Courses in the 2026 winter semester

HERE you will find a brief, up-to-date overview of all courses offered in English Didactics in the current semester or, during the lecture-free period, in the coming semester.

If you would like to know which online elective modules offered by the Professorship are available through the Bavarian Virtual University (VHB), please click HERE.

Program structure for English Didactics

HERE you can find an overview of the entire program structure for English Didactics.

Guidelines of the Professorship for writing academic papers

1. Are you planning to write a BA or MA thesis (or qualification paper) in English didactics?

Then first write a brief, informative exposé (approx. 4 pages) with the following content: 1. Precise description of the topic, 2. Draft of an academic question, 3. Planned research method, 4. Work structure/table of contents, 5. Preliminary bibliography from your initial literature review, and 6. A preliminary schedule. With this, you can come to the office hours of your desired advisor. Once everything has been approved, register your thesis. Please note: Supervision of your thesis will only begin after you have officially registered. The assessment scheme for BA/ZA and MA theses can be viewedHERE. The minimum length of a ZA/BA thesis is 50 pages of text without illustrations, literature, etc., and the minimum length of an MA thesis is 80 pages of text.

2. Would you like to obtain a doctoral degree or qualify as a professor?

Then first check HERE to see whether you meet the essential formal requirements. Then write an exposé (see previous link) and arrange an appointment with the head professor.

ALL scientific subject-specific didactic papers are written in a uniform APA 7 style (American Psychological Association) in English subject didactics. You can find a style sheet HERE. These tools may be helpful for your research.

Participation in the weekly colloquium “Lab Hour” is mandatory for all authors of English teaching papers.

Distance Teaching: Teaching English Worlwide!

1. Concept

The realization that distance teaching can be a meaningful and successful tool in the education of children and young people is not a new insight gained during the Covid pandemic. Long before, teachers worldwide were already utilizing the increasingly diverse digital possibilities for teaching across very long distances, for example, in vast countries like Australia, sparsely populated regions like northern Iceland, or widely scattered islands like the Faroe Islands. There, the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020 did not present schools with seemingly insurmountable challenges, as it did in Germany.

At the Chair of English Didactics at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, these challenges have been viewed primarily as a great opportunity from the very beginning. From our perspective, distance teaching is one of the fundamental competencies that a modern (English) teacher should possess in the 21st century. Based on this conviction, our Distance Teaching Program was developed and launched in the winter semester of 2020/21.

In this program, students gain a detailed overview of both analogue and digital teaching methods for designing (English) lessons and learn how to implement them using digital tools. They also explore the opportunities and challenges of digitalization from the perspective of language learning didactics. The most exciting aspect of the course for participants is trying out live distance teaching in teaching teams at partner schools worldwide. The course provides them with the necessary tools to design lessons that offer international students authentic, challenging, and meaningful language input on screen, encourage interaction, and produce high-quality and diverse output. After their online lessons abroad, students reflect on their teaching experiences with their peers, the students, the partner teachers worldwide, and, of course, the instructor.

2. Insights & Highlights

Our unique distance teaching program offers our students unforgettable experiences. Teaching a lesson thousands of kilometers away is a huge challenge for young student teachers, making their pride in their achievement after a successful lesson all the greater. The entire concept depends on our partner schools worldwide, for whose cooperation we are very grateful. This requires a considerable degree of flexibility in thinking and scheduling from everyone involved, as we must constantly consider current developments at the partner schools, which can make planning the teaching practice sessions quite difficult. Our partners also find the program very beneficial, both for the partner teachers and the students.

The lessons take place via various platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. Most of the time, the students at the partner schools are logged directly into the meeting. Sometimes, however, our student teachers are streamed onto a large screen in the actual classroom and see the class in its entirety, which requires a completely different approach to planning and conducting the lesson.

The class times can also be quite unusual: at our partner school in Sydney, Australia, a lesson might take place from 1:05 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. – this requires a great deal of stamina from the teaching teams.

3. Participating Schools 

Former Partner Schools:

• Amerikanska Gymnasiet, Halmstad (Sweden)
• Collège Albert Camus, Neuville-lès-Dieppe (France)
• Escola Alemã Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
• Friskole, Aeroskøbing (Denmark)
• KITAS Gymnasium, Gothenburg (Sweden)
• Menntaskólinn á Ísafirði, Ísafjörður (Iceland)
• St. Paul’s College, Windhoek (Namibia)

Current Partner Schools

• Coláiste Bríde, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford (Ireland)
• Drottning Blankas Gymnasieskola, Halmstad (Sweden)
• Staffansgymnasiet, Söderhamn (Sweden)
• St. Augustine’s College, Sydney (Australia)
• In preparation: Åland Islands, New Zealand, Japan