Bericht über die Arbeitstagung „Die didaktische Analyse literarischer Texte – Konvention und blinder Fleck der Literaturdidaktik“

Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 19. und 20. Juni 2025

Abstract

The conference “The Didactic Analysis of Literary Texts – Convention and Blind Spot of Literature Didactics” (June 19–20, 2025, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) addressed a desideratum of literature didactics: the theoretical foundation of didactic analysis. While it is considered indispensable for lesson preparation, its exploration within German literature didactics remains underdeveloped, and its implementation in the second phase of teacher education is often characterized by formulaic attributions. In preparatory analyses of selected literary texts and subsequent discussion phases, key dimensions of didactic analysis were identified: the significance of aesthetic experience, the integration of literary scholarship and the attribution of relevance. A shared consensus emerged that didactic analysis constitutes a reflexive “figure-ground reversal” between personal reading and expected student reading. Further debate is needed, however, concerning the scope and level of detail of guidelines, the modularization of individual steps, and the adequacy of central terminologies. The conference underscored the need for systematic conceptual work – e.g., on terms such as aesthetic experience, contemporary significance (Gegenwartsbedeutung), and exemplarity – as well as for empirical studies on how the respective competences can be fostered in teacher education.