CHNS 201: Intermediate Chinese I
Prerequisites: CHNS 101 and 102 with a grade of C or better, and approval by the Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures
Credit Hours: (4) Four hours lecture and language practice
A continuation of Elementary Chinese I and II with a balanced emphasis is on listening, speaking, reading, and writing. General Education credit-International and Intercultural Studies.
Detailed Description of Course
The course material is adopting a cyclical arrangement with constant review of language structure and function together with important cultural information. This course will further consolidate, expand and deepen students’ understanding of lexical items and sentence patterns like the previous two semesters. It aims to develop the students’ communicative ability in Chinese by learning language structures, functions and related cultural knowledge as well as by training their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Situations and intentions covered include: commands, titles and addressing others, names of relatives; introduction and description of oneself and friends; the classroom, the school, the family, the restaurant and shopping; negotiation; expressing one’s desire; asking directions; placing orders, and telling time.
Cultural sections focus on: Students studying abroad in China – building international relationships, bonds between teachers and students, realizing cultural and communication differences; comparing cultural values, appreciating and adapting to Chinese culture.
Grammatical structures include: the ability to ask and answer simple questions and initiate and respond to simple statements in the present time. The ability to use limited constructions such as common verb- object phrases, simple modificiations with “de(5)” and and “le(5)” indicating completion/status change.
Detailed Description of Conduct of Course
Class instruction targets communication practice utilizing the situations, intentions, vocabulary, culture, and grammar introduced in a given chapter. Other activities include: singing songs, playing skits and Chinese games; grammar and vocabulary explanations, pronunciation practice, listening comprehension exercises, translation, writing, and grammatical drills. Class is conducted more in Chinese than in English as the level of students’ Chinese language comprehension increases.
Student Goals and Objectives of the Course
Speaking and listening goals (standardized ACTFL proficiency criteria): Having successfully completed this course, students will be able to satisfy partially the requirements of basic communicative exchanges by relying heavily on learned utterances.
Students can ask and answer simple questions and initiate and respond to simple statements in the present time. They can use limited constructions such as common verb- object phrases, simple modifications with “de(5)” and and “le(5)” indicating completion/status change. Most utterances contain fractured syntax and other grammatical errors. Misunderstandings frequently arise from inaccurate pronunciation and tones, and limited vocabulary. As regards listening skills, students will be able to recognize learned material and isolated words and phrases when strongly supported by context and slow speaking pace. Students will be able to comprehend some words and phrases from simple questions, statements, high-frequency commands, and courtesy formulae about topics that refer to basic personal information or the immediate physical setting.
Reading and writing goals (standardized ACTFL proficiency criteria): Students will be able to identify learned material at a slow pace and to understand a limited amount of new material when supported by context or dictionary assistance. In writing, students will be able to produce limited words and phrases from learned material and will be able to produce correctly common verbs and adjectives in the present time frame most of the time.
Broad General Education Goals. Students will be able to:
*think critically and creatively about ideas, issues, problems, and texts both within and across academic disciplines
CHNS 201 students will acquire some basic social, economic, or political knowledge about issues of current importance in the Chinese cultures and be able to discuss these issues on an elementary level.
*employ a variety of research methods and styles of inquiry
Students will learn to gather information about Chinese cultures and communicate about them by means of a variety of books, TV programs, audio, video, computer technologies or talking with native Chinese people.
*work with others in a shared process of inquiry and problem-solving
They will practice Chinese and communicate about other cultures with each other in small groups and with at least one native speaker.
*identify the cultural values that shape decisions in public, professional, and private life
As a result of all these intercultural encounters, students will be able to understand how different cultural values affect perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors that they would tend to take for granted and not analyze so critically in a monocultural environment.
Area 5 Goals. Students will be able to:
* demonstrate an understanding of the central place of language in shaping thinking, values, and other aspects of culture
CHNS 201 students will, in learning another language system and its cultural centeredness, understand the interrelatedness of language and culture in the perceptions and values of other cultures.
*demonstrate an awareness of the diversity of cultures beyond the United States and analyze similarities and differences between their own and other cultures that affect perceptions, beliefs, and behaviors
Students will be able to analyze a number of cultural similarities and differences between the United States, China and Taiwan. These comparisons students make between their own and other cultures will help students realize how diverse cultures can be.
*identify and discuss important global issues that highlight the relationships among peoples and nations
Students will, in class conversations, speakers and readings, acquire knowledge about some historical, but mostly current global issues, that are in the news and that are having a significant social, economic, or political impact.
Assessment Measures
Speaking progress is evaluated in class and in oral interviews. Written homework assignments provide a basis for the evaluation of writing progress. Listening and reading comprehension and grammatical accuracy are tested in quizzes, chapter tests, and on the final exam. In most of these testing situations, students will also either demonstrate or further expand (in the case of new linguistic excerpts containing new cultural topics) their familiarity with cultural topics and current global issues. Students’ success in using Chinese will therefore demonstrate not only their linguistic abilities but also their cultural competence to anticipate, identify, and to simulate the use of different cultural perceptions and behaviors through the new language.
Other Course Information
To supplement linguistic and cultural encounters in class, students are expected to participate in some extracurricular activities such as the celebration of Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and conversation with native speakers, watching Chinese language movies, and inquiring about Chinese cultures by means of the multitude of media available as informational resources. Chinese 201 is for students who have taken Chinese 101 and 102 at the university level.
Approval and Subsequent Reviews
Date Action Reviewed by
February 2004 Revised Philip Sweet