加州州立大学长滩分校

The Master of Arts (MA) in Asian Studies (AST) provides a comparative understanding of the cultural, economic, and socio-political significance of Asia in the 21st century. It requires competency in one or more Asian languages. To achieve this, MA students are encouraged to study abroad for part of their course work. For students interested in teaching Asian languages, this degree also offers the Chinese Studies option in “Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language,” or the Asian Studies option “Japanese Language and Pedagogy.” Graduates from the MA program in Asian Studies can expect to be much more competitive for positions in the Foreign Service, State Department, K-12 and community college education and administration, international finance and industry, non-governmental organizations, academic publishing, professional translation work, and Ph.D. programs in Chinese, Japanese, or Asian Studies. Chinese Studies option (30-42 units, including 12 units of core courses) This option includes a choice between two tracks: 1) Chinese Language and Culture and 2) Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language.

Track 1: “Asian Studies, Chinese Language and Culture Option, M.A.” is tailored for non-native speakers of Chinese who would like to explore more about Chinese language and culture, without the intention to become a Chinese language instructor.
Track 2: “Asian Studies, Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Option, M.A.” targets native speakers or near-native speakers of Chinese who would like to become a Chinese language instructor either in the United States or in China.

Student Learning Outcomes

Asian Studies: By the end of their course work in comparative Asian Studies, graduate students will be able to:

Demonstrate their ability to research comparative topics on Asia using at least one Asian language along with European language sources. They will demonstrate this in their culminating project.
Demonstrate a comparative understanding of the cultural, economic, or socio-political significance of Asia in the 21st century. They will demonstrate this through their course work and culminating project.
Demonstrate research proficiency in at least one Asian language. They will demonstrate this through their course work and culminating project.

Asian Studies – Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language Option: By the end of their course work in this option, graduate students will be able to:

Demonstrate a basic comparative understanding of China’s regional and international economic, cultural, or political influence. They will demonstrate this through projects in the core AST graduate level courses.
Demonstrate their understanding of applied Chinese linguistics. They will demonstrate this through the development of course materials, lesson plans, teaching demonstrations and their culminating project.

The Department of Asian and Asian American Studies has the following learning objectives for all of its programs:

Department Learning Objectives

Global Awareness – By learning Asian Languages, students develop respect and openness to those whose culture, religion, and views on the world may be different. Asian language students are able to interact with people of Asian heritage in order to discuss issues and reach solutions.
Collaboration – Students as collaborators learn from and work cooperatively across cultures with global team members, sharing responsibility and making necessary compromises while working toward a common goal.
Critical Thinking Skills and Problem Solving – Students as inquirers frame, analyze, and synthesize information as a well as negotiate meaning across languages and cultures in order to explore problems and issues from their own and different perspectives.