The 4th International Conference on Linguistics and Language Studies (ICLLS 2018) was held in Hong Kong on 15 and 16 June. More than 80 research papers from 17 countries were submitted to the ICLLS committee, yet only around 30 pieces were accepted. Eight graduating students from the Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) program submitted their Final-Year-Project (FYP) research papers and all of them were accepted. Remarkably, one of the students Zeyu Feng (Maxine) won the Excellent Paper Award for 2018. Feng’s paper, titled Acoustic Characteristics of English Word Stress Produced by English and Mandarin Speakers: They Said “Object” or “obJECT”, together with the other seven TESL students’ papers have been published in the ICLLS Conference e-Proceedings (http://iclls2018.wixsite.com/iclls-2018/eproceedings).
TESL students with their advisors Dr Edith Yan and Dr Sheena Van Der Mark and the Chair of the Conference Organizing Committee
TESL students with their advisors
Zeyu Feng (Maxine) wins the Excellent Student Paper Award 2018
These eight TESL students, who are also promising young researchers, were Zhiqiu Chen (Cindy), Zeyu Feng (Maxine), Qiuyu Guo (Joanna), Haojie Hong (Ricky), U Teng Lam (Christy), Xueran Yang (Shirley), Xiaolin Zhang (Maggie), Minyan Zhao (Cheyann). They presented their FYP research findings at the conference and their outstanding performance received praise and valuable suggestions from other conference participants.
Haojie Hong (Ricky) presenting his research at ICLLS 2018
Minyan Zhao (Cheyann) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
These TESL students believed that attending ICLLS conference was a rewarding experience for them and they shared their feelings and thoughts about the conference:
Zhiqiu Chen (Cindy): This is my first time attending a conference which is related to education and linguistics. It was also my first time to present my own study in front of many experts and researchers. They gave me some suggestions which helped me to reflect on my own research. Some of their comments also helped me to gain a deeper understanding of the field of education. Additionally, I had the opportunity to listen to others’ studies, including from the social linguistics field, phonology and more. All in all, it was a meaningful experience. From this platform, I shared, reflected and learned. I think I might continue to attend more academic conferences in the future. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Edith Yan for her guidance during my preparation.
Zhiqiu Chen (Cindy) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
Zeyu Feng (Maxine): Speaking at the conference and winning the award would have been impossible if I hadn’t had the courage to submit my paper to the organizing committee. I was once doubtful about myself, but my professors and fellows had great confidence in what I had done, which made me change my mind and become more determined to submit my abstract to the organizing committee. I am very thankful for their support and encouragement. This conference also provided me with the opportunity to meet and talk to many innovative and intelligent academics who came from different countries and professional areas. I am excited to know more about various types of research carried out in different cultural and linguistic contexts. It was such an incredible experience for me!
Zeyu Feng (Maxine) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
Qiuyu Guo (Joanna)：It was my great honour to be able to attend ICLLS 2018 and present my research project there. The conference is a great platform for knowledge exchanging and academic networking. It provided me with the opportunity to learn the latest research, trends, and challenges in the language and linguistics fields, to network with other people in the professional field, and to share ideas and develop my research skills as well as enhance my academic background. Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. I did enjoy myself, met nice people, and gained valuable feedback from other researchers to improve myself for future study.
Qiuyu Guo (Joanna) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
U Teng Lam (Christy): It was my honour to attend this conference. I got a chance to listen to other researchers’ and scholars’ research. I was impressed by their fascinating research although some of them were a bit beyond my knowledge. I felt tired but satisfied after this two-day conference. It was a great journey.
U Teng Lam (Christy) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
Xueran Yang (Shirley): It is an unforgettable experience for me to present my paper at ICLLS 2018, where I also learned a lot from educators and professors. My thesis is an experimental study on Music-based Language Teaching. Through sharing ideas with other presenters and professors, I knew that music and language are a newly combined area and this field deserves future investigation. This conference confirms my desire to continue studying linguistics and education.
Xueran Yang (Shirley) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
Xiaolin Zhang (Maggie): I feel so lucky that I got a chance to present my final year project at ICLLS. After I listened to various types of research, I became more interested in the field of Pragmatics and Discourse Analysis and English Language Teaching. When I finished my presentation, my supervisor and other professors gave me some suggestions, which were really helpful to improve my study. I enjoyed the time when discussing with other scholars, and I feel so proud to be a TESL student. I learned a lot from the conference and I really enjoyed these two days.
Xiaolin Zhang (Maggie) presenting her research at ICLLS 2018
Reporter: Edith Yan
Editor: Samantha Burns
(from DHSS)
