On December15th, Professor Liu Jun, 42nd president of TESOL（Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages）and Vice-President of International Affairs at Georgia State University (GSU) gave a lecture entitled “The Future of English Language Teaching”. Teachers and students of the College of Foreign Studies and teachers from other universities in Nanjing listened to the lecture. The lecture was hosted by Professor Wang Yinquan, Vice-Dean of the College of Foreign Studies.
Professor Liu Jun first noted that English teaching has undergone enormous changes during present era, and the future of English teaching depends on the present. What we think and what we do today, and reforms that we make, will affect the future of this area. Language courses, from planning to design, from methods to assessment, from learners to teacher professional development features, all will be changed to meet the needs of the field.
Liu Jun summarized the development of English Teaching (ELT) around the world during the past few decades, and introduced ELT’s core components as an industry association, as a professional organization, and as a academic research institution, followed by a brief introduction to IATEFL (International Association of teachers as a Foreign Language) and the development context of TESOL. According to Liu Jun’s introduction, TESOL was established in 1967, and now is the world's largest English teachers’ association in the world, with 13,000 members and more than 100 branches in 156 countries around the world.
Professor Liu Jun then highlighted the importance and influence of TESOL as an academic research field. He noted that research in the field of TESOL showed significant interdisciplinary characteristics, mainly related to Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Education, Psychology, Social Science, Anthropology, Second Language Acquisition, Intercultural Communication, Language Education Policy and Planning, among others. Liu Jun shared his research in accordance with the statistical survey on publications of top international journals in the field of linguistics, TESOL Quarterly, from 1967 to 2011, in order to inform people of the research topics and trends of the past few decades. According to his survey and analysis over the past few decades, the field of academic research in TESOL has mainly focused on the following ten areas: Language Skills, Language Knowledge, Pedagogy, Language Learning and Language Policy, Language Usage and Assessment, Teacher Development, Curriculum and Teaching Materials, and Second Language Acquisition. Liu Jun gave advice on how to publish papers in top international academic journals for our English teachers; he pointed out that among TESOL Quarterly contributors, contributions from Chinese authors have grown from less than 1% twenty years ago to about 30% today. There is at least one article by authors from China in every issue, highlighting the considerable progress made in ELT of China. However, there are still a large number of papers from China that get stuck because they do not comply with international academic language standards, which shows the importance of the teaching of English for specific purposes once again, and English for academic purposes (EAP) should receive more attention in the future.
During the report, Professor Liu Jun also pointed out that the greatest impact on ELT in the future will be Language Policies and Standards, Language Learners and Language Learning, Curriculum and Learning Materials and Teachers' Learning and Development. In his view, ELT is currently facing an important turning point on the road of teacher professional development. On the one hand, there were a lot of English society variants, such as EIL, EWL, EGL, ELF, EAL, EEL; on the other hand, English has increasingly become a teaching media, and incorporation of English teaching and industry knowledge is the general trend. Therefore the CBI teaching method and ESP teaching model has been gaining in popularity. More importantly, in the context of the digital age and the networked society, our teaching and teaching content have undergone great changes; we cannot be inflexible in our teaching philosophy, teaching content, and teaching methods, because we are faced with something new. Future trends are that teaching modes similar to the ESP, EOP, EAP, and EBP will become the norm.
In the lecture, Professor Liu Jun gave a comprehensive new definition of Communicative Ability, and proposed that Beyond Communicative Competence should be more important in the age of globalization, namely Global Competence. Because precise syntax and pragmatics capabilities are not guaranteed social skills, college English teaching should abandon the traditional mode of intensive reading or pronunciation accuracy, because of verbal communication diversity, unpredictability and communicative language needs of cultural globalization and contextual awareness. At the same time, the extension of the concept of communicative competence also requires teachers to expand students’ understanding of self-insight and communicative competence, access to the learning process, and to develop empathy consciousness. Liu Jun finally concluded that the future is not only about English language skills, but also increasing international awareness and fostering global citizenship. In addition, English teachers are faced with new challenges with a generation that has grown up on digital technology. Future English teachers need to obtain the following six core skills: 1. Make constant and effective changes; 2. Learn and speak at least one other language; 3. Teach less to maximize learning; 4.Teach English in at least one subject; 5.Ensure learning outside the classroom; 6.Familiarize oneself with new learning and teaching modes.
