Dr Hua Xiang PEL.6.01b

Available as an outside option to all undergraduate and General Course students. Students can take this course in any year of their studies following approval from the teacher responsible and subject to their own programme regulations.

No previous knowledge of Mandarin is required; students with limited prior knowledge may be considered for the course subject to an interview with the course co-ordinator.

Beginners to intermediate study of the Mandarin language within the framework of social sciences and culture. In a dynamic and communicative way the course develops all four language skills (i.e. speaking, listening, reading and writing) through individual and group work, topical discussions, authentic and multi-media materials. The focus is on accuracy as well as communication that advance students’ language competence, transferable skills and cultural awareness. In this level, the students are required to read and write up to 750 Chinese characters.

60 hours of classes in the MT. 60 hours of classes in the LT. 6 hours of classes in the ST.

Six hours per week, which will feature: (a) interactive topical work; (b) oral practise; (c) grammar and vocabulary work; (d) tutorials; and (e) guided study using IT and web-based materials.

This course has reading weeks in Week 6 of Michaelmas and Lent terms.

The students will be required to complete weekly exercises. This includes grammar activities, writing Chinese characters and online communicative materials.

CH Xiang, 2010, Mastering Chinese, London. Palgrave Macmillan.

X Liu (ed.), 2006, New Practical Chinese Reader, Vol. 1, text book and workbook,  Beijing. Beijing Language and Cultural University Press.

Y Po-Ching & D Rimmington, 2002, Beginners Chinese – A Grammar and Workbook, Routledge.

Oxford Chinese Dictionary, 2010, Oxford Dictionaries.

Exam (30%, duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes) in the summer exam period.
Oral examination (30%) in the ST.
Continuous assessment (40%) in the MT and LT.

Language courses map to the Common European Framework for Language Learning.  This framework defines linguistic proficiency in the four language skills (reading, writing, speaking and listening) at different levels.  To pass this course, students are therefore required to achieve a pass mark in each element of the assessment (continuous assessment, oral and written exams), as these test all four skills.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.