CHNS3000 Chinese for Native Speakers 1

S1 2023

Guideline for Research Project

This research project requires you to organise a piece of mini research by library research and develop logic arguments with detailed support. First, you will identify a piece/sof high- quality Chinese literary or non-literary work that you have enjoyed reading for this project. Second, you are expected to analyse some specific aspects of this piece of work in depth from critical perspectives and maintain coherence and consistency throughout the whole project. It is advised that it is your responsibility to select a topic of interest, identify the exact piece/s of work, search previous research on this work through a range of academic sources (esp. the Chinese database below) and develop your own findings/arguments based on the research.

To complete this project, you need to do three assessment tasks on the same piece of Chinese literary or non-literary work:

1)   a research proposal (5%) (due in Week 5)

2)   an oral presentation (15%) (due in multiple weeks from Week 6-13)

3)   a research project report (30%) (due in Week 13)

Detailed requirements for each task are listed below.

Research proposal

In Week 5 of the semester, you are required to submit a brief proposal for the research project in 200 words (i.e., about 300 Chinese characters). Prior to your research on the chosen topic, your proposal must be approved by the teachers, who will provide detailed feedback and suggestion for your project. You need to list your primary and possible secondary data in the proposal.

Primary data: the text/s to be analysed for this project. In this unit, only literary or non-literary work originally published in Chinese after May 4th  Movement (1919) can be used as primary data. Please be noted that any texts discussed in the lectures and tutorials cannot be used as primary data for this project. Also, translated work from other languages or works published earlier than 1919 cannot be used for this project.

Secondary data: the previous research literature on the topic or the texts to be analysed.

The following database that is fully available via the Fisher Library website would be extremely helpful for developing this project as the source of secondary data.

CAJ: China Academic Journal Full-text Database via CNKI

http://libguides.library.usyd.edu.au/az.php?a=c&s=95225

The proposal should include:

1)   preliminary title of the project

2)   primary data

3)   possible secondary data

4)   possible research focus or research question.

All the contents in the proposal can be amended or changed based on your further reading and thinking, but major changes of the primary data should be re-approved by the teacher. Samples of research proposal can be found in the Course Reader.

Oral presentation

This is the opportunity for you to share your research in progress with your teachers and peer classmates and to seek their feedback and suggestions. A 10-minute oral presentation plus 5-minute Q & A with preparation of around 10-12 PPT slides will start in the tutorial from Week 6. In the presentation, you are expected

- to demonstrate ability to establish and develop an argument and provide support for the argument by exploring relevant references from different sources.

- to do their presentation in an effective manner, especially in terms of delivery skills and audience engagement skills.

In the presentation, you are NOT expected to present a complete research project. You can just present your work in progress and let us know what you have done so far for this project. The teachers expect you to present clearly:

1)   your primary data,

2)   your secondary data that you have collected from CAJ (China Academic Journal) Full- text Database and/or other sources,

3)   the major aim or research focus of your project,

4)   the possible arguments you have developed and the key distinctions between these arguments and those in the previous research,

5)   the details in support of your arguments.

Research project report

The report needs to be completed in Week 13 with 2,000 English words or about 3,000 Chinese characters. Sample reports are available at the end of the Course Reader.

Subheadings can be added for each section. Possible sections can include

1)   introduction

2)   analysis

3)   discussion

4)   conclusion

5)   bibliography

The reference style. should be APA 7th. A complete guideline for APA 7th  is available on the Canvas site.

Possible primary data

Each research project needs to be 2000 English words or about 3,000 Chinese characters.

You can choose one piece of literary or non-literary work from the following list or from the Reading List on Canvas to work on for the project. It is also possible to choose any other

piece of work beyond these lists, subject to the teacher’s approval. You are encouraged to find your own interest and develop the research by reading and thinking around your own interest.

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

This unit uses standards-based assessment for award of assessment marks. Your assessments will be evaluated solely on the basis of your individual performance.

Assessment criteria for Written Assignment A: Understanding of the Text

- How well has the student understood the thoughts and feelings expressed in the text?

B: Interpretation of the Text

- How relevant are the student’sideas about the text?

- How well has the student explored those ideas?

- How well has the student illustrated claims?

- To what extent has the student expressed a relevant personal response?

C: Appreciation of Some Literary Features

- To what extent is the student aware of the presence of literary features in the text, such as diction, imagery, tone, structure, style, technique?

- To what extent does the student appreciate the effects of the literary features?

- How well has the student supported claims about the effects of literary features?

D: Presentation

- How well has the student organized the commentary?

- How effectively have the student’sideas been presented?

- To what extent are supporting examples integrated into the body of the commentary?

E: Formal Use of Language

- How accurate,clear and precise is the language used by the student?

- How appropriate is the student’s choice of register and style, for this task? (Register refers, in this context, to the student’s sensitivity to elements such as the vocabulary, tone, sentence structure and idiom appropriate to the task.)