| Subject Code |
Subject Title |
No of Credits |
| CBS500 |
Semantics and Pragmatics |
3 |
| This subject aims to systematically introduce the basic concepts, theories, research methods and major findings of modern semantics and pragmatics. It pays special attention to facts and findings in Chinese semantic and pragmatic studies, and endeavours to illustrate the applied potentials of such studies. Also expounded are the relationships between form and function, meaning and use, and language and cognition. |
| CBS503 |
Language in Society |
3 |
| This subject introduces students to the basic concepts, theories, research methods and major findings in sociolinguistics. It pays special attention to facts and findings in Chinese and Cantonese sociolinguistics. The subject intends to stimulate students' interest in sociolinguistics and help them recognize, observe, and study sociolinguistic issues and phenomena in their daily lives. |
| CBS532 |
Description of Chinese I: Words and Sentences |
3 |
| This subject helps students to get an overall picture of Chinese, to gain solid knowledge on the structure of Chinese, to understand the evolution from Classic Chinese to contemporary Chinese, and various genres in Classic and contemporary Chinese. It discusses issues like Chinese and its dialects; Putonghua and Modern Standard Chinese; morphemes and words; structure of compounds; semantic relations between words; lexical changes; word classes; sentence structure; various sentence types, stylistic issues, and genres and registers. |
| CBS533 |
Description of Chinese II: Sounds and Script |
3 |
| This subject enables the students to get an overall picture of Chinese sounds and script, especially their uniqueness and diverseness, to gain solid knowledge on phonological and graphological structures of Chinese, and the sound change and evolution of Chinese scripts. It discusses the relationship between sounds and script; phonology; Cantonese phonology; Putonghua phonology; traditional Chinese phonology; phonological variation; study of script; the characteristics of Chinese script; Chinese script in the context of information technology. |
| Subject Code |
Subject Title |
No of Credits |
| CBS505 |
Research Methods in Language Studies |
3 |
| This subject aims to provide a systematic training on research methodology in language studies, which is indispensable for students wishing to conduct research on language related study topics at postgraduate level. |
| CBS512 |
Introduction to Chinese Language Testing |
3 |
| Principle of language measurement, Development of language tests, Assessing listening, Assessing speaking, Assessing reading, Assessing writing, Measurement scales, Language test validity, Language test reliability, Item analysis, Basic descriptive statistics, Item and test relatedness, Assessing language for specific purposes (LSP), Bilingual measure |
| CBS513 |
Topics in Studies of Chinese Grammar |
3 |
| This subject provides updated surveys of selected topics in the study of Chinese grammar with the aim of familiarizing the students with the frontiers of research in Chinese grammar. |
| CBS514 |
Introduction to Cantonese Studies |
3 |
| This subject introduces students to various linguistic properties of Cantonese in a principled manner, so as to enable them to understand the differences between Cantonese and Putonghua and to pursue comparative study between the two in the future. Topics include the classification of Chinese dialects; Cantonese sound system and Romanization schemes; standard pronunciation; written forms of Cantonese; word formation; syntax and semantics of Cantonese particles; and the major syntactic differences between Cantonese and Putonghua. |
| CBS515 |
Applied Lexicology and Lexicography |
3 |
| This subject aims to acquaint students with fundamental issues in lexicology and its application in various fields. Scope of study includes the introduction of basic notions in Chinese lexicology—the differences between Chinese characters, morphemes, words and phrases; the morphological structure of the Chinese language; relationship between lexicology and rhetorical studies; delimitation of word items and automatic Chinese text processing; construction of word list for language teaching and language testing; and compilation and retrieval of lexical items in Chinese dictionaries. |
| CBS516 |
Contrastive Analysis |
3 |
| The role of this subject is provide students with an overview of the basic principles of contrastive analysis and the linguistic differences between Chinese (including Cantonese and Putonghua) and English by making use of everyday examples so that they can apply the subject knowledge and analytical skills to solve linguistic problems in these languages they may encounter in the workplace. This subject will also contribute to the development of critical thinking, global outlook and cultural appreciation, and life-long learning. |
| CBS517 |
Computer Tools for the Language Professionals |
3 |
| This subject aims to generate students who are familiar with the possibilities of IT in aiding the language professional’s work. The contents include: the Chinese, English and multilingual language environments of computer systems and the WWW, language corpus systems and database systems, computer-based information retrieval, computer-assisted language translation, and computer-assisted language teaching and learning. |
| CBS518 |
Computer Assisted Chinese Language Teaching |
3 |
| This subject aims to produce students armed with the fundamental knowledge and effective skills of computer-assisted language teaching and learning, especially in the application domain of Chinese teaching. Students will be confident in the use of various computer tools in language teaching and testing, and be capable of developing new tools to meet their own specific needs. In addition to local computer support, Web-assisted remote language teaching will also be introduced. |
| CBS519 |
Modern Rhetoric |
3 |
| This subject attempts to acquaint the students with the major content of modern rhetorical studies from both theoretical and applied perspectives. Analysis will mainly be made on modern Chinese data, but examples in English, classical Chinese will also be covered. After taking this subject, students are expected to be able to comprehend and critically evaluate theories and studies in the subject; to be able to synthesize and effectively apply such approaches and techniques to the analysis of Chinese communication as well as that of literary and translation works; to have developed interests to further explore the related fields with the aim of learning to conduct beginning research works; and to be able to actively apply theoretical notions and methods to the solving of work-related practical issues in rhetoric. |
