The National Research Center for Foreign Language Education (NRCFLE)was founded in 2000, evolving from the former Foreign Language Research Center and building on the research expertise of other departments of BFSU like the Department of English. NRCFLE was officially recognized by the Ministry of Education as a key research institute of humanities and social sciences.
NRCFLE is oriented towards 2 major areas of research: theories and practices in foreign language education; and studies of foreign languages and contrastive linguistic studies. In our applied linguistic research, we focus on foreign language teaching , learning and assessment. We aims to: a) build ourselves into a national-level key research base by undertaking major research projects and producing important research outcomes; b) develop a strong team of high-calibre researchers for innovative academic research; c) build a resource and information centre for foreign language education and promote academic exchanges in this area; and d) provide information and advices on reform and development of foreign language education in China.
Currently NRCFLE has 13 full-time researchers, including 10 research fellows and 2 research associates, all with PhD degrees. We also have 4 part-time researchers from China and other countries (all with PhD degrees). With our focus on research, we have delivered a large number of influential outcomes. From 2009 to 2015, we have engaged in 46 major research projects, won many awards and prizes and published 430 books and academic papers . In addition, NRCFLE is also an important institute for the training of high-calibre foreign language research professionals, offering master’s and doctoral programs in foreign language studies and applied linguistics. Each year about 20 master’s candidates and 20 doctoral candidates are enrolled. Currently 5 researchers are doing postdoctoral research in our center.
We have recently launched 3 affiliates:
School of Education
The School of Education was launched on 17thJune 2015, aiming at promoting education studies, improving BFSU’s research capacities in foreign language teaching and teachers’ development, and producing a large group of qualified foreign language teachers.
Currently, the School has 5 professors and associate professors, all with PhD degrees.
We have achieved good progress in teachers’ training. For example, for 10 years in a row, we have offered training courses targeted to young and middle aged college teachers of China. We are also engaged in offering training for middle and primary school English teachers in Beijing. In the future, we also plan to expand our training to teachers engaged in pre-school education so as to build a complete system of teachers’ training. The School focuses our research on 3 major areas: language curriculum and teaching research; education of language teachers; and comparative education and international education studies.
China Foreign Language Assessment Center
The Center was officially launched on 29 September 2014, aiming at building itself into a top-level foreign language assessment institution in China with international influence. Drawing on the expertise of NRCFLE and BFSU, the Center engages itself in foreign language test design, test and assessment research, and designing of special purpose tests for specific users. As an academic and service-oriented non-profit institution, we aim to build a complete test and assessment system covering a full spectrum of foreign language test and assessment services.
National Research Center for Development of Language Aptitude
The Research Center was founded in July 2014, drawing on NRCFLE’s language policy research expertise. As a research institution co-managed by the Department of Language Information Management of the Ministry of Education and BFSU, the Center conducts research on the role of language in politics and diplomacy, assessment of China’s national language aptitude and the development of a theoretical framework for this purpose, China’s language-related human resources, language policies of major countries and foreign language aptitude of major cities, in order to inform relevant authorities and contribute to China’s economic and social development.
