CHI4080 - Chinese 8

Leader: Yan Chen

Offered

Clayton Second semester 2007 (Day)

Synopsis

This unit will introduce students to a range of primarily literary texts in contemporary Chinese. Students' ability to understand contemporary China and their skills in speaking, listening and writing will be further developed through various classroom activities of reading, translations and discussions and through essay-writing.

Objectives

The subject aims to provide students with:

1. General knowledge that will enhance their understanding of contemporary Chinese culture and society.
2. The ability to comprehend and express complex ideas in both spoken and written forms, consolidating skills already acquired at the Advanced Intermediate level.
3. Strategies of cross-cultural conceptualisation, incorporating translation skills, crucial to critical thinking on a range of cultural and social topics concerning contemporary China. Translation and reading exercises developed for this part of the course are based primarily on texts in standard Chinese from the People's Republic of China.

Assessment

2 essay assignments: 20%
2 Written examinations (4 hours): 50%
Seminar paper (including oral presentation): 20%
Class participation: 10%

Contact hours

4 hours (2 x 2 hour seminars) per week

Prerequisites

A credit in CHI4070 or equivalent

Prohibitions

CHI1080, CHI1480, CHI2080, CHI2480, CHI3080, CHI3480, CHI4089, CHI4480, CHI5080.