Aims

(1) To provide students with sufficient language competence to cope with the linguistic demands of real life in general, personal, social and business contexts.
(2) To develop an appropriate level of inter-cultural sensitivity in students, enabling successful interpersonal communication in a range of different situations.
(3) To continue to provide students with the necessary skills to become better language learners.

You will build upon the achievements made during your year abroad, increasing your knowledge of vocabulary and grammatical structures at intermediate and post-intermediate levels. By the end, you
will be conversing confidently and naturally, orally and in writing, in language appropriate to a range of situations.

Outline Of Syllabus

Roughly equal emphasis will be placed on reading, listening, speaking and writing skills. Grammar will be taught throughout in order to improve all four skills, using an integrated task-based approach.

Topics will include a wide range of social, cultural and political trends and issues relevant to contemporary China.

Every week you will have 6 scheduled teaching hours (5 present-in-person hours and 1 online hour) which incorporate activities such as reading, grammar, writing, speaking, and listening.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

Intermediate and post-intermediate grammatical structures and vocabulary are introduced and consolidated, using a task-based, communicative approach. Reading skills (skimming for gist; scanning for detail) are introduced and practised via classroom tasks involving pair and group work. Writing skills are introduced in class and practised outside the classroom in creative assignments set by the lecturer.

In order to ensure that 66 hours of independent guided study takes place, each contact hour is followed by homework assignments relating to what has just been introduced/practised. There is a minimum homework submission requirement of 70%, with this percentage being calculated every 6 weeks. Where appropriate, individualised formative feedback is provided (e.g. for writing assignments involving a creative element).

Oral and aural skills (i.e. speaking and listening) are practised throughout the course in task-based activities and via oral presentations.

The speaking lesson is taught online because this mode of teaching showed to be very effective as it increases students’ confidence to speak in front of the class.

THIS MODULE IS TAUGHT AND ASSESSED IN ENGLISH AND CHINESE (SIMPLIFIED CHARACTERS).

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

Writing assignments and vocab/grammar tests (40%) are necessary in order to allow students to acquire competence steadily. It also provides students with the opportunity to have constant feedback on their performance.

One 120-minute written exam at the end of Semester 1 (60%) on Grammar / Reading / Listening/ Sentence translations. Students will be expected to hand-write in the target language. Students may be allowed to type their own answers if they have physical disability and it is supported by a SSP. The written examination enables the assessing of the overall performance of the student in each of the knowledge and skill outcomes.