Course syllabus

 

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JAPANESE150 EXPLORING JAPAN (2018SC)

COURSE SCHEDULE.pdf 

 

Lectures: Attend both 

Tutorials: Attend one/week (See ‘Tutorial’ section of this syllabus)

 

Time and location may change at a short notice. Before your first lecture and tutorial please refer to the timetable on Student Services Online at http://www.studentservices.auckland.ac.nz/en/sso-my-timetables-grades-course-history.html for the most updated information.

 

Assginment support drop-in sessions (You may come any time during the session)

Article review:

Assignment Preparation Session (APS): Tuesday 7th August, 11am -1pm 

Structure and Referencing Check (SRC): CANCELLED

Essay:

APS: CANCELLED

SRC: CANCELLED

 

CLASS REP: Sora Lee (saih792@aucklanduni.ac.nz)

FACEBOOK PAGE: TBA

Asian NON language’s SSCC

  • Week 5: Tuesday 14th August at 11am-12pm
  • Week 10: Tuesday 2nd October at 11am – 12pm

 

COURSE COORDINATOR/LECTURER:

Dr. Rumi Sakamoto

Room: 435, 4F Arts 2

Phone: ext. 84600

Email:  r.sakamoto@auckland.ac.nz

Office Hours: Tue 12-1 and Fri 1-2

I am available for consultation throughout the semester. If you would like to discuss any aspect of the course, please contact me via email or phone and arrange an appointment.

TUTOR

Mr Alec Redvers-Hill

Email: a.redvers-hill@auckland.ac.nz

Office hour: Tue 3-4pm

Office: Room 313, Arts 2

ACADEMIC COURSE  MENTOR

Ms Emma Richardson

Email: kric092@aucklanduni.ac.nz

TUAKANA MENTOR

Mr Nicholas Jones

Email: njon268@aucklanduni.ac.nz

Office hours: Monday 12-1 and Tuesday 10-11 (Also by appointment)

Office: Arts 2: Room 402

GUEST LECTURERS

Dr Wayne Lawrence, CLL; lecture on Japanese language

Dr Harumi Minagawa, CLL: lecture on Japanese language

Professor Mark Mullins, CLL: lecture on Japanese religions

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

JAPANESE150 is a core course for a Major and minor in Japanese. This means that you are required to pass this course in order to a major or a minor in Japanese.

It offers students a brief introduction to modern Japanese history, political issues, culture, and society. It is designed for those who are taking up the academic study of Japan for the first time; previous knowledge of Japan or Japanese language is not required.

In addition to offering some basic knowledge on Japanese history, culture and society, it seeks to help students develop skills in critically and analytically examining various aspects of Japan through reading, class discussion, and writing. Through a multi-disciplinary approach, students are expected to learn about a multi-faceted ‘Japan,’ which is often stereotyped as a homogenous society. We will also study the importance and relevance of various events in the past for contemporary society. How do various events of the past contribute to the sense of national identity today? What are the competing memories of the war that shape today’s politics? Who produces and consumes them, and to what end?

The course consists of three parts: 1) HISTORY; 2) SOCIETY AND CULTURE; 3) LITERATURE LANGUAGE AND POPULAR CULTURE. The history section provides a general historical background for the last two parts, where we will examine aspects of contemporary Japanese life focusing on such topics as politics, economy, working life, gender relations, minorities, literature and popular culture. Overall, this course aims to bring together different issues and different disciplinary perspectives to facilitate a basic understanding of Japan as a highly complex and dynamic society.

It serves as an introduction to other fields of advanced study of Japan currently available within the School of Cultures, Languages and Linguistics. It is hoped that during the course of study, each student will discover areas of interest and embark on further study of Japan.

 

CANVAS

All students enrolled in courses at The University of Auckland have access to CANVAS automatically.

CANVAS is designed for students to: access course information relevant to courses in which they are enrolled; check announcements and marks; download resources; complete on-line tests and participate in on-line discussion. You will submit your courseworks to Turnitin via CANVAS. All your lecture notes and recordings, essay titles and any announcements will be posted on CANVAS. It is your responsibility to access CANVAS regularly.

CANVAS announcement will be sent to your university email address. Please check your university email regularly throughout the semester so as not to miss important information. Emails that are sent via CANVAS are assumed to have been read.