After Professor Liu’s lecture, Professor Wang Yinquan made brief comments on the wonderful lecture and pointed out that Professor Liu Jun’s lecture contained a huge amount of information, which helps us understand that English teaching in China must consider top-level redesign and restructuring. First, there should be strategic planning on English education policy; second, we should improve the transition of teachers, teacher development, etc., and we should also be aware that our English education has long been among the many disadvantages for learners. Ideal and advanced teaching models should encourage students to explore instead of being “given”. Professor Liu Jun’s report indicated the direction for English teaching, so that we know how to achieve effective learning and teach effective communication, and at the same time know how to carry out scientific research.
In the subsequent Q&A session, teachers from other colleges in Nanjing had exchanges with Professor Liu, and atmosphere was quite stimulating. Cao Xinyu, associate professor of the College of Foreign Studies proposed a question that specifically refers to Global Competence of Communicative Competence raised by Professor Liu. Professor Liu answered this question by pointing out its core content includes language skills, knowledge of different cultures, and to make adjustments based on tolerance of cultural differences.
Professor Ma Dongmei, Vice-Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, Southeast University, Associate Professor Zhu Shanhua, Associate Professor Wu Zhijie, Vice-Dean of the College of Foreign Languages, Nanjing University of Science &Technology, Associate Professor Wang Xiaocun, Director of Jincheng College English Department, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and teachers from Southeast University, Nanjing University of Science &Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Nanjing Institute of Technology and other colleges and universities have shared this academic feast. This is not only a sharing of resources, but also greatly enhances the academic influence of our college in the Jiangsu Foreign Studies community.
Professor Liu Jun came to discuss and establish an interscholastic cooperation relationship at NJAU’s invitation on the evening of December 14th and morning of the 15th. Xu Xiang, Vice President of NJAU and Chen Ligen, Vice President of NJAU, met with Professor Liu. On the morning of the 15th, Vice President Xu Xiang chaired the meeting between NJAU and GSU. Professor Zhang Hongsheng, the director of the International Office, Professor Han Jiqin, the party secretary of the College of Foreign Studies, Professor Zhu Shigui, the party secretary of the College of Humanities, Professor Zhang Weihua, Vice-Dean of the College of Science, and Professor Wang Yinquan, Vice-Dean of the College of Foreign Studies attended the meeting. The two sides reached a preliminary intention of cooperation in various fields. Professor Han Jiqin, the party secretary of the College of Foreign Studies on behalf of the college had discussion with Professor Liu Jun and reached a preliminary consensus on aspects of teacher training, English curricula, and joint training of undergraduates.
Professor Liu Jun previously served as a professor of English and director of the Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona. His research areas include Language Policy, Language Education Globalization, Intercultural Communication, Curriculum and Standards Development, Teacher Education and Second Language Learning. Professor Liu has published extensively in these areas, including the latest results of the "Common European Reference Framework: Learning, Teaching, Assessment". He had served as Chairman of the World English Teachers Association (TESOL)from 2005 to 2007, and he is the first Chinese president, as well as the non-native speaker president of TESOL since its inception in 1967. He currently serves on the board of the International English Education Research Foundation (TIRF) , vice-chairman of the Chinese Teachers' Association (TCSOL), Distinguished Senior Advisor of Confucius Institute Headquarters, and an International Chinese Teachers Training - "Aplus" founder. As a leader in the field of global language education, Liu Jun has been invited to more than 30 countries and regions and has given assembly keynote speeches over 80 times in the past decade.
