Fachbereich 05: Sprache, Literatur, Kultur - Anglistik - Master of Arts (Studienbeginn bis Sommersemester 2020)

When we hear fictionality, we tend to think of novels, feature films, comic books, and TV series; when we hear non-fictionality, we tend to think of politics, journalism, documentary films, and scientific communication. Recent research, especially in the field of rhetorical theory, has troubled the clarity of these distinctions, inviting us to consider fictionality and non-fictionality as modes of communication that cut across discourses, genre, and media. Moreover, this work asks us to understand both fictionality and non-fictionality as resources whose functions vary depending on context-specific use and historical circumstances. In the seminar, we are going to explore uses and combinations of fictionality and non-fictionality in a range of texts and contexts including the early novel, contemporary fiction, the documentary film, and non-literary discourses.

Participants are kindly asked to buy two novels: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (2011). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

This seminar aims to explore the multifaceted role of poetry as a form of socio-political participation and cultural critique across different communities and historical contexts. In this context, we will explore African American Voices from Slavery to the 21st Century, Native American Poetry from the U.S. Expansion to Contemporary Expressions of Indigenous Culture, as well as Feminist and Queer Writing from the Suffrage to Same-Sex Marriage.

Our discussions will engage with poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Woodson, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Audre Lorde. In approaching these texts, we will employ a range of critical perspectives, including postcolonial, cultural, and religious frameworks as well as theories of gender and sexuality.

Relevant primary and secondary literature will be uploaded to Stud.IP at the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to engage actively with the readings, contribute to seminar discussions, and complete assignments.

Exam for Of History and Hope - Poetry as Means of Socio-Political Participation and Cultural Critique: Monday, 09 February 2026.

In light of global warming and other large-scale crises and catastrophes, ‘resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ have become part and parcel of the standard vocabulary of our time. But what do they actually mean? And how are their meanings entangled with other cultural assumptions as well as political and economic paradigms such as growth, liberty, security, justice, and the good life, among many others?
The seminar has four main goals: 1) to introduce and discuss the main concepts and interdisciplinary theories of resilience and sustainability; 2) to probe the heuristic potential of these concepts and theories for the analysis of literary and cultural perspectives on resilience and sustainability; 3) to acquaint students with some selected literary narratives of resilience and sustainability (in the wider sense that also includes, e.g, films and TV series); 4) to explore the potential of narrative fiction as counter-narratives to political, technological, and economic notions of resilience and sustainability. We will draw especially on recent work in ecocriticism and environmental humanities to investigate the eco-ethical dimensions of literature manifesting in the ways in which the relationship between literature and survival is envisioned in the selected works.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

When we hear fictionality, we tend to think of novels, feature films, comic books, and TV series; when we hear non-fictionality, we tend to think of politics, journalism, documentary films, and scientific communication. Recent research, especially in the field of rhetorical theory, has troubled the clarity of these distinctions, inviting us to consider fictionality and non-fictionality as modes of communication that cut across discourses, genre, and media. Moreover, this work asks us to understand both fictionality and non-fictionality as resources whose functions vary depending on context-specific use and historical circumstances. In the seminar, we are going to explore uses and combinations of fictionality and non-fictionality in a range of texts and contexts including the early novel, contemporary fiction, the documentary film, and non-literary discourses.

Participants are kindly asked to buy two novels: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (2011). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

This seminar aims to explore the multifaceted role of poetry as a form of socio-political participation and cultural critique across different communities and historical contexts. In this context, we will explore African American Voices from Slavery to the 21st Century, Native American Poetry from the U.S. Expansion to Contemporary Expressions of Indigenous Culture, as well as Feminist and Queer Writing from the Suffrage to Same-Sex Marriage.

Our discussions will engage with poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Woodson, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Audre Lorde. In approaching these texts, we will employ a range of critical perspectives, including postcolonial, cultural, and religious frameworks as well as theories of gender and sexuality.

Relevant primary and secondary literature will be uploaded to Stud.IP at the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to engage actively with the readings, contribute to seminar discussions, and complete assignments.

Exam for Of History and Hope - Poetry as Means of Socio-Political Participation and Cultural Critique: Monday, 09 February 2026.

