Offered

Clayton First semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

Conducted entirely in Japanese, the unit offers an advanced level of spoken and written Japanese, designed to bring the student closer to semi-native competence, through studying Japanese popular cultural forms. Language activities include reading a variety of text genres, including academic texts, learning advanced modes of expression and kanji, writing summaries and essays in Japanese, translation, debates and discussions, and conversation with Japanese visitors. Students will develop IT and computer skills in a Japanese context, including wordprocessing, working with Japanese Internet sites, using on-line glossaries and making a powerpoint presentation in Japanese.

Objectives

After successfully completing this unit, students will have further developed towards an advanced, semi-native level:

1. Their ability to use spoken Japanese to discuss and debate issues.

2. Their ability to give a sustained and coherent oral presentation (supported by powerpoint) on a popular culture related topic.

3. Their ability to comprehend spoken Japanese in the context of lecture presentations and authentic audio and audiovisual popular cultural documents.

4. Their ability to read print and on-line texts using on-line glossaries and dictionaries, including both rapid reading for comprehension and detailed analytical reading.

5. Their ability to write in Japanese, with particular reference to the skills of summary, synthesis and argument, in an essay related to popular culture.

6. Their IT and computer skills in a Japanese context, including wordprocessing, searching Japanese databases for information, analyzing and interpreting Japanese web pages, and doing a powerpoint presentation in Japanese.

Assessment

Final examination (2 hours): 40%
Regular class quizzes: 15%
Oral presentation: 10%
Written work: 20%
Test of oral skills (debate): 15%

Contact hours

4 hours (1 x 1 hour lecture and 3 hours tutorials/seminars) per week

Prerequisites

Japanese 8 or equivalent

Prohibitions

JPL1090, JPL2090, JPL3090, JPL4090, JLG5090