For CANVAS Student Guides, go to:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/learning-and-teaching/CanvasHomepage/information-for-students.html

Lecture PPTs for each lecture will be available on CANVAS two days prior to the lecture. Please read them BEFORE you come to the lectures. Many students choose to print out the lecture outline and add their notes on it during the lecture.

Lecture PPTs contain just outlines. They do not substitute for the lectures. You do need to come to the lectures and take notes.

 

TUTORIALS

There is a tutorial every week from Week 3. Enrol one stream only and stay with your own group throughout the semester. There will be marks associated with tutorial attendance.

WEEK 1: NO TUTORIAL

WEEK 2: LIBRARY TRAINING SESSION (You must book one of the following in advance. They are not offered during the usual tutorial time)

Link to library training booking session

  • Thu 26th July, 2-3pm: Translation Studies Lab (207-312), Room 312, Level 3, CLL Building
  • Friday 27th July, 12-1pm: ArtsLab 259 Level 2, Social Sciences Building (15 Wynyard Street)
  • Friday 27th July, 3-4pm: ArtsLab 259 Level 2, Social Sciences Building (15 Wynyard Street)

Library exercise mark will count as Week 2 tutorial quiz mark.

If this is your first year at the university and if you haven’t done so already, in addition to (and ideally prior to) the above training session in Week 2, please read: http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/docs/handouts/introduction-library-search.pdf

There are other useful resources at:

http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/study-skills/searching

Tutorial preparation and attendance

Please read your weekly tutorial material before you come to the class. Tutorial readings are in your coursebook. It is your responsibility to read in advance, and come prepared for the tutorial.

Weekly tutorial quiz will take place at the beginning of each tutorial. All the questions will be based on the readings assigned for that week.

Tutorials are an integral part of the course, and topics are closely linked to lectures. They provide students with an opportunity to discuss specific issues relevant to the lectures, as well as practising research skills, and developing essay-writing skills.

Tutorial streams

You may change streams via SSO up to the end of Week 2 on the ‘first come, first served’ basis. The number of students for each stream is limited, and the stream signup will be locked automatically as soon as a stream becomes full; please select your stream early. You need to enrol in the course formally by Friday of Week 2.

Monday Week 3 is the last day for selecting/changing the tutorial stream via SSO. After that date, you must attend your stream throughout the course.

ASSESSMENTS

1) 2 Hour Final Exam (closed book) – 50%

2) Article review (800 words) – 15%

3) Essay (1,500 words) – 25%

4) Weekly tutorial quiz – 10%

 

COURSEWORK

As a significant portion of both final exam and the course work is WRITTEN WORK, we advise that students with problems with English and/or academic writing should seek the help of the STUDENT LEARNING SERVICES at the earliest opportunity. They offer a number of workshops, as well as individual advisory session. Some tutorials will be on how to use the library for research and how to write an essay; however if you have not written any essays before, course tutorials will not be sufficient to help students gain skills necessary for writing effective essays. It is your responsibility to seek help to ensure that you have your basic essay writing skills.

When you submit your written work:

  • Please word-process your assignments. (Double-spaced, good margins, 12-point font; Times New Roman or other similar fonts are recommended.)
  • On each assignment, you must staple an assignment cover sheet (you need to print it out yourself from CANVAS).
  • For review, write "review of [the title of the article/chapter you are reviewing]" on your assignment tracking sheet.
  • For essay, write down the essay question on your assignment tracking sheet.
  • You must keep a copy of all your assignments for yourself.
  • You need to submit both electronic and hard copies. An electronic copy of assignment must be submitted to Turnitin.com (See the section ‘What is Turnitin?’), via CANVAS. A hard copy of the assignment must be handed in the Arts Assignments Centre in Social Sciences Building (SSB), by the entrance to the Arts Students space. Both electronic and hard copies need to be in by 4pm on the due dates. No Turnitin/CANVAS submission, no mark. Any submission after 4pm will be considered to be the next day’s submission.
  • Medical certificates for late works must be dated within one week prior to the deadline for the assignment. Any late works without medical certificates will receive penalty.

If you have an illness or other serious problems that affect your ability to attend lectures and tutorial during the course, do not hesitate to discuss your problems with the tutor/coordinator before your coursework is seriously affected.

