MISSION OF THE CHINESE LANGUAGE PROGRAM

The Chinese program at SDSU aims at imparting skills and knowledge, both linguistic and cultural, required to understand the world of Chinese and to function in a Chinese-speaking environment . The linguistic skills include the basic communication skills of listening and speaking and the literacy skills of reading and writing. The cultural skills, distinct from knowledge of "high culture", are the abilities to use language and behave appropriately in Chinese cultural settings, such as using correct terms of address, expressing agreements and disagreements, and responding to compliments. In addition to linguistic and cultural skills, we also cultivate awareness and understanding concerning the Chinese language and culture, especially at the higher levels.

The Chinese language program was started in 1968. For its first 20 some years, it was housed, together with the Japanese language program, in the Department of Classical and Oriental Languages and Literatures. In 1989, both the Chinese and the Japanese program merged with the Department of Linguistics and the Department of Linguistics and Oriental Languages was created.

The Chinese program at SDSU offers general Mandarin language instruction for 3 years totaling 6 courses and 26 units. While all these courses address the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing, the lower levels focus on the oral-aural skills and literacy skills are given more priority later on.

In addition to the general language classes, special purpose courses for the advanced levels are regularly offered.

The Chinese language program currently offers a minor in Chinese. Six courses from the first three years, four lower division and two upper division, all satisfy the GE requirement. Over three years of Chinese is required for International Business majors.

Starting from the Fall of 1998, a separate track will be set up for true beginners with no background, i.e., who can neither understand nor speak Mandarin or any of the dialects such as Cantonese, Taiwanese, Fukien, Chaozhou, Hakka and Shanghai. The separation between the two tracks will be maintained for the first two years of instruction, namely, the elementary and intermediate level. But in the Fall of 1998, only the first semester Chinese classes will have separate tracks. Those finishing either track will be expected to go on to classes in the same track. Hence, there will be three sections of Chinese 101 in the Fall of 1998:

Chinese 101A: Elementary Chinese [I], 5 hours, no background.

Chinese 101B: Elementary Chinese [I], 5 hours, background.

Prospective students are expected to sign up for the appropriate classes. After classes start, a combination of written questionnaire and individual interview will be used to place students.