Honours in German Studies

Honours in German Language and Culture 4401 is the final stage of students' formal training in German language. Accordingly, the course offers a range of language exercises that develop a high level of oral and written language proficiency. During the Honours year, students will also extend their knowledge and appreciation of German culture, both through their participation in cultural studies seminars and through the independent research carried out for the thesis. Because it gives students the opportunity to follow their interests and develop their research skills, the thesis is the key to a successful Honours year and prepares students for further research in German language and culture should they wish to continue to the higher degrees, ie. the MA or the PhD.

Honours German involves a full year's study of the German language and culture. It may be taken full-time, or, for those with significant work commitments, part-time over two years. Intending Honours students must have qualified for the Ordinary degree of the Bachelor of Arts and have obtained a Credit or higher in German IIISA/B or German IIIA/B in their third year.

The content of Honours German Language and Culture is as follows: Language - two hours per week in semesters 1 and 2 focusing on advanced written and oral skills; Cultural Studies - two hours per week in semesters 1 and 2 on topics to be negotiated with the Honours coordinator; 12,000 word thesis in German and an oral interview on the thesis topic. Students enrolling in German Honours from German IIIA/B may choose to write a 15,000 word thesis in English. It is also possible to do a combined Honours degree in which students share their work between German Studies and another discipline. The work to be completed for each discipline should be negotiated with the Honours Coordinators of German and the other discipline.

Assessment: continuous assessment of language 25%; cultural studies 25%; thesis and oral interview 50% (Language - 6 points; Cultural Studies - 6 points; Thesis + Oral - 12 points).

The Honours Coordinator is Dr Sabine Rossbach in Semester 1 and Margaret King in Semester 2.