This paper focuses on the philosophies and paths of building the College English Courses (CEC) Virtual Teaching & Research Center led by Zhejiang University. Based on the concepts of “fostering virtue through education, integrating research with education, connecting the east with the west, and contributing jointly for shared benefits”, the CEC Virtual Teaching & Research Center commits itself to boosting core competitiveness featuring “innovation in course concepts, optimization in the course system, improvement in teaching and assessment, and enhancement in technological application”, and developing its organization system with “five elements”, namely serving the nation, perfecting the system, integrating research with education, innovating curriculum design, and contributing for shared benefits. The building of the CEC Virtual Teaching & Research Center reflects the efforts to actively explore innovative forms and modes of basic teaching organizations, which conforms to the requirements on College English teaching in the information age and responds to both the growth need of student individuals and the strategic need of national development.

The Project-based College English Virtual Teaching & Research Center was among the first batch of national experimental virtual teaching & research centers approved by the Ministry of Education. It aims for innovativeness in theoretical research, modes of organization and operation, and focal areas of work, and for excellence in course and teaching materials development, teaching methodology, and pedagogical research. To this end, the center coordinates collaboration in course development, resource construction and faculty development among school-based or virtual teaching & research groups, and encourages the sharing of academic and teaching resources, expertise, and pedagogical research achievements.

This study adopts a 5-dimension error scoring system including fidelity, fluency, terminology translation, style and cultural reception to compare the English-Chinese translation qualities between a group of translation learners majoring in English and a Neural Machine Translation (NMT) system. The results show that the NMT's total error score and fidelity error score are significantly lower than the translation learners' mean error score, but its fluency error score is significantly higher than the translation learners' mean score. The differences between human and machine translation in terminology translation, style and cultural reception are not statistically significant. In view of the results, translation instructors should make efforts to alleviate learner anxiety, guide and supervise the proper use of machine translation technology, and reform measures of translation teaching assessment.

Playing an important role in learners' L2 writing development, engagement with feedback is jointly affected by individual factors and environmental factors. The application of automated writing evaluation (AWE) system has furnished L2 writing pedagogic practice with a new environment of integrated feedback. This study examines the impact of the integrated feedback environment on learner engagement and L2 writing performance. The findings reveal that: (1) integrated feedback significantly outshines teacher feedback in improving learner engagement and consequently L2 writing performance; (2) in the integrated feedback environment, cognitive engagement has the greatest impact on learners' L2 writing performance, followed by behavioral engagement and affective engagement, and regarding cognitive engagement, the use of metacognitive strategies significantly contributes to a valid prediction of learners' writing performance.

Research on English listening comprehension difficulties of Chinese EFL learners is still in its infancy. The present study explores the inner structure of listening comprehension difficulties based on the language comprehension theory, and investigates the relationship between listening comprehension ability and difficulties. The results show that English listening comprehension difficulties are composed of difficulties at three stages of perception, parsing and utilization. Freshmen majoring in English encounter listening comprehension difficulties in a similar pattern, most frequently at the stage of perception, then utilization, and least frequently parsing; the lower their listening comprehension ability is, the more frequently they may encounter listening comprehension difficulties at three stages. The findings provide some implications for teaching of English listening.

Adopting a mixed design based on the Latent Growth Curve Modeling and Retrodictive Modeling from a Complexity Theory perspective, this study investigates the macro, meso and micro developmental features of English writing competence in a group of English-major freshmen across one year. It uses lexical complexity, sentence complexity, accuracy and fluency as the variables, and finds that: (1) the students' CAF development is not linear, faster at the beginning and the end than in the middle; (2) the students' English writing competence can be longitudinally classified into three prototypes, namely the continuous stable type, bouncing first and then stable type, and alternate bouncing and stable type; (3) the CAF development of the typical students indicates that the dynamic correlations among the sub-systems are different in three prototypes, and distribution of cognitive resources, initial writing habits, feedback and motivation are the driving forces of different outcomes. The results have implications for teaching of English writing.

This paper introduces the background of virtual teaching & research centers, and sketches foreign language virtual teaching & research center projects approved by the Ministry of Education in 2022. It then gives an overview of the development of the Virtual Teaching & Research Center of College English Curriculum Development. Based on the proposed virtual community of practice model, the paper further illustrates its intended implementation from the aspects of theoretical basis, organizational management and community of practice.

Based on China's Standards of English Language Ability (CSE), this study explores an implementation path of assessment for learning (AfL) in college English writing, including two implementation stages of CSE application and assessment practice. At the stage of CSE application, scale descriptors are properly processed to clarify writing ability, design writing tasks, and develop rating scales, so as to ensure rationality and feasibility of AfL implementation. The stage of assessment practice places emphasis on the combination of formative and summative evaluation, encourages students' full participation, and actively adopts new technologies to help teachers and students receive high-quality feedback. The construction of the AfL implementation path is a helpful attempt to give full play to the role of CSE, and provides some implications for more effective English writing assessment.

