On March 2, 2022, the academic seminar on teaching jointly organized by the Ministry of Educationz’s Teaching and Research Integration Foreign Language Teaching and Research Virtual Teaching and Research Office, the Foreign Language Curriculum Research Professional Committee (in preparation), the Foreign Language Education and Teacher Development Research Center of Nankai University, and the empowering English/foreign language teaching team of Nankai University (basic teaching organization) was held online.
This seminar was chaired by Han Ziyu, associate professor of the Department of Foreign Languages, School of Humanities, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics. Professor Zhang Wenzhong and associate professor Li Yuping, doctoral supervisors of Nankai University, served as guest reviewers. The two keynote speakers were Dr. Feng Ruiling and Dr. Xu Chengping from Tianjin Normal University. More than 180 teachers and students from more than 40 colleges and universities across the country participated in the seminar, including Nankai University, Sichuan University, Zhejiang University, Nanjing University, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China University of Petroleum (Beijing), Northeast Normal University, Capital Institute of Economics and Foreign Languages, South Central University for Nationalities, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin Industry University, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Hubei University, Guangzhou University, Shenyang University, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Bohai University, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Wuhan Textile University, Nanjing University of Information Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, Chengdu University of Technology, Wuhan University of Light Industry, Changsha University of Science and Technology , Shandong Normal University, Qufu Normal University, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Changsha University, Qujing Normal University, Langfang Normal University, Hanjiang Normal University, Weifang University, Beihua Institute of Aerospace Engineering, Zhejiang University of Foreign Languages, Gansu Normal University for Nationalities, Henan Urban Construction University , Zhengzhou Business School, Anhui Vocational and Technical College, Fujian Zherong No. 1 Middle School and so on. It is worth mentioning that the deans of more than 10 colleges and universities led their teams to participate in the conference, which improved the specifications of this seminar.
The first opening was Dr. Feng Ruiling, who gave a presentation titled “Does College English Really Get Worse with Learning? - A Study of Causal Inference Based on Breakpoint Regression Design”. Dr. Feng used the breakpoint regression design to explore the causal relationship between college English courses and students’ English proficiency, which provided new ideas for the research on the effectiveness of college English teaching. The study found that the rate of wear of foreign language learning is basically the same as that of learning, and output skills wear out slightly faster than input skills.
The topic of the second presentation was “Design and Development of School-Based Teaching Materials for English Teachers-Taking ‘English Grammar’ as an example”. Teacher Xu Chengping elaborated on the design, implementation and preliminary effects of school-based textbooks from three aspects: theoretical support, the needs of the period and individual development, combined with one’s own English grammar teaching practice. By guiding students to appreciate the beauty of grammar in their favorite books and discovering grammar phenomena in different courses, it helps students learn grammar interestingly, so as to apply what they have learned.
In the question-and-answer session, the participating teachers had a very lively discussion on the content of the two reports, and gave ideas for further research and teaching implementation. In response to Mr. Feng’s research, Associate Professor Liu Yujun of Qingdao University of Science and Technology suggested conducting interviews with students to understand the impact of their learning motivation on changes in English proficiency. Teachers such as Teng Jinqiu from Weifang University pointed out that students’ familiarity with writing and translating text content will also affect students’ grades. Professor Chen Zhenzhen of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications believes that maintaining students’ English proficiency is also one of the goals of college English courses. Regarding Mr. Xu’s report, the teachers said that this kind of teaching reform is very inspiring for changing the boring grammar teaching classroom and improving students’ grammar awareness. Teachers believe that the design of school-based teaching materials reflects the idea of “human-oriented” everywhere, and hope to promote learning through various platforms such as virtual teaching and research rooms. The teachers and students who participated in the meeting expressed that they have gained a lot.
Commenting guest Mr. Li Yuping thought that the research design of the two reporters was innovative, put forward suggestions for the discussion of the research results, and encouraged teachers to draw wisdom from pedagogy and psychological theories and methods to create a classroom that students like. Professor Zhang Wenzhong affirmed that the two teachers are models of the integration of teaching and research and practitioners of the concept of empowerment education. At the same time, he proposed that teachers should actively guide students to participate in teaching and become one of the protagonists of the teaching and research community, so as to continuously reform teaching and mobilize students’ subjective enthusiasm.
Finally, the host thanked the guests and teachers and invited them to take a photo. The first seminar of the new semester came to a successful conclusion.
