Peking University, June 1, 2014: Between May 23 and May 24, 2014 (NYT), the Fifth International Conference on Chinese Linguistics & Chinese Language Instruction was held at Columbia University. The conference was organized by the School of Chinese as A Second Language (SCSL), Peking University and Columbia University. Renmin University of China and the Confucius Institutes of Stanford University and Columbia University also helped the preparation for this event.

This year, the theme of the conference was “Language and Culture: Chinese Research and Chinese Instruction in A Global View”. More than 130 participants from 11 countries and districts attended the conference.

Professor Zhang Ying, Dean of SCSL, Peking University, delivered the opening speech on the opening ceremony at the Italian Academy of Columbia. Professor Zhang said that the purpose of the conference this year was to facilitate the academic exchange and communication in the field of Chinese teaching by establishing an international platform which was actually organized and managed by institutes in China and the U. S. She expected that the conference would be full of vitality and highlights. The welcome address from Professor Haruo Shirane, Dean of Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia was also read out at the ceremony.

Over 60 participants presented their researches on diverse aspects of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) on the group presentations session, such as lexicology, grammar, phonetics, Chinese characters, acquisition of Chinese as a second language as well as the contrastive model of Chinese language instruction. Scholars from Stanford University, Osaka University and Huston University, etc. gave presentations on topics such as syntax and lexicology in TCFL, textbook design and language instruction for Chinese overseas on the second session.

At the closing ceremony, representatives from different parallel venues delivered summary reports on the content, methods, conclusions and characteristics of the researches discussed in the respective venues. Dr. Liu Lening, Director of the Chinese Language Program in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, Columbia, briefly outlined the organization of this event and acknowledged the contribution of the staff. Professor Zhang Ying, in the closing address, highlighted the multiple viewpoints, farsightedness and innovative thinking of the participants and said that the conference this year would serve as an important precedent for future events.

Written by: Chen Jiayu

Edited by: He Jianfeng