Texts used in US university programs

[kudra]

In a previous post

http://www.chinese-forums.com/showpost.php?p=65416&postcount=9

I suggested making a table of texts used in years 1-3 at various US universities. The following are the results for Columbia, George Washington University, Middlebury, Middlebury Summer Language School, and California State University Long Beach. I have emails out to other universities but haven't heard back yet.

Below is the list of texts in alphabetical order. The attachment gives a table which breaks down the list by university, and year in which the text is used.

If you have trouble reading the .doc file, let me or roddy know and we'll try to arrange some other format.

If there is interest I will add information to the table as it comes in.

Note: Apr 4, 2006, Added Brown University and Kenyon College to table in doc. They use texts already in the list below.

Note: Jul 7, 2006, Added David and Helen in China

Alphabetical Listing of texts with Author, Publisher, ISBN

1. Across the Straits, Bai J., et. al., Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887273068

2. All Things Considered: Advanced Reader of Modern Chinese, (Shishi Guanxin), Chih-p'ing Chou (Editor), et.al., Publisher: Princeton University Press, ISBN: 0691090483

3. Beginning Mandarin Chinese T. Richard Chi, forthcoming, Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company

4. Beyond the Basics, Bai J., Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887272266

5. Business Chinese: An Advanced Reader, Songren Cui , The Chinese University Press, ISBN: 9629960095

6. China Scene, Hong Gang Jin, et. al., Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887273300

7. Chinese Breakthrough, Hong Gang Jin, et. al., Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 088727210X

8. Chinese Primer, Ta-tuan Ch'en, et. al., Princeton University Press, ISBN: 0691036950

9. Chinese Text for a Changing China, A, (out of print, old version of A New Text for Modern China)

10. Colloquial Chinese, P. T'ung,, Routledge; ISBN: 0415018609

11. Crossing Paths: Living and Learning in China; An Intermediate Chinese Course, Hong Gang Jin, Cheng & Tsui; ISBN: 088727370X

12. David and Helen in China, Phyllis Ni Zhang, Yuan-Yuan Meng, Donald K. Chang, and Irene C. Liu, Yale University Press; ISBN 0887102166(simplified), ISBN: 0887101909(traditional)

13. Integrated Chinese Level 1, Tao-Chung Yao, et.al., Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN:0887274773

14. Integrated Chinese Level 2, Tao-Chung Yao, Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887272770

15. Intention and Strategy: An Advanced Course in Chinese, Tang, Y. and Chen Q., Yale University Press, ISBN: 0300104634

16. Intermediate Mandarin Chinese, T. Richard Chi, forthcoming, Boston: Cheng & Tsui Company

17. Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese, Chih-p'ing Chou, Der-lin Chao, Princeton University Press, ISBN: 0691015295

18. Language of the Dragon, Gregory Chiang, Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887272983

19. New Practical Chinese Reader Vol 1 , Beijing Language & Culture Univ Pr, ISBN: 7561910401

20. New Practical Chinese Reader Vol 2 , Beijing Language & Culture Univ Pr, ISBN: 7561911297

21. New Text for Modern China, A, Liu, Irene and Li, Xiaoqi,Cheng & Tsui Company, ISBN: 0887273122

22. Proficiency in Chinese: Building fluency , Phyllis Zhang, forthcoming

23. Reflections on Humanity, Ying Wang , Carrie E. Reed (eds.), University of Washington Press, ISBN: 0295983655 (contemporary short stories, recommended for advanced self-study, by C.E. Reed)

24. Shifting Tides: Culture In Contemporary China - An Intermediate Chinese Course, Hong Gang Jin, # Cheng & Tsui; ISBN: 0887273726

25. Taiwan Today, Teng Shou-Hsin, Perry Lo-Sun, Cheng & Tsui; ISBN: 0887273424

26. Xiaoyuan Hanyu: Speaking Chinese on Campus, Carrie E. Reed, et.al., University of Washington Press, ISBN: 0295983280

For a reveiw of Across the Straits, and Making Connections, see this post.

school_year_text_ref_submit3.doc

[amandagmu]

Thanks for the list -- I have used a few of these books in my classes at US universities. Too bad some of the cheng & tsui books are banned in China... and not just because they're Taiwanese. I heard that the current book I'm using (Intermediate Reader of Modern Chinese / Princeton, Cheng & Tsui) was banned because of content. The name of it is "A Trip to China" and it discusses life in China pretty bluntly (e.g., chapter 2 was 厕所里没有卫生纸）. Kind of a bitch when you pay $4 for books in Beijing and this book, a paperback, cost me $40 used ($50+ new).

~Amanda

[roddy]

Surely there must be something juicier than that

Are they actually banned though, or are they just not available due to cost - how well are they going to sell when that $50 book is on sale in beijing at 400Y+ markup? I wouldn't be surprised if there is content that prevents them getting an import license (or whatever is needed), but I find it hard to believe that it is lack of toilet paper alone . . .

[sinosplice]

kudra,

Thanks a lot for this list. I can tell it represents a lot of research, and it's just the kind of thing I was looking for. I'll include a link to this in an upcoming post on my blog.

