Zhong Chen Headshot

Zhong Chen

Associate Professor

Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-6917
Office Location

Zhong Chen

Associate Professor

Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, Nanjing Normal University (China); MA, Ph.D., Cornell University

585-475-6917

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
Berent, Gerald P, et al. "Academic verb knowledge of DHH college students and their hearing peers." The Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. (2023): enad053. Web.
Chen, Zhong and John Hale. "Quantifying structural and non-structural expectations in relative clause processing." Cognitive Science 45. 1 (2021): e12927. Web.
Chen, Zhong, Yuhang Xu, and Zhiguo Xie. "Assessing introspective linguistic judgments quantitatively: the case of The Syntax of Chinese." Journal of East Asian Linguistics 29. 3 (2020): 311-336. Print.
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Book Chapter
Chen, Zhong and John Hale. "Parsing Chinese relative clauses with syntactic and non-syntactic cues." Topics in Theoretical Asian Linguistics. Ed. Edith Aldridge and Kunio Nishiyama. Amsterdam, Netherland: John Benjamins, 2018. 253-283. Print.

Currently Teaching

LING-301
3 Credits
This course introduces main subfields of psycholinguistics, a study that deals with all aspects of human language performance: language acquisition, sentence processing/comprehension, and sentence production/speaking. Through readings on theoretical and experimental studies, findings and issues in first language acquisition, sentence processing, and sentence production are introduced. By discussing how speakers of different languages acquire, comprehend, and produce sentences, the course also examines interactions with language-specific, linguistic constraints and human language performances.
LING-302
3 Credits
This course examines the foundational abstract rules, principles, and processes of sentence structure from a cross-linguistic perspective. It explores how different linguistic units, e.g. morphemes, words, and phrases, are combined into syntactic grammatical sentences. This course introduces techniques of syntactic analyses and allows students to address empirical questions regarding syntactic properties of different languages. Topics covered include phrase structures, grammatical relations, and transformations.
MLCH-201
4 Credits
This course is designed for beginners, with no prior study of Chinese. It introduces students to the sounds, basic sentence structures, and the writing system of Mandarin Chinese. Pinyin, the Romanization (phonetic transliteration) of Mandarin Chinese, is taught and required throughout the course. Students also learn to read and write Chinese characters. Emphasis is on developing listening and speaking skills, as well as building a vocabulary based on the ideographic Chinese characters. Chinese culture is also introduced through the course. Students must take a placement exam if this is their first RIT class in Chinese and they have some prior knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.
MLCH-410
3 Credits
This course teaches specialized terminology and linguistic structures important for communicating scientific and technological knowledge in the target language. The focus is on developing students’ listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in interpreting technical Chinese. Students will learn science and technology terms and structures in a broad range of technical areas via experiential learning activities. In addition, students will research and present topics of their own interest or beyond their disciplines. Students will expand their knowledge of the target language to include technical terms/structures and prepare themselves to better apply their language skills in internships, research, and work while exploring and understanding the culture in professional workplaces.
MLCH-415
3 Credits
The course gives students an opportunity to study professional Chinese language and culture as well as to practice presentation and negotiation skills, especially in professional and formal contexts. Students will improve speaking, listening, reading and writing skills developed in the elementary/intermediate sequence to master formal interactions in Chinese. They will learn professional vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical structures through readings, conversation, and discussion. They will cultivate expressive skills through discussion, writing assignments, and a video tutorial project. This course will be useful for students who are planning to seek employment in Chinese companies or in companies doing business in Chinese speaking areas, and also for students who want to learn more about business in Chinese culture. This is a language class; proficiency equivalent to Intermediate Chinese II is required.
MLCU-549
3 Credits
This upper division seminar constitutes the final core requirement in the Applied Modern Language and Culture degree program. Students majoring in Applied Modern Language and Culture will enroll in this course in their final year of study. The capstone seminar will further develop and sharpen the connection between the students’ professional or technical fields and their linguistic and cultural knowledge of the language of the track The course will involve a variety of written and reading assignments, and/or project which involves professional fields. May be repeated up to twice.

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