Construction of Bilingual Teaching Mode of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology in the Context of the Belt and Road Initiative

Huanying PANG, Miao XIE, Shuanghu CAI, Ziling WANG, Yucong HUANG, Yu HUANG, Jichang JIAN

College of Fisheries, Guangdong Ocean University, Zhanjiang 524088, China; National Demonstration Center for Experimental Fisheries Science Education, Zhanjiang 524088, China

Abstract Aquatic Animal Bacteriology is a basic course of Aquatic Animal Medicine discipline. Bacteriology is not only a frontier subject in the field of life sciences, but also one of the most rapidly developing scientific fields today. The Belt and Road Initiative has brought opportunities and challenges to the upgrading and development of this discipline, so this discipline faces many problems that need to be solved. In view of this, this study combined the development trend of the discipline, reorganized and optimized the course content, and prepared sophisticated multimedia courseware, to stimulate students’ learning initiative and enthusiasm, expand the field of professional knowledge, improve their English translation and writing skills, so as to lay a solid foundation for their future service to the Belt and Road Initiative.

Key words The Belt and Road Initiative, Aquatic Animal Bacteriology, Aquatic Animal Medicine discipline

1 Introduction

The Belt and Road Initiative, namely the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21stCentury Maritime Silk Road, was proposed by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Central Asia and Southeast Asia in September and October 2013. It starts from China and runs through Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia and even parts of Europe, covering a population of about 4.4 billion[1]. TheVisionandActionsonJointlyBuildingSilkRoadEconomicBeltand21stCenturyMaritimeSilkRoadissued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China clearly required to "extensively carry out academic exchanges, personnel exchanges and cooperation, and lay a solid public opinion foundation for deepening bilateral and multilateral cooperation, expand the scale of mutual students and carry out cooperative education"[2]. This indicates that educational cooperation and exchanges are an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. On August 17, 2016, President Xi Jinping attended a symposium on promoting the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative in Beijing and emphasized five connections (policy coordination, infrastructure connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bond). These five connections are inseparable from the mutual communication between different languages, and bilingual education is the "gateway" for language communication.

As a basic course for undergraduates majoring in Aquatic Animal Medicine (AAM), Aquatic Animal Bacteriology mainly studies the morphology, structure, metabolic activity, heredity and variation, pathogenic mechanism, anti-infection immunity, laboratory diagnosis and specific prevention of bacteria related to aquatic animal diseases[3]. Bacteriology is not only a frontier subject in the field of life sciences, but also one of the most rapidly developing scientific fields today. The Belt and Road Initiative has brought opportunities and challenges to the upgrading and development of this discipline, so this discipline faces many problems that need to be solved.

2 Current situations and existing problems of the teaching of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology

(i) From the perspective of students, the Belt and Road Initiative puts forward higher requirements for their professional English application ability. At present, new pathogens emerge in an endless stream in countries along the Silk Road. Relevant monographs and academic papers (especially SCI papers) are mostly published in English. Conference materials and information on the Internet also use English as the common language. After graduating from the AAM discipline, if they want to study or work in countries along the Silk Road and conduct academic exchanges, they need to have high English communication skills. However, after more than ten years of English learning, the undergraduates in the AAM discipline of Guangdong Ocean University are only good at taking exams, and their ability to actually use the language is still very weak. It is difficult for them to adapt to the challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative and the biotech revolution.

(ii) From the perspective of teachers, although the teachers who participated in bacteriology teaching have the experience of studying abroad for one year, there are still deficiencies in the smooth development of bilingual teaching of bacteriology in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative. First, there is currently no bilingual textbook for bacteriology suitable for the AAM discipline, and textbooks have to be jointly compiled by teachers. Second, the teaching content of this discipline is complex, the theory is boring, the knowledge is wide, and it is difficult to understand and remember. The teaching hours of this course in Guangdong Ocean University are only 40 class hours. How to reorganize and optimize the course content, adjust the teaching plan, increase the teaching content of epidemiology in the Belt and Road region, write a bilingual teaching syllabus for bacteriology, and stipulate the English content that needs to be mastered are also problems that need to be solved urgently. Furthermore, the present teaching method is limited to the traditional teacher-centered teaching method, which fails to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of students. How to make teachers and students participate in it and achieve a win-win goal is what teachers and students are concerned about.