In light of global warming and other large-scale crises and catastrophes, ‘resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ have become part and parcel of the standard vocabulary of our time. But what do they actually mean? And how are their meanings entangled with other cultural assumptions as well as political and economic paradigms such as growth, liberty, security, justice, and the good life, among many others?
The seminar has four main goals: 1) to introduce and discuss the main concepts and interdisciplinary theories of resilience and sustainability; 2) to probe the heuristic potential of these concepts and theories for the analysis of literary and cultural perspectives on resilience and sustainability; 3) to acquaint students with some selected literary narratives of resilience and sustainability (in the wider sense that also includes, e.g, films and TV series); 4) to explore the potential of narrative fiction as counter-narratives to political, technological, and economic notions of resilience and sustainability. We will draw especially on recent work in ecocriticism and environmental humanities to investigate the eco-ethical dimensions of literature manifesting in the ways in which the relationship between literature and survival is envisioned in the selected works.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

When we hear fictionality, we tend to think of novels, feature films, comic books, and TV series; when we hear non-fictionality, we tend to think of politics, journalism, documentary films, and scientific communication. Recent research, especially in the field of rhetorical theory, has troubled the clarity of these distinctions, inviting us to consider fictionality and non-fictionality as modes of communication that cut across discourses, genre, and media. Moreover, this work asks us to understand both fictionality and non-fictionality as resources whose functions vary depending on context-specific use and historical circumstances. In the seminar, we are going to explore uses and combinations of fictionality and non-fictionality in a range of texts and contexts including the early novel, contemporary fiction, the documentary film, and non-literary discourses.

Participants are kindly asked to buy two novels: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (2011). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

Welcome! When Todorov coined the French term 'narratologie' in 1969, he used the word in analogy to disciplines such as biology and sociology to convey the idea of a science of narrative. This lecture begins by zooming in on the development of classical structuralist narratology, which was, for instance, influenced by Russian formalism. In a second step, we will then focus on recent debates within the field of postclassical narratology. Among other things, we will look at new developments in the area of ethical and postcolonial narratology (compared to the 'older' rhetorical theory of narrative); crucial differences between first- and second-generation cognitive narratologists; the role of cognitive parameters vis-à-vis unnatural narratives; new approaches in the areas of feminist, queer, and transmedial narratologies; recent work on oral storytelling, small stories, and online storytelling; the narrativity of music, paintings, and dance performances; as well as the role of empirical studies. We will also discuss the question of what to do with these approaches, i.e., how to apply the theoretical frameworks to literary texts.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

The lecture provides an overview of the development of Gothic literature from the late eighteenth- to the early twenty-first century, focusing predominantly (though not exclusively) on the Gothic novel. It pursues three key objectives: firstly, to familiarize attendees with major forms and subgenres of Gothic literature; secondly, to introduce key periods of literary history (as refracted through a Gothic lens); and, thirdly, to read Gothic texts as responses to cultural contexts and social anxieties. Each lecture will first introduce salient contexts for the topic at hand, then move on to a close reading of a sample text, and conclude with a brief summary and perspectives for further research. While the lecture mainly charts the evolution of Gothic literature in England, it will touch upon US-American and include postcolonial contexts the further we proceed diachronically.

When we hear fictionality, we tend to think of novels, feature films, comic books, and TV series; when we hear non-fictionality, we tend to think of politics, journalism, documentary films, and scientific communication. Recent research, especially in the field of rhetorical theory, has troubled the clarity of these distinctions, inviting us to consider fictionality and non-fictionality as modes of communication that cut across discourses, genre, and media. Moreover, this work asks us to understand both fictionality and non-fictionality as resources whose functions vary depending on context-specific use and historical circumstances. In the seminar, we are going to explore uses and combinations of fictionality and non-fictionality in a range of texts and contexts including the early novel, contemporary fiction, the documentary film, and non-literary discourses.

Participants are kindly asked to buy two novels: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (2011). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

This seminar aims to explore the multifaceted role of poetry as a form of socio-political participation and cultural critique across different communities and historical contexts. In this context, we will explore African American Voices from Slavery to the 21st Century, Native American Poetry from the U.S. Expansion to Contemporary Expressions of Indigenous Culture, as well as Feminist and Queer Writing from the Suffrage to Same-Sex Marriage.