[venture160]

I have seen some Cheng and Tsui books in China, their business Chinese series is in most bookstores here, but it is reprinted by tBLCU for 40kuai, its 40 bucks back home. I have also seen integrated chinese in bookstores in Harbin and Beijing, although that was last year.

[kudra]

Since it's easy the University of Michigan shows all their courses and the descriptions list most of the texts.

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/asian/chinese/courses.html

I'll update the word file attached to the first post when I get a chance.

It would probably make sense to let stuff shake out during the start of this school year before thinking about doing an update.

Of course if someone wants to go through the Michigan web site and figure out if there are new texts not in the list, and break down text by year that would be nice. Also, a quick look indicates that Michigan has a separate track for native or near-native speakers who can't read and write.

[Kathy]

Hi Everyone,

Has anyone seen a side by side review of textbooks and audio recordings for pre-AP and AP Chinese? I joined the discussion group for AP Chinese on the College Boards website, but the discussion board does not yet have a collection of reviews of materials commonly used in US middle school and high school Chinese programs. They do, however, have a nice list of the schools that have programs. Is anyone aware of even a brief comparison of materials?

If not, is anyone interested in starting this type of discussion? I know that this is a difficult topic to get started, and that at least initially, the anaysis would be disjointed, but perhaps we could start with teachers' and students' own experience with books that they have used. I will be happy to get the ball rolling by emailing the schools on the list and asking them about their programs and textbooks. I can also propose an evaluation matrix and ask for feedback on its contents. However, if this info is already available somewhere else, or if someone else is already working on this, please point me in the right direction.

Thanks,

Kathy Felts

[ange9s]

If you're already in China, it's too late to study 厕所里没有卫生纸, everyone should study that before coming.

[Kathy]

Hi ange9s,

Lucky for me, I went to study 25 years ago and stayed for 7 years, so I am asking because I think that teachers, such as myself, who have pre-AP and AP Chinese students would like to know. Thank-you for helping me clarify my question.

Kathy

[kudra]

@ kathy

you might browse the preliminary program for the ACTFL conference

and email the people giving talks on teaching AP Chinese.

[Kathy]

Hi Kudra,

Thanks for the help. I had thought about uisng the conference as a starting point, but I figured that folks would be up to their eyeballs with work since it is coming up so soon. I am rethinking that now, since, as you say, I can contact presenters listed in the program conference. Maybe I need to think about contacting the teachers at individual school for a more comprehensive picture of the situation.

The list you put together will save a great deal of time. My guess is that some folks are using other textbooks, but the ones you listed for first year study are certainly among the most common.

One question I have re the books on the list is about how well they articulate with the AP test. I notice that a number of the items in the AP Chinese section of the of the College Boards website involve some vocabulary that may not be in the books. A lot of folks talk about 'how many characters' students need at different levels of Chinese, but I haven't seen a discussion of English words represented by compounds of charaters.

BTW We are putting the website with the recordings of the T'ang poems up now and should be done by Christmas. Thanks again for your help. I think that the results will be most satisfactory. I have sent some of the recording out to people who were interested in them and the response has been very good. I am now working with some programers in China to make online activities to go with them

Best regards,

Kathy Felts

[kudra]

sounds like all this

One question I have re the books on the list is about how well they articulate with the AP test. I notice that a number of the items in the AP Chinese section of the of the College Boards website involve some vocabulary that may not be in the books. A lot of folks talk about 'how many characters' students need at different levels of Chinese, but I haven't seen a discussion of English words represented by compounds of charaters.

will be covered in this workshop at the ACTFL conference

... Participants will discuss appropriate classroom materials, learn techniques and content-specific strategies that can be incorporated into the AP Chinese classroom to help students prepare to be successful in AP course work, consider AP curriculum and syllabus development, and become acquainted with resources to support AP teachers.

The College Board is also having a session.

In any case I'm now focussed on toddler through 2nd grade. The AP stuff I'll worry about in so many years. By then you and others will have the high school materials all figured out and I can sit back and answer the odd homework question now and then.

As far as the conference goes, there are 72 talks that come up searching on "Chinese".

[wrbt]

Any of you used "A New Text for a Modern China" before? It seems a pretty commly used 3rd year text.

[ziyi star]

great! i ws looking for the authors of many chinese learning books and you've solved my problem. thanx

[venture160]

Some college's textbook information:

Cornell:

http://lrc.cornell.edu/asian/courses/chinese?d=courses

George Mason:

http://mason.gmu.edu/~kzhang/Ch480_Spring_04_Syllabus.htm

Swarthmore:

http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/kspeide1/chinese1/

Saint Louis University

http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/chinese/

Columbia:

http://www.columbia.edu/cu/ealac/chinese/3n2.htm

University of Virginia

http://www.virginia.edu/amelc/clp/courses.html

University of Buffalo

http://linguistics.buffalo.edu/chinese/courses.htm

UC Davis

http://trc.ucdavis.edu/msjacob/chn2/default.htm

Duke (click on professors then class synopsis)

http://fds.duke.edu/db/aas/AALL/people.html

Yale

http://classes.yale.edu/chns130/Schedules/Syllabus130.html