Students majoring in the Japanese language should graduate with the ability to interact in meaningful ways with Japanese people in Japanese both in the spoken language (speaking/listening) and in the written language (reading/writing), although proficiency levels will differ according to the stream in which students enrol. Students will acquire the knowledge, intellectual capabilities, competencies and attitudes necessary for interacting with a range of Japanese people. The ability to interact in Japanese requires not only the mastery of language skills in the traditional sense (including competence in the grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation of the language), but also an understanding of the cultural rules for communicating and a broad knowledge of the social, cultural, economic and political context in which Japanese think and behave. In addition to these quantifiable properties, students who major in Japanese will also learn to think critically. At the higher levels, students will develop an ability to discern the competing intellectual positions which will define life in Japan at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
| Published by Monash University, Clayton, Victoria
3168 Copyright © Monash University 1996 - All Rights Reserved - Caution Authorised by the Academic Registrar December 1996 |