On April 20th, International Campus, Zhejiang University, hosted an academic symposium aimed at promoting cooperation and development of language centers in transnational universities in China. Experts and scholars from domestic and international universities based in China including Zhejiang University, New York University Shanghai, Duke Kunshan University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), The University of Nottingham Ningbo, Soochow University, Capital University of Economics and Business, and Westlake University, as well as overseas universities such as Duke University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison participated in the event. QU Haidong, Vice Dean of the International Campus, was in attendance to open the symposium and delivered a well-received welcome speech. The symposium was planned and hosted by the Language Center of International Campus.
QU Haidong expressed his warm welcome to the guests, introducing an overview of the International Campus and the construction of the Language Center. The Language Center was established the same year the campus recruited its first batch of students and has played an important supporting role in the internationalization education of students, and in the cultivation of cross-cultural communication skills. He hoped to make use of the symposium to promote exchanges and cooperation among different universities, to make gains in teaching concepts, curriculum development, teaching practices, team building and other areas, and to provide inspiration for the cooperation and development of English language centers in Chinese universities.
Keynote Speeches
Bradley Hughes, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, presented the first Keynote speech of the symposium. In his talk he discussed how language centers help Chinese students in U.S. colleges and universities from the perspective of the “hidden curriculum”. He used vivid case studies to highlight the need for skills and the problems Chinese students encounter in the English writing process. At the same time, he pointed out that although artificial intelligence has certain beneficial effect on students' language learning, it also has a negative effect on the cultivation of original creativity and critical thinking skills.
LI Yan, Assistant Professor at Duke University, gave the second keynote presentation focused on the principle of transfer motivation for multilingual learners in writing courses. With rich examples of multilingual writing courses at Duke University, George Washington University, Colby College, and other U.S. colleges and universities. She demonstrated how to apply the principles of transfer to assess and design the course system, as well as to innovate and personalize the structure of the course system. Robert Holmes, senior faculty member of the campus Language Center, moderated the keynote sessions.
Symposium Presentation Sessions
The Symposium Presentation Sessions proceeded throughout the day, with the guests each presenting and were led by three faculty members from the campus Language Center, Christopher Traycoff, Caitriana Nicholson, and Hugh Smith. In these sessions, the representatives introduced the situation of academic language support in their own universities and the current situation of their respective language centers. Based on the characteristics of their own universities, they talked about the work and experiences of the language center in teaching, student services and campus internationalization from different perspectives.
Professor FANG Fan, expert advisor of the Language Center on International Campus and head of the English Department at the School of International Studies, ZJU, made a concluding speech. She congratulated the successful hosting of the meeting and thanked everyone for their participation. She believes that teachers of language centers from different universities have much to learn from each other, and complemented the exchange of ideas, and encouraged the improved communication and reached consensus during the meeting. She believes that this Language Center Academic Symposium will play an indispensable role in the development and enhancement of the language centers on all the campuses in attendance.
Article: LUAN Haiyan;
Editing: LI Yinan, LIU Shuaiyin;
Editing in charge: ZHANG Yi;
Reviewer: YANG Yi;
Translation: WANG Huan;
English Editing: Robert Holmes