A Visit to China
David Singleton
In March this year I visited China at the generous invitation of Professor Yu Liming of Jiao Tong University, Shanghai. Professor Yu had invited me as a plenary speaker (alongside Professors Scott Jarvis, Terry Odlin, Wang Chu-ming and Wang Lifei) at an international symposium on language transfer organized by the Chinese Society of Second Language Acquisition Research, and had also arranged for me to give lectures in Suzhou, Nanjing and Beijing. In addition I had been invited by another Chinese colleague, Professor Lin Benchun, to give a talk at the School of Foreign Languages in Fuzhou. This last institution was founded by my own university, Trinity College Dublin, as “Trinity College Foochow” in 1907, and since the early 1990s links between the two colleges have been re-established and re-activated.
I want to say something very specific a little later about the SLA conference, but first it is probably appropriate to make a general report on the trip, which I have to say I enjoyed immensely! This was my second experience of China. Three years ago I had been invited to give some lectures at an institution in Zhengzhou (Henan Province), on which occasion I was admirably looked after – but perhaps somewhat to excess. My recent visit was in every way more varied and more adventurous than the first. I was equally well looked after, but I was more autonomous, I travelled more widely, and I met a much broader range of people – both academics and students. The many freewheeling and fascinating conversations I had during these encounters confirmed me in the opinion that, whatever views we in Europe may hold about certain policies of the Chinese Government, the way forward in resolving a great many aspects of the distance which exists between China and the West definitely needs to be conceived within a framework of dialogue and interaction.
To return to the symposium, I was impressed by the resemblances between this event and the typical EUROSLA conference: the atmosphere was friendly; there was a fruitful commingling of more experienced and less experienced researchers; the programme was sensibly put together and efficiently implemented; and the papers were on the whole of a very high standard - in terms of the awareness they showed of current literature and debate, in terms of the rigour of the empirical studies on which they reported, and in terms of the quality of their presentation. My strong feeling is that we in EUROSLA could learn much from Chinese research and could do a very great deal to bring the fruits of such research into the general pool of findings to which we all refer. We could try, for example, to encourage more Chinese participation in EUROSLA gatherings and more Chinese submissions to our Yearbook. We could also move to establish a mechanism for exchanging information with the Chinese SLA association. I am absolutely certain that our Chinese colleagues would respond positively to such developments, and I am also absolutely certain that there would be tangible benefits on both sides. As I mentioned earlier, I am stepping down from the editorship of the Clarion. If EUROSLA wants to find another role for me, may I suggest that, given my many contacts in China, establishing a “China Desk” might possibly be something I could handle? I would certainly relish such a task!