YNU lecturers attend US writing conference

A poster is displayed during the event held on March 13. Three representatives from Yunnan University attended the workshop and shared their insights on the teaching of English writing. [Photo/ynu.edu.cn]

A group of lecturers from Yunnan University (YNU)’s Department of College English attended the 2019 Conference of College Composition and Communication that took place in Pittsburgh, United States, from March 13 to 16.

The three members of staff –– Ren Qin, Wang Jian and Jin Ling –– received the letter of invitation from the organizing committee following approval of their research proposal on YNU’s methods for teaching academic English writing.

During the “Engaging the Global: Performing Translingual/Transmodal Pedagogies in Writing Classrooms Workshop” held on the morning of March 13, the team delivered a presentation titled “Multimodal Measures for Writing Curriculums in a University Setting in Southwest China”. 

In their talk, they described YNU’s reforms to its English courses, teaching models and some of their successes and failures. 

Several scholars in attendance showed an interest in YNU’s English writing teaching methods and asked for more details.

The chairpersons of the workshop, Steven Fraiberg and Sonja Wang, praised YNU for bringing an international element to the event as the only Chinese university taking part in the conference.

According to the participating scholars from the United States, it was valuable for them to gain a comprehensive understanding of Chinese students’ performance in English writing in the context of increasing the number of Chinese students studying in the US. 

While the three YNU representatives offered them a chance to learn more about English writing education in Chinese universities, thus helping them to improve curriculum designs for Chinese students studying in the US.

During the conference, representatives from US universities held preliminary talks with YNU staff on establishing cooperative links with YNU in teaching and research.

The Conference of College Composition and Communication, initiated in 1949, has more than 35,000 members from across the world. It is currently the world’s largest organization specializing in teaching and writing research.