On April 15 to 17, the eighth TESOL international academic conference held in shantou university smoothly. The theme of the conference was "Bridging ELT and found the and Practice: Innovations and Reservations in the Digital Age".
In the morning of April 15, the opening ceremony was held on time, distinguished guests attended the opening ceremony including the vice president of Shantou university Lin Danming, Professor Roland Sussex, Professor He Lianzhen, Professor Arthur McNeill, the vice president of Shantou Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese Li Hongzhao, the minister of Shantou science and technology association Yang Rong, the director of Shantou University international exchange cooperation department Liao Xuequan, Professor Quan Hongling, Professor Joanna Radwanska - Williams, and Professor Jack Purdie. In addition, the director of Li Kashing foundation international special projects Julia Hsiao congratulated this conference beforehand. The opening ceremony was hosted by the leader of the international academic conference paper audit team Mark McAndrews, and the director of English language center Mao Sihui delivered a welcome speech.
The participants of the meeting were the college professors from the mainland, and the United States, Australia, Hong Kong, and Macao. They discussed several fields of English teaching by paper discussion, workshops and seminars, including science and technology innovation in the teaching application, intercultural communication and curriculum development, critical thinking, and so on. Among them, more than 30 foreign teachers from English language center shared their experience in teaching and research in the digital age based on the practice of Shantou University English education.
Six prominent scholars respectively made a wonderful speech at the meeting and shared their innovative ideas in language education. Among them, Roland Sussex professor encourage teachers to think about how to combine the MOOCs with English teaching. Professor Mao Sihui discussed how to correctly understand the critical thinking and realize its importance in cross-cultural communication ability in the digital age. Professor He Lianzhen introduced the national foreign language ability evaluation system, especially the development of China English ability rating scale, and the national language exam quality standards and relevant situation of the college entrance examination reform through the review of the main development process of China's English teaching and testing. Professor Arthur McNeill described the applications of personalized context lexical analysis software and showed the effectiveness of it in language learning. In addition, Professor Andy Curtis explored the the new concept of globalization of knowledge and its meaning and influence in English teaching. Professor Liying Cheng showed her research results in grading practices.
In the afternoon of April 17, Professor Mao Sihui presided over the closing seminar. Professor Arthur McNeill, Professor Roland Sussex, Professor Joanna Radwanska - Williams, Professor Quan Hongling, and Professor Liu Shaolong participated in the discussion, and summarized the essence of the meeting, and shared their opinions of English education in the digital age.
This international academic conference provided a platform for Chinese and foreign language education practitioners and students where they could share and explore new ideas and teaching methods in the field of TESOL, and it also showed foreign teachers the achievements of Shantou University English teaching.
Editor: Wu Bin
Translator: Irene
