Course Audience and Objectives

This course is designed to meet the specific needs of second- and third-year Chinese major students who are preparing for advanced-level writing tasks in academic and professional contexts. It offers guided practice in writing across key Chinese genres, helping students build fluency, stylistic control, and rhetorical awareness.

Because the course runs entirely online, every module is structured around a five-step scaffolded cycle (see Pedagogical Approach below) so that students move from input to independent production through clear, guided steps rather than in a single leap.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

•    Write clearly and effectively in a range of genres using advanced vocabulary and grammar.

•    Use appropriate structures, tone, and rhetorical strategies for different writing tasks.

•    Describe people, events, and places in vivid, detailed language.

•    Present arguments and explain social phenomena logically and clearly.

•    Format formal documents such as applications and emails using correct conventions.

•    Recognise and analyse genre features in unseen Chinese texts.

•    Apply targeted grammar and cohesive devices accurately in their own writing.

•    Revise and improve their own writing based on diagnostic feedback.