Time: Jan.9, 2019
Source: School of Foreign Studies
Author: Wang Lu, Jiang Xia

The International Symposium on SLA-Based Language Pedagogy, organized by JNU's School of Foreign Studies, was held on Jan. 5 and 6 in the international conference hall of the university's science museum. More than 150 participants attended, among them experts on foreign language teaching and research as well as foreign language teachers from countries including China, the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France and Finland. They discussed theories surrounding second-language-acquisition-based language pedagogy and practices in foreign language teaching.

（At the symposium）
Xia Quan, deputy secretary of JNU's Party Committee, introduced the university's history and development status, as well as its outstanding achievements in international exchange and cooperation. In particular, he pointed out that JNU, by attaching great importance to teaching,  had established the triple-three teaching management system for undergraduates in recent years,  building a good atmosphere for dedication to scholarly research and education, mobilizing teachers' enthusiasm  and improving the quality of teaching. Gong Qi, president of the College of Foreign Studies, introduced its development, discipline construction and academic success. He also stated the reason for the symposium and discussion points.

The symposium invited 10 world-renowned writers to deliver keynote speeches, including Prof. Rosemarie Tracy of the University of Mannheim in Germany; Prof. Ma Xinwu of Fudan University; Prof. Hannele Dufva of the University of Jyväskylä in Finland; and Prof. Aydin Durgunoglu of the University of Minnesota. Their topics included The Combination of Linguistics and Language Education: Cross-Language Challenges in the Perspective of Cross-Discipline, Spoken Language Training and Course Design,“ “From Corpus to Personal Language Ability: Awareness and Behavior in  Language Class” and“Learning, Cognition and Emotional Research and Their Application in Language Teaching.”

Six parallel sessions covered the latest theories and the contemporary development of second-language learning; dynamic systematic theory and foreign language learning; computer-assisted language learning; research on second-language learning under social cultural theory; foreign-language teaching from the perspective of pragmatic theory; and pragmatic competence in a second language.