From April 14th to April 16th, Wang Mingyu, Professor of Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU) was invited to the “Expert Symposium”, one of the Quality Project of Personnel Training in Foreign Language Institute of our School of Foreign Studies, to give a series of lectures to the teachers and students, visited students’ classrooms and pointed out the shortcomings of teaching methods.
In the afternoon of April 14th, as the first lecturer in the series, Professor Wang Mingyu gave his lecture on “Scientific Research and Paper Writing”, proposed that college teachers should have “solid basic skills of foreign language major”, “broad knowledge”, “modern teaching consciousness” and “scientific research consciousness”. It was also pointed out that “scientific research and teaching are equally important and as a college teacher, it was necessary to have the spirit of perseverance and correct methods”.
Focusing on the theme of “Scientific Research and Paper Writing, professor Wang Mingyu put forward six points and explained them one by one, including “The Nature and Consciousness of Foreign Language Research, “The Types of Foreign Academic Papers”, “The Determination of Academic Paper Titles”, “The Research Methods of Academic Papers”, “Foreign Language Journals and Ways of Submission”, and “Papers, Knowledge and Realm”.
In the afternoon of April 15th, Professor Wang Mingyu gave the second lecture with the theme of “Undergraduate Education and Curriculum Construction”, discussed the basic law of university development from the historical origin of undergraduate education, pointed out four changes facing China’s higher education in the new era, and stressed the basic position of undergraduate education in talent cultivation, which requires teachers to insist on the “root-oriented”, promoted the “Four Return”, and comprehensively revitalized the undergraduate education.
After an in-depth analysis of undergraduate education, Professor Wang expounded on the connotation, types and construction paths of “gold course” with vivid and rich cases. Finally, Professor Wang ended this wonderful lecture with four core issues: “Teacher and Students: what is the center”, “Teaching and Research: what is the purpose”, “Teaching and Solving Problems: what is the means” and “Theory and Practice: what is the foundation”.
On the morning of April 16th, Professor Wang Mingyu gave a lecture to the teachers entitled “Interdisciplinary and New Arts”, carried out a post-meeting exchange, illustrated the new changes in the humanities and social sciences from the the concept and characteristics of interdisciplinary subjects, pointed out the background, the connotation and the three growth mechanisms of the new liberal arts, and the five actions in implementing the new liberal arts.
Professor Wang also stressed that the construction of new liberal arts is not a “subversive” revolution, but a “successive” revolution under the guidance of the principle of “integrity and innovation”. The construction of new liberal arts in colleges and universities should not blindly follow the trend, but on the basis of maintaining the fine tradition, promote the construction of new liberal arts and cultivate high-quality foreign language talents in line with the social development by optimizing the specialty settings, innovating the training modes, promoting the course constructions, driving the general education and building the experimental platform. After the conference, professor Wang Mingyu answered the perplexities and questions of the teachers in professional construction and curriculum construction.
A series of lectures of Professor Wang Mingyu emphasized the “three basic constructions” of scientific research, specialty and discipline in higher education. Scientific research is the bridge of communication, specialty relies on discipline development, and discipline development leads specialty characteristics. The series of lectures will help promote scientific research awareness of teachers, deepen education and teaching reform, and improve the construction and development of foreign language disciplines from the perspective of “new liberal arts”.
The series lecture of “Expert Symposium” is one of the series activities of “Talent Training Quality Engineering Year” of our School of Foreign Studies.
After successfully holding the Teaching Innovation and Design Forum and the Construction of First-class Majors Forum, we invited famous masters in the field of foreign languages to give lectures and attend classes, which promoted the discipline construction, the integration of teaching and research, the education and teaching quality of teachers, and the quality of talent cultivation of the school.
Expert Introduction: Wang Mingyu, 2nd Class Full Prof., Doctoral Supervisor, Postdoctoral Tutor of Cooperation, Former Vice President of Tianjin Foreign Studies University (TFSU), President of Translation and Cross-cultural Communication of the Institute, Director of Semiotics Specialized Committee of Chinese Logic Society, President of the Chinese Research Society of Language and Semiotics, Member of the Chinese language and semiotics research association, the Core Team Member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) of the Central Compilation and Translation Bureau, Distinguished Professor of Tianjin, Outstanding Scholars of Tianjin, Renowned Teachers of Tianjin, winner of the Russian Pushkin Medal, winner of the Russian “Friendship and Cooperation Medal, enjoy the Special government allowances of the State Council. Professor Wang is also hold a concurrent post of the Vice Chairman of the Russian Branch of the National Foreign Language Teaching Steering Committee, the Vice Chairman of the Foreign Discourse System Research Committee of the Translators Association of China, the President of Tianjin Foreign Languages Society, and the Alliance Director of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei MTI Education Alliance.
