The study of Low German comprises four areas: language practice, linguistics, literary studies and subject didactics.
In language practice, you practise reading and understanding non-fiction and literary texts and following Low German radio and television programmes. You acquire the ability to communicate orally in everyday situations and to express your opinion in discussions. You learn to write short messages as well as to discuss a problem in writing.
Linguistics offers an overview of the changes in Low German from Old Low German through Middle Low German to New Low German. Further focal points are the dialectal structure of today's Low German in the areas of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar, the contact of Low German with High German and Frisian in the context of multilingualism as well as the protection of regional and minority languages in North Germany.
In literary studies, you will gain an overview of the history of Low German literature from its beginnings in the 9th century to the present and of the text types and media in which the Low German language has become productive. You will learn about the history of language as a conditional factor of literature, deal with the relationship of Low German to High German literature and thus develop a concept of Low German literature. You will learn to analyse this as multilingual literature, for example, and to situate it historically and culturally.
The subject didactics of Low German works at the interface of second language and foreign language didactics. Here you acquire language and literature didactic competences and methods. These include, on the one hand, the linguistic skills of listening comprehension, speaking, reading, writing and language mediation and, on the other hand, literary reading. In addition, support and mediation methods are discussed and developed with a view to the sociological and pedagogical conditions of learning groups in schools.