Course Placement

Language Courses

Literature Courses

AALL 121

Guidelines for Self-Placement in Language Courses

ACES

How to Use the Self-Placement Guidelines:

Your self-placement decision is only tentative and will need to be approved by the instructor or the Coordinator of the Chinese Program before the semester begins or on the first day of class. Take both course descriptions and student profiles into consideration before making a decision. Students with some prior knowledge of Chinese are recommended taking a placement test. Students who lived in a Chinese speaking country such as China, Singapore, Taiwan into teenage years and received schooling higher than the elementary level in any Chinese speaking countries are considered to be a native speaker, thus not eligible for courses below CHN184S to fulfill language requirements. If you have any questions regarding the self-placement, please email Carolyn Lee, the coordinator of the Chinese Program, or call 919-681-2684.

CHN 001 Elementary Chinese (first half, offered in fall semester only)

This course is for students with no or minimal proficiency in Chinese. The course focuses on:

1. developing oral and aural proficiency and survival communication;
2. mastery of the Chinese writing system for rudimentary reading and writing;
3. foundational grammar for simple sentence and short paragraph building.

Student Profile:

• Students who have never studied Chinese
• Students who were born in the non-Chinese speaking countries and have studied some Chinese in a community or Sunday school for less than two years
• Students of Chinese descent who speak a Chinese dialect other than Mandarin to family members or who have never or rarely spoken Chinese to family members
• Students who have studied Chinese 1-2 years in high school in non-Chinese speaking country

CHN 002 Elementary Chinese (second half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have successfully completed Chinese 001 or its equivalent, or students who can understand Chinese minimally and produce simple sentences. The course focuses on:

1. attaining oral and aural proficiency to function in daily communication situations;
2. developing reading and writing skills for functional literacy;
3. learning foundational grammar for complex sentence and short paragraph buildup.

• Students who have successfully completed Chinese 001 or its equivalent at the university level
• Students who have studied Chinese for at least 2 years in high school but think their program was weak, i.e. teacher did not speak Chinese; students weren't required to speak Chinese, etc.
• Students who have studied some Chinese in a community or Sunday school for 3 - 4 years and mostly speak English and occasionally speak Chinese to family members

Chinese 035 Elementary Chinese for Advanced Beginners (first half, offered during Fall semester only)

This course is for students whose oral proficiency of Mandarin Chinese is close to fluent, but reading and writing skills in Chinese are very minimal or almost zero. The course focuses on:

1. developing reading and writing skills for functional literacy;
2. enhancing oral and aural proficiency in a variety of topics;
3. gaining analytical understanding of the structure of the Chinese language.

• Students of Chinese descent who were born and grew up in a non-Chinese speaking country but frequently speak Chinese to family members
• Students who went to international schools in Asia and grew up in a target cultural and language environment such as China or Taiwan
• Students who studied Chinese in a community or Sunday school for more than 4 years
• Students who received schooling for kindergarten or the first grade of elementary school in any Chinese speaking countries

Chinese 036 Elementary Chinese for Advanced Beginners (second half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have successfully completed Chinese 035 or its equivalent, or students who can converse well on personal topics with little reading and writing skills in Chinese. The course focuses on:

1. reading narrative and descriptive texts
2. writing narrative and descriptive texts of one-to-two page lengths;
3. verbal communication on a broad range of topics;
4. expanding analytical understanding of the structure of the Chinese language.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN035 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who regularly speak Chinese to family members and other Chinese speakers
3. Students who can read short texts in Chinese with personal topics ? Students who studied Chinese in a community or Sunday school for more than 5 years

CHN 063 Intermediate Chinese (first half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have successfully completed Chinese 002 or its equivalent, or students who can converse on topics of daily concerns and have some reading and writing experience in Chinese. The course aims to enhance abilities for:

1. reading narrative and descriptive texts;
2. writing narrative and descriptive texts of long paragraphs with some discourse connectors;
3. conversing on personal topics in limited situations;
4. gaining analytical skills to understand the structure of Chinese language.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN002 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who studied Chinese for more than 2 years in high school and have studied abroad in China
3. Students who studied Chinese for more than 3 years in high school and had a solid training in the sounds and tones of mandarin and the fundamental grammar of first year Chinese

CHN 064 Intermediate Chinese (second half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have successfully completed Chinese 064 or its equivalent. The emphasis of the course is on developing and enriching literacy experience in Chinese. More specifically it aims to enhance the following:

