About the department

You will find the Department of German Language and Literature on the fourth and fifth floors of the new building of the Faculty of Education – Poříčí 9, Brno.

Study

The specialist study of German provides, apart from an excelllent linguistic competence, a comprehensive education including not only comprehensive knowledge in individual linguistic disciplines and an overview in literary science, but also deeply developed intercultural competence enabling universal application of the acquired knowledge of the history and culture of German-speaking countries. Particularly in Masters studies a great emphasis is laid on the development of linguodidactic competence which leads to achieving a graduate´s background in the given field, i.e. a fully qualified teacher of German. Education which gives the student a good background enables graduates to apply their expertise even outside the educational sphere.

Historie pracoviště

Katedra německého jazyka a literatury se objevila na akademické půdě Pedagogické fakulty 1. 9. 1992. Vznik katedry si vynutily změny po roce 1989 a s nim spojená poptávka po studiu západních jazyků. Mladá katedra se zpočátku věnovala především pedagogické činnosti a během několika let vychovala tucty učitelů němčiny, kteří pak většinou skončili v hospodářské sféře. S novým stoletím začaly nutné změny ve struktuře práce. Především během posledních pěti let se katedra stala i vědecko-výzkumným pracovištěm. Všichni členové pravidelně publikují, prezentují výsledky své odborné činnosti na konferencích doma i v zahraničí a jsou zapojeni do mnoha (i mezinárodních) projektů. Katedra se také stará o pravidelný kvalifikační růst i o odborný dorost. V současnosti, kdy katedra sídlí v nové budově, je vybavena nejmodernější technikou k výuce i výzkumu a má solidní a stabilní personální základ, patří ke špičkovým pracovištím svého druhu v zemi.

Pedagogical activity

The department provides complete teaching of specialist subjects within the study of German language and literature at the faculty. Apart from the basic (compulsory) courses the department offers also a wide range of elective seminars (e.g. monothematic literary seminars, translation seminars, creative writing, film and theatre club). The list is expanded by regular presentations of visiting professors from partner departments.

The instruction applies up-to-date pedagogical methods with the use of the latest teaching instruments: the department is building up electronic courses, students have at their disposal a unique instrument for contrastive linguistic research – a parallel corpus, a large sum of additional information about teaching is posted in the Information System.

Thanks to extensive contacts with foreign universities all the students have the opportunity to leave for a part of their studies to a German-speaking country and complete some courses at partner workplaces.

Science and research

In the recent years the department has been involved in many research projects, some of which it has initiated. It has received funding for science and research e.g. from the following programmes and institutions: the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the Fund for University Development, Aktion Österreich-Tschechische Republik, the Czech-German Fund of the Future, the German Research Society (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), the Robert Bosch Foundation. Out of the most significant grant projects which go far beyond the limits of the department one might mention the building of the Czech-German parallel corpus, an Atlas of German dialects on the territory of the Czech Republic, the Autonomy of the Foreign Language Learning and Teaching Process project and the research project  "School and Health for the 21st Century".

Outcomes from all scholarly and research tasks are presented by the department´s members at specialized conferences in this country and abroad as well as in scholarly journals.

Cooperation

During its existence the department has established contacts with numerous workplaces in the Czech Republic as well as abroad, which is beneficial not only for employees, but also for students. The department has been involved in the Socrates/Erasmus, CEEPUS and GIP programmes, within which it keeps lively partnerships with universities in Germany (Regensburg, Tübingen, Dresden, Berlin, Halle, Magdeburg etc.), in Austria (Vienna, Graz) and in Switzerland (Zürich). Apart from German-speaking countries the department also has partners in Slovakia (Bratislava) and in Poland (Wroclaw).