Text discussion explained using an example
Discussing the text is a common task in German lessons, but actually affects every discussion of a text. The best way to explain the complexity of a text discussion is with a practical example.
Nevertheless, anyone who wants to write a text discussion should have already dealt with the theoretical basics, which are therefore first briefly summarized:
Theoretical foundations of text discussion
- A text discussion discusses a text, as the name suggests. So if you look closely at what "discuss" means, it would provide important clues as to what a text discussion is. Discussing means: speaking in detail and going into detail about an issue that has not yet been clarified. to discuss.
- With that, everything is actually already said, in a text discussion a text is "taken apart". Most of the time, German lessons are about lengthy factual texts that you have to deal with; literary texts are usually not discussed, but rather interpreted.
- To the discussion the first thing to do is to understand what the text is saying. This is not as natural as you might think. Not only German officials, but also specialist journalists from many areas express themselves in such a way that ordinary people cannot easily understand them.
- Such articles would then first have to be broken down into individual sentences until it is clear what the author is trying to say. Then, as part of the text discussion, you begin to critically examine the statements in the text.
- You deal critically with the statements in the text by commenting on the individual statements. This opinion may include reasoning or errors argumentation uncover the author. It can also simply work out what allegations are made in the text, and you may well agree with these allegations in your text discussion. However, you can also weight these statements differently and justify this weighting.
- You can find out what the intentions are behind the statements in the text. You can work out the problem addressed in the text and deal with its linguistic and stylistic presentation. You can bring in additional points of view that were not explained in the text, or you can take a closer look at the points of view that exist in the text.
- There is only one thing that does not qualify as text discussion: If you simply present the text and its statements without expressing an opinion in any way. So if you really can't think of anything to say about a text in a (partially) judgmental, positive or negative way, you should rather ask for another topic.
You can learn to write a statement in German lessons, but not everyone ...
The text discussion using a practical example
Let's take a text in the newspaper about a building project as an example. This is not about a specific text, but a series of texts that are written by various authors on this construction project. Whatever opinion a writer takes, the examination of the text is always similar:
- What problem does the main message of the article describe? For example: The main point of the article is that the money for the construction of the new public building will only last until the end of the year.
- What else does the author say? Does he think that the building can be opened in good time within the granted grace period? For example: The currently known grace period assumes completion by May next. When the author suggests that the money will only last until the end of the year, he questions this statement.
- Does the author give any indication of where he got his information from? For example: The supervisory boards of the construction company would have received this information from the management at the last meeting.
- In the articles about the building, the following subject areas could be discussed, for which the most varied in the context of a text discussion Arguments can be introduced that can be found in the current daily press: statements by the author, in which Area of responsibility the delays in the construction work lie and with what intention he delays the construction to a very specific one Assigned area of responsibility. Statements about the additional costs and that the taxpayers will probably bear them and many other aspects.
In the example chosen here, you can also see quite clearly what a text discussion can achieve: Whenever you read an article, you can ask yourself a few questions about the text. If you have asked all the questions necessary to properly understand this text and to understand its intentions, then you have just done a textual discussion of this text!