75700 - Chinese Language and Literature 2A (LM)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course the student will acquire a first set of intermediate level skills in the Chinese language; he/she will be able to deepen the related literature and related issues, referring to the most updated bibliography.

Course contents

The 6 credit course is divided into two parts: language and literature; for the latter, the student will present a paper at least one week before the written exam.

The paper can be in italian or English and it has to contain notes, bibliography and a glossary with the Chinese keyword, proper names and names of places.

 
Language program:

Li Xuemei, Nihao Zhongguo: pp. 73-113.

Other materials will be provided by the teacher before the lessons and uploaded to the "teaching materials" section of the course, which students enrolled in the course can access.

In detail, the program of the language part provides:

1- the interrogative form of adjective phrase, affirmative and negative.

2- Time （时间/时候): temporal expressions, the day, hours and calendar

3- Moderating and reinforcing adjectives and "psychological verbs" (心理动词)

4- 能/可以/会

5- Use of 了 modale/aspect

6- Shopping: Different national currencies, the renminbi. Big numbers.

7-Colors

8- Verbal chain

9- Common nouns of locality 方位词

10- Means of transportation

11- Prepositions: 给， 跟，到， 从， 离， 对

12- Focus on contrastive use of:

        或者／还是；  的／得／地.
13- Subordinate:
     Adverse (但是, 不过), hypothetical (如果／假如...的话), 只要... 就...

14- The post-verbal particle suffix 着

- Paraverbal communication and main discursive signals

- Identification of radicals and Chinese Characters classification according Shuowen jiezi as a strategy of CLL.

Outline of Chinese Thought and Literature

The paper must be up to 5 pages long; as for the subject, the student should consider the period after the one faced in the first year, that is, from the Song era to the fall of the Empire (1911).

Students can choose from the following topics:

1. The Renewal of Thought of the Song Age (Anne Cheng)

2. Ming and Qing novels (Bertuccioli; Lanciotti; Cambridge History of Chinese modern literature - Vol. 2; E. Masi)

3. Popular literature

4. The emergency of women into literaray world

5. The construction of new subjectivities in Chinese literature at the end of  Qing Dynasty.

6. Chinese Mythology

7. Confucianism and reinterpretations of the modern age.

8. Daoism as a stratification of popular beliefs



Classes will begin on  February 3rd 2020 and will be held on Monday 11-13 in Via Zamboni 38, classroom 38 and Tuesday 11-13 in Via Centrotrecento, Aula A.

Readings/Bibliography

Language:

Mandatory
Li Xuemei (2005) Buongiorno Cina! 你好中国！ （Vol 1/I） Cafoscarina.

Grammar
Abbiati (1998) Grammatica di cinese moderno, Cafoscarina.

Recommended:

Madaro (2016) La parola - lingua cinese moderna standard, Cafoscarina.

Romagnoli, Wang (2016) Grammatica d'uso della lingua cinese, Hoepli.

Dictionaries
Xu, Ardizzoni (2014) Dizionario cinese-italiano per lo studio della lingua cinese, BUP.
Zhao Xiuying (2013) Il Dizionario di cinese, Zanichelli.

Online dictionaries:
www.mdbg.net
www.infocina.net

For the paper:

Text 1: Cheng, A. (1997) History of Chinese Thought, Einaudi. (Vol. 2). Integral.
Text 2: Lanciotti, Lionello (2007). Chinese Literature, ISIAO.

For consultation:

Text 3: Masi, One Hundred Masterpieces of Chinese Literature, Quodlibet. .

Students are invited to do an autonomous bibliographic search and discuss it with the teacher in preparation for the exam, during office hours or via email.

These books are found in the library of the Dept. of History and Civilization, Via Zamboni, 33

Students who have not attended will bring the same texts and the same program.

Teaching methods

1. Frontal lessons
2. Work in small groups in the classroom and outside the classroom, for the preparation of self-correcting work to be returned to the classroom.

3. Use of ppt, videos, listening to songs for the reinforcement of listening competence;

4. Use of sites for the writing exercise and for the memorization of characters;

For 30 hours of lessons, students are invited to do at least 50 hours of individual work.

For the preparation of the paper, therefore, the student is required to provide 70 study hours.

Assessment methods

At the end of the course students must take a written exam  (2 hours) without dictionary.
In one year there will be six written and six oral sessions (January, March, May/June, July, September).

The written exam will focus  on the linguistic-communicative part and on grammar (see programme).
If you pass the exam, you can take the oral test.
Students who have not passed the exam or who are not satisfied with the grade can repeat the exam at the next session.

The oral exam is divided into two parts:
1. Linguistic assessment of communicative skills achieved (language dialogue), reading and grammar skills. (50% of the evaluation)
2.Discussion on the submitted paper, from a methodological and content point of view. (50% of the evaluation)

At the oral test students will present to the teacher the portfolio of their study activities: a folder containing the learning materials , with the exercises of hand-copying of the lessons, glossaries, exercises (grammar, reading, translation).

NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS - Written test: same as other students. Please note that they can access the complete materials in pdf from the course website. - Oral test: same as those attended for the linguistic part. For the historical-literary part, they also will  present a 5 page paper on one of the topics in the program.
The text must be accompanied by notes, bibliography and a glossary of Italian-Chinese keywords (proper names, toponyms, concepts) and can be agreed with the teacher personally or by e-mail.

STUDENTS with Chinese as their first language: besides the written test as other students, students of Chinese mother tongue will be asked to translate a short piece of modern literature (Chinese-Italian)
For the oral part, they are requested to follow general rules for the paper - which has to be in italian. 

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING THE ORAL ASSESSMENT:
Linguistic evaluation
The assessment of the oral test will take into account the student's ability to engage in dialogue in a language on a known subject, of a personal order; to read a text in semplified characters, without pinyin transcription; to answer questions about the text; to give instructions on how to access library services in Chinese; to identify and explain the grammatical points addressed in class in the first and second year.
For the literature part, he/she will have to demonstrate her/his competence in the sources and bibliographic materials he used to draw useful information that has allowed him to produce the work on the chosen theme, framing it in a general perspective of the time and the categories involved, knowing how to make connections within a wider framework of knowledge acquired during the course of study.

They will then be evaluated on:
- The fluence and accuracy of the statement (four tones, the initials, the endings of syllables and the intonation of the sentence)
- Listening ability
- Grammatical competence, on an operational and theoretical level
- The ability to analyse linguistic elements in a text.

The achievement by the student of an organic vision of the topics addressed in the lesson together with their critical use, good expressive mastery and specific language will be evaluated with marks of excellence. A mnemonic knowledge of the subject, together with the ability to synthesis and analyse it in a correct but not always appropriate language, will lead to discreet evaluations. Gaps in training and/or inappropriate language will lead to grades that do not exceed sufficiency. Training gaps, inappropriate language, lack of orientation within the bibliographic materials offered during the course will be evaluated negatively.

Teaching tools

Audio- video - power point - internet

Office hours

See the website of Sabrina Ardizzoni