First Advisor
Carrie Collenberg-González
Date of Award
Spring 6-14-2024
Document Type
Thesis
Department
World Languages and Literatures
Language
English
Subjects
German, Post-Secondary Immersion, L2 Acquisition, History
Abstract
The number of post-secondary German immersion programs in the United States has decreased from eleven to three since their heyday in the 1960s and the 1970s. The remaining three include: the German Immersion Program at Middlebury Language Schools (est. 1915), the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik (est. 1958), and the Deutsche Sommerschule von New Mexico (est. 1975). These programs provide post-secondary students with immersive German-learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate credit during a summer session each year. Of these schools, the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik stands alone in not having an accessible written history available to the public, which this thesis aims to resolve. To begin, I organized the boxes of Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik archives held in storage for years in the Portland State University Department of World Languages and Literatures. I then used available documents to research the establishment of the school, spoke with academics who helped shape the program into what it is today, considered the general structure of the program, and formed a better understanding of enrollment trends. Through these findings, I wrote an overview of the history of the school from 1958 to present, illustrating the significant and enduring impact that the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik has had on German studies in the United States.
Rights
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Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/43656
Recommended Citation
Oar, Sequoia J., "A History of the Deutsche Sommerschule am Pazifik" (2024). University Honors Theses. Paper 1590.
Comments
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts in Applied Linguistics, World Languages and Literatures: German, and University Honors.