At 7:00 p.m. on June 14, , Professor Zhang Wenzhong from Nankai University visited School of Foreign Languages of SWJTU and gave a special lecture entitled“Relying on Project Teaching and Innovation Training”in the Room X1405. Associate Professor Xu Xiaoyan, head of Department of English Language and Literature, Dr. Zhang Juyan and all the students of English Department attended the meeting and discussed the issue of English teaching with Professor Zhang Wenzhong.

The meeting first clarified that the current weakness in college English teaching was ignoring the cultivation of students' ability to think and innovate. Some teachers instilled knowledge into students through examination oriented teaching mode. Although the current teaching guidance of English major repeatedly mentioned the cultivation of innovative ability, and clearly put forward the teaching requirements of outstanding speculative ability, the implementation was not perfect. In analyzing why the cultivation of these two abilities was so difficult, Professor Zhang Wenzhong explained that the lack of curriculum and tasks made teachers and students not really valued the cultivation of innovation and speculation.

In response to the lack of innovation and critical thinking in English teaching, Professor Zhang Wenzhong proposed solutions and shared his own practical experience. He pointed out that students should be allowed to improve their two abilities in the quality education and liberation education of personality development. He believed that the pragmatic education theory of John Dewey who was a famous American educator, was the origin of educational philosophy and practice that relied on the project. Later, Mr. Tao Xingzhi introduced it to China and gradually developed a complete system. Next, he analyzed the language learning characteristics of the project, and emphasized that in this teaching mode, students were decision makers and teachers were merely responsible for guiding. By experiencing real-world language contact in group, students not only had the language skills and the above two abilities, but also the comprehensive ability of cooperation, decision-making, and problem-solving. He also shared his teaching practice experience. In his own course, a classmate who could not speak English fluently was forced to report in English, and finally he could deliver a speech. Most of his students said that although each project was a large challenge and needed plenty of time to finish, they could think deeper and their learning ability was greatly improved.

Professor Zhang Wenzhong also encouraged the students of English Department to do more projects, and suggested on the selection of featured projects, such as the CBI (Content-based instruction) survey of English majors in colleges of Chengdu, the top ten contributions of SWJTU to China, etc. He emphasized that with the experience of an excellent project was a significant advantage in applying for studying abroad, and also an important basis for foreign universities to judge students' abilities. Finally, the meeting ended in a friendly exchange and interaction.

Article: Yang Shengguo

Photo: Rong Zhiling

Editor: Sun Xiaomei