From March 11 to 16, the School of Foreign Languages organized series discussions online on formulating the 2020 Undergraduate Programs for English, TESOL and Japanese majors and “Jiangsu University College English Teaching Guidelines (Trial Version for 2020)” in accordance with the schedule of the Teaching Affairs Office, Jiangsu University and the unified deployment of the administrative and Party leadership of the School of Foreign Languages. Deputy Dean Wu Peng presided over all discussions, reaching an agreement with each department on the construction of multi-department course modules and related regulations concerning the newly revised programs and “Guidelines”.
There are three topics for the conferees to discuss: first a review was made on the experiences of the past four years of implementing the 2016 Programs and “Jiangsu University College English Teaching Guidelines (Official Version for 2017)”, with all deficiencies and difficulties laid bare; then based on the summary and reflection on the past experiences, as well as on the surveys that have been conducted on the undergraduate programs of other colleges and universities in Jiangsu province since November 2019, a preliminary conclusion was drawn on the orientation, course framework, key and important points and urgent issues to be further explored concerning the new Undergraduate Programs and “Guidelines”; finally, plans were made for the construction of key course modules for all departments and the prioritized key first-rate courses within each module in light of the course framework of new Undergraduate Programs and “Guidelines”. Throughout the discussions, Wu Peng laid particular emphasis on the globalized strategy based on the University features in formulating the Undergraduate Programs and “Guidelines” for 2020, meanwhile focusing on constructing basic course modules and feature course modules and highlighting the significance of constructing course modules, promoting the teaching and research capability of the faculty and the construction of feature programs to the current program revision work.
On March 19, Wu Peng organized a symposium with director and deputy directors of the Clinic for Foreign Language Learning for the purpose of actually implementing the requirement for “Independent and Computerized Foreign Language Assessment” fixed for the new Undergraduate Programs and “Guidelines”. At the meeting they focused on the feasibility for the CFLL to undertake the online and offline independent assessment of foreign language proficiency of students both from the School and the University at large, pointing out the difficulties confronting the CFLL faculty and fixing the current work plan and important time nodes.
Through the discussions on formulating the new Undergraduate Programs and “Guidelines” and the construction of course modules, the faculty concerned reached an agreement on what to do and saw clearly where to go in future, fixing the plan for the revision work, and laying a solid foundation for the evaluation to be conducted on it by experts on and off the campus. Based on the suggestions made by the conferees from each department involved, the School formulated and promulgated “School of Foreign Languages Regulations (Interim) on Undergraduate Course Modules and Persons in Charge of Course Modules”.
(School of Foreign Languages)