1. History

The history of the College of Foreign Languages at Jiangxi Normal University (JXNU) can be traced back to the Department of Foreign Languages that was founded at National Chung Cheng University in 1946. It was renamed the Department of Foreign Languages during the following periods: from 1949-1953 at Nanchang University, at Jiangxi Teachers College from 1953-1983, and at Jiangxi Normal University from 1985-1993, successively. The name “Foreign Languages College” has been formally acknowledged at JXNU since 1994.

2. Departments and Research Centers

The College is composed of five departments: the Department of English, the Department of Japanese, the Department of French, the Department of Translation and Interpreting and the Department of College English.

There are eight academic research centers: the Modern Linguistic Research Center, the Foreign Literature Research Center, Psycholinguistics Research Center, the Translation and Cross-cultural Studies Center, the Foreign Language Education Research Center, the Irish Studies Center, Madagascar Studies Center (a National Studies Center co-operated with the Ministry of Education) and the Japanese Studies Center.

3. Teaching Staff

The College enjoys tremendous faculty strength with a 148-member full-time faculty, including 132 teachers, among which are 11 professors, 46 associate professors and 75 lecturers. Amongst these, 50 have doctorate degrees (including PhD candidates) with one listed in the “Ganpo Talents, the 555 Project”, one candidate for the “Baiqianwan Talent Project in the New Century” on the provincial level, one “Renowned Teacher of Jiangxi Province”, three “Young and Middle-aged Academic Leaders among University Teachers in Jiangxi”, and another three “Young and Middle-aged Key Teachers of Jiangxi”. Within this faculty are 5 PhD supervisors and 45 MA supervisors.

4. Academic Programs

As the first authorized institution to confer master’s degrees in Jiangxi Province, the College now has six postgraduate programs. They are:

·English Language and Literature,

·Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics,

·Cross-cultural Studies,

·English Language Teaching Methodology

·Master of Education in English

·Master of Translation and Interpreting

In addition to these, a doctoral program in Modern Language Theory and Application was granted in 2013.

English Language and Literature has been ranked as a provincial key discipline in Jiangxi Province since 2004. The program was ranked excellent in the National Master Degree Assessment and Evaluation in 2005, and in the English Education Evaluation and Assessment enacted by The Ministry of Education in 2007 and was recognized at the national level as a specialized major in 2008.

According to the Chinese University and Disciplines Evaluation Report (2010-2011), the program was listed as one of the “five-star” majors for two consecutive years, ranking in the top 5% among all universities providing an English Language and Literature major in China. Besides, according to the Chinese Postgraduates Education and Disciplines Evaluation Report (2018-2019) from Research Center of Chinese Science Evaluation of Wuhan University, the program ranks top one in Jiangxi Province and top nine of all the normal universities in China. Among the 233 universities that provides English Language and Literature discipline, the program is the top 45, with a percentile ranking of 20.36%. What’s more, the program was granted C plus, namely the top 40%-50%, in the fourth China Discipline Ranking in 2017.

5. Teaching and Academic Research

The College has fruitful success in both academic research and teaching. From 2013 to 2018, nine projects have been supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China, six by the Humanities and Social Science Project held by the Ministry of Education, and more than 60 others by different provincial funds. Three of the research results were reviewed and won Second Prize, the Jiangxi Social Sciences Award, and five won the Third Prize. One textbook edited by teachers of the School was awarded the First Prize of Excellent Textbooks Edited by General Institutes of Higher Education of Jiangxi. More than 100 academic papers have been published by top journals at home and abroad, and more than 150 have been accepted by other journals. Ten academic monographs, ten translated books and another ten textbooks were published at the same time. In the past five years, six teachers won special awards for their outstanding performance in the SFLEP National Foreign Language Teaching Contest (Jiangxi Division), with three winning the First Prize. One of the teachers won the Champion in the National Foreign Language Teaching Contest, and two won the Second Prize.

6. Talents Training

The College of Foreign languages serves as a vital training base for language talents in Jiangxi province. At the end of March in 2019, there are about 2026 undergraduates, 330 full-time graduates and more than 100 part-time EMA students in our college. We have given constant prominence to undergraduate education and have taken bold actions in its reforms. The course “Intensive Reading” was acclaimed as a Jiangxi Provincial-level top quality course in 2009. Our English major was included as one of the pilot Projects of Jiangxi Higher Education Institution Reforms in 2013. In recent years, our students’ scores on the CET4 and CET6 tests have achieved top-ranking in Jiangxi. In addition to this, every year, on average 90% of English majors and Japanese majors pass the TEM 4 tests and over 70% of our English majors pass the TEM 8 by the time they graduate. Our college also puts emphasis on developing well-rounded students through social practice work. From our Alumni Li Jiayu, who won Second Place in 2002 in the CCTV Cup English Speaking Contest, to Ai Lisha, who won First Place in 2004, our students have been demonstrating their excellence over the years in various contests ranging from public speaking, to FTLRP debate, to TAC translating and interpreting. The employment rate of our graduates stands at around 95%, which has been secured with the help of our alumni whose outstanding language proficiency and teaching skills have been widely recognized among employers.

7. Facilities and Resources

The College is located in the Area One in Mingda Building with an area of approximately 6,000㎡. The College provides each professor with an office and facilities for scientific research and teaching, among which are an experimental center for foreign language self-learning, simultaneous interpretation rooms, studios, multi-media classrooms and academic hall and a café for English activities. In accordance with the Undergraduate Teaching Reform, the College has launched a digitalized project of teaching resources by establishing a website(/）, a platform for promotion, teaching and scientific research exchange. In addition, the Resource Center houses more than 40,000 professional books, hundreds of journals at home and abroad and about 5,000 tapes and videos for teaching.

8. Teachers’ Academic Development

Great importance has been attached to the academic development of all teachers within the School. In line with discipline construction, the College supports the leading teachers to visit and/or to pursue doctor’s degree in universities at home and abroad. With close academic exchange bonds established, a quality academic atmosphere is well developed. Not only does the College encourage the teachers to “go global” and to participate in various academic exchange activities but also it invites dozens of notable professors at home and abroad to give lectures every year.

The College has won a name for excellence in both teaching and academic research in Jiangxi Province and has influence in the area of foreign language related education nationwide.The College of Foreign Language at Jiangxi Normal University will seize opportunity and rise to new challenges. With great passion, the College welcomes high-level talents dedicated to foreign language teaching to join us and also embraces students who come here for further study.