Chinese Proficiency II

6 ECTS credits
180 h study time

Offer 1 with catalog number 1021231CNR for all students in the 1st and 2nd semester at a (C) Bachelor - specialised level.

Semester

1st and 2nd semester

Enrollment based on exam contract

Impossible

Grading method

Grading (scale from 0 to 20)

Can retake in second session

Yes

Taught in

Faculty

Faculty of Languages & Humanities

Department

Linguistics and Literary Studies

Educational team

Ann Peeters
Maarten Gernay (course titular)
Jianwei Xu

Activities and contact hours

13 contact hours Lecture
15 contact hours Seminar, Exercises or Practicals
90 contact hours Independent or External Form of Study

Course Content

This course is the continuation of the Chinese Proficiency I course. In this course, students further expand their Mandarin Chinese language skills in speaking, listening, writing and reading and improve on grammatical complexity. Within these language skills, greater emphasis will be put upon developing stronger speaking skills. At the end of the course, students should master a minimal vocabulary of 800 words and advanced grammatical constructions, enabling them to reach an intermediate proficiency level.

Prerequisite: students must first pass Chinese Proficiency I in order to take this course.

Course material

Handbook (Required) : Standard Course Book HSK 2, Textbook (128 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937266, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course Book HSK 2, Workbook (160 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561937808, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course Book HSK 3, Textbook (191 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561938188, 2014
Handbook (Required) : Standard Course Book HSK 3, Workbook (162 pp), L. Jiang et al, Beijing Language and Culture University Press, Beijing, 9787561938157, 2014

Additional info

The instructors can be reached at Maarten.Gernay@vub.be and Jianwei.Xu@vub.be

Learning Outcomes

General Competencies

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have developed the following language skills in Mandarin Chinese:

Oral:

Students have a reasonably good and fluent pronunciation (syllables and tones)
Students master complex grammar, e.g. verb complements and the passive form
Students can use complex grammatical constructions: clause conjunctions, verb emphasis, past perfect tense duration
Students are able to make argumentation and engage in debate on some basic topics, explain detailed plans and arrangements, describe spaces accurately, give and ask about reasons, express conditionals and express emotions and worries

Written:

• Students can recognise and read 800 characters of HSK 1 to HSK 3 levels.

• Students can write 500 characters of HSK 1 and HSK 2 levels and write sentences based on listening input.

Grading

The final grade is composed based on the following categories:
Oral Exam determines 80% of the final mark.
Other Exam determines 20% of the final mark.

Within the Oral Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Oral exam with a relative weight of 80 which comprises 80% of the final mark.

Within the Other Exam category, the following assignments need to be completed:

Permanent evaluation with a relative weight of 20 which comprises 20% of the final mark.

Note: 20% of the total grade is based on permanent evaluation (assignments & tasks), 80% is based on the exam at the end of the semester. The first semester counts for 42%, the second semester counts for 58% of the year grade.

Additional info regarding evaluation

Exams in August/September: permanent evaluation to be carried over (20%) and oral exam (80%).

Permanent evaluation includes:
- weekly character practice and writing,
- semesteral Chinese language video assignments

Allowed unsatisfactory mark

The supplementary Teaching and Examination Regulations of your faculty stipulate whether an allowed unsatisfactory mark for this programme unit is permitted.

Academic context