Our discussions will engage with poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Woodson, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Audre Lorde. In approaching these texts, we will employ a range of critical perspectives, including postcolonial, cultural, and religious frameworks as well as theories of gender and sexuality.

Relevant primary and secondary literature will be uploaded to Stud.IP at the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to engage actively with the readings, contribute to seminar discussions, and complete assignments.

Exam for Of History and Hope - Poetry as Means of Socio-Political Participation and Cultural Critique: Monday, 09 February 2026.

The seminar offers an introduction to the literature and theory of postmodernism – a historical mindset that exerted significant influence at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. By studying both literary and theoretical texts, we are going to attain a better understanding of the postmodernist critique of concepts such as authorship, authenticity, history, reality, and knowledge. As a ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ introduction, the seminar is particularly interested in exploring postmodernism’s complicated legacy in contemporary culture. It suggests that, if you want to understand current phenomena such as post-truth, Trumpism, ‘anti-wokism’, and conspiracy thinking, you are well-advised to know something about postmodernism. In this vein, we are going to study both postmodernism’s original concerns and how several of its ideas have been misunderstood and misappropriated, especially by reactionary political agendas.

Participants are kindly asked to buy Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love (1997). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

When we hear fictionality, we tend to think of novels, feature films, comic books, and TV series; when we hear non-fictionality, we tend to think of politics, journalism, documentary films, and scientific communication. Recent research, especially in the field of rhetorical theory, has troubled the clarity of these distinctions, inviting us to consider fictionality and non-fictionality as modes of communication that cut across discourses, genre, and media. Moreover, this work asks us to understand both fictionality and non-fictionality as resources whose functions vary depending on context-specific use and historical circumstances. In the seminar, we are going to explore uses and combinations of fictionality and non-fictionality in a range of texts and contexts including the early novel, contemporary fiction, the documentary film, and non-literary discourses.

Participants are kindly asked to buy two novels: Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1818) and Ben Lerner's Leaving the Atocha Station (2011). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

Welcome! This class seeks to familiarize students with the state of literary theory in the twenty-first century. We will read and discuss theoretical texts that concern cognitive narratology, postcolonial criticism, feminism, gender / queer theory, masculinity studies, critical race theory, whiteness studies, new formalism, postcriticism, and surface readings. We will also deal with the question of what we need theories for, and we will demonstrate what these approaches can do (and what they cannot do) by applying the theoretical frameworks to a set of literary texts.

In light of global warming and other large-scale crises and catastrophes, ‘resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ have become part and parcel of the standard vocabulary of our time. But what do they actually mean? And how are their meanings entangled with other cultural assumptions as well as political and economic paradigms such as growth, liberty, security, justice, and the good life, among many others?
The seminar has four main goals: 1) to introduce and discuss the main concepts and interdisciplinary theories of resilience and sustainability; 2) to probe the heuristic potential of these concepts and theories for the analysis of literary and cultural perspectives on resilience and sustainability; 3) to acquaint students with some selected literary narratives of resilience and sustainability (in the wider sense that also includes, e.g, films and TV series); 4) to explore the potential of narrative fiction as counter-narratives to political, technological, and economic notions of resilience and sustainability. We will draw especially on recent work in ecocriticism and environmental humanities to investigate the eco-ethical dimensions of literature manifesting in the ways in which the relationship between literature and survival is envisioned in the selected works.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

Welcome! This class seeks to familiarize students with the state of literary theory in the twenty-first century. We will read and discuss theoretical texts that concern cognitive narratology, postcolonial criticism, feminism, gender / queer theory, masculinity studies, critical race theory, whiteness studies, new formalism, postcriticism, and surface readings. We will also deal with the question of what we need theories for, and we will demonstrate what these approaches can do (and what they cannot do) by applying the theoretical frameworks to a set of literary texts.

