Deutsch mit Schlager(n)? Ja! Aber warum, wozu und wie? Eine Pilotstudie zur Sprach- und Kulturvermittlung durch Musikstücke

The present paper sets forth the findings of a pilot study that was conducted within the Lingua Tedesca course of the Bachelor’s degree programme in Lingue, Letterature e Studi interculturali at the University of Florence. Upon completion of the initial module, which concentrated on strategies for reading and comprehending written German texts (e.g., recipes and concise biographies), a subsequent module was introduced in the second semester. The second module focused on songs widely popular in German-speaking countries and aimed to develop skills associated with spoken language, thereby fostering a more natural acquisition process. The purpose of this article is to assess the effectiveness of this approach, and it is structured into four sections. Chapter I delineates the theoretical framework pertinent to language learning and the teaching of German as a foreign language. The second and third chapters of this study provide a detailed exposition of the empirical research that forms the basis of this work. Chapter II discusses the corpus and the instructional methodology, while Chapter III explores the didactic implementation, focusing on linguistic and cultural aspects that can be addressed through the use of popular songs. Finally, chapter IV concludes the paper with a synthesis of key findings on foreign language teaching and provides suggestions for future applications.