The College English Teaching Department of the School of Foreign Languages at South China University of Technology was established in 1985. It currently has 46 faculty members, including 3 professors (one of whom is a Guangdong Provincial Distinguished Teacher), 8 associate professors, 10 teachers with doctoral degrees, 6 doctoral candidates, 1 doctoral supervisor, and 15 master’s supervisors. Additionally, 7 foreign teachers are employed. The faculty is predominantly composed of young and middle-aged members with a reasonable structure in terms of professional titles and academic qualifications, forming a dynamic and proactive teaching team.
The College English Teaching Department is responsible for English instruction for non-English major undergraduates across the university. Each year, it undertakes the teaching of foundational English courses and general education courses for over 7,000 students across the Wushan Campus, Daxuecheng Campus, and International Campus. Over the years, the College English team has adhered to the development philosophy of keeping pace with the times and pioneering innovation, continuously reforming and achieving a series of notable accomplishments. These include National-Level Quality Courses (2003), a Ministry of Education Demonstration Site for College English Teaching Reform (2006), a National-Level Teaching Team (2008), a National-Level Quality Resource-Sharing Course (2016), a National-Level High-Quality Online Open Course (2018), National-Level First-Class Undergraduate Courses (2020, 2023), a Ministry of Education Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Course (2021), Ministry of Education Curriculum Ideology and Politics Teaching Masters and Teaching Team (2021), a Guangdong Provincial Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center (2012), Guangdong Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Courses (2020, 2022), a Guangdong Provincial Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Team (2021), Guangdong Provincial Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Courses (2023), Guangdong Provincial Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Classes (2021, 2023), as well as 3 National-Level Teaching Achievement Awards and 9 Provincial-Level Teaching Achievement Awards.
The College English Teaching Department has focused on cultivating renowned teachers, courses, and textbooks as key breakthroughs, developing its own advantages and characteristics in teaching philosophy, content, methods, and approaches. It has consistently been at the forefront of college English teaching reform in China, serving as a positive model for peer institutions nationwide and promoting the further development of college English teaching and reform in Chinese higher education. In recent years, the College English teaching team has achieved fruitful results in curriculum development, teaching reform, textbook construction, teaching research, and scientific research.
Curriculum Development
The College English teaching team has continuously explored and actively reformed, gradually establishing a new curriculum system. College English has evolved from a single course into a comprehensive series covering multiple modules, including 25 English-taught general education courses. These modules are interconnected and complementary, meeting the English learning needs of undergraduates at different levels and stages. They provide systematic language training for cultivating internationalized talents with a global perspective, familiarity with international rules, and the ability to participate in international affairs and competition.
The compulsory course Academic English, launched in 2015, was recognized as one of the first National-Level First-Class Undergraduate Courses in 2020. It provides English academic language support and specialized course learning skills for the university's English-taught courses and programs, equipping the university's innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial talents with linguistic wings to enhance their capabilities. This enables them to play a greater role on the international academic stage in the future and become leading international figures in their respective engineering and technical fields. General education courses such as British and American Music and Culture (2020) and Zhuangzi’s Language and Wisdom (2023) have been recognized as National-Level First-Class Undergraduate Courses, while Business English Case Studies (2020), English Films and Culture (2022), and American History and Culture (2023) have been recognized as Guangdong Provincial First-Class Undergraduate Courses. These courses have significantly broadened students' horizons, enriched undergraduate teaching content, and improved teaching quality.
Teaching Reform
The team pioneered the design and implementation of a multimedia teaching model based on the internet and campus networks in Chinese higher education. By leveraging modern information technology deeply integrated with teaching, it promotes smart teaching, constructs a new ecosystem for teaching and learning activities, and redefines learning spaces. The shift from lecture-based teaching to diverse learning modes such as flipped classrooms, project-based learning, self-directed learning, and group discussions has fully mobilized students' enthusiasm for learning and enhanced their engagement.
The College English teaching team is also committed to curriculum ideology and politics reform. The New College English Ideological and Political Teaching Materials, as the first college English curriculum ideology and politics textbook in China, highlights the educational goal of cultivating outstanding talents with both international perspectives and a sense of national commitment in the new era. In 2021, the College English course led by Professor Han Jinlong was recognized as a Ministry of Education Curriculum Ideology and Politics Demonstration Course. Eight teachers were awarded the title of Ministry of Education Curriculum Ideology and Politics Teaching Masters, and the team received 4 provincial-level curriculum ideology and politics reform demonstration projects. Team teachers have also won awards such as the first prize in the foreign languages group of the first Guangdong Provincial Undergraduate Curriculum Ideology and Politics Teaching Competition (2021), the second prize in the first National College Foreign Language Curriculum Ideology and Politics Teaching Competition, and the first prize in the Guangdong Provincial College Foreign Language Curriculum Ideology and Politics Outstanding Case Awards. The project Connotation Construction and Teaching Practice of Curriculum Ideology and Politics in College English, led by Professor Zhong Shuneng with key team members' participation, won the second prize in the National Teaching Achievement Awards (2023) and the special prize in the Guangdong Provincial Teaching Achievement Awards (2021).
Textbook Development
The College English teaching team places great emphasis on textbook development. From 1997 to 2000, Professor Qin Xiubai, a National-Level Distinguished Teacher, led the development of the College English Intensive Reading multimedia teaching and tutorial CDs, pioneering the creation of college English teaching CDs in China. The New Century College English Series Textbook, chief-edited by Professor Qin Xiubai in 2008, was recognized as a Ministry of Education Higher Education Quality Textbook and won the second prize in the National Teaching Achievement Awards in 2014. From 2018 to 2019, the New Era College Academic English Series Textbook, edited by Professor Han Jinlong with contributions from other key team members, sold nearly 300,000 copies and was adopted by nearly 100 universities across China. Seizing the opportunity presented by the Double First-Class initiative, the team has secured 4 university-level undergraduate quality textbook projects since 2020.
Teaching and Scientific Research
Faculty members of the College English teaching team have also been diligent and productive in teaching and scientific research. From 2018 to 2023, team members led 6 National Social Science Fund projects, 4 Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Fund projects, and over 40 provincial and ministerial-level research and teaching projects. They published over 30 SSCI and CSSCI papers and authored more than 30 monographs and textbooks. This superior research environment provides a strong foundation for disciplinary development, teacher cultivation, and teaching quality improvement.
Head of the College English Teaching Department and Contact Information:
Head: Zhu Lin Email: linzhu@scut.edu.cn
Deputy Head: Cai Sulu Email: flslcai@scut.edu.cn
