TEACHING COUNTRY STUDIES THROUGH ART-BASED MATERIALS IN GERMAN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENTS

Abstract

Country studies [Landeskunde) constitute a fundamental component of German language curricula; however, traditional fact-based approaches often fail to develop students' deep sociocultural competence. This article examines the didactic potential of art-based materials - literary texts, films, and visual arts - in teaching country studies within German language departments. Drawing upon M. Byram's model of intercultural communicative competence and C. Altmayer's discursive Landeskunde framework, the study employs a mixed-methods design combining content analysis of curricula, a pedagogical experiment involving 64 students, and qualitative interpretation of student responses. The results demonstrate that systematic integration of art-based materials significantly enhances sociocultural awareness, critical thinking, and intercultural sensitivity. Students exposed to art-based instruction scored 23% higher on cultural interpretation tasks compared to the control group. The findings confirm that art-based approaches foster holistic cultural understanding and offer practical recommendations for curriculum design in German language departments.