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Languages for Specific Purposes DaF

Language courses for specific purposes

The language courses for specific purposes offered by the Department German as a Foreign Language at the ZFA are part of the study-accompainying courses. Like all study-related courses, they are primarily aimed at international programme and exchange students, regular students, PhD students and staff.

You can find the full range of study-related courses here.

Central subject areas

In the courses, participants expand and deepen their language skills in order to be able to cope appropriately with the subject-specific requirements of their degree programme, depending on the communication situation. Key content includes reading, understanding, visualising and summarising specialist texts, developing, learning and using specialist terminology, actively following and taking notes in lectures, researching literature, working with relevant reference works, writing relevant text types, giving presentations, creating handouts and actively participating in specialist seminars with discussions and presentations.

Current language courses for specific purposes (alternating)

  • Languages for Specific Purposes Engineering Sciences (B2.2/C1.1)
  • Languages for Specific Purposes Economic Sciences (B2.2/C1.1)
  • Languages for Specific Purposes in Natural Sciences (B2.2/C1.1)


    Conceptual content

    Central content is based on the results of conceptual work from 2006 to 2018 as part of the DAAD projects BELinDA, PROFIN and PROFIS as well as the BMBF project "Ins Studium International" as part of InStudies.
    As a follow-up step, a media-supported specialised language curriculum was developed from 2014 to 2016 as part of inSTUDIES. This served to focus on study strategies in a university, intercultural context. The focus of individual modules and the blended learning model is on teaching subject-specific skills in specialised studies so that international students can react appropriately in authentic situations. Subsequently, the transitions "school - study" and "study - career" were described in more detail from a technical language and methodological-didactic perspective.
    Until 2024, the course Fachsprache Biologie und Biotechnologie for international students of the Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology and the module "Fachsprachliche Kommunikation im Schulkontext" with a focus on STEM subjects were developed as part of the "LehrkräftePLUS" project.

    Publications (selection):



    Lectures and workshops (selection)::

    • Häusler, Anja; Michelini, Juliane (2020): Vermittlung von fachsprachenspezifischen Studier- und Lernstrategien im Blended Learning-Format: Implementierung eines Unterrichtsmodells für internationale Studierende an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum. (Vortrag, 02.09.2020, nicht veröffentlicht). Bozen: Languages for Specific Purposes in Higher Education an der Freie Universität Bozen.

    • Häusler, Anja; Weber, Dirk (2021): Task-based-learning via Moodle am Beispiel eines Unterrichtsmodells für internationale Studierende in den Ingenieurwissenschaften. (Vortrag, 04.03.2021, nicht veröffentlicht). Darmstadt: 32. AKS-Tagung an der Technischen Universität Darmstadt.

    • Häusler, Anja; Vanderbecke, Marie (2022): Du kannst besser Deutsch und ich Mathematik. Sprachbewusstheit unter DaF-Aspekten in der Qualifizierung von Fachlehrkräften mit Fluchthintergrund fördern. (Vortrag, 16.08.2022, nicht veröffentlicht). Wien. XVII. Internationale Tagung der Deutschlehrerinnen und Deutschlehrer (IDT 2022). To the entry

    • Häusler, Anja; Michelini, Juliane; Bratzadeh, Nasslie (2023): Berufsqualifizierende Sprachausbildung von Lehrkräften mit Fluchthintergrund im Rahmen des Programms Lehrkräfte Plus. (Workshop, 17.03.2023). Wien. 39. ÖDaF-Jahrestagung. Entry ÖDaF