Teaching code

4S003689

Credits

9

Coordinator

Daniele Beltrame

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

L-OR/21 - CHINESE AND SOUTH ASIAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

Moodle Seminars 0

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should demonstrate that they possess a practical knowledge of modern Chinese grammar and lexicon, enough for them to communicate independently on simple topics. Their knowledge of Chinese lexicon and grammar will be enhanced, as well as basic communicative skills, in particular listening, reading, written and oral production. Moreover, another aim of the course is to let students acquire an active and passive knowledge of a wider lexicon, with particular attention to specific terms from the domains of trade, business and tourism. At the end of the course, students will reach a level of linguistic knowledge and a vocabulary required for an HSK3 certificate, corresponding to the B1 level in the international language standards.

Attendance is mandatory.

Program

In-depth study of Mandarin Chinese syntax and lexicon. Sentence types, particles, adverbs, conjunctions, prepositions, verbal complements, coordinate and subordinate clauses. Specific focus especially on syntax of coordinate and subordinate clauses, and of specific structures of the Chinese sentence. Development of communicative functions, widening of the vocabulary, improvement of listening, reading, writing skills, as well as that of oral production. Exercises on grammar, communicative functions and vocabulary.
Teaching methods include frontal lessons with active participation of the students, through structures and rules used in examples of the language in use, exercises and analyses of proposed texts.
Grammar lectures (prof. Beltrame) will use frontal teaching methods with Power Point files, textbooks, and additional materials provided and explained by the teacher. Active participation of the students will be ensured through exercises during the lessons. Applied language activities (prof. Sun) will be provided in an interactive manner, including reading, listening exercises, writing and conversations.



Course texts:

- Teng, Wen-hua (2011). “Yufa! A Practical Guide to Mandarin Chinese Grammar”. London: Hodder Education.
-Abbiati, Magda; Zheng Ruifang (2011). “Dialogare in cinese. Corso di lingua colloquiale, vol. I”. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
-Abbiati, Magda; Zheng Ruifang (2011). “Dialogare in cinese. Corso di lingua colloquiale, vol. II”. Venezia: Cafoscarina.

Additional teaching materials will be used by the teacher during the lessons and uploaded on the e-learning page of the course after each lesson.


Recommended texts:

- Abbiati, Magda (2011) “Grammatica di cinese moderno”. Venezia: Cafoscarina.
- Romagnoli, Chiara (2012). “Grammatica cinese”. Milano: Hoepli.
- Cui Songren (2004). “Business Chinese. An Advanced Reader”. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press.


Recommended Chinese-Italian/Italian-Chinese dictionaries:

- Casacchia, Giorgio; Bai Yukun (2013). “Dizionario Cinese-Italiano”. Venezia: Cafoscarina. [solo cinese-italiano]
- Zhao Xiuying (a cura di) (2013). “Il dizionario di cinese”. Bologna: Zanichelli.
- Zhang Shihua (a cura di) (2007). “Dizionario di cinese”. Milano: Hoepli.


Recommended Chinese-English dictionaries:

- Lin Yuan (ed.) (2002). “The Contemporary Chinese Dictionary”. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
- Hui Yu (ed.) (2004). “A New Century Chinese-English Dictionary”. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

Bibliography

Examination Methods

The final exam consists of three parts: a written test on grammar, composition and reading comprehension, a listening test extracted from HSK 3 tests and a conversation test in Chinese. Each part of the exam has a ten-point worth. Students must obtain at least 6 points in each part in order to pass the exam. All parts of the exam must be passed in the same date: whoever wants or needs to repeat the exam must repeat all three parts (written test, listening and conversation). The final score will be expressed in points out of 30.

HSK certificates will not be accepted as substitute for the exam, nor any of its part.

Details about the exam will be published on the e-learning page during the course.

At the end of the first semester, i.e. in the winter session of January-February 2019, a midterm examination (score not registered) will be held based on the first half of the programme. The modality of the midterm exam is the same as that of the final exam, as described above. Also in the case of midterm exam, it is composted of three parts, students must obtain the passing mark (6 points out of 10) in each part in order to pass the exam.
Students who pass the midterm examination will need to prepare the second half of the programme for the final exam and the final mark will be the average of the two exams. Those who don't pass the midterm exam must prepare the entire programme for the final exam. Students who wish to decline the mark of midterm exam should express such intention clearly writing from their university email address to the teacher’s university email address, within one week after the publishing date of exam results seen on e-learning webpage of the course.
The score of the midterm examination is valid for a year, until the second exam session in January-February 2020. After the final exam, students who had already passed the midterm examination previously can choose to repeat the second part of the exam (relative to the programme of the second semester) or the entire syllabus (programme of the first and the second semester), losing the mark of the midterm examination. In both cases, in the email sent to the teacher, students should state clearly whether he/she wish to decline the mark of the second part of the exam only or both marks of the mid-term exam and the second part of the exam.

Since attendance is mandatory, students who don’t reach 60% of the attendance will not be admitted to the exam. Those having between 60% and 75% of the attendance must pass an additional oral test on the grammatical topics covered during the course. In order to justify non-attendance, certificates proving real and well-grounded reasons (health, study, mandatory internships or possession of HSK certificates from level 3 to level 6) will be considered. These certificates must be submitted to the teacher before the exam.