The architecture of oral interaction in the classroom – i.e. the way classroom discourse is organized and conducted in everyday practice - is of vital importance to learning English as a foreign language in institutional environments. This corpus-based and video-supported seminar aims to provide a deeper understanding of what successful, effective and efficient classroom interaction is all about in the age of communicative language teaching (CLT). Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where necessary and appropriate; e.g. when bilingual methodological teaching and learning options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Mobile software applications for smartphones and tablets have the potential to transform the way languages are learned. This course focuses on commercial and non-commercial as well as textbook-related and textbook-independent mobile apps and their potential value for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language [EFL) in the classroom and beyond. In terms of approach to pre-service EFL teacher education, the seminar focuses on reflecting upon participants’ knowledge about and experience with mobile apps and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and current international research in this area. Special emphasis is given to exploring, evaluating, and comparing a few exemplary apps in systematic ways.
Please note that this course will be conducted in an asynchronous, computer-mediated virtual format predominantly. Since asynchronous online courses are not conducted live and in-person, participants are not required to be logged in at the same time as everyone else, for instance, to attend virtual lectures or participate in video conferences and chat sessions. Instead, the instructor will distribute coursework through a virtual learning management system (i.e. StudIP, usually at the beginning of each week). Participants can complete the provided writing assignments and tasks at their own paces, adhering to the deadlines requested by the instructor (usually at the end of each week). This means that they can log on whenever they want, completing the coursework as they would like during each weekly block of learning.
This is a TEFLhybrid Course: http://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f05/engl/tefl/teflhybrid


Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: weekly assignments and learning logs, active participation (online forum), knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: tbd

Registration: Flex-Now

The architecture of oral interaction in the classroom – i.e. the way classroom discourse is organized and conducted in everyday practice - is of vital importance to learning English as a foreign language in institutional environments. This corpus-based and video-supported seminar aims to provide a deeper understanding of what successful, effective and efficient classroom interaction is all about in the age of communicative language teaching (CLT). Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where necessary and appropriate; e.g. when bilingual methodological teaching and learning options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Mobile software applications for smartphones and tablets have the potential to transform the way languages are learned. This course focuses on commercial and non-commercial as well as textbook-related and textbook-independent mobile apps and their potential value for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language [EFL) in the classroom and beyond. In terms of approach to pre-service EFL teacher education, the seminar focuses on reflecting upon participants’ knowledge about and experience with mobile apps and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and current international research in this area. Special emphasis is given to exploring, evaluating, and comparing a few exemplary apps in systematic ways.
Please note that this course will be conducted in an asynchronous, computer-mediated virtual format predominantly. Since asynchronous online courses are not conducted live and in-person, participants are not required to be logged in at the same time as everyone else, for instance, to attend virtual lectures or participate in video conferences and chat sessions. Instead, the instructor will distribute coursework through a virtual learning management system (i.e. StudIP, usually at the beginning of each week). Participants can complete the provided writing assignments and tasks at their own paces, adhering to the deadlines requested by the instructor (usually at the end of each week). This means that they can log on whenever they want, completing the coursework as they would like during each weekly block of learning.
This is a TEFLhybrid Course: http://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f05/engl/tefl/teflhybrid


Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: weekly assignments and learning logs, active participation (online forum), knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: tbd

Registration: Flex-Now

This seminar focuses on teaching grammar in a communicative EFL classroom environment. The following aspects will be given special attention: linguistic approaches to grammar (overview), the history of teaching grammar in German EFL classrooms, the role of grammar today, concepts of grammar learning/acquisition in secondary schools (e.g. implicit/explicit, conscious/subconscious, monolingual/bilingual), teaching strategies, techniques, procedures, materials as well as error treatment, assessment and testing. Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where appropriate and necessary; e.g. when bilingual methodological options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

The architecture of oral interaction in the classroom – i.e. the way classroom discourse is organized and conducted in everyday practice - is of vital importance to learning English as a foreign language in institutional environments. This corpus-based and video-supported seminar aims to provide a deeper understanding of what successful, effective and efficient classroom interaction is all about in the age of communicative language teaching (CLT). Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where necessary and appropriate; e.g. when bilingual methodological teaching and learning options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Imagination, creativity, and flexibility are of great importance in today’s knowledge age and economy. Thus, it is crucial to develop and strengthen these capacities in schools. Current education reforms, however, place primary emphasis on the ability to perform to fine-graded standards of competency and skill. Imagination, creativity, and flexibility are chiefly viewed from this perspective. Moreover, creativity is typically conceived of as an individual process or product, not as a collaborative or collective endeavor. Little attention is given to improvisation (spontaneous creativity in performance) and to the spontaneous und functional use of accumulated competencies and skills in everyday social interaction (so-called ‘little-c’ creativity).
This course is based on international research indicating that implementing more adventurous, explorative, and creative forms of interaction in the EFL classroom is indispensable to enhancing learners’ target language proficiency. Participants will acquire the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to foster mental agility, communicative flexibility and resourceful spontaneity in attractive communicative contexts.

