The Fourth International Conference on English Language Teaching (ELT) in China opens here Saturday morning, with more than 1,500 experts and scholars from 23 countries attending.

The theme of the conference is "new directions in ELT in China."

Besides the plenary meeting, there are more than 20 group meetings on ELT in East Asia, online ELT, English teaching to postgraduates, and the ELT in Singapor and its inspiration to Chinese ELT.

A forum on elementary English teaching is also held.

Zhao Qinping, vice minister of education, said his ministry has always attached great importance to ELT and he hopes the ELT in China will come to a new level with the joint efforts of the governments, scholars and English teachers.

Hu Wenzhong, president of the China English Language Education Association (CELEA), and Susan Gass, president of the International Applied Linguistics Association, also attended the opening ceremony.

The conference is jointly sponsored by CELEA, Beijing Foreign Studies University and Foreign Language Teaching and Reasearch Press, one of the most productive presses in China on ELT.
 
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2004)