A Warm Welcome

on the homepage of the Department 'Didactics of German Language and Literature / Focus on Primary School' at the Institute of German Studies at the University of Kassel.

The final conference of the Fühlen - Denken - Sprechen in der Grundschule (FDS-G) project took place on October 10, 2025 at the University of Kassel. It marked the imminent end of the project and provided a framework for interdisciplinary exchange on current research findings.

In addition to other projects in the funding line - SEM and ADIL - researchers from the field of German didactics who responded to the open call for papers took part. The team from the FDS project presented initial results from three sub-studies: on the language support activities of trained teachers (video studies), on emotional vocabulary in narrative texts by primary school children (text analyses) and on the connection between grammatical comprehension and emotional knowledge (quantitative survey).

During the lunch break, poster presentations presented additional perspectives on the topic of "Emotion and language" - for example on emotion perception in writing settings, on emotions in picture books, on emotion vocabulary training and on the connections between emotion vocabulary and narrative competence.

In the afternoon, two parallel sections delved deeper into didactic issues relating to language and literature. Discussions included the connection between language development and emotions in dialogic reading, the development of emotional knowledge in connection with vocabulary, dealing with fear and negative feelings in children's literature, the significance of emotions in literary reception and dealing with trigger warnings. The stimulating discussions on the presentations and posters reflected the great interest in further research into the role of emotions in the various learning areas of German lessons.

The conference enabled the networking of different disciplines working on the subject of "Emotions in linguistic and literary learning processes". The lively contributions showed how productively emotional, linguistic and literary learning processes influence each other. A continuation of the exchange in this constellation is planned for future events.

The booklet on conference contributions and posters can be found here.

Study German as a Primary School Teacher at the University of Kassel

The German primary school teaching degree (known as L1) is an academic degree program consisting of the disciplines of linguistics, literature and didactics. In German primary didactics, you will mainly deal with literature and language didactics topics. The aim of the course is to teach you models of teaching and learning in German lessons and to support you in developing academic routines (e.g. literature research, academic work).

Our courses are structured as follows:

1. in introductory courses (mainly lectures) you will receive an overview of relevant knowledge, which will ensure the academic foundation of your education.

2. in in-depth courses (mainly seminars), you will deal with selected topics such as orthography, multilingualism, cultural diversity, language reflection, literary learning, digital learning, children's and young adult literature, reading competence and text competence. These courses generally incorporate the latest findings from research.

3. the internship semester and the accompanying events serve to test, reflect on and apply the knowledge you have acquired in the internship schools. You should experience and try out your own knowledge and skills, reflect on your actions and develop further routines in German lessons. The assessment of teaching materials and reflection on educational policy processes also play a role.

Your studies should offer you interest-based learning experiences and opportunities for reflection that you can use for your own teaching and learning practice. We see learning at the university as a self-active process that takes place independently and is supported by lecturers as learning guides.