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A Brief Introduction
to College English Center of Fudan University
College English Center (CEC) of Fudan University grew out of the General
English Group (GEG) that was established in 1957. Early in the 1960s,
with an increasing number of departments substituting English for Russian
as the first foreign language course, GEG graduated into the Public English
Teaching and Research Section. The implementation of national reform and
opening policy upgraded the Public English Teaching and Research Section
into CEC in 1985. The efforts on the part of the faculty in the past few
decades have accelerated the development of CEC, which now boasts of over
100 teachers, of whom there are 2 doctoral supervisors, six professors
and 37 associate professors. Both in teaching and academic researches,
the Center takes lead nationally and now it is the chairing unit of the
National Advisory Committee on FLT in China's Higher Education.
CEC is in charge of English teaching for all non-English-major undergraduates,
postgraduates and doctorial students of the university. Every year, up
to ten thousand students take the English courses that the Center offers:
College English I, College English II, College English III, English for
Graduates, English for Doctorial Students, Intermediate Oral English,
Intermediate Interpretation, Advanced Interpretation, Intermediate Listening,
Advanced Listening, Intermediate English Writing, Advanced English Writing,
English Translation Practice, Introduction to British and American Cultures,
Advanced English, Medical English, Exploration of British and American
Cultures through Movies, Selected Reading of English Newspapers, Translation
and Appreciation of Literary Works, Introduction to the Contrastive Studies
between Chinese and English, French (as a second foreign language) and
Japanese (as a second foreign language), etc. In the attempt to improve
the teaching quality, teachers of the Center have been making fruitful
efforts to reform the English teaching methods. In 1989, CEC was awarded
the special prize for its excellent English teaching in the city of Shanghai.
In 2001, the center was awarded the second prize for its undergraduate
English teaching in the city of Shanghai. In the same year, the English
teaching for graduates earned the center the third prize in the city of
Shanghai. In 2003, College English Teaching of the Center was voted to
be one of nation's few Choice Courses, the first evaluation of this category.
With the joint efforts of teachers and students, our university has always
come out in front both in passing rate and in excellence rate in College
English Tests Band 4 and Band 6 since the 1990s.
CEC possesses the power to enroll postgraduates and doctorial students
of applied linguistics. Since 1995, the Center has offered graduate courses
to college English teachers who are of the same educational level as the
Master degree candidates. In addition, the Center has cooperated with
Sidney University of Australia on a graduate program in the English language
teaching, and with the ratification of the Ministry of Education and the
State Council's Academic Degrees Committee, has won the first MEd in TESOL
Program in our country. With the first 45 students of the program nearly
completing their studies, the Center is now taking in the second roll
for the program.
The Center integrates academic researches with teaching and has displayed
its strength in textbook developments, taking lead among universities
and colleges throughout the country. From the 1960s up to now, the Center
has produced several sets of English textbooks for non-English majors,
of which the most influential are:
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