WACE Chinese: Second Language ATAR study guide
WACE Chinese: Second Language ATAR · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
WACE Chinese: Second Language is a Western Australian senior-secondary course and ATAR subject for students who are learning Chinese as an additional language, typically without a substantial Chinese-speaking family background. It is designed for candidates who already handle everyday written and spoken Chinese and want to extend that into more formal, abstract and culturally grounded use. Assessment is built around four equally weighted skill areas: oral communication, reading comprehension, written production, and language and cultural understanding. In practice this means you will listen to and speak Chinese in interactive tasks, read authentic-style texts such as notices, articles and personal writing, produce your own texts in Chinese for defined audiences and purposes, and show control of vocabulary, grammar, text types and knowledge of Chinese-speaking communities. The WACE Chinese: Second Language ATAR study guide has 4 sections and about 1,380 words.
01Oral Communication: Listening and Speaking
Oral communication in this course is assessed through listening tasks (short exchanges, announcements, interviews, dialogues) and spoken tasks (a conversation or a short presentation). You need to recognise the communicative purpose of an utterance, not just its literal words: is the speaker apologising, complaining, suggesting, refusing politely, or negotiating?
362 words, about 2 min02Reading Comprehension
Reading texts in this course range from notices, advertisements, and emails to short articles and narratives. The exam tests main idea , specific detail , inference , author attitude , and vocabulary in context .
349 words, about 2 min03Written Production: Writing in Chinese
You will produce texts such as emails, letters, diary entries, notices, short articles, and narratives . Each text type has conventions: an email needs a subject line, greeting, body, and sign-off; a diary entry uses time expressions and personal reflection; a notice is short and factual with a clear heading.
336 words, about 2 min04Language and Cultural Understanding
This domain covers vocabulary, grammar, text-type knowledge, and cultural awareness of Chinese-speaking communities. You need a working vocabulary for daily life, school, travel, health, and social relationships, plus awareness of how culture shapes language: politeness, humility, food, festivals, and family roles.
333 words, about 2 min