The Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German
Head of the Department:
Ivan Yaroslavovych Yatsiuk, PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Deputy Head for academic affairs:
Victor Vasylovych Drebet, Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor
Senior laboratory assistant: Uliana Ivanivna Stasiuk
Engineer: Oleksii Petrovych Horobets
Address: 2 Maxym Kryvonis Str., cab. 83 (3d floor), Ternopil, 46027, Ukraine
Tel: 43-58-31 (Deanery)
Email: kaf_nimfil@tnpu.edu.ua
History of the Department
The Department of the German Language was created by the order No. 100 from September 14, 1995, issued by the former Rector of Ternopil State Pedagogical University, Professor Kravets V.P. Initially, the Department had 11 full-time lecturers, including two PhDs, Associate Professors Hinka B.I. and Khomenko L.Ya.
The Department is aimed at the implementation and improvement of the educational process and research work in the field of the German language and literature as well as at the successful training of highly qualified teachers and philologists and germanists for various types of educational institutions.
Masters course has been operating at the Department since 2003.
From 1995 to 2004 the Department had been headed by Bohdan Ivanovych Hinka, PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor. Since 2004 the seat of the Head of the Department belongs to Ivan Yaroslavovych Yatsiuk, PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor.
In October, 2012 by the decision of the Academic Council, put into effect by the order of the Rector of the University, the Department of the German Language was renamed into the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German.
Over more than 25 years of the Department’s existence, it has grown both quantitatively and qualitatively. Now there are 18 full-time lecturers, including a Professor, Doctor of Philological Sciences (Victor Vasylovych Drebet), 14 Associate Professors, PhDs and an Assistant, PhD.
Department Staff:
Ivan Yaroslavovych Yatsiuk – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Head of the Department
Mykola Stepanovych Kebalo – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty
Victor Vasylovych Drebet – PhD in Philological Sciences, Professor
Nataliia Yaremivna Byiak – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Nataliia Bohdanivna Vyrsta – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Bohdan Ivanovych Hinka – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Natalia Albertivna Derkevych – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Taras Vasylovych Dzys – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Anatolii Petrovych Kateryniak – Assistant
Valentyna Yaroslavivna Lomakovych – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor
Lesia Ivanivna Maievska – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Oleksandra Bohdanivna Martynovych – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Assistant
Mykhailo Yevstakhiiovych Miaskovskyi – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor
Inna Vasylivna Obikhod – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor
Oleksandr Mykhailovych Peliak – Assistant, Vice Dean of the Faculty
Svitlana Arkadiivna Prytoliuk – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Nataliia Volodymyrivna Rokitska – PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor
Nataliia Romanivna Yashchyk – PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor
Academic and Methodological Work
The Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German as a structural unit of the Faculty of Foreign Languages is assigned to teaching of the following theoretical and practical disciplines:
- The German language either as a major, as a second specialty or as a third foreign language;
- Text Interpretation;
- The German Language History;
- Country Studies of Germany;
- The German Language Lexicology;
- The German Literature of Different Historical Periods;
- The German Language Teaching Methods;
- The German Language Stylistics;
- The German Language Theoretical Grammar;
- The German Language Theoretical Phonetics;
- The Theoretical Course of the German Language as a second foreign language;
- Theory and Practice of Translation;
- Methods of Scientific Research;
- The History of Linguistic Doctrines;
- Theoretical and Applied Problems of Modern Linguistics;
- Methods of Teaching in Higher Education Institutions;
- The Basic Literary Theories and Schools of Criticism;
Apart from the abovementioned disciplines, under the principles of ECTS, the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German provides a number of other relevant subjects.
The educational process at the Department is carried out in accordance with pan-European recommendations on language education (studying, teaching and assessment principles) and in line with a dialogic learning concept based on an integrative approach to the development of a comprehensive bilingual communicative competence of students, aiming at the achievement of the main goal of education which is training of a highly educated and comprehensively qualified professional teachers and germanists with a high level of competence in various fields of professional activities.
Led by Associate Professor Miaskovskyi M. Ye., there are methodical seminars conducted at the Department, at which current issues of improving the effectiveness of the educational process and ensuring objectivity in assessing students' knowledge are regularly reviewed and discussed, as well as the linguistic, pedagogical, didactic and methodical aspects of teaching the German language.
The Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German traditionally cooperates with the Ternopil Education Department, schools of Ternopil and Ternopil region, as well as with the Ternopil Regional Communal Institute of Postgraduate Pedagogical Education (TOKIPPO). The lecturers of the Department are constantly engaged as jury members of the citywide and regional student olympiads on the German language, and organize and conduct training seminars for the German language teachers of Ternopil and Ternopil region.
