On the afternoon of September 26th 2017, invited by the School of Foreign Languages of SEU and Jiangsu Collegiate Foreign Languages Teaching and Research Association, Professor Susan Gass delivered a lecture entitled “Language Teaching and Learning through Speaking: Why Is It Important?” on Jiulonghu Campus of SEU. Professor Gass is University Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University，former President of International Association of Applied Linguistics（2002-2008）and chief editor of Studies in Second Language Acquisition. The event was hosted by Professor Chen Meihua, Dean of the School of Foreign Languages. About 80 teachers and graduate students，from universities including Southeast University, Nanjing University, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing University of Science & Technology, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Nanjing Xiaozhuang University, Yangzhou University and Jiangnan University，attended the lecture.
Professor Gass started her lecture by presenting a view that speaking activity is not just a practice but a way to learn in second language classrooms. She then elaborated on the nature and functions of comprehended input, pushed output, negotiation and feedback of speaking activities and helped the audience understand how these facilitate second language acquisition with concrete examples and the latest research results. For the audience, this lecture is both inspiring and practical. After the lecture and Q&A session, several teachers and PhD students discussed their research projects with Professor Gass, and received valuable suggestions from her.
Report / Yang Maoxia
Photo / Chen Xiangyu
