Chinese Literature and Language

Unit 2: Social Contexts and Individuals

In this unit, students will explore the relationship between individuals and society, gaining an understanding of how an individuals' values, growth, and lives are influenced by social contexts, as represented in a range of short stories and extracts from a novel. In the first part, students explore the concept of “Growth” by studying a few extracts from a Chinese novel, including the development of self-identity, the struggle against adversity, conflicts between adolescents and adults, and the formation for beliefs and values etc, to gain the conceptual understanding that stories are constructs that reflect, represent and explore the human experience. In the second part, students will explore how the adult protagonists’ lives under specific social contexts by studying several short stories from different times and countries to understand how the stories present global issues of equality, fairness and justice. Students gain the conceptual understanding that stories can be socially potent and create opportunities for empathy.

Students will learn literary conventions such as setting, characterisation and plots and understand how they create meaning in the texts and engage readers. They will transfer their conceptual understanding through extended research on their self-selected texts, including novels, movies, interviews, and biographies, and develop skills of critical reading, literary analysis, research and presentation.

Course AO rubric

Japanese Literature and Language

Unit 2: Literary Criticism

Literary appreciation is an informed, critical opinion supported by evidence from a literary work. In this unit, students compare, analyse, interpret, and evaluate a variety of works of literature through productive skills such as writing and presentation. They develop their literary competency through the exploration of genres and their shared conventions. This includes poetry (by Hiroshi Yoshino) and prose forms: the essay, novel (Taketori Monogatari), stories (by Shinichi Hoshi), and myths. By studying diverse works, students gain an understanding of the scope and evolution of the Japanese language, explore their personal responses, and appreciate the stylistic devices used by the authors. The outcome of this unit will be that students are able to demonstrate their understanding of the content of the text, as well as analyse the effects of the creator’s choices of textual feature, in both written essays and oral presentations.

Course AO rubric