In addition the Department effectively cooperates with the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine, the German cultural center at the German embassy in Ukraine. On September 12, 2019, an agreement was signed between Volodymyr Hnatiuk Ternopil National Pedagogical University and the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine on the implementation of the Goethe-Institut’s DLL program (Deutsch lehren lernen – learning how to learn German) in the process of training students of the German language Department. This program is based on the latest achievements of didactics and methods of teaching the German language and meets international quality standards. At the Department the specified program is implemented by Associate Professors Lomakovych V.Ya., Miaskovskyi M.Ye., Obikhod I.V.
Associate professor Yatsiuk I.Ya. is a member of the German language animators group at the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine and, in accordance with the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the Goethe-Institut in Ukraine of October 28, 2013, systematically conducts methodical and didactic trainings for the German language teachers on the basis of regional institutes of postgraduate pedagogical education.
As for educational work, the Department successfully employs the University tutors system. The issues of educational work and work of tutors are regularly heard at the meetings of the Department. All lecturers make plans on students’ educational activities for the current academic year registering them in their individual work plans and at the end of each semester at the final meeting of the Department they report on their implementation.
The lecturers and the students of the Department traditionally take an active part in various events as freshmen initiation, Student’s Day, Faculty Day, Department Day etc.
Scientific Work
The lecturers of the Department develop their individual scientific topics within the department-wide theme “Linguistic, Literary and Sociocultural Aspects of the German Language Texts of Different Genres and Styles and Their Didactization in the Educational Process”.
On November 24, 2017, Viktor Vasylovych Drebet, Associate Professor of the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German, successfully defended his dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Philology, (specialty 10.02.04 - Germanic languages). The dissertation topic was: “A noun in the modern German: semantics, syntagmatics, paradigmatics (linguosynergetic approach)”. The defense took place at the specialized scientific council of Odessa I.I. Mechnikov National University.
Since 2013, the Department has been operating a research laboratory “Linguoculturological Studios of German-speaking Countries” within the systematic scientific and applied processing of a wide range of philological and country studies related to German-speaking countries, taking into account the areas of scientific research of the lecturers.
The Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German collaborates with specialized departments of leading Ukrainian universities, in particular with the Department of German Philology and Translation at the Institute of Philology of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv; the Department of Foreign Philology and Translation at National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine; the Department of German Philology and the Department of Intercultural Communication and Translation at Ivan Franko National University of Lviv; the Department of Germanic, General and Comparative Linguistics at Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University; the Department of German and French Philology at Mariupol State University; the Department of Foreign Languages and Translation of the Institute of History, Political Science and International Relations, the Department of German Philology and the Department of Foreign Languages at Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University, as well as with other scientific institutions of Ukraine.
To improve the professional level and to be able to conduct research in German-speaking countries, the lecturers of the Department regularly apply and win grants and scholarships from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the German Catholic Academic Exchange Service (KAAD), the Austrian Academic Exchange Service (OeAD), and other institutions and funds of these countries. Thus, over the last five years, such grants / scholarships were received by:
- Vyrsta N.B., PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor (30.06.-13.07.2019 – scholarship from the Goethe-Institut in Berlin, Germany);
- Drebet V.V., Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor (March, 2015 – OeAD Research Grant for University of Vienna; 01.10-30.11.2015 – DAAD Research Grant for Trier University, Germany; 01.06.-30.11.2016 – KAAD Research Grant for Trier University; 01.07.-31.12.2019 – KAAD Research Grant for University of Göttingen, Germany).
- Yashchyk N.R., PhD in Philological Sciences, Associate Professor (28.06.-18.07.2015 – Goethe-Institut Scholarship for Participation in the Workshop on Project-Based Learning in German Lessons, Mannheim, Germany; 4.11.-10.11.2018 - MIL DAAD-scholarship to participate in the project «Language Conflicts: Recognize, Understand, Overcome», Moldova-Ukraine; 18.11.-22.11.2019 – Erasmus + internship at University College of Teacher Education Vienna, Austria; Ukrainian grants: 30.05.2016 – 30.05.2018 - Scholarship of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for young scientists).
Over the same period of time, the international internship was passed by:
- Byiak N.Ya. and Prytoliuk S.A. PhDs in Philological Sciences, Associate Professors (10.06.-21.08. 2017, Kosice and Bratislava (Slovak Republic), Academic society of Michal Baludansky. The internship topic: Innovations in higher education: world trends and regional experience).
