Monash University Arts Undergraduate Handbook, 1997

General

The definition of the teaching and learning objectives of the department recognises:

the plurality of these objectives, given varying student profiles (the department provides for students with different learning experience in the discipline area, ranging from secondary schooling supplemented by study in France to no learning experience at all; thus there are two first-year entry levels, different patterns of working through the first-year post-secondary course, fast-tracking procedures, extension and support programs
varying course configurations (the department's offerings include first-year sequences, the minor, the major and honours).

Objectives vary according to the duration of study in the discipline, but any course (eg beginner/first year only) is both discrete, with its own set of objectives, and a component of a longer course (ie a minor, a major and honours) with correspondingly more extensive objectives. None of the department's discrete offerings (with the exception of the first-year first-semester subjects) have as their only justification their belonging to a longer course (ie their justification is not solely defined in terms of preparation for later-year study).

The above has important implications for language-teaching methodology and the definition and coordination of the units of increasing complexity offered by the department.

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