| About the Centre |
Message
from
the Deputy Vice-Chancellor With the University
intensifying its efforts to recruit foreign students, both at the
undergraduate and graduate levels, the
CELC is shouldering
greater responsibilities in the training of English for those who need
help. The internationalization of NUS requires the Centre
to perform an even more important function and to meet a number of
challenges: more programmes for different
groups of students, more classes to conduct, and more facilities and
better equipment for upgrading. Each of these requires careful planning,
dedication, time and energy from the staff at
CELC. I am glad to note that the
CELC is taking steps to continuously improve its quality of teaching and
service in the midst of rapid changes. I wish to congratulate the Director and staff of the CELC for launching this newsletter. It serves as a forum for the dissemination of information and exchange of ideas. The result of the hard work that went into the production of the first issue is now for all to see and enjoy.
Dr Wong Lian Aik The
Centre for English Language Communication (CELC)
has come a long way since its inception in
1979. The Centre was then known as the English Language Proficiency
Unit (ELPU). Its name was
changed to CELC in December
1996. Over the last twenty years, the Centre's role in the University has
expanded to include not just
the teaching of remedial English but also technical and business
communication skills, English for academic purposes and intensive English
for foreign students. In the last few years, we have also provided English
courses for foreign graduate students doing their master's and doctoral
programmes in the University. Currently
the Centre offers 23 courses to about 8000 students - graduate and
undergraduate, local and foreign. This is a massive and multi-faceted
task. To do this effectively, CELC
staff members continually undertake research on areas related to our
teaching. These areas include language teaching methodologies,
communication needs of learners and their potential employers, learner
strategies and cultural aspects of learning peculiar to our students from
this region. In
view of CELC's rapid growth and development, there was a felt need
to keep staff members abreast of the goings-on in the Centre, in both the
academic and social areas; hence, the publication of news@celc.
We also hope that this newsletter will help us to share our views
on language teaching concepts, methodologies and problems as well as news
within the Centre with colleagues in the University and friends from other
English language teaching institutions in Singapore and the region. The
inaugural issue of this third and latest
CELC publication has been made possible with the help of many
people. 1 would like to especially thank Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor
Chong Chi Tat for
his untiring support of many
CELC projects through the years, including this newsletter. My
thanks also to the CELC
staff who have contributed to this issue of
news@celc, especially the editorial team.
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