The two-day Seminar on Cross-Strait Foreign Language Teaching lowered its curtain on Oct. 5 on Tamsui Campus, TKU after adopting a proposal made by Dr. Lin Yao-fu, Dean of the College of Foreign Languages and Literatures to organize the “Cross-Strait Foreign Language Teaching Society” to further enhance the interflow of foreign language teaching across the Taiwan Strait.

It was also decided at the meeting that the proposed society will be formally set up at Xinjiang Normal University in Wulumuqi next year.

The proposed society will not only further enhance the interchange of foreign language teaching across the Taiwan Strait but also expand the number of universities to participate in, Prof. Lin said. Lin’s proposal has immediately received a warm echo from the participants.

Members of the Board of Trustees and Board of Supervision should meet at least one time a year to work out the main theme to be discussed for the next academic year.

The participating universities of this seminar have naturally become founding members of the society. Six universities from Mainland China attended the seminar, including Beijing University, Beijing Foreign Language University, Xian Foreign Language College, Xinjiang Normal University, Beijing External Economic and Trade University and Shanghai Foreign Language University.

During the seminar, participants have discussed and reviewed a wide range of topics including the design of multimedia teaching, the guidance of grammar teaching and the cultivation of the ability to diminish the cross-culture barrier.

The participants believe that language and literature should be merged into one subject and one can comprehend the literature through the beautiful rhythm of language.

As to learn the applied English, Prof. Lin recommends “one should try to master the English language at first and then learn specialized English.” He pointed out that under the new internationally hegemonistic era, the culture would be unavoidably commercialized. He called on teachers to teach well the language at first and then to consolidate the basic ability by putting into the materials of culture and literature.