On 22 November, 2020, the Beijing final of the National English Contest for College Students (NECCS) was held at the National Basic Foreign Language Teaching Research Center. Yunqian Yang, an English major of 1803 from the Department of English, School of Humanities and Law (SHL), won the Gold Award in the NECCS final for English majors (Type B). This is the first time that an undergraduate student from the Department of English has won such a prize, marking an outstanding achievement in the School’s talent cultivation.

NECCS is the only competition on a national scale that evaluates the comprehensive English proficiency of college students. It has been held for 25 years. The contest is categorized into four types with each for different major and level of college students. NECCS-A is for postgraduate students; NECCS-B for undergraduate English majors; NECCS-C for undergraduate non-English majors; and D for undergraduates majoring in sports, arts and vocational skills. Held nationwide, both the preliminary and final rounds of NECCS include listening and writing, with a full score of 150 points.

Recently, NECCS has become increasingly popular and prestigious as more and more students take part in this competition. This year, due to the pandemic, the preliminary round of NECCS for English majors was postponed to 24 October. A total of 191 students from the Department of English were mobilized to enter the competition. The faculty of the department had made careful preparations and taken preventive measures to guarantee a smooth and successful contest. Ms. Chongkun Pan, Ms. Jing Zhang, Ms. Yajing Sun, Ms. Hongyan Wang, Ms. Yuhua Pei, Mr. Hong Yang, Ms. Jing Jin and Ms. Ju Zhang, devoted their spare time to invigilate and/or mark the exam papers of the preliminary round. Throughout the whole event, Ms. Jing Zhang closely coordinated the work with the committee and organizer. The Department of English attached great importance to the preliminary round of NECCS and worked to ensure a fair exam result. Scoring 135 out of 150, Yunqian Yang topped other candidates and made to the final round to represent BUCT to participate in a higher level. Ms. Ju Zhang, Yang’s mentor, provided him with competing materials and targeted training to help him achieve further success.

Contestants in the final round were students from leading universities such as Renmin University of China, Beijing Normal University, Beijing Foreign Studies University and Beijing Language and Culture University. Among these competitive contestants, Yunqian Yang demonstrated his solid language skills and overall competence, winning the top prize. This accomplishment showcased the effective undergraduate teaching of the Department of English. The Comprehensive English teaching team and other teachers have always focused on consolidating students’ language skills and improving their ability to put English to use. Critical thinking skills and cross-cultural literacy are also foregrounded. It is believed that faculty members and students of the Department of English will work together to accomplish more in building a first-class discipline.

contributed by the Department of English

For the complete list of prize winners in the 2020 NECCS Beijing final, please see the link below:

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/aOs4anc7ctqyUofc1zI5yQ