110-217 Advanced Japanese B

Formerly available as 110-109. Students who have completed 110-109 are not eligible to enrol in this subject. 110-107 Advanced Japanese A or equivalent. However this subject can be taken co-currently with 110-107 Advanced Japanese A.

In this subject, topics and news that are significant in Japanese society will be introduced through authentic texts (uncontrolled language materials). The subject focuses on some Japanese traditional social events, and examines how they are interpreted and exercised in modern Japanese society. The subject asks students to decode authentic Japanese texts, such as articles from Japanese newspapers, magazines and internet, and also to comprehend extracts of semi-naturally occurring conversations between Japanese native speakers in order to understand changing nature of social values and the society. Students are encouraged to use web-based learning tools such as online dictionary and machine translation in this process. Students will engage in activities such as discussion, essay writing on particular topics in class, and develop their linguistic skills, an understanding of changing social values in Japan. On completion of the subject, students should have skills to gather information by means of a foreign language and culture, and an understanding of what sociocultural factors influenced phenomena observed in the subject.

Assignments totalling 2000 words for 2nd and 3rd year, 3000 words for 4th year, and examinations totalling 2000 words. Students are required to attend a minimum of 70% of all classes in order to be eligible to take the examinations.

Materials will be available from the Institute.