The 8th International Conference and Workshops on Technology and Chinese Language Teaching (the 8th TCLT) was held in Tufts University in Boston, United States, from June 6th to 8th of 2014. The subject of this conference was “Technology Literacy and Chinese Language Teaching in the 21st Century”. The OUC sent representatives for the conference for which it was a sponsor.

Professor Rick Kem from the University of California- Berkeley (UC Berkeley), USA, gave a keynote speech entitled “Science and Technology and Language Learning: Why Media Is So Important”, and introduced the role of media in language learning from the angle of media technology research. Professor Xie Tianwei from the California State University-Long Beach (CSULB) delivered a report on “Surging Forward Vigorously, Standing Firm”. This conference was hosted jointly by Tufts University and Hamilton College of the United States. 

Centred on the theme, a series of cutting-edge research topics were discussed intensively at the conference, including mobile phone aided teaching, cloud computing application, virtual classrooms, blended learning, mobile learning device, digital teaching materials development, network-based language testing, and so on. More than 140 specialists and scholars from eight countries and regions engaged in deep discussion around the above topics, discussed 80 theses, and delivered three keynote speeches during the meeting. Li Fujia read the thesis with the title of “The Formative Assessment in Chinese Teaching Environment in New Digital Times”, and systematically expounded the research results and functions of “MyEChinese’s Formative Assessment System”, which has won special concern and high appraise from peers in the industry.

Six special workshops for computer teaching technology were hosted at the conference. Professor Da Jun from Middle Tennessee State University of the United States and Teacher Wang Li from the OUC Chinese Language Centre collaborated in the workshop with the subject “Using WeChat for Chinese Language Teaching and Learning”, which was welcomed by many participating teachers. 

TCLT, initiated by Hamilton College of the United States in 2000, is organized every two years, with the aim of bridging the fields of computer science and technology, teaching methods, and course construction while at the same time enhancing the exchange and development of Chinese teaching based on science and technology. The remarkable features for the conference were the deep panel discussions and highly practical workshops which were used to enhance Chinese teaching.

By Wang Li, the OUC