Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Textbooks

Buy at Amazon Jorden, Eleanor H., and Mari Noda. Japanese: The Spoken Language. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990, part 3. ISBN: 0300041918.

Buy at Amazon Soga, Setsuko. "Japanese Typescript." Part 3 in Japanese: The Spoken Language. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1988. ISBN: 0300042825. (Supplement)

Additional reading materials may be distributed throughout the course.

Course Objectives

This course covers Lessons 27 through 30 of Japanese: The Spoken Language. The goal of the course is to continue expanding grammar and vocabulary by further developing four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The goal is to acquire the ability to use Japanese appropriately with increasing spontaneity emphasized, and to be prepared to become an independent learner to the point where you are capable of handling authentic Japanese by yourself, without fear or hesitation.

Evaluation

ACTIVITIES PERCENTAGES
Daily Grade 25%*
2 Exams 20%
1 Project/Presentation 10%
2 Oral Interviews 15%
8 Vocabulary Quizzes 10%**
7 Kanji Quizzes 10%**
Homework 10%

*The four lowest daily grades will be dropped.
**One lowest quiz score will be dropped.

Important: There will be no make-ups for missed performances and quizzes, unless there is any academic related reason and you contact the instructor well in advance. Homework assignments must be submitted at the beginning of class on the due date. All writing assignments must be handed in by the end of the exam period to receive credit in this course.

Daily Grade

You are asked to perform the assigned Core Conversations (CC) and Drills as well as to utilize new structure patterns of each lesson in ACT class. The instructor will check your performance in terms of your pronunciation, accuracy, fluency, and naturalness according to the following scale:

  • 10 = excellent performance
  • 9 = clearly well prepared; strong performance with minor errors
  • 8 = clearly prepared; fair performance
  • 7 = evidently prepared but weak in major areas
  • 6 = present, but evidently unprepared
  • 0 = absent

Keep in mind that your performance on reading will be evaluated and recorded as part of your daily grade.

Exams and Quizzes

There are two interview tests and five Lesson Quizzes. A number of Vocabulary Quizzes and Kanji Quizzes are given throughout the semester. Please note: no make-up quizzes or exams are given in this course.

Writing Assignments

Assignments are due at the beginning of the class. Submitting the assignments late will result in a deduction of 0.5 each day.

Attendance Policy

It is essential that you attend the class regularly. If you miss more than five classes you will be advised to withdraw from the course. Students are expected to come to class on time. Coming to class late not only results in missed quizzes and poorer performance, but also distracts other students. In case you have to miss classes due to academic related matter, inform the instructor in advance.