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New Standard Chinese Undergraduate Series: Advanced Chinese Comprehensive Course I
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The “New Standard Chinese Undergraduate Series” is a set of Chinese undergraduate textbooks based on the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education, adhering to the integration of “structure-function-culture” and upholding comprehensive quality training featured “language + professionalism” throughout. Aiming at better meeting the needs of Chinese language teaching for international students coming to China for undergraduate studies under the new standard, this series is based on the concepts of “diversification, three-dimensionality, innovation and intelligence”, and is mainly tailor-made for international students coming to China for undergraduate studies in Chinese language. Meanwhile, it can be used in relevant training courses at home and abroad, and meet the learning needs of long-term advanced students and self-taught learners coming to China to study Chinese. The whole set is divided into three levels (elementary, intermediate and advanced) and two sequences (horizontal and vertical). The horizontal sequence is divided into four major sections, including Chinese language skills and knowledge, cultural knowledge, translation between Chinese and foreign languages, and business Chinese, while the vertical sequence is based on comprehensive teaching materials, supplemented by teaching materials for listening, speaking, reading and writing skills, which are used throughout the first to the fourth year of undergraduate education, so that the ratio of general skills courses with professional skills and knowledge courses at all levels can be balanced to ensure that students can obtain in-depth and balanced learning effects at all stages of study.
The Advanced Chinese Comprehensive Course (three volumes in total) is a language textbook for comprehensive courses. It is mainly designed for senior international students majoring in Chinese Language and other undergraduate majors. At the same time, it is also suitable for Chinese learners with the same needs. The textbook is mainly compiled based on the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education. It features rich language materials and diverse topics, with careful arrangements in aspects such as vocabulary, grammar, rhetorical devices, and article writing (including thesis writing). Meanwhile, each of the three volumes has its own teaching focus, which allows learners to steadily achieve the various goals set for the advanced level in the Grading Standards through progressive learning.
Each volume contains 10 lessons, and each lesson is designed into five modules, the pre-text module, the text module, the language point explanation module, the exercise module, and the language practice module. First, the pre-text module reveals the central topic of the lesson and the historical, cultural, or real-life background of the text. Second, the text module mainly gives the text, and the authors are mainly scholars, writers, journalists, and experts in certain industries. The topics of the texts cover a wide range, with rich themes and diverse genres. Except for being abridged in length, the texts are not rewritten in any other way, maintaining the original language and style, which can well meet the requirements of language materials for language learning at the advanced stage. Then, the language point explanation module is relatively independent, focusing on introducing the usage of words (including idioms) at the advanced level, correlative conjunctions in complex sentences, rhetorical devices, and the structure of articles. Forth, the vocabulary/grammar/rhetoric training content in the exercise module is closely related to the language points, and it is also equipped with extended reading and writing questions. Last, the language practice module provides various forms of choices for language application.
The genres of the texts in Volume 1 are essays and novels, with topics covering aspects such as social life, mental health, cultural heritage, ethnic customs, scientific exploration, animal and nature protection, and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. The key focus of the language point explanation is grammar. All correlative conjunctions in complex sentences, reduced complex sentences, and types of sentence groups at the advanced level of the Grading Standards are systematically explained and accompanied by supporting exercises. This volume is suitable for learners who have just entered the advanced stage of Chinese learning.
About the Author
Zhang Hao, the Editor-in-Chief, is a professor, doctoral supervisor, and dean of the College of International Chinese Studies, Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU). Having been engaged in teaching Chinese as a foreign language for more than 30 years, Professor Zhang has taught in overseas universities in the United States and Canada for nearly 10 years, and has travelled overseas as an expert of Hanban to conduct Chinese teacher training for many times. Her research mainly focuses on Chinese language teaching and cultural communication studies. She has published more than 30 papers in core journals and 6 monographs, and has presided over and participated in 7 provincial and ministerial projects. Professor Zhang has been awarded the Beijing Higher Education Teaching Award and the Beijing Teachers’ Virtues Pioneer Award. As the person in charge, she has declared and won the evaluation of national first-class undergraduate programmes, national first-class courses, Beijing excellent nurturing team, Beijing key first-class majors and so on.
Li Wen, the Executive Editor, is a Doctor of Literature, who graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Nanjing University. Currently, she is a professor at Beijing Language and Culture University. Professor Li has long been engaged in the language teaching and research work for international students, mainly teaching Advanced Chinese and Ancient Chinese for undergraduates and Professional Chinese for postgraduate students. She has successively taught at Leiden University in the Netherlands, the University of Zurich in Switzerland, and the University of Bonn in Germany. Furthermore, she has compiled textbooks for international students such as An Advanced Course in Modern Chinese, Ancient Chinese, and Selected Readings of Ancient Chinese Books.
Editorial Review
The Advanced Chinese Comprehensive Course (three volumes in total) has distinct professional characteristics.
1. Systematicness. The content arrangement of each of the three volumes has its own emphasis, jointly forming an integrated whole. Volume 1 focuses on the study of grammar, especially the correlative conjunctions in complex sentences at the advanced level. Volume 2 is dedicated to the systematic study of commonly used rhetorical devices. Volume 3 specifically conducts training in the reading and writing of academic articles. Within each volume, the content of each lesson also complements one another to jointly achieve the teaching design intentions.
2. Informativeness. The selection of language materials in the textbook is based on the criteria of “knowledge capacity” and “professional depth”, seeing that language materials at various levels are carefully selected around the central topic of each lesson. Every piece of language material, and even each example sentence, is made to be as authentic as possible in content, without going against common sense or facts, and adhering to the principle of seeking truth from facts.
3. Scientificness. This textbook respects the laws of Chinese language learning and scientifically addresses issues not covered by the Grading Standards. For example, regarding rhetorical devices, the Grading Standards do not provide specific introductions or classifications. However, commonly used rhetorical devices are of great importance in advanced reading and writing, so the textbook arranges for a systematic explanation in Volume 2. Another example is idioms. There are more than 300 pieces of idioms in the Grading Standards, almost all of which are included in the vocabulary of Levels 7 to 9. Considering that a large number of commonly used idioms are not included, and that the vocabulary learning at the advanced level cannot overlook idioms, this textbook also takes the commonly used idioms that appear in the texts but are not listed in the Grading Standards as the key points for the explanation and practice in each volume, and provides very detailed introductions to their usages.
Suggestion
This textbook is designed for the comprehensive courses of undergraduate students in their third year majoring in Chinese Language, Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (TCSOL) and other related majors. It’s also suitable for students coming to China who have reached an intermediate Chinese proficiency level (HSK Level 6) and plan to study Advanced Chinese, as well as overseas Chinese learners with the same needs.
This textbook boasts a substantial amount of content, offering teachers abundant options. Teachers can select the teaching content, determine the focal points, and choose appropriate teaching methods based on factors such as class durations, students’ proficiency levels, and course requirements. It is suitable for both intensive and extensive reading courses. Teachers have the flexibility to decide what to cover in class and what to assign as out-of-class tasks according to the actual situation.
Each of the three volumes has its own distinct focus in compilation. Volume 1 focuses on grammar, Volume 2 rhetoric, and Volume 3 the structure of written works. Users can either study the volumes consecutively according to their needs or pick a specific volume to study independently. For each volume, supporting resources (including answers to exercises) are provided in the form of a unique code for each book.
