There are numerous well-established didactic approaches that bring to bear the literary and aesthetic dimension of language and media, especially in the context of German as a second language (DaZ). And yet references to this dimension of language and communication are almost completely absent not only in introductory publications and standard works on DaZ but also in the ‘Framework Curriculum for Integration Courses – German as a Second Language’, the official guideline of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) for the design of integration courses. The present volume makes the point that this neglect of the literary-aesthetic quality in DaZ publications is due to the linguistic, social and integration policy framework of teaching German as a second language – a framework that prescribes an instrumental, unambiguous understanding of language and an essentialist idea of culture, thus decisively limiting the possibilities of DaZ teaching. Engaging with literary textuality and aesthetic mediality, by contrast, may sensitise students to complexity, polysemy, ambiguity and a language ‘in flux’. It stimulates creativity and opens up new spaces for reflection, thereby contributing, from the outset, to an expanded linguistic competence. In so doing, the contributions in this volume show how engaging with literature and (other) aesthetic media may empower students to access the ‘full meaning-making potential of language’ (Claire Kramsch) and support them in developing their own voice in the foreign language. This would also be important for a society that urgently depends on the creative and transformative potential of all people – including and especially newcomers.