- Obikhod I.V., PhD in Pedagogical Sciences, Associate Professor (15.04.-15.07.2016 - College for Foreign Languages in Częstochowa, Poland (Wyższa Szkoła Lingwistyczna w Częstochowie). The internship topic: The innovative Methods and Technologies of Teaching: The Newest in the European Educational Practice.
Students’ Scientific Research Work
At the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German the scientific research work of students covers philological, literary, pedagogical and methodical topics and takes the form of term and diploma papers, master's thesis, scientific articles, as well as the form of individual research tasks and scientific research within the activities of the Department scientific problem groups led by lecturers, who are scientific advisors of student research papers.
Evaluation of student research projects is traditionally held at the University reporting scientific conferences, during the preliminary defense of scientific works, at Ukrainian and international student scientific conferences as well as at the student research papers competitions. Students can publish the main results of their scientific research in the faculty-wide “Student Scientific Almanac” and in the university-wide collection of student research papers.
The students of the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German participate in a Double Diploma program (Ukraine and Poland), and often study abroad for a semester, namely at Viktor Frankl Carinthia Pedagogical College (Austria) under the current agreement between both educational institutions.
17.10.-01.11.2015 – Wie Braunschweig bunt wurde: Filmische Szenen zur Entwicklung Braunschweigs von der Nazi-Zeit bis heute (How Braunschweig became colorful: Film scenes of the development of Braunschweig from the Nazi era to the present day);
15.07.-30.07. 2017 – Zivilgesellschaftliches Engagement für eine intakte Umwelt in der Westukraine: Studien zur Abfallverwertung in Stadt und Umland von Ternopil und Czernowitz (A public initiative for a healthy environment in Western Ukraine: A study of waste management in the city and surrounding areas of Ternopil and Chernivtsi) – in cooperation with the students of geographic faculties of Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University and Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University;
28.09.-13.10.2019 – Parteien, Vereine, Bürgerinitiativen, soziale Bewegungen – Stabilitätsanker der Demokratie (Parties, associations, public initiatives, social movements as pledge of the democracy stability).
In 2019, the research project by a graduate student of the Department, Nazariy Slobodian (scientific adviser - Associate Professor S. A. Prytoliuk) won the first place in the project competition held by a German association “GFPS - Gemeinschaft für studentischen Austausch in Mittel- und Osteuropa e.V.”. Nazariy Slobodian received a five-month scholarship (from 04.01.2019 to 08.31.2019) to study at the Institute of Literature at Humboldt University of Berlin.
In 2020, the same scholarship of the abovementioned association was won by another graduate student of the Department Natalia Kravets (scientific advisor - Associate Professor V. Ya. Lomakovych), who was to study at Leipzig University from 01.01.04. to 08.31.2020, but in the light of the coronavirus pandemic, the training was postponed to the next semester.
Amid the same reason, to a later date was also postponed the studying of a graduate student of the Department Uliana Kryvko, who won a DAAD scholarship to study at Leipzig University from 04.01.2020 to 07.31.2020.
Famous Graduates of the Department
Oleh Kotsiuba
The Editor-in-Chief of the Krytyka Magazine website www.krytyka.com Boston, the USA.
In 2015 Oleh Kotsiuba gained a Ph.D. at Harvard University with a degree in Slavic Languages and Literature (the dissertation on the topic “Rules of Disengagement: Author, Audience, and Experimentation in Ukrainian and Russian Literature of the 1970s and 1980s”). Before that, Oleh Kotsiuba had graduated from the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Ternopil National Pedagogical University (2002), gained a Master’s degree in English at Wayne State University of Detroit, the USA (2006), and a Master’s degree in Comparative Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Computer Science at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (2008). He currently works as a lecturer and a College Scholar at the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature of Harvard University, USA.
Oleh Kotsiuba is also the chief editor of the Ukrainian journal Krytyka website, which is the leading magazine of Ukrainian intellectuals (www.krytyka.com).
Internet link: http://scholar.harvard.edu/kotsyuba/home
Mykhailo Banakh
Having graduated from the Department of German Philology and Methods of Teaching German of our pedagogical University in 1999, Mykhailo Banakh had been studying sociology at Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (Germany). Now he works as a coordinator of international projects at the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), an authoritative fund founded by the German Federal Foreign Office, which aims at the establishment of the coexistence of peoples and cultures based on peace and mutual enrichment, promoting artistic and cultural exchanges
