In the afternoon of May 20,2016, the School of Foreign Studies of SCAU held a academic seminar on AcculturationTypologies and Language Learning delivered by a renowned overseas scholar. Withgreat support from an international communication institute, we are pleased toinvite Dr. Xu Lihua from Florida, U.S. to make a keynote speech. All teachersand students of the School of Foreign Studies attended this seminar, which waspresided over by the dean, Prof. Huang Guowen.

Dr. Xu Lihua first talked about the definition and aspects ofcultural shock and acculturation. Then she introduced specific psychology and behavioralmanifestations of expats dealing with cultural shock and acculturation indifferent periods. A concrete statement was then delivered about heated issueson cultural shock and acculturation research and the importance of language learningand use to cultural shock and acculturation. Dr. Xu Lihua applied Q Methodologyin her research to classify the expats being tested and observed the effects ofcultural shock and acculturation and the status of expats in a new cultureenvironment. At the end of the speech, Dr. Xu Lihua put forward that languageteaching should be supplemented with culture study and she also emphasized theimportance of cultural awareness in multi-modal teaching. Students should havecognitive ability and adaptive ability to the new culture of the targetlanguage country as well as an international view.

After the speech, a discussionwas held among Dr. Xu Lihua, teachers, and students who were interested in Dr.Xu Lihua’s research method and content. Dr. Xu was kind enough to answerrelevant questions thoroughly. The wonderful speech won consistent praise fromboth teachers and students and the seminar came to a successful end.

(Edited by Ren Yang)