we now call Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Drawing on archipelagic North American studies as well as Chicanx and Indigenous Studies, this class critically reflects not only issues of race, ethnicity, origin, and gender but also of terracentrism (Marcus Redicker) and the oceanic turn (Hester Blum). Studying an array of texts and artifacts, such as scholarly, fictional, and artistic works, the changing cultural history of borders, borderlands, and borderwaters will be examined.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round of the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

Art has transformative power. Social movements use art to protest against inequality and oppression, to raise awareness and to stimulate activism. Thus, art may contribute to an aesthetics of change. We will examine posters, fliers, murals, graffiti, photography, paintings, installations, mixed media works, and digital art in order to understand the role of visual art in resistance cultures. Possible topics include feminism, anti-racism, environmentalism, gay and queer interventions, labor movements, First Nations etc. Students will work in groups and present their findings in class sessions. Exploring the cultural expressions and aesthetics of intervention may give new insights into the interaction of cultural, aesthetic, political, economic and social forces.

Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will critically dicuss how discourses about climate change transform cultural ideas of progress, human-nature relationships, agency and participation. Employing different scholarly approaches and methodological frameworks we will gain insight into different conceptualizations and narrativizations of environmental issues.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

In this course we will examine the multifaceted relations between feminism and popular culture. On one hand feminist approaches have been productively used in critically analyzing power structures in popular texts on the other hand feminism has become an integral element of mainstream representations. We will develop feminist critiques of cultural representations and assess the possiblities and limits of mainstream and populist feminist cultures.
Requirements:
regular attendance and oral participation
in-depth knowledge of the reading material
non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)

This course is designed to introduce students to critical scholarship on US-American film history and culture. Basic introductions to the analytical categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality will help students to analyze how films construct and limit representations of African-Americans, Native Americans, women and femininity, men and masculinity, sexuality, class struggle and class difference.
Our major textbook will be Benshoff and Griffin: America on film: Representing race, class, gender, and sexuality at the movies. (Purchase is is suggested.)
Essential readings from the textbook will be available for download on Stud-IP.
Requirements:
• regular attendance and oral participation
• in-depth knowledge of the reading material
• non-graded assessment: oral presentation (handout and PowerPoint presentation)
• oral presentation and term paper to be submitted by September 15

This class will introduce students to German colonialism in Papua New Guinea and Samoa. We will read texts and watch documentaries about German colonial history and contemporary issues in PNG and Samoa. The class will be co-taught with INPUTS Writer-in-Residence Anthony Brunt (Samoa / NZ), who is a historian working on German photographic collections from the colonial era. We will also include a visit to the Hafenmuseum Bremen and its exhibition on the artwork of PNG artist Lisa Hilli followed by a presentation of Anthony Brunt.
With research-based learning, students will develop their small research projects on German colonialism in the Pacific.

All texts will be provided electronically. Requirements are regular attendance, in-depth knowledge of reading material, active class discussion, and developing small research projects. Please be advised that the museum visit will take longer than the 2 hours reserved for our class. Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American journalist, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

The capture of millions of people on the African continent and their forced transportation across the Atlantic as well as the enslavement of generations of descendants in the so-called New World and their continued resistance to their oppression considerably shaped the development of North America and the Caribbean from the sixteenth century onwards. After abolition, the history of the Middle Passage, enslavement, and the fight for freedom and equality continued to have an effect on cultural, political, and social developments on both sides of the Atlantic. As Saidiya Hartman has argued, “the afterlife of slavery” continues to shape Black diasporic life to this day. In this seminar, students will explore the multifaceted history of what Paul Gilroy famously coined the Black Atlantic. The class will familiarize students with key cultural theories around the Black Atlantic in order to facilitate critical analyses of select cultural artefacts, such as autobiographies, poetry, visual and performance arts, film or fiction.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

Borders shaped the multifaceted histories and cultures of North America already before the first European colonizers set foot on its eastern shores in the fifteenth century. Changing land- and water-based borders have continued to mold the continent ever since. In this seminar, students will explore the cultural history of drawing borders on maps, on dry land, and through bodies of water on and around Turtle Island, or what we now call Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Drawing on archipelagic North American studies as well as Chicanx and Indigenous Studies, this class critically reflects not only issues of race, ethnicity, origin, and gender but also of terracentrism (Marcus Redicker) and the oceanic turn (Hester Blum). Studying an array of texts and artifacts, such as scholarly, fictional, and artistic works, the changing cultural history of borders, borderlands, and borderwaters will be examined.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round of the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