| CBS520 |
Modern Chinese Characters and Information Technology |
3 |
| This subject provides students with an understanding of the interrelationship between Chinese characters and information technology (IT), so that they can make the most out of the Chinese language in the IT context and IT in the Chinese context. Equipped with the above knowledge they will be able to solve various problems encountered in IT involving Chinese characters and Chinese writing. |
| CBS521 |
Applied Chinese Language Studies |
3 |
| This subject is designed to orient students towards an intellectual outlook to mediate between the theories gained about Chinese language and the possible applications of these theories to practical situations such as language teaching and other professional disciplines in the biliterate and trilingual environment in Hong Kong. Topics such as characteristics of Hong Kong written Chinese, influence of translation on Chinese language, and standardization of Cantonese will be discussed |
| CBS523 |
Chinese Language Education |
3 |
| The functions of Chinese language in the polyglossic situation of Hong Kong; standard and non-standard Chinese; the social-cultural status of Chinese in language planning; the notion of language proficiency; the distinction between Chinese and English in the notions of L1 and L2 acquisition; the impact of the bilingual context of Hong Kong on the learning and using of Chinese language; traditional paradigm vs. modern principles in teaching Chinese; a critical review on Chinese curriculum design; approaches to the pedagogical Chinese grammar; critical review on Chinese language testing. |
| CBS536 |
Chinese Language Survey |
3 |
| To help students develop research instruments and methods for systematically collecting both linguistic and non-linguistic data, this subject introduces basic techniques and procedures for designing and conducting language surveys of various types. These techniques and procedures include sampling, questionnaire design, and elicitation. Special attention will be given to designing surveys that yield data on variations within and across linguistic varieties, how to identify significant patterns in the data, and how to conduct relevant statistical tests on the data. The subject also covers field methods for Chinese dialectology. |
| CBS547 |
Literary Discourse Analysis |
3 |
| This subject draws on recent developments and achievements in literary stylistics, cognitive pragmatics, critical discourse analysis and cognitive linguistics in attempting to provide an experimental forum in applying linguistic analytic methods to the analysis of Chinese literary texts. Analysis will be made on a wide range of texts including Pre-Qin discourse subsumed under Ming and Bian discussions, Tang poetry, Ming-Qing Novels, and Contemporary poetic works and novels. |
| CBS566 |
Translation Studies (3 credits) |
3 |
| This subject aims to produce students who understand the factors involved in communication across two languages; who have an awareness of the different levels of meaning in a text; who can use this awareness to evaluate both source texts and their translations; who have an awareness of basic issues concerning translation as a profession. It will also assist students to examine texts and analyze the linguistic and socio-linguistic issues underlying communication across cultures. |
| CBS574 |
Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Learning |
3 |
| The role of this subject is to provide an overview of the current theoretical and practical issues about second language acquisition and foreign language learning from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on work in theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive science, and sociolinguistics. Special attention will be paid to the implications of research for language teaching. This subject will also contribute to the development of critical thinking, global outlook and cultural appreciation, and intellectual curiosity. |
| CBS580 |
Applied Corpus Linguistics |
3 |
| This subject introduces the development and methods of electronic linguistic data collection, management and analysis for linguistic research and other applied purposes. The empirical side of authentic linguistic data for the teaching of Chinese is of utmost importance and future educators need to be capable of preparing their up-to-date teaching materials using the corpus methods. They will learn about well established corpora for the major languages of the World, problems of Chinese language corpora and will be trained to use the optimal software to efficiently use them for their own career. The initial emphasis on written Chinese will gradually shift to capturing the spoken language for teaching purposes. |
| CBS581 |
Teaching Chinese Grammar to Non-native |
3 |
| This is a practical course which builds on prior knowledge of Chinese grammar. It aims to help students to explore the ways in which knowledge about Chinese grammar can be applied in the practice of Chinese language teaching. It also helps students to understand the implications of pedagogical grammar and the ways in which it can be put to use in the classroom. |
| CBS5099 |
Comparative Lingusitic Analysis of Japanese and Chinese |
3 |
| This subject aims to empower students in their learning of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese by helping them learn about these languages, giving them sound and solid knowledge about the fundamental function and meaning of the key linguistic systems and structures of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. By using this functional understanding of the subject’s content as an analytical tool, students will be able to analyse texts in both languages, and based on these text analyses, they will be able to compare and contrast the two languages in terms of important and highly valued text types (genres) such as those of the media and literature. These new insights into Japanese and Mandarin Chinese based on evidence from authentic text in context will also enable students to consolidate and expand their own language capacities. |
| CBS537 |
MACL Dissertation |
9 |
| The role of this subject is to provide students with a platform to demonstrate their mastery of the fundamental concepts of linguistics theories, the ability to extend them to the analysis of the Chinese language, and the ability to carry out a small-scale research, from formulating a problem to writing up the final report. This subject will also contribute to the development of critical thinking, synthesizing and organizing abilities, and life-long learning. |