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 10, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Mobile software applications for smartphones and tablets have the potential to transform the way languages are learned. This course focuses on commercial and non-commercial as well as textbook-related and textbook-independent mobile apps and their potential value for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language [EFL) in the classroom and beyond. In terms of approach to pre-service EFL teacher education, the seminar focuses on reflecting upon participants’ knowledge about and experience with mobile apps and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and current international research in this area. Special emphasis is given to exploring, evaluating, and comparing a few exemplary apps in systematic ways.
Please note that this course will be conducted in an asynchronous, computer-mediated virtual format predominantly. Since asynchronous online courses are not conducted live and in-person, participants are not required to be logged in at the same time as everyone else, for instance, to attend virtual lectures or participate in video conferences and chat sessions. Instead, the instructor will distribute coursework through a virtual learning management system (i.e. StudIP, usually at the beginning of each week). Participants can complete the provided writing assignments and tasks at their own paces, adhering to the deadlines requested by the instructor (usually at the end of each week). This means that they can log on whenever they want, completing the coursework as they would like during each weekly block of learning.
This is a TEFLhybrid Course: http://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f05/engl/tefl/teflhybrid


Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: weekly assignments and learning logs, active participation (online forum), knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: tbd

Registration: Flex-Now

This seminar focuses on teaching grammar in a communicative EFL classroom environment. The following aspects will be given special attention: linguistic approaches to grammar (overview), the history of teaching grammar in German EFL classrooms, the role of grammar today, concepts of grammar learning/acquisition in secondary schools (e.g. implicit/explicit, conscious/subconscious, monolingual/bilingual), teaching strategies, techniques, procedures, materials as well as error treatment, assessment and testing. Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where appropriate and necessary; e.g. when bilingual methodological options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

The architecture of oral interaction in the classroom – i.e. the way classroom discourse is organized and conducted in everyday practice - is of vital importance to learning English as a foreign language in institutional environments. This corpus-based and video-supported seminar aims to provide a deeper understanding of what successful, effective and efficient classroom interaction is all about in the age of communicative language teaching (CLT). Course languages are English (predominantly) and German (where necessary and appropriate; e.g. when bilingual methodological teaching and learning options are discussed).

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 9, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Imagination, creativity, and flexibility are of great importance in today’s knowledge age and economy. Thus, it is crucial to develop and strengthen these capacities in schools. Current education reforms, however, place primary emphasis on the ability to perform to fine-graded standards of competency and skill. Imagination, creativity, and flexibility are chiefly viewed from this perspective. Moreover, creativity is typically conceived of as an individual process or product, not as a collaborative or collective endeavor. Little attention is given to improvisation (spontaneous creativity in performance) and to the spontaneous und functional use of accumulated competencies and skills in everyday social interaction (so-called ‘little-c’ creativity).
This course is based on international research indicating that implementing more adventurous, explorative, and creative forms of interaction in the EFL classroom is indispensable to enhancing learners’ target language proficiency. Participants will acquire the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to foster mental agility, communicative flexibility and resourceful spontaneity in attractive communicative contexts.

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: regular attendance, active participation in class, knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam
Exam Period: February 10, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Mobile software applications for smartphones and tablets have the potential to transform the way languages are learned. This course focuses on commercial and non-commercial as well as textbook-related and textbook-independent mobile apps and their potential value for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language [EFL) in the classroom and beyond. In terms of approach to pre-service EFL teacher education, the seminar focuses on reflecting upon participants’ knowledge about and experience with mobile apps and mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and current international research in this area. Special emphasis is given to exploring, evaluating, and comparing a few exemplary apps in systematic ways.
Please note that this course will be conducted in an asynchronous, computer-mediated virtual format predominantly. Since asynchronous online courses are not conducted live and in-person, participants are not required to be logged in at the same time as everyone else, for instance, to attend virtual lectures or participate in video conferences and chat sessions. Instead, the instructor will distribute coursework through a virtual learning management system (i.e. StudIP, usually at the beginning of each week). Participants can complete the provided writing assignments and tasks at their own paces, adhering to the deadlines requested by the instructor (usually at the end of each week). This means that they can log on whenever they want, completing the coursework as they would like during each weekly block of learning.
This is a TEFLhybrid Course: http://www.uni-giessen.de/faculties/f05/engl/tefl/teflhybrid


Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: weekly assignments and learning logs, active participation (online forum), knowledge of recommended literature
Graded: in addition to the above, a written exam

Exam Period: tbd

Registration: Flex-Now

The representation of culture and the cultural multiplicity of the anglophone world is a key element in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Focusing on Ireland‘s diverse culture and multifarious cultural agents, the seminar is designed to introduce models of culture as well as inter- and transcultural learning and their implications for the EFLC. A mandatory excursion to the Irish consulate in Frankfurt/Main is scheduled for Thursday, 23 October.

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: Regular attendance, active participation in class
Graded: Regular attendance, active participation in class; written exam

Exam period: written exam on February 12, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

The representation of culture and the cultural multiplicity of the anglophone world is a key element in teaching and learning English as a foreign language. Focusing on Ireland‘s diverse culture and multifarious cultural agents, the seminar is designed to introduce models of culture as well as inter- and transcultural learning and their implications for the EFLC. A mandatory excursion to the Irish consulate in Frankfurt/Main is scheduled for Thursday, 23 October.

Prerequisites:
Teacher Education Programme: Successful completion of Moduls TEFL I and TEFL II.
Anglophone Studies MA Programme: BA

Required Reading:
A comprehensive course bibliography will be made available on Stud.IP.

Credit:
Ungraded: Regular attendance, active participation in class
Graded: Regular attendance, active participation in class; written exam

Exam period: written exam on February 12, 2026

Registration: Flex-Now

Welcome! This class seeks to familiarize students with the state of literary theory in the twenty-first century. We will read and discuss theoretical texts that concern cognitive narratology, postcolonial criticism, feminism, gender / queer theory, masculinity studies, critical race theory, whiteness studies, new formalism, postcriticism, and surface readings. We will also deal with the question of what we need theories for, and we will demonstrate what these approaches can do (and what they cannot do) by applying the theoretical frameworks to a set of literary texts.

This seminar aims to explore the multifaceted role of poetry as a form of socio-political participation and cultural critique across different communities and historical contexts. In this context, we will explore African American Voices from Slavery to the 21st Century, Native American Poetry from the U.S. Expansion to Contemporary Expressions of Indigenous Culture, as well as Feminist and Queer Writing from the Suffrage to Same-Sex Marriage.

Our discussions will engage with poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Woodson, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Audre Lorde. In approaching these texts, we will employ a range of critical perspectives, including postcolonial, cultural, and religious frameworks as well as theories of gender and sexuality.

Relevant primary and secondary literature will be uploaded to Stud.IP at the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to engage actively with the readings, contribute to seminar discussions, and complete assignments.

Exam for Of History and Hope - Poetry as Means of Socio-Political Participation and Cultural Critique: Monday, 09 February 2026.

The seminar offers an introduction to the literature and theory of postmodernism – a historical mindset that exerted significant influence at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. By studying both literary and theoretical texts, we are going to attain a better understanding of the postmodernist critique of concepts such as authorship, authenticity, history, reality, and knowledge. As a ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ introduction, the seminar is particularly interested in exploring postmodernism’s complicated legacy in contemporary culture. It suggests that, if you want to understand current phenomena such as post-truth, Trumpism, ‘anti-wokism’, and conspiracy thinking, you are well-advised to know something about postmodernism. In this vein, we are going to study both postmodernism’s original concerns and how several of its ideas have been misunderstood and misappropriated, especially by reactionary political agendas.