For both assignments, please ensure that: 1) you have run spell checker and grammar checker to ensure your work does not contain any typo or grammatical error; 2) your footnotes and bibliography are done according to the following section on ‘bibliography and reference style’; 3) your work consists of clearly identifiable paragraphs with topic sentences; 4) you have not plagiarised. Check all direct quotations have to have quotations marks. Any quoted material without quotation marks, even if you add a reference/footnote to indicate the source, will be penalised.

Referencing:

For all written assignments, use Chicago (footnotes). Click the link below and choose Chicago.

Link

Late works:

10% is deducted for each day up to 5 days. An essay submitted past 5 days will not be marked, but will be kept and may be used to determine the final grade if the final mark falls on the C-/D+ borderline. For this reason you should always try completing and submitting your coursework, even if you missed the deadline.

 

TURNITIN

JAPANESE 150 uses Turnitin. You are required to submit an electronic copy of your essays to Turnitin.com via CANVAS as well as a hard copy to Arts Assignment Centre (Social Sciences Building). Turnitin.com is an electronic plagiarism detection service that is used by dozens of universities world-wide. When a student’s assignment is turned in to the system it is matched against millions of Internet pages, databases and a constantly increasing database of all previously and concurrently submitted assignments. Teaching staff receive a report from Turnitin that can be used as a resource to assist staff in making a judgement as to whether a student’s work is plagiarised. The internet has made plagiarism easier than ever before. The ease of downloading and copying "untraceable" online information has led to an epidemic of ‘digital plagiarism,’ and Turnitin was introduced to deal with plagiarism effectively.

FINAL EXAMINATION

The final exam will contain multiple-choice questions, short answer questions and essay questions. The exam timetable will be available on SSO after the close of enrolment. Past examination papers are available from the Library website [Library – Databases – Exam papers] 

 

Note: UNIVERSITY EXAMS ARE DIFFERENT FROM THE NCEA SYSTEM

 

Under the NCEA system, you were probably advised that you should focus on achieving a smaller number of 'excellent' grades rather than a larger number of  'achieved' results, and that you should therefore put all your time and effort in an examination into the section(s) where you might expect to be graded 'excellent', and not even attempt other sections.

 

In a university examination, your final grade is calculated on the basis of the total marks you achieve. If you do not attempt one of the questions, you will get 0 for it, and that will have a serious impact on your total for the paper. For example, if you are expected to answer FOUR questions, each worth 25%, and you answer only three, even if you were to achieve full marks on each of the three, you would have only 75% for the paper, and so the best you could hope for would be a B+ result (and very few students manage full marks in an examination).

 

In general, especially with essay-type answers, it is relatively easy to earn a pass-mark (50%); to do better, you must write more, and/or structure your answer better, and show additional insight into the implications of the question. This means that it is advisable for you to make at least some sort of response to all of the required number of questions, and then to spend additional time on those you feel more confident of answering better.

 

READ THE INSTRUCTIONS ON THE EXAMINATION PAPER FIRST, to ensure that you understand how many questions are required. Be careful, when there are options, that you do not waste time answering MORE than the required number of questions. If you do so, it is University policy that the examiner will mark the questions in the order presented in your examination answer book, and once the required number of answers have been marked, no more will be read (even if the last one might have been your best effort!).

 You will receive more information on this year’s final exam in the lectures and tutorials.

What do I do if I missed the final exam because of an injury or an illness?

If you are prevented from being present at the exam because of a serious illness, injury, or exceptional circumstances beyond your control, you can apply for Aegrotat or compassionate considerations. But always try to sit the exam as much as you can – this increases your chances of being granted Aegrotat or compassionate considerations.

Details are found at:

https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/for/current-students/cs-academic-information/cs-examination-information/cs-aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html

GROUND RULES

The lecturers and tutors are committed to:

*Preparing the lecture PPTs in advance and making them available on CANVAS

*Making lecture recording available on CANVAS

*Starting and finishing lectures/tutorials on time

*Being available for questions and answers during office hours

We expect that you:

*Read the syllabus thoroughly

*Do the weekly readings before lectures and tutorials

*Come to the lectures and tutorials on time

*Respect everyone else’s need to learn

*Participate in tutorial discussion

 

RESOURCES AND SERVICES

 

GENERAL LIBRARY

The University of Auckland Library system includes the General Library and the Kate Edgar Information Commons. All items held by the Library; encyclopaedias, books, online journals, DVDs etc. are recorded on the Library catalogue.

