SemesterFall Semester, 2025
DepartmentJunior Class of Department of Sociology Senior Class of Department of Sociology
Course NameArea Studies
InstructorCHEN JEN-HAO
Credit3.0
Course TypeSelectively
Prerequisite
Course Objective
Course Description
Course Schedule

























































































 



Topic



Reading/Activities



9/5



Introduction



 



9/12



Immigration



Overview of US immigration



9/19



Immigration



Overview of US immigration



9/26



Documentary I (online)



 



10/3



Asian Americans



Lee, J. C., & Kye, S. (2016). Racialized assimilation of Asian Americans. Annual Review of Sociology, 42(1), 253-273.



10/10



No Class, Holiday



 



10/17



Asian Americans



Sakamoto, A., Goyette, K. A., & Kim, C. (2009). Socioeconomic attainments of Asian Americans. Annual Review of Sociology, 35(1), 255-276.



10/24



No Class, Holiday



 



10/31



Guest lecture (online)



Professor Wei-Lin Chen, National Sun Yat-Sen University



11/7



Healthcare challenges



Overview of US healthcare



11/14



Documentary II (online)



 



11/21



Healthcare challenges



 



11/28



 



Guest lecture (in person or online)



Professor Cheng-Shi Shiu, National Taiwan University



12/5



Student Presentation



English Presentation and Q&A after Presentation



12/12



Student Presentation



English Presentation and Q&A after Presentation



12/19



Final Preparation (no class)



 



Teaching Methods
Teaching Assistant

N/A


Requirement/Grading

1. Class Participation 30%



 



This class pays attention to class participation. Each student is expected to voice his/her opinions and ideas in order to get a good grade from class participation. Simply sitting in the classroom without participation in the classroom discussion will not result in a good grade in this part.



 



2 Short Quizzes 30%



There will be several in-class short quizzes (i.e., multiple choice). The purpose of these quizzes is to test students’ understanding of principles and concepts of the readings. If you miss a short quiz, you will not be able to take a make-up quiz.



 



3 Group Presentation 40%



Each student is required to participate in an in-class group presentation on a topic related to U.S. society. Each group will consist of 4–5 members, depending on the total number of students in the class. Presentations should be approximately 10–15 minutes long and will take place during the last two class sessions. The purpose of this assignment is to help students develop skills for presenting at international conferences. Topics should be based on an empirical study or report. Please submit your group’s presentation topic by October 17. To facilitate the presentations, each group will be required to record their presentation and upload the recording to the cloud storage folder provided by the instructor.


Textbook & Reference
Urls about Course
Attachment