Participants are kindly asked to buy Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love (1997). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

In light of global warming and other large-scale crises and catastrophes, ‘resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ have become part and parcel of the standard vocabulary of our time. But what do they actually mean? And how are their meanings entangled with other cultural assumptions as well as political and economic paradigms such as growth, liberty, security, justice, and the good life, among many others?
The seminar has four main goals: 1) to introduce and discuss the main concepts and interdisciplinary theories of resilience and sustainability; 2) to probe the heuristic potential of these concepts and theories for the analysis of literary and cultural perspectives on resilience and sustainability; 3) to acquaint students with some selected literary narratives of resilience and sustainability (in the wider sense that also includes, e.g, films and TV series); 4) to explore the potential of narrative fiction as counter-narratives to political, technological, and economic notions of resilience and sustainability. We will draw especially on recent work in ecocriticism and environmental humanities to investigate the eco-ethical dimensions of literature manifesting in the ways in which the relationship between literature and survival is envisioned in the selected works.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.

Welcome! This class seeks to familiarize students with the state of literary theory in the twenty-first century. We will read and discuss theoretical texts that concern cognitive narratology, postcolonial criticism, feminism, gender / queer theory, masculinity studies, critical race theory, whiteness studies, new formalism, postcriticism, and surface readings. We will also deal with the question of what we need theories for, and we will demonstrate what these approaches can do (and what they cannot do) by applying the theoretical frameworks to a set of literary texts.

This seminar aims to explore the multifaceted role of poetry as a form of socio-political participation and cultural critique across different communities and historical contexts. In this context, we will explore African American Voices from Slavery to the 21st Century, Native American Poetry from the U.S. Expansion to Contemporary Expressions of Indigenous Culture, as well as Feminist and Queer Writing from the Suffrage to Same-Sex Marriage.

Our discussions will engage with poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Langston Hughes, Jacqueline Woodson, Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, and Audre Lorde. In approaching these texts, we will employ a range of critical perspectives, including postcolonial, cultural, and religious frameworks as well as theories of gender and sexuality.

Relevant primary and secondary literature will be uploaded to Stud.IP at the beginning of the semester. Participants are expected to engage actively with the readings, contribute to seminar discussions, and complete assignments.

Exam for Of History and Hope - Poetry as Means of Socio-Political Participation and Cultural Critique: Monday, 09 February 2026.

The seminar offers an introduction to the literature and theory of postmodernism – a historical mindset that exerted significant influence at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty-first century. By studying both literary and theoretical texts, we are going to attain a better understanding of the postmodernist critique of concepts such as authorship, authenticity, history, reality, and knowledge. As a ‘critical’ and ‘historical’ introduction, the seminar is particularly interested in exploring postmodernism’s complicated legacy in contemporary culture. It suggests that, if you want to understand current phenomena such as post-truth, Trumpism, ‘anti-wokism’, and conspiracy thinking, you are well-advised to know something about postmodernism. In this vein, we are going to study both postmodernism’s original concerns and how several of its ideas have been misunderstood and misappropriated, especially by reactionary political agendas.

Participants are kindly asked to buy Ian McEwan's novel Enduring Love (1997). All other course material is available on Stud.IP.

In light of global warming and other large-scale crises and catastrophes, ‘resilience’ and ‘sustainability’ have become part and parcel of the standard vocabulary of our time. But what do they actually mean? And how are their meanings entangled with other cultural assumptions as well as political and economic paradigms such as growth, liberty, security, justice, and the good life, among many others?
The seminar has four main goals: 1) to introduce and discuss the main concepts and interdisciplinary theories of resilience and sustainability; 2) to probe the heuristic potential of these concepts and theories for the analysis of literary and cultural perspectives on resilience and sustainability; 3) to acquaint students with some selected literary narratives of resilience and sustainability (in the wider sense that also includes, e.g, films and TV series); 4) to explore the potential of narrative fiction as counter-narratives to political, technological, and economic notions of resilience and sustainability. We will draw especially on recent work in ecocriticism and environmental humanities to investigate the eco-ethical dimensions of literature manifesting in the ways in which the relationship between literature and survival is envisioned in the selected works.

Welcome! This class provides an overview of Romantic literature, which was written between the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. In a first step, we will analyze poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, George Gordon (Lord Byron), but also consider female Romantic poets (such as Mary Robinson and Felicia Hemans). In a second step, we will move on to the horror- or terror-inducing genre of the Gothic novel. We will discuss representative examples (namely The Castle of Otranto [1764] by Horace Walpole and The Monk [1796] by Matthew Lewis). We will discuss different approaches to the Gothic novel, we will list important features of Gothic novels, and we will address their functions.