In this seminar, we want to investigate different kinds of texts, in particular novels. If you like, you can put a focus on new nature writing. We will use corpus linguistic methods, e.g. word frequencies, keywords and collocations, to describe language choices made by the author, which result in a specific style of a text. How are the protagonists characterised? What topic is foregrounded? Does the author use fancy adjectives, or are women and men addressed in the same way? You will learn how to use the Corpus Linguistics in Context (CLiC) web interface and do automatic analyses with the AntConc software (Laurence Anthony).
Finally, each student will do analyses of different linguistic aspects of a text of their own choice. In the end, you will be able to find, analyse and present aspects of literary texts. You become a proficient corpus linguist, and you will be able to verify with linguistic methods any hunches you have about a text.
Assessment: Poster presentation

Literature (no need to buy any)
Alaghbary, Gibreel Sadeq. 2022. Introducing Stylistic Analysis: Practising the Basics, Edinburgh University Press.
McEnery, Tony & Richard Xiao & Yukio Tono. 2006. Corpus-based Language Studies: An Advanced Resource Book. Routledge.
McIntyre, Dan & Beatrix Busse (eds.) 2010. Language and Style: In Honour of Mick Short. Palgrave Macmillan.

This class deals with digital multimodal communication. The students are introduced to the the concepts multimodality, digital communication, digital humor and memes.
The students are expected to conduct their own research on memes and present their projects in class.

This course provides you with an introduction to issues in intercultural communication. You will leave this course with an understanding of the ways in which our linguistic and cultural backgrounds may influence how we realize social functions using language, or – in other words – how speakers and listeners make meaning, and how they “do things with words.” You are introduced to the theoretical foundations of an applied approach to pragmatics as well as to implications for language teaching.
We will attempt to answer questions such as the following:

• Why does "It’s cold in here" sometimes mean "Please close the window" and other times "I don’t like this room"?
• Why are compliments sometimes interpreted the wrong way?
• Why is it sometimes polite to use formal language and other times offensive?
• What do we do to “read between the lines”?
• Why did the defense attorney object when the prosecutor asked the defendant when he had stopped abusing his wife?

Assessment: Portfolio

Literature: Scollon, R., Scollon, S. W., & Jones, R. (2012). (3rd Edition). Intercultural communication: A discourse approach. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Not only in linguistics, the ubiquity of metaphor and metonymy is a well-established fact. This seminar will acquaint students with Conceptual Metaphor Theory – arguably the most widely accepted theory of metaphor and metonymy – and its extensions (cultural model and blending theory). The course will, for the most part, follow Kövecses (2010), and cover, inter alia, the basic concepts of conceptual metaphor theory, the universality of metaphors/metonymies vs. cultural specificity, and metaphoric/metonymic systems. Students will be asked to produce their own analyses of metaphors/metonymies and present their findings in class.

In this course we will explore the intersections between language, sexuality, and gender. Students will be equipped with knowledge of language use by and about LGBTQ+ people (Lavender Linguistics, LL) and discursive practices of (hetero)normativity in language (Queer Linguistics, QL). Students will read texts focusing on the theoretical foundations of QL, the history of LL, as well as research papers in applied QL/LL. In accordance with the latter, students will also be introduced to various methodologies and fields of research within QL/LL. Throughout the semester, they will conduct their own small-scale study.

Content notice: We might read papers that contain linguistic examples of sexual practices, body parts, or homo-/transphobia.

Requirements (ungraded):
Active participation in class and thorough preparation of the weekly readings.

Assessment (graded/ungraded depending on your module):
1) Critical excerpt of a research paper
2) Oral presentation of your own mini study

Literature (no need to buy):
Angouri, Jo & Baxter, Judith, eds. (2021). The Routledge Handbook of Language, Gender, and Sexuality. London: Routledge.
Baker, Paul (2008). Sexed Texts: Language, Gender and Sexuality. London: Equinox.
Cameron, Deborah & Kulick, Don (2003). Language and Sexuality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Livia, Anna & Hall, Kira, eds. (1997). Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press.
Motschenbacher, Heiko (2010). Language, Gender and Sexual Identity: Poststructuralist Perspectives. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

This semester will allow you to develop your academic writing skills in terms of both structure and
language. To this purpose, we will look at 2 key writing strategies, namely problem/solution and
comparison/contrast, in order to explore the essential elements of academic writing such as
formulating a strong thesis statement and providing a clear writing structure for the reader. We will
also discuss the need for good citation skills as well as how to avoid plagiarism when writing
academic texts.
In terms of language competence, we will be working with key areas of language in order to improve
the areas of syntax, grammatical accuracy and lexical choice. These are all important aspects of all
good writing and will be the foundation upon which to build language practice and improve linguistic
competence. We will also look at how you can yourself can move forward and improve as an
autonomous learner by accessing relevant learning materials

