Admission requirements
Students admitted to MA Asian Studies (120EC): Chinese Studies and Asian Studies (60 EC): East Asian Studies tracks. The course is taught in Chinese. All students must meet one of the following minimum level of Chinese language proficiency requirements: CEFR level B1, which is roughly equivalent to new HSK 4 (with a test result of minimally 250 points) and TOCFL level 3. This course is designed based on the BA Mandarin program of Chinese Studies at Leiden University, where undergraduates receive approximately 300 contact hours and a 10-week intensive Mandarin training in a Mandarin speaking area (amounting to 60 ec in total). Students are required to be able to read both traditional and simplified characters and to write either of them by hand.
Description
This is 4-hour per week course. The curriculum is based on themes that are related to the Master’s program, such as politics, society, history, and economy. All listening materials are authentic materials (e.g., public speech, TV news, TV program, etc.). Class activities include intensive and extensive listening& reading, discussion, oral presentation, peer-editing. Students are expected to be thoroughly prepared and to contribute actively.
Course objectives
Listening: can understand spoken Chinese with/without accents, including topics relating to their academic interests; can understand formal and informal Chinese without too much effort; can infer the meanings from the context when encountering new words; can identify and translate the main ideas that contain concepts and specific information, demonstrating thorough and in-depth comprehension.
Speaking: can describe concrete as well as abstract ideas with advanced vocabulary and language structures, can do oral presentations about the topics that you find interesting, with special attention to accuracy.
Reading: can read a wide range of longer authentic materials (e.g., proses, short stories); can digest a larger amount of reading materials with the aid of IT resources; can infer meanings from the context with little aid of a dictionary; can identify and translate the main ideas and key passages that contain concepts and specific information, demonstrating a thorough and in-depth comprehension.
Writing: can write a short essay (600-700 characters) about the topics of the course; familiarity with common genres and styles of written Chinese; can use punctuations and format correctly; good command of advanced vocabulary and language structures.
Timetable
The timetables are avalable through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
- Seminar
Assessment method
To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following:
Students must have a minimal mark of 5,5 or higher on the final exam to pass this course. The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Assessment
Class oral presentation 20%
Written assignment 20%
Final exam (written exam) 60%
Students are required to answer parts of the questions on the final exam in English. In order to pass the course, students need a passing mark (“voldoende”, i.e. “5.50” or higher) for the course as a whole AND for the final exam.
Resit
To pass this course, students must have a minimal mark of 5,5 or higher on the final exam. The re-sit exam for the final exam is only available to students whose mark of the final exam is insufficient. The re-sit exam will then make up 100% of the mark.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Class materials will be distributed during the term in Brightspace.
Registration
Enrolment through My Studymap is mandatory.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office Herta Mohr