This paper explains the definition and education objectives of strategic top-notch foreign language talents. By drawing on Ausubel's three-dimensional achievement motivation theory and taking Honors College of Shanghai International Studies University as a case, the paper proposes three cultivation mechanisms of multi-college education, multi-link honor education and multi-level incentives. It further details on curriculum system construction, academic training and practice, values-led education, liberal arts education, national conditions and internationalization education, the evaluation system and the rotating flow system, which serve as the main cultivation paths of top-notch foreign language talents.

By using the CiteSpace software to visually analyze 356 journal papers themed on financial English included in CNKI from 2002 to 2021, this paper surveys the development of financial English research in China. The results are as follows: (1) the research institutions of the core literature are mostly finance and economics academies; (2) the research focuses are mainly language ontology and translation of financial English, talent training system, and innovative teaching reform; (3) the research trend has developed from scattered studies to macroscopic, systematic and diversified studies, but there are still such problems as the shallow research level, dominant speculative research methods, unbalanced research objects, homogeneous research perspectives and unidirectional kinetic energy of research. In the future, financial English researchers should improve the research level of financial English teaching reform, deepen verifiable information-aided empirical research, balance research fields and themes, enrich the interdisciplinary nature of financial English research, and explore the path of international financial English communication.

Self-efficacy in the L2 context has been increasingly explored by researchers both at home and abroad. Evidence shows that it could significantly predict academic performance, but its relation with L2 language proficiency has not been conclusive. This meta-analytic study aims to quantitatively synthesize the extant literature on the relation of these two constructs and explore potential moderators. With 57 independent samples included, the study finds that self-efficacy is moderately related with L2 language proficiency (r=0.458). Moderator analysis reveals that genders, majors, and culture significantly moderate the relation of self-efficacy and L2 language proficiency.

Since China's reform and opening-up, the foreign language and literature discipline has made remarkable achievements in discipline construction, talent cultivation, academic research, faculty development, and so on. In the New Era with unprecedented challenges, to better deal with the relationship between realities and potentialities, the foreign language and literature discipline is supposed to have both the correct self-positioning and driving force for its interdisciplinary development. This paper, based on some careful thoughts of the author, proposes that the construction of the foreign language and literature discipline should always hold steadfast to its Chinese roots with international vision, and take into consideration the demands of the era and the development of teaching faculty so as to move forward with its own distinctive features.

Foreign language teaching is faced with the requirements of “content upgrading” and “mode innovation” in the context of the new liberal arts construction. Based on the tenets of strengthening value orientation and enhancing academic connotation, this study constructs a smart learning community for foreign language majors by combining smart classrooms, cloud platform modules and other digital technologies, in order to enrich carrier forms and innovate teaching methodology. In the teaching practice, the smart learning community adopts systematically a three-in-one teaching mode of “knowledge impartingability trainingvalue shaping” through four stages, which helps learners clarify value orientation, polish professional skills, and improve autonomous learning ability and academic ability.

Based on the core database of Web of Science, this study analyzes the hot topics and trends of the international research on computer-assisted language learning in the past decade (2011-2021). It is found that with the development of artificial intelligence, the application of virtual reality, telecollaboration, automatic speech recognition, human-computer interaction system, automated assessment and other technologies has greatly changed the ways of foreign language learning. Informal digital learning, intelligent learning systems, blended learning and data-driven learning have become hot topics in this field. The study further summarizes the latest trends of computer-assisted language learning in the context of wide application of technologies, and provides implications for future research in the field.

The world today is going through major changes unseen in a century. Amid the new trend, how to boost a steady and sustained development of the foreign language discipline has become a new task for the academia of foreign languages. This paper explains the dialectical relationship between “going steady” and “going far”, analyses the challenges and opportunities faced by the foreign language discipline, and discusses the ways to enhance the high-quality development of the foreign language discipline.

In order to solve the puzzles and problems encountered by college English teachers in moral education through courses for students, this paper clarifies the connotations of courses, course design and moral education through courses, and sorts out the general principles in implementing moral education through all courses. In line with the requirements of the Guidelines for Integrating Moral Education into College Foreign Language Teaching, and in light of the basic features of college English courses, the paper focuses on the four aspects of teaching objectives, teaching content, teaching methods and teaching assessment in teaching design of integrating moral education into college English, emphatically expounding on the key issues and directions in moral education through college English courses.

Based on an analysis of the definition, disciplinary base and features of language data science and applications, this paper expounds on its major research areas and approaches. It is argued that the research in language data science and applications, featured by the integration of liberal arts and sciences, and equal emphasis on theoretical and applied studies, primarily involves data-based language studies, data-based translation studies, and data-based studies of smart education and artificial intelligence. The research on language data science and applications mainly uses corpora and databases, quantitative methods and data mining.