This class will give you the opportunity to improve confidence and competence when using English in the context of the primary school classroom. We will be exploring a variety of materials that can be directly applied to the classroom setting whilst at the same time developing individual language skills in terms of pronunciation and intonation, important skills as a role model for your future pupils. In this way, the work you do this semester will be largely hands-on and practical, relating to the specific needs you have as future primary school teachers.
We will look into areas of vocabulary necessary at this primary level of learning and explore different strategies and methods for presenting them to young learners. For example, is the best way to teach
the parts of the body through a physical activity game or a craftwork task? How might these
approaches work differently for different pupils and does it have to be one or the other? You will be
able to explore the advantages and challenges of different approaches as you move forward to
develop your own teaching style.
In addition to this teaching-related content, we will also focus on spoken language itself, on the
correct pronunciation of important terms and words as well as how to use intonation as a teaching
tool. Through storytelling and reading, and group and pair work you will be able to improve fluency
and confidence in speaking. We will also discuss practice language and phrases used for classroom
discourse and management.

This semester will allow you to develop your academic writing skills in terms of both structure and
language. To this purpose, we will look at 2 key writing strategies, namely problem/solution and
comparison/contrast, in order to explore the essential elements of academic writing such as
formulating a strong thesis statement and providing a clear writing structure for the reader. We will
also discuss the need for good citation skills as well as how to avoid plagiarism when writing
academic texts.
In terms of language competence, we will be working with key areas of language in order to improve
the areas of syntax, grammatical accuracy and lexical choice. These are all important aspects of all
good writing and will be the foundation upon which to build language practice and improve linguistic
competence. We will also look at how you can yourself can move forward and improve as an
autonomous learner by accessing relevant learning materials

This course is one of the specific colloquia designed for students planning their final dissertations either on undergraduate or graduate level in the field of literary studies (Module choices: Bachelor thesis module P or Master thesis module MA The). We shall look at a number of strategies for planning, structuring and writing longer pieces of work and this course will include formal issues such as format and layout of the final assignment. Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

All students, who are planning to write their final dissertations in the field of literary studies, are welcome to join my course. In addition, I am happy to take on the role of a supervisor or co-supervisor for projects that correspond to my research and teaching foci, in other words, students who have a supervisor or co-supervisor that is not me are also welcome to join this course.

This colloquium is designed for students who wish to write their B.A. or M.A. theses in the field of cultural studies of the English-Speaking world. Students will be given the opportunity to develop specific cultural studies research projects, including compelling research questions, a strong thesis statement, clear chapter outline, and a well-selected bibliography. Students will practice a number of strategies for planning, structuring and writing BA/MA dissertations and also brush up their knowledge of formal requirements, such as format and layout as well as citation style etc. Students will work both individually and in smaller groups and will present work in progress in oral and written form. Module choices are Bachelor thesis module P or L and Master thesis module MA The respectively.
Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

This colloquium will support you in the process of writing a BA thesis in English Linguistics. To help you develop, organize, and carry out an empirical research project, we will talk about finding a topic, searching for and reviewing relevant literature, formulating research questions, choosing appropriate data collection and analysis procedures, collecting data, processing and analyzing data, as well as structuring and writing a research paper.

This course is one of the specific colloquia designed for students planning their final dissertations either on undergraduate or graduate level in the field of literary studies (Module choices: Bachelor thesis module P or Master thesis module MA The). We shall look at a number of strategies for planning, structuring and writing longer pieces of work and this course will include formal issues such as format and layout of the final assignment. Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

All students, who are planning to write their final dissertations in the field of literary studies, are welcome to join my course. In addition, I am happy to take on the role of a supervisor or co-supervisor for projects that correspond to my research and teaching foci, in other words, students who have a supervisor or co-supervisor that is not me are also welcome to join this course.

This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of academic research. Together we will develop specific projects in the field of US-American cultural history. We will consult library and online resources, collect relevant material, evaluate the sources, and acquire a deeper understanding of specific periods and events in US history. Students will work both individually and in groups and will present their results in oral and written form.
Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

This colloquium is designed for students who wish to write their B.A. or M.A. theses in the field of cultural studies of the English-Speaking world. Students will be given the opportunity to develop specific cultural studies research projects, including compelling research questions, a strong thesis statement, clear chapter outline, and a well-selected bibliography. Students will practice a number of strategies for planning, structuring and writing BA/MA dissertations and also brush up their knowledge of formal requirements, such as format and layout as well as citation style etc. Students will work both individually and in smaller groups and will present work in progress in oral and written form. Module choices are Bachelor thesis module P or L and Master thesis module MA The respectively.
Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

This course is one of the specific colloquia designed for students planning their final dissertations either on undergraduate or graduate level in the field of literary studies (Module choices: Bachelor thesis module P or Master thesis module MA The). We shall look at a number of strategies for planning, structuring and writing longer pieces of work and this course will include formal issues such as format and layout of the final assignment. Please register on Stud. IP and explore the sections “Information” and “Schedule” on Stud. IP. for further details.

