The Voice Of CCNU On the afternoon of May 20, 2026, the third session of the "Teacher-Student Afternoon Tea" series, organized by the Institute of Linguistics, was successfully held. Under the theme "The Wonder of Language: Too Marvelous for Words," the event specially invited Dr. Ye Yanpeng from the School of Chinese Language and Literature at Central China Normal University to share his valuable experiences with the attending teachers and students regarding the use of research tools, study planning, thesis topic selection, and academic mindset. The event was hosted by Professor Wang Yi from the Institute of Linguistics, and was characterized by a warm atmosphere and lively interaction.
Dr. Ye first started with the idea of "sharpening one's tools," emphasizing the role of research tools in improving academic efficiency. In the section on "doing the work well," he shared various methods for study planning. In the part on "cultivating the path," Dr. Ye gave an in-depth explanation of thesis topic selection and writing. He pointed out that a good topic should balance four dimensions: interest, value, scholarly attention, and one's own ability. Finally, under the heading of "knowing one's limits," he shared his views on the attitude and boundaries of academic research. Citing Mr. Xing Fuyi's observation that "research is rooted in the soil of reality, and theory grows out of facts," Dr. Ye emphasized the foundational role of linguistic facts, while also noting that "without theory, there are no linguistic facts." He called on everyone to use theoretical perspectives to uncover the patterns behind the material.
During the interactive session, students actively raised questions on topics such as tools for creating paper figures, corpus analysis methods, journal publication timelines, and balancing work with research. Drawing on his own experience, Dr. Ye suggested making good use of AI tools to assist in analysis, while still requiring manual verification. Regarding publication, he proposed an "open" strategy, encouraging simultaneous submissions to both domestic and international journals, as well as attending more academic conferences to expand channels for communication.
At the end of the event, Professor Wang Yi concluded that Dr. Ye's sharing was not only rich in content and practical in methods, but also demonstrated solid academic grounding and strong humanistic qualities. He encouraged the students to learn from Dr. Ye by focusing on cultivating a feel for classical Chinese, improving their English proficiency, and sticking to the small goal of writing every day, so as to gradually establish their own academic rhythm.
The "Teacher-Student Afternoon Tea" event came to a successful close in a relaxed yet fulfilling atmosphere. The attending teachers and students expressed that Dr. Ye's sharing was both theoretically insightful and practically instructive, from which they greatly benefited.
Source: The voice of Language Research
Translator: Yuan Yanglei
Date: June 1, 2026
