Chinese foreign language scholars gaining global recognition

China's academic research in foreign language education has greatly improved in recent years, with a significant number of Chinese scholars publishing academic papers in high-level international journals, experts said during the Global English Education China Assembly in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, which concluded on Sunday.

Zheng Yongyan, editor-in-chief of the international journal Language, Culture and Curriculum and the co-editor of the journal System, said a growing number of authors from Chinese institutions are making their presence known in top-tier publications traditionally dominated by Western scholars.

Every year, 20 to 30 Chinese scholars in the field of foreign language education are recognized as highly cited researchers by Elsevier, a global information analytics company, and some are among the top 2 percent of the most cited scholars, said Zheng, who is also a professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.

"The data indicates that Chinese foreign language educators are gaining a stronger voice globally, and relevant publication of international academic papers has reached a significant scale," she said.

Peng Jian'e, an oft-cited Chinese scholar and professor at Shantou University in Guangdong province, said the improving capabilities of Chinese researchers have contributed to their rising citation rates in international journals.

"Chinese scholars' high research sensitivity and their ability to quickly master cutting-edge research methods have resulted in high-quality outcomes," Peng said.

Peng's research has focused on the willingness and readiness of second language learners to communicate, which resonates with many teachers of second languages — especially those who teach English.

"Students in English classes tend to remain silent, making it crucial to study the factors influencing students' willingness to communicate," Peng said.

She adopted an ecological perspective and a multimodal discourse analytical approach in her studies, which were considered innovative at the time and contributed to the high citation rate of her research.

Ren Wei, a professor of linguistics at Beihang University in Beijing, believes the key factors contributing to the high citation rate of Chinese scholars include the high-quality publication of research and extensive international collaboration.

"Papers should not only offer theoretical innovation but also provide strong practical implications, which will attract widespread attention and citations," said Ren, who is also a highly cited scholar.

China provides abundant research resources and data for academic studies in the field of foreign language education and thus has a large number of foreign language learners and teachers.

"However, compared to international standards, there is still a gap in the country's foreign language education research, particularly in terms of internationalization," Ren said.

Some studies still depend on introducing and applying Western theories, lacking original research outcomes, he said.

"The biggest challenge for our team is how to maintain the distinctive characteristics of research in China while further enhancing the internationalization and innovative capacity of our results," he added.

Zheng, the editor, also highlighted the role of dialogue and exchange with international scholars to understand their concerns.

"It is especially important to articulate our approaches in a way that international scholars can understand," she said.

The ability to set agendas is one of the ways China is aiming to achieve international academic discourse power, and the nation is making progress as many scholars begin to serve as editors-in-chief and associate editors of major international foreign language journals, she added.

Given that current academic publications are predominantly in English, she suggested that Chinese researchers focus more on multilingual communication to advance studies in the field of foreign language education.

"If our research findings in foreign language education could be published in other languages, such as Spanish and Arabic, they would have a greater impact on more countries and regions around the world," Zheng said.

Young scholars are expected to engage in more challenging research with more complex data in the years ahead, which will have a greater impact in the field, she added.