All students, who are planning to write their final dissertations in the field of literary studies, are welcome to join my course. In addition, I am happy to take on the role of a supervisor or co-supervisor for projects that correspond to my research and teaching foci, in other words, students who have a supervisor or co-supervisor that is not me are also welcome to join this course.

This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of academic research. Together we will develop specific projects in the field of US-American cultural history. We will consult library and online resources, collect relevant material, evaluate the sources, and acquire a deeper understanding of specific periods and events in US history. Students will work both individually and in groups and will present their results in oral and written form.
Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.

These tutorial sessions correspond to the weekly study units of the course "Foundation Module A: Introduction to English Literature (Part II) and they will provide participants with the opportunity to ask questions regarding the weekly theoretical explorations and cultural movements, complete excercises and quizz sessions as exam preparation.
Students may gain 1 credit point for General Studies.

In a time when the world grapples with the climate crisis and overfishing, pollution, and rising temperatures threaten the world ocean and the human and non-human life that depends on it, Serpil Oppermann suggests to turn to “storied waterscapes” (2023), i.e. to forms of representation and cultural processes of meaning making around bodies of water, in order to better understand human relationships with the marine world and its destruction as well as to develop strategies for positive change. Heeding this call, this class examines mid-twentieth century American science and nature writing about coastal and sea ecologies by studying the work of trained biologist, American journalist, and pioneering environmentalist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). Focusing on a blend of literary and scientific writing in her classic sea trilogy in conversation with other cultural texts and historical developments at the time, students will explore not only the genre of nature and science writing but also issues of gender and health in the post-World War 2 era and the history of environmental protection, conservation, and the emergence of the environmental movement in 1960s America.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

This class introduces students to the new field of blue cultural studies. As part of the blue humanities, blue cultural studies turn away from traditional area studies perspectives that pay attention to cultures primarily, if not exclusively, on dry land. Instead of studying the cultures of nation states (e.g., Britain) or continents (e.g., North America), blue cultural studies center bodies of water and wet land, such as oceans, marshes, and lakes. In this seminar, students will study founding texts, influential theories, and key concepts that have emerged in the twenty-first-century study of anglophone literatures and cultures. Exemplary analyses of cultural objects, such as film, literature, or art, will round of the course by not only addressing pressing issues but also practicing key skills of cultural analysis.
The class is open to B.A. E-SC students studying D2a, WD2b, and WD2c as well as international exchange students and students doing ‘Freiwillige Zusatzleistungen,’ general studies, or ‘Ersatzleistungen.’ B.A. E-SC students studying the D2-c module (Literature) may also be accommodated with their module requirements, capacity permitting. Prior enrolment via Stud.IP is mandatory and admission is limited to a maximum of thirty-five students. Please check Stud.IP regularly for updates.
Requirements
• active participation in weekly in-person meetings,
• in-depth study of the primary and secondary material (including extensive weekly reading assignments) in preparation for each session,
• graded or ungraded assignment in accordance with the respective module requirements.

Language Advisory Workshop is your chance to get extra practice and feedback on your language and your writing.
We will be looking at your particular areas of difficulty with the goal of helping you achieve fluency in active language production (writing, speaking) at a formal level so active participation, especially starting the semester with your own personal „to-do“ list as well will be important for your progress.
Course materials will be decided on based on the needs of the participants, and will be made available via StudIP

This colloquium will support you in the process of writing a BA thesis in English Linguistics. To help you develop, organize, and carry out an empirical research project, we will talk about finding a topic, searching for and reviewing relevant literature, formulating research questions, choosing appropriate data collection and analysis procedures, collecting data, processing and analyzing data, as well as structuring and writing a research paper.

This course is designed to introduce students to the basics of academic research. Together we will develop specific projects in the field of US-American cultural history. We will consult library and online resources, collect relevant material, evaluate the sources, and acquire a deeper understanding of specific periods and events in US history. Students will work both individually and in groups and will present their results in oral and written form.
Please note that prior enrollment via Stud.IP is mandatory.