What they say

I developed two online communities of foreign language teachers across the country. Based on the practice, a theory of cloud interconnectedness has been put forward, assuming that the closer the interconnectedness, the better the learning outcomes. The degree of interconnectedness depends on the quality of designed “problem chains” based on the specific tasks.

Wen Qiufang, professor of applied linguistics at Beijing Foreign Studies University

Don’t worry too much about the concept of “native speaker”. Anybody who takes the time to learn a language to a fluency level takes ownership of the language. The English native speaker is now a minority. For every native speaker of English, there are five nonnative English speakers around the world. As long as the language is intelligible, different accents are like a linguistic garden of flowers of the English language. Don’t try to eliminate the accent. Be proud of it.

David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at the University of Bangor

For a long time, language knowledge and skills have been considered as the core content for language teaching, and not enough attention has been paid to cultural meanings and values embedded in the language. We can find frequently fragmented and superficial teaching and learning practices in classrooms. Big ideas can be used by teachers to transform the English curriculum blueprint into classroom practices. Wang Qiang, professor at the School of Foreign Languages and Literature at Beijing Normal University

Global trends such as knowledge explosion, technology and globalization have prompted imperatives for change for TESOL educators. To meet the criteria of global citizenship, which includes skills such as communication, collaboration, social values, moral principles and creativity, language ability is very important.

David Nunan, professor emeritus of applied linguistics at the University of Hong Kong