1. reading expository texts and extended narratives;
2. writing descriptive informative texts of one page length with some discourse connectors;
3. conversing fluently and appropriately on personal topics in different situations;
4. expanding analytical skills to understand the structure of Chinese language.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN063 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who can read and write short texts with a range of topics in Chinese

CHN 125 Advanced Chinese (first half, offered during Fall semester only)

This course is for students who have finished second year Chinese (CHN063/064) or students who can converse well on a range of personal topics and read texts of some length and write fluent and accurate narratives with familiar topics. The course focuses on improving skills for:

1. reading authentic texts written for adult learner;
2. writing expository or argumentative essays;
3. participating in public discourse;
4. communicate with greater accuracy and grammatical complexity.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN064 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who studied Chinese in a community or Sunday school for 6-8 years and speak Chinese at home with parents occasionally
3. Students who have successfully completed first year Chinese at the university level and studied at an intensive Chinese language program in the U.S., China or Taiwan for 3 months

CHN 126 Advanced Chinese (second half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have successfully completed CHN125 or students who can read and write a long paragraph with application of discourse connectors with a range of topics. The course will focus on:

1. advancing the accuracy and fluency in writing and speaking skills;
2. learning the social and historical background necessary to understand cultural forms in which Chinese is deployed
3. communicate some of the unfamiliar topics with accuracy and fluency.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN125 at Duke or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who can produce a fairly accurate piece of writing with discourse connectors in a range of topics

CHN 136 Intensive Advanced Chinese (first half, offered during Fall semester only)

This course is for students who have finished First Year Chinese for Advanced Beginners (CHN035/036) or students who can read texts written for children and young adolescents of Chinese native speakers and write fluent and accurate narratives in Chinese. The course focuses on:

1. advancing reading skill and writing with 'shumianyu';
2. learning the social and historical background necessary to understand contemporary China and Taiwan;
3. communicating clearly and accurately on complex topics.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN036 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who took CHN001 and CHN002 at Duke and then studied abroad in China or Taiwan for 3 months
3. Students who lived in China or Taiwan and attended elementary school there for more than 3 years, but later moved to and grew up in a non-Chinese speaking country
4. Students who grew up in a non-Chinese speaking country, but usually speak Chinese to family members and other Chinese speakers
5. Students who can read long texts and produce fairly accurate piece of writing

CHN 182 Readings in Modern Chinese (second half, offered during Spring semester only)

This course is for students who have finished CHN126 or CHN135 or students who are interested in developing knowledge of Chinese at an advanced level with a broader yet more complex topics in Chinese. The course focuses on:

1. writing expository and argumentative writing with 'shumianyu';
2. reading authentic texts written for mature audiences;
3. learning more about the social and historical background necessary to understand cultural forms in which China is deployed;
4. participating in public discourse.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN126 or CHN135 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who took CHN002 at Duke and then studied abroad in China or Taiwan for 6 months
3. Students who studied CHN064 at Duke and then studied abroad in China or Taiwan for at least 3 months
4. Students who can read long texts and produce fairly accurate piece of writing on some complex topics

CHN 183 Topics in Chinese (offered during Fall semester only)

This course is intended for students who are interested in expository as well as expressive language in China and Taiwan in the forms of newspaper writings, radio, television, short fiction, prose and poetry.

1. practicing expository and expressive writing with 'shumianyu';
2. participating in public discourse on a range of complex topics;
3. advancing the ability to do rhetorical analysis of complex text;
4. introducing the diverse public media in which Mandarin Chinese is the principal language of communication.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN182 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students who studied CHN126 or CHN135 and then studied abroad in China or Taiwan for at least 3 months
3. Students who can read long texts and write reflective essays about them

CHN 184S Topics in Chinese (offered during Spring semester only)

This course is a continuation of CHN183 in its inquiry into expressive forms in Chinese language and society.

1. practicing expository and expressive writing with 'shumianyu';
2. participating in public discourse on a range of complex topics;
3. advancing the ability to do rhetorical analysis of complex text;
4. introducing the diverse public media in which Mandarin Chinese is the principal language of communication.

1. Students who have successfully completed CHN182 or CHN183 or its equivalent at the university level
2. Students whose Chinese proficiency level is close to that of the Chinese native speakers
3. Students who studied CHN126 or CHN135 and then studied abroad in China or Taiwan for at least 6 months