Literatur im DaF-Unterricht: einige kritische Anmerkungen

Finding a German publication in the field of foreign language acquisition that does not explicitly mention the role of literature would be an anomaly. Within DaF (German as a foreign language), the position occupied by works of literature has been subjected to no or very little scrutiny in the past decades. Simultaneously, it has become fashionable to criticise the (supposed) deficiencies of the pragmatic and competence-driven approach to teaching. The paper offers a critical examination of the theoretical underpinnings as well as the arguments often employed by the proponents of the use of literature in teaching. The findings hint at misleading citation practices, the absence of empirical research in the area as well as problematic argumentation at times.