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Academics

Foreign Languages and Literatures ( M.S. )

 Nanjing Normal University   April 20, 2016

1. Training/Research Orientation

  • English Language and Literature
  • Russian Language and Literature
  • French Language and Literature
  • Japanese Language and Literature
  • European Languages and Literatures
  • Asian and African Languages and Literatures
  • Linguistics and Applied Linguistics in Foreign Languages
  • Translation Studies
  • Comparative Literature and Cross-cultural Studies

2. Program Duration and Credit

Three years generally, the maximum school years are not longer than 5 years (including the extension time).
30 credits of courses in total, at least 19 credits of academic courses.

3. Core Courses and Introduction

Research Methodology in Foreign Literary Studies
This course is a “Platform Course” for Category I Discipline of Foreign Languages and Literatures (Master’s Degree). It is also a fundamental course for M.A. candidates in this discipline. It has won recognition of “Excellent Course for Graduate Students in Jiangsu Province”. The purpose of the course is to improve the research ability of M.A. candidates majoring in foreign languages and literatures, in particular the ability to write academic papers. The course mainly covers the following components focusing on research methodology in foreign literature: critical reading, academic writing, macro-critical methods in theoretical researches, comparative study of Chinese and Western literature and culture, comparative study of Chinese and Western poetics, new historicism, and postmodern theories.

Research Methodology in Foreign Linguistics
Course objectives:

  • Encouraging graduate students to develop interest in this academic discipline
  • Teaching basic research methods of the discipline
  • Developing ability to write M.A. thesis in accordance with academic norms
  • Developing ability to use major search and analysis tools
  • Improve the ability to apply theories acquired from this course and to conduce independent research projects

Course content:

  • Introduction, which briefly introduces the basic components of learning, references and learning methods
  • Basic concepts and research process, focusing on the basic elements of the definition of theories, assumptions and research questions
  • Frequently used computer software and programs for researches in foreign linguistics, including purchase and installation
  • Literature review, which describes major database, literature analysis methods and software
  • Basic research methods, including theoretical research methods and survey methods
  • Academic writing, including writing guideline for M.A. thesis, research proposal, and journal articles

Contemporary Western Aesthetics
This course is designed to help M.A. students understand the various theories and research methods of the 20th century Western aesthetics, as well as to enhance their research ability in the field of foreign literature. Course content: reviewing western aesthetics before the 20th century, introducing theories and research methods for the 20th century Western aesthetics, focusing on graduate students’ research ability, specifying procedures and methods in reading and understanding Western aesthetic theories. This course is centered on the two dominant trends in the 20th century for Western aesthetics: scientism and humanism. It focuses on the following aspects: expressionism, naturalism, intuitionism, psychoanalysis, formalism, existentialism, deconstruction, and analytical aesthetics.

General Linguistics
The objective of this course is to help students understand the basic concepts of language science, basic research methods, fundamental theories, and basic rules in human languages.
The course includes the following components:

  • 1. Definition of language; 2. Language and discourse; 3. Basic characteristics of language.
  • 1. Why is language a system? 2. Why should synchronic description be given priority to diachronic study? 3. The arbitrary nature and similarity of linguistic signs.
  • 1. What is linguistics? 2. The scientific attributes of linguistics?
  • 1. Phonetics and phonology; 2. What is allophones?
  • 1. Relationship between syntactic structure and syntactic functions; 2. What is universal grammar? Why study universal grammar?
  • 1. Types of semantic meaning; 2. Universal phenomenon and national nature of semantics.
  • 1. Differentiation and unity of language; 2. Social conditions that influence language change.
  • 1. Origin and influence of historical comparative linguistics; 2. New grammar school.
  • 1. What is the generative grammar? Similarities and differences between generative grammar and structural linguistics.
  • 1. Language and Cognition; 2. Children’s Language Acquisition and Adults Foreign Language Learning;
  • 1. Relationship between language and thought; 2. Foreign language learning and cultural identity; 3. Language, Discourse and Identity Construction.

History of European Literature
The objective of this course is to enable graduate students majoring in Foreign Languages and Literatures to comprehensively grasp the origin, growth and evolution of European literary tradition, paving the way for their future academic development. The course content focuses on literature of ancient Greek, literature of ancient Rome, medieval European literature (French literature), Renaissance Italian literature, English literature, Spanish literature, French literature of the Enlightenment, the Romantic Movement of French literature, German literature, English Literature, Russian literature, and realist novels by three novelists in the 19th century: Dickens, Balzac, Tolstoy, and modernist and postmodernist literature.

British Literature
By combining classroom lectures and special seminars, this course aims at deepening M.A. students' knowledge of English literature and its classical works, so that they can understand and apply different methods of literary criticism. Course content: selecting reading from various stages of the development of English literature (famous writers and representative works), development of literary schools, social and cultural situations, close-reading of texts, discussion about the development of English literature through different stages, literary representation and artistic characteristics.

Thesis Writing and Seminars
The objective of this course is to help students learn how to retrieve academic literature, how to get familiar with the process of writing research papers and journal contribution. The course content is divided into eighteen chapters. The first chapter introduces the academic resources located in most libraries. The second chapter introduces academic resources on the Internet. The third chapter introduces tips for using Google search engine. From the fourth chapter, the course starts the core components of research paper writing, presenting in a comprehensive manner the major issues in academic writing. Chapters 16-18 presents different types of academic journals and other issues related to how to contribute to journals.

4. Supervisors

Jie Zhang, Bin Xin, Junwei Yao, Chuanbin Ni, Hui Zhang, Xuezhi Song, Minjie Lin, Xiaoying Wang, Shaohua Wang, Liping Chen, Aimin Chen, Yuhong Liu, Yongxiang Wang, Haiying Guan, Hongling Lv, Qingqi Wei, Guanghui Ma, Lianhe Si, Liangmei Chen, Haocheng Yang, Mu Hu, Tingting Zhu, Xiaobo Dong, Wenhua Qin, Hongmei Li, Xia Yuan, Fangfang Zhang, Shuguang Li, Shan Shao, Danyang Wang, Jianxin Chi, Yu Wu, Xudong Liu, Kuaige Qi, Shiyan Xu, Jing Yang, Hongling Yin, Yue’e Guan, Chengyun Yu, Guang Shi, Xiaozhong Tang, Zhiyi Zhang.