Sun Zhiguo, a member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has master’s degrees from both the College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China, and the English Department of the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
He is a visiting scholar at the Education Research Institute of the Open University of China (OUC), an associate professor at Qingdao Open University, and a course coordinator for public foreign languages and unified-examination tutoring of English. He is also involved in education inspections and is a member of the university academic committee and of the editorial board of the journal Qingdao Continuing Education, and is a postgraduate supervisor of English education at Qufu Normal University.
Sun Zhiguo upholds the Party 's education policy, taking the lead in practicing socialist core values, and safeguarding reform, development, and stability. He has been engaged in open and distance education for nearly 20 years, with a focus on online distance education and foreign-language teaching. Steadfast to his ideals, he is responsible and assiduous, has made outstanding achievements, and plays an exemplary role in educational research at the university.
Taking responsibility and devoting himself to fighting Covid-19
During the pandemic, Sun Zhiguo remained diligent. The sentence-translation resource he produced was chosen for rolling broadcast on the on-demand channel of Qingdao Cablecasting, benefiting those learning from home and keeping busy those whose work had been suspended. Sun Zhiguo also visited community-service workers in small and medium-sized supermarkets to discuss issues of community and community services. Liu Jinyi, associate professor, and a doctor in the School of the CPC Qingdao Municipal Committee, thought Mr. Sun's research was "very novel, with a unique and interdisciplinary perspective, very inspiring, and of great educational significance". It was given an “Award of Excellence” at the 32nd National Legal Forum of Sub-Provincial Municipalities.
Working for citizens at the front lines
Over the years, Sun Zhiguo has insisted on teaching in rural areas. He has been to Jimo, Laixi, Jiaozhou, Chengyang and many other places, playing a positive role in the "One College Student Per Village” programme and in rural revitalisation, the building of a “learning city”, and promoting “lifelong learning for all”. His popularity with his students is shown in the fact that they maintain contact with him after graduating, and he believes this is connected with the student-centred RTVU philosophy.
Innovative teaching with practical results
Sun Zhiguo's teaching innovations include doing away with rote learning of English, such as of fixed structures or special usages. He understands learners, and believes that, for adults especially, it is important to grasp the meaning and purpose of using a language, as well as the culture that it represents. Years of unremitting research and enthusiastic innovation have enabled him to put his English teaching on a solid theoretical foundation.
Research with real achievements
Sun Zhiguo is also innovative in his research, and works to integrate it with his teaching. He has led 2 key projects of the Open University of China (OUC), 1 key and 1 special project of Qingdao RTVU, and is now leading a key project of the 13th Five-year Plan for Education and Science in Qingdao (2020). He has also published 13 papers in core journals such as CSSCI Source Journal and A Guide to the Core Journals of China, and has participated in the compilation of a textbook for common use in the OUC system, and 2 books related to his specialty. Finally, he participated in the compilation of Research of the Open University Malaysia, a planned key national book-publication project in the 13th OUC Five-Year Plan.
Helping young teachers grow
Sun Zhiguo applies himself not only to his own growth but also that of his younger colleagues, guiding them to make rapid progress in their careers and research. Under his leadership, the English team is developing cross-regional cooperation in terms of both research and teaching, extending teaching to rural communities and the cities and counties surrounding Qingdao. His own previous mentors are examples to him as he leads and promotes peer learning, guides the professional development and responsibility of teachers, and realises these in teaching and research.
Solving learning difficulties and assuming responsibilities
Open and distance education has a standing problem of low graduation rates, and the difficulty its students have with the unified examination, as a result of their weak educational backgrounds. Sun Zhiguo has worked hard to improve pass and graduation rates, and in 2019, when reform of the unified English examination of the OUC was initiated, he set to work collecting materials, reviewing examination papers, determining problems, and enhancing teaching contents. Sun Zhiguo has led his team at the vanguard of teacher and learner support.
Open university and open teaching
”Qingdao Open University has always maintained a global vision, and Sun Zhiguo gave expression to this in a speech at the OUC foreign-language teaching conference. He says, "Study is hard and depressing, but sharing is filled with unexpected happiness and joy”. In addition to internal OUC communications, he gives lectures to backbone teachers of English in secondary vocational schools in Qingdao on behalf of the university, and at the invitation of the Higher Education Press and Qingdao Institute of Education Sciences. For him, these help promote open universities and offer fruitful teacher exchanges, promoting the high-quality development of education in Qingdao in accordance with the obligations of open universities.
By OUC News Network