About the Conference

The British Chinese Language Teaching Society (BCLTS www.bclts.org.uk ) is a UK registered charity founded in 1997 as the academic Society for Chinese language teachers and researchers from the UK universities. It is affiliated to the British Association for Chinese Studies (BACS). The primary role of the Society is to enhance the quality of teaching of Chinese as an international language in UK Higher Education and beyond. It also promotes research into Chinese language education internationally and offers networking opportunities to Chinese language teaching professionals around the world. Currently, BCLTS has around 100 individual members from more than 50 UK universities and colleges, together with several institute members (including Confucius Institutes at different UK universities). In recent years, BCLTS has been playing an increasingly active role in leading Chinese language teaching and research in the UK. Following the great success of our last annual conference held in conjunction with Lancaster University Confucius Institute, we are pleased to announce that the 18th International Conference of BCLTS, Teaching Chinese as an International Language in the Time of COVID: Opportunities, Innovations and Development, is now open for submission of paper abstracts and workshop proposals. The conference will be hosted and co-organised by Bangor University’s Confucius Institute on 5-7 July 2021.

Founded in 1884 and located by the seaside of North Wales, Bangor University has a long tradition of academic excellence and is ranked in the top 40 in the UK for research according to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. The Confucius Institute at Bangor University benefits not only from the wealth of academic excellence and expertise at Bangor but also from that of its international partner, China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing. The Confucius Institute is delighted to host and co-organise this international conference at Bangor University.