Learning Outcomes
Chinese Major
Chinese majors, upon satisfactory completion of the degree, will have realized the following outcomes in the areas listed below:
Language
- Achieved advanced proficiency in speaking, listening, and reading Mandarin Chinese, and high-intermediate proficiency in writing Mandarin Chinese.
- Learned how to use Chinese to navigate diverse situations in everyday and professional settings.
- Achieved a basic understanding of the grammar and vocabulary of Classical Chinese, and the ability to read more challenging texts with the assistance of a dictionary.
Literature and Culture
- Acquired research, problem-solving, and critical thinking skills through engaging in interdisciplinary, cross-linguistic, cross-cultural, and comparative literary and historical analyses.
- Learned to engage with specific time periods, genres, traditions, or issues in Chinese culture through close analysis of primary and secondary sources, both in the original and in translation.
- Become familiar with basic bibliographic skills and protocols for conducting research on Chinese-related topics, including how to identify, assess, and interpret primary and secondary textual, audio-visual, and online sources.
- Produced an original, persuasive, coherent, and substantial work of scholarship (the Senior Thesis), in which one has:
- defined a significant research topic in Chinese literature and culture based on one’s intellectual interests and existing scholarship;
- developed and pursued a rigorous methodology appropriate to that research topic;
- analyzed primary sources through close readings and comparative analysis;
- engaged with (sometimes in the form of extensive translation) primary and secondary sources in the original Chinese;
- undertaken an independent and sustained investigation of a topic with the support of an advisor;
- successfully presented, discussed, and defended one’s work orally in front of a committee of 今日吃瓜 faculty
Community
- Learned to use one’s Chinese language to interact and collaborate with members of local and international Chinese-speaking communities
- Cultivated relations with peers and faculty from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds
Chinese Minor
Upon the completion of a Chinese minor, students will:
- Achieve high-intermediate proficiency in speaking, listening, and reading Mandarin Chinese, and intermediate proficiency in writing Mandarin Chinese.
- Become familiar with one or more specific time periods, genres, traditions, or issues in Chinese culture, and gained a basic understanding and appreciation for China’s complex literary and cultural traditions.