Although recent years have witnessed a blooming scholarly interest in emotions in second language acquisition, little attention has been directed to the arousal of foreign language classroom emotions. Drawing on the Control-Value Theory, the present study investigated the predictive effects of foreign language (FL) learning control-value appraisals on foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) and foreign language enjoyment (FLE) among 251 Chinese FL learners. The results indicated that: (1) the participants experienced a medium level of FLCA and FLE, and had a medium to upper-medium level of control-value appraisals; (2) the participants' control and positive (intrinsic and extrinsic) value appraisals of FL learning jointly predicted their FLCA and FLE; (3) the participants' negative (cost) value appraisals of FL learning, while interacting with control appraisals, significantly predicted their FLCA. The results offer insights into the arousal of FL learning emotions, and provide implications for the intervention of foreign language classroom emotions.

This paper centers on the development of the “Key Content Foci” section of the Guidelines for Integrating Moral Education into College Foreign Language Teaching. It details the questionnaire survey and the discrepancy needs analysis based on the key content foci of moral education through courses, and explains the five aspects of the key content foci. From the perspective of curriculum theories, it further illustrates the relationship between the Guidelines for Integrating Moral Education into College Foreign Language Teaching and the College English Teaching Guidelines, with the purpose that the two guidelines can provide better guidance to college foreign language teaching in the New Era.

College Foreign Language Teachers' Teaching Competence (FLTTC) in Curriculum-based Ideological Education (CIE) is a key guarantee of the curriculum and talent training quality. This study discusses the conceptual connotation of FLTTC in CIE, and constructs a five-dimensional questionnaire to explore the status quo and development needs of FLTTC in CIE. The results of a large-scale national survey show that college foreign language teachers in general have a strong awareness of CIE. They pay attention to learning specialized knowledge, and demonstrate good practical skills in the integration of foreign language teaching and CIE. However, they need to improve their abilities in teaching resource development, course design, assessment and feedback. The study ends with suggestions for further improvement in CIE from both the individual and college management levels.

From the perspective of learning engagement, and with 714 translation major undergraduate interpreters as the subjects, this study drew on the “I-E-O” theoretical model proposed by Astin, applied structural equation modeling to the questionnaire data, and constructed a path model of the interpreting process with “Input-Environment-Outcome” variables to explore the influence mechanism of learning engagement on interpreting competence. It was found that: (1) the environment variables including classroom environment, institutional support, interpersonal interaction and learning engagement had significant positive effects on interpreting competence; (2) learning engagement had the strongest effect, followed by institutional support; (3) learning engagement mediated the relationship between other variables and interpreting competence; (4) classroom environment, institutional support and interpersonal interaction were significantly correlated. It is thus crucial to optimize students' learning engagement for interpreting competence development by increasing environmental support and promoting effective classroom interaction.

Through questionnaires and background data mining, this study explores the level of English reading flow state, its influencing factors and the relationship between flow experience and reading performance of 101 English major freshmen. Descriptive statistics, correlation and multiple linear regression analyses find that: (1) the overall level of reading flow is low, and nearly two thirds of the students have no flow experience; (2) the learner factors affecting reading flow include reading interest, reading confidence and reading skills, among which reading interest has the greatest impact; (3) flow experience is significantly correlated with reading achievement, amount of reading and reading speed, and there are significant differences in these three aspects of reading performance between the students with and without flow experience. Flow experience is an important predictor of reading achievement, but there is no correlation between flow experience and reading duration.

Based on the macroscopic socio-educational model and the microscopic L2 motivation model, this study explored the interrelationship among 6 internal dimensions of L2 learning motivation (i.e., ideal L2 self, interest in language learning, cultural integration, information medium, attitudes toward native speakers of the target language, and individual development). A total of 898 Chinese, American and British university students completed a questionnaire, and the survey data were subsequently fitted by structural equation modelling. Results showed that interest in L2 learning had significant impacts on individual development, cultural integration, attitudes toward native speakers of the target language, and ideal L2 self. Nationality had mediating effects on individual development, information medium, attitudes toward native speakers of the target language, and interest in L2 learning. These observations, the direct effects of interest in L2 learning and the mediating effects of nationality in particular, are potentially insightful for updating the existing L2 learning motivation models.

Teacher training is an effective way to improve interpreting teachers' professional development and teaching quality. This paper reviews the major contents of EMCI (European Masters in Conference Interpreting) Training of Trainers Workshops (2012-2022) from the aspects of course progression, instructional organization, self-study, resource development, technological application, and teaching assessment. It crystalizes five characteristics of the workshops, namely diversified perspectives in topic selection, collaborative participation, interactive organization, systematic seminar content, and professional orientation. The paper further provides implications of the workshops for interpreting teacher education and interpreting teaching in China in terms of training themes, technological literacy, research competence, teaching feedback, processing of speech materials, and coordination of professional and pedagogical factors.