CELEA – China English Language Education Association – Annual Conference

The 2025 Annual Conference of China English Language Education Association was held in Chongqing on October 17-19, 2025. It was hosted by Southwest University. The theme of the conference is English Teaching in the New Era: New Approaches for Intercultural Communication and Mutual Learning. Prof. Prof. Peter I. De Costa from Michigan State University, Prof. Cheng Xiaotang from Beijing Normal University, Prof. Yin Yungong from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Prof. Dong Hongchuan from Sichuan International Studies University and Prof. Wen Xu from Southwest University gave plenary speeches at the conference. During the conference, 17 symposia, 1 editor-in-chief forum were held and 15 groups of individual papers were presented. About 300 EFL scholars and teachers attended the conference on site and 32,000 people watched the plenary sessions on-line.   

The next Conference of CELEA, the 11th International Conference on ELT in China will be held jointly with the 24th AsiaTEFL International Conference (AsiaTEFL 2026) in Xi’an city on May 28-31, 2026.  

Prof. Sun Youzhong, the CELEA president and Prof. Gao Yang from Xi’an Jiaotong University attended the 23nd AsiaTEFL International Conference held in Hong Kong, China on July 10-13, 2025. Prof. Gao Yang spoke as the representative of the host organization of the next AsiaTEFL Conference.

Prof. Kyria Finardi had a meeting with the representatives of CELEA, Prof. Sun Youzhong, Prof. Jin Limin, Prof. Zhang Hong, Ms Duan Changcheng and Ms Hou Hui on October 28, 2025 to discuss possibilities of academic exchanges and a global talents nurturing program.

During her visit to Beijing, professor Kyria Finardi also met Prof. Xu Jiajin https://corpus.bfsu.edu.cn/info/1067/1988.htm  from the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education, BFSU. Professor Xu is also involved in a recently approved project focused on the role of AI in the geopolitics of knowledge production coordinated by Professor Kyria Finardi in Brazil. The project involves various AILA members from 12 other countries besides China and has recently received approval and support from the Brazilian Research Foundation FAPES.