School of Languages and Communication Studies Successfully Holds "Listening Day" to Gather Student Feedback on College English Teaching (2020-03-30)

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beijing Jiaotong University has conducted online teaching for over a month. To better implement the principle of "postponing the return to campus but not the start of classes, and using various formats to ensure quality", to fully understand students' suggestions and feedback regarding the online delivery of public College English courses, and to further enhance the quality of online instruction, the School of Languages and Communication Studies held a unique remote symposium on March 26 to solicit opinions on the current state of College English online teaching. Attendees included Wang Hongying, Party Secretary of the School; Yang Ruodong, Vice Dean; Hao Yunhui, Vice Dean; Gao Yongfeng, Deputy Party Secretary; Shao Qinyu, Director of the College English Teaching Department; Li Jingping, Secretary of the College English Teaching Department; faculty representatives from the College English Teaching Department; teachers from the School's Academic Affairs Office; and 36 student representatives from 13 different schools. The meeting was chaired by Zuo Yingjuan, Deputy Director of the College English Teaching Department.

At the beginning of the meeting, Teacher Zuo Yingjuan clarified the purpose and significance of the symposium, encouraging student representatives to speak freely. In an equal and relaxed atmosphere, student representatives from different schools and various course types (10 courses in total) shared their views, voiced their thoughts, and expressed their feelings and expectations regarding the College English courses.

During the symposium, student representatives freely expressed their opinions on various aspects including the effectiveness of online teaching, instructional organization, learning intensity, course experience, learning gains, and technical issues encountered. Most students affirmed the effectiveness of online teaching, acknowledging that teachers were well-prepared with rich learning materials and classroom activities, diverse teaching methods and platforms, and flexible, reasonable course schedules. They felt that compared to in-person classroom teaching, the effectiveness was not significantly different, their sense of achievement was high, and they could adapt well to online learning. However, they also pointed out technical shortcomings of online teaching, such as its limitations for conducting oral instruction and reduced emphasis on speaking practice; the lack of learning enjoyment from peer interaction, leading to some boredom; and the decrease in motivation due to the absence of in-class assessments like dictation. Additionally, students exchanged online learning techniques, with representatives sharing tips for efficient note-taking, such as taking screenshots, taking photos, and watching lecture recordings.

While listening to each representative's comments, attending faculty from the College English Teaching Department actively responded, patiently provided explanations, offered considerate advice from the students' perspective, and expressed gratitude for the valuable opinions and suggestions. They promised to collate, summarize, and relay this feedback to the respective course instructors to further improve subsequent online teaching.

Finally, Wang Hongying, Party Secretary of the School, delivered a concluding speech. She commended the students' enthusiasm for learning, highly affirmed the model of online exchange organized by the College English Teaching Department, and expressed hope that such online exchanges would become a regular and long-term feature in public language teaching. She emphasized fostering positive interaction to continuously improve the standard and quality of education and teaching, thereby tangibly enhancing students' sense of gain.

Held during the special period of combating the pandemic, this symposium created a harmonious communication platform connecting students from across the country with the School. It provided the School with an opportunity to listen to students' voices and suggestions, enhanced mutual understanding between teachers and students, promoted communication and comprehension, and played a positive role in helping the School ensure the quality and improve the effectiveness of online teaching. The School will continue to hold such student feedback sessions on an irregular basis, heed students' suggestions, enhance teaching effectiveness, successfully complete online teaching tasks during the pandemic prevention and control period, and improve the quality of its supply-side educational services.

编译：张天翼