Training in finding information for your assignments will be provided in your library training session in Week 2. If you are unfamiliar with the library please arrange an extra instruction via the Library.

The Asian Languages Collection is located on the Level 3 of the General Library.

KEIC (Kate Edger Information Commons)

9 Symonds Street

Website: http://www.information-commons.auckland.ac.nz/

This is a student-centred facility that provides 500+ computers and a number of quiet study space. Usually open 7am – midnight weekdays, 8am-10pm weekends, and extended weekend hours during study and exam breaks.

 

STUDENT LEARNING SERVICES

Room 320, Level 3, KEIC

Website: http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/services/student-learning

The Student Learning Services offers various study-skills workshops as well as individual consultations with tutors to all students at UoA. They can support your academic writing, time management, referencing, reading and thinking skills, and test/exam preparation. The following courses are recommended for undergraduate students.

Study Skills


Note taking
Reading effectively
Strategies for succeeding at university
Thinking critically

Writing

Essay Writing: Analysing the question and planning
Essay Writing: Introductions, conclusions and paragraphs
Paraphrasing, summarising, and quoting

Exams


Exams: Preparing and revising

We strongly recommend you use their services and attend workshops.

 

ENGLISH LANGUAGE ENRICHMENT (ELE)

Room 101, Level 1, KEIC

Website: http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/ele/

If you have difficulty with your English, with writing essays, understanding lectures, doing presentations or any other aspect of English, then ELE (English Language Enrichment) is the place for you. Their language advisors can help you with your English. The service includes language advice, language exchange and language workshops. You can meet with ELE Learning Advisers who will help you to improve and check your own writing (up to four times per semester, each on different assignment).

DISABILITY SERVICES

Any student with a disability who may require alternative arrangements in this course is encouraged to seek advice and assistance from Disability Services as soon as possible after enrolment.

Contact details: Disability Services

(http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/eo-equity-office/eo-disability-services), Room 036, Basement Level, ClockTower: 8am-4pm; phone ext. 82936: email disabilities@auckland.ac.nz

 

Frequently Asked Questions

I’VE MISSED LECTURES – WHAT TO DO?

The lecture outlines and lecture recordings are available at CANVAS, so please read/listen to them, as well as doing your weekly readings. Try catching up with your classmate and get notes – or even better have her/him explain them.

WHAT ABOUT MISSED TUTORIALS?

The weekly quiz cannot be taken outside the tutorial hours, so you will lose the mark for the week. Failure to regularly attend tutorials will result in your being poorly prepared for the final examination of the course. If you missed occasional tutorials, please read assigned readings and chat with your classmates to find out what was covered in tutorials.

Under exceptional circumstances, you may attend a different stream on one-off basis. Please consult your tutor in advance.

WHAT IF MY TUTORIAL DAY IS ON A NATIONAL HOLIDAY?

Please attend any of the other tutorials for that week only. We may be able to organise a make-up stream, in which case this will be announced via CANVAS

MY PRINTER/COMPUTER HAS BROKEN DOWN JUST BEFORE THE DEADLINE – CAN I HAVE AN EXTENSION?

No. Extension is granted only with medical certificate or other documents. Prepare your assignment well before the deadline if you are relying on your personal computer/printer. Always backup your work.

 

WHAT IF I DECIDE THAT I DO NOT WANT TO TAKE THIS COURSE?

You may withdraw during the first 2 weeks without penalty, using SSO. The last date for deleting second semester courses with refund of fees is Friday Week 2. (Note that this course is a core for major and minor in Japanese)

Workload and deadlines for submission of coursework:           

The University of Auckland's expectation is that students spend 10 hours per week on a 15-point course, including time in class and personal study. Students should manage their academic workload and other commitments accordingly. Deadlines for coursework are set by course convenors and will be advertised in course material. You should submit your work on time. In extreme circumstances, such as illness, you may seek an extension but you may be required to provide supporting information before the assignment is due. Late assignments without a pre-approved extension may be penalised by loss of marks – check course information for details.

Course summary:

Date Details Due