McCone 107
Monterey, CA
Email Address
xcao2@miis.edu
Phone Number
831.647.6570
Language(s)
中文
Xianwen Cao
Visiting Professor
Professor Cao teaches courses such as Business Conversation and Journalistic Chinese. He has prior teaching experience at institutions such as Nanjing University in China and the Chinese Summer School at Middlebury College. His publications include the book Reading Chinese News Online, and contributions to Chinese Grammar Made Easy, as well as an extensive list of article publications. Professor Cao has taken part in and directed several research projects. He is currently leading a China’s Ministry of Education project: Longitudinal Studies on International Student's Acquisition of Essential Chinese Grammatical Constructions. Professor Cao has presented at numerous conferences, including The International Conference on Chinese as a Foreign Language and the International Conference on Chinese Language Pedagogy. He is also a current Board Member of the Young Scholars Association of Nanjing University and a member of the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching.
Expertise
Language Pedagogy, Second Language Acquisition, Chinese Language Study, and Computer Assisted Language Instruction
Education
Ph.D., Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Nanjing University, China
MA, Applied Linguistics (focus on Chinese as a Second Language), Nanjing University, China
BA, Chinese Language and Literature, Anhui Educational Institute, China
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
CHNS 3301 - Pre-Advanced Chinese
This course is designed for students who have completed the intermediate Chinese or the equivalent. While many of the linguistic tasks students learn to handle are similar to those of Level II, the level of language required to carry out these tasks is more advanced. Students are introduced to the written Chinese (shumianyu) and taught how to make the transition from reading pedagogically prepared materials to more authentic materials.
Rigorous practice of spoken and written Chinese in complex communicative activities will be complemented by intensive practice sessions to fine-tune pronunciation, expand vocabulary, and internalize more complex grammatical constructions. Students will also do intensive reading of expository writings on a variety of cultural topics. This course is conducted in Mandarin Chinese.
Summer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011
CHNS 3302 - Pre-Advanced Chinese
This course is designed for students who have completed the intermediate Chinese or the equivalent. While many of the linguistic tasks students learn to handle are similar to those of Level II, the level of language required to carry out these tasks is more advanced. Students are introduced to the written Chinese (shumianyu) and taught how to make the transition from reading pedagogically prepared materials to more authentic materials.
Rigorous practice of spoken and written Chinese in complex communicative activities will be complemented by intensive practice sessions to fine-tune pronunciation, expand vocabulary, and internalize more complex grammatical constructions. Students will also do intensive reading of expository writings on a variety of cultural topics. This course is conducted in Mandarin Chinese.
Summer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011
CHNS 3303 - Advanced Chinese I ▹
Designed for students who have completed two years of college-level training in Chinese, this course aims to help students solidify their ability to comprehend and produce paragraph-level Chinese. It seeks to enable students to understand face-to-face conversations on most familiar topics, give factual accounts, read materials written in formal shumianyu Chinese, and write simple essays, reports, and all types of correspondence. Authentic materials, including newspaper, radio
The course is conducted in Mandarin Chinese.
Required texts: Bai J., et. al., Across the Straits, Cheng & Tsui Company; Bai J., Beyond Basics, Cheng & Tsui Company; Liu, Irene and Li, Xiaoqi, A Chinese Text for a Changing China, Cheng & Tsui Company.
Recommended Dictionaries: Deng, G., Ed., A New English-Chinese Dictionary, University of Washington Press; Deng, G., Ed., A New Chinese-English Dictionary, University of Washington Press.
Summer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
CHNS 3304 - Advanced Chinese I ▹
Designed for students who have completed two years of college-level training in Chinese, this course aims to help students solidify their ability to comprehend and produce paragraph-level Chinese. It seeks to enable students to understand face-to-face conversations on most familiar topics, give factual accounts, read materials written in formal shumianyu Chinese, and write simple essays, reports, and all types of correspondence. Authentic materials, including newspaper, radio
The course is conducted in Mandarin Chinese.
Required texts: Bai J., et. al., Across the Straits, Cheng & Tsui Company; Bai J., Beyond Basics, Cheng & Tsui Company; Liu, Irene and Li, Xiaoqi, A Chinese Text for a Changing China, Cheng & Tsui Company.
Recommended Dictionaries: Deng, G., Ed., A New English-Chinese Dictionary, University of Washington Press; Deng, G., Ed., A New Chinese-English Dictionary, University of Washington Press.
Summer 2008, Summer 2009, Summer 2010, Summer 2011, Summer 2012
CHNS 3305 - Advanced Chinese I ▹
CHNS 3306 - Advanced Chinese I ▹
CHLA 8315 - Business Conversation
CHLA 8322 - News & Media in China
This course aims to further develop overall language skills by studying news from Chinese newspapers, magazines, TV programs and internet. The class will combine authentic reading articles with video materials to reach students have a comprehensive contact with a news subject. Through reading, listening, discussion, presentation and writing to improve oral and written communication skills and familiarizes students with textual features of Chinese media
Spring 2011 - MIIS
CHLA 8360 - Journalistic Chinese
Modern Chinese newspaper headlines and news items. Emphasizes comprehension and vocabulary development of special terms and current expressions used in the news.
Fall 2010 - MIIS
CHLA 8364 - Currnt Socl/PolTopicsInChinese
The objective of this course is to inform students about current social, political and economic issues in China, and also to improve their oral and written communication skills. The class will focus on one issue per week. In addition to expanding vocabulary and drilling new sentence patterns, Students will engage in individual and group presentations, vigorous debate, writing and speaking assignments related to the most acute issues facing China’s society today.
Spring 2011 - MIIS
CHLA 8485 - Individualized Studies
This course is designed to promote students’ overall Mandarin Chinese proficiency by pursuing individualized research project that each participant will choose based on his/her academic interest. The participants will choose a theme of their research, collect their own resources, and read extensively with the help of the instructor. The course will meet once/twice a week as a class for two/four hours, and in addition, each participant will meet with the instructor individually for twenty minutes per week. In the once-a-week class meetings, each participant will give a presentation summarizing his/her reading of the week, engages the audience in a lively and meaningful discussion by asking questions on the issues. In the twice-a-week class meetings, the class will study a topic related to Chinese for Specific Purposes.
Spring 2011 - MIIS
CHLA 8491 - Special Topic
These are content-based language courses that focus on improving students’ language skills through learning tasks and projects, and expanding students’ content knowledge on China’s political, economic, and social policies and developments.
Fall 2010 - MIIS