(iii) From the school level, in the context of the Belt and Road, some colleges and universities across the country and comprehensive colleges and universities have successively carried out bilingual teaching in various disciplines, but bilingual teaching of bacteriology in aquatic colleges and universities is still rare. Guangdong Ocean University is obviously weak in the awareness of the significance of the implementation of bilingual teaching in bacteriology. The main problems are as follows: the training of bilingual teachers is obviously insufficient; the investment in bilingual teaching is much less than the actual demand; there are few reform measures supporting bilingual teaching; it lacks encouraging policies for bilingual teaching,etc.Experience at home and abroad indicate that bilingual teaching is one of the most effective ways for students to master foreign languages, and also a successful way to break the deadlock of "high input but low output" and "high scores but low abilities" in China’s current foreign language education.

Therefore, the implementation of bilingual teaching of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology is the need for the internationalization of education in the Belt and Road Initiative. It is of great significance to follow the frontiers of the development of the discipline, to promote the teaching content and level to be in line with international standards, to improve the quality of teaching, to boost the overall improvement of students’ ability and comprehensive quality, and to promote the construction of the Belt and Road.

3 Specific reform content of the bilingual teaching mode of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology

3.1 Teaching of theoriesIt is necessary to adjust and reform the teaching plan, prepare a bilingual teaching syllabus for bacteriology, add some knowledge points related to pathogens in countries along the Silk Road, and put forward the English content that needs to be mastered according to the content of each chapter, such as: professional bacteriology vocabulary, professional terminology, and English expression of important knowledge points that should be mastered. This can not only keep authentic and original English, but also ensure that the teaching is carried out in accordance with the syllabus. Besides, it is necessary to carefully prepare bilingual teaching plans and lectures according to the syllabus, so that the content of the lectures is clear and coherent. In addition, it is necessary to take advantage of software and hardware resources provided by the university to make the multimedia courseware of the course. With reference to the advantages of courseware production in other colleges and universities, it is able to carefully produce multimedia courseware for teaching, which makes the teaching process more vivid and also improves the amount of teaching information and teaching effect. It is necessary to improve the assessment and evaluation system of bilingual teaching of bacteriology, and organize foreign teachers to conduct oral language training for professional teachers to improve the bilingual teaching level of the teachers.

3.2 Teaching of experimental coursesThe experimental courses adopt the teaching method of different levels, stages, and from easy to difficult. In the selection of textbooks, we adopted textbooks compiled by our teachers (on the basis of referring to foreign professional books and the development of pathogenic biology, and combining with China’s national conditions, meeting the English proficiency of our students). Different bilingual modes are adopted according to students’ English level.

4 Construction strategies for bilingual teaching mode of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology

4.1 GoalThe goal of this course reform is to "mainly impart professional knowledge, supplemented by improving foreign language proficiency", help students master the basic principles, basic techniques and the latest research progress of bacteriology, so that students can master more professional English vocabulary and improve their ability to read professional documentation.

4.2 Features and innovations of bilingual teaching mode

The innovation point of this study is to reform the Aquatic Animal Bacteriology course for undergraduates by taking the Belt and Road Initiative as an opportunity, construct the bilingual teaching mode from two aspects of theoretical courses and practical courses, improve students’ theoretical level, English level and practical ability in an all-round way, and help them learn and use it in a lively way, communicate with the world’s science and technology synchronously, become talents with strong social adaptability and competitiveness, and become talents serving the Belt Road Initiative.

4.3 Key issues to be solved(i) Preparation of bilingual teaching materials for bacteriology and making courseware. (ii) Exploration and practice of various teaching methods such as multimedia courseware, video, Flash animation,etc.

4.4 Main activities and implementation methods

4.4.1Conducting training of bilingual teachers. Teachers can constantly develop and update their knowledge through self-study, discipline training, visiting studies, and participating in scientific research activities to ensure that their teaching is always at a high level. Universities can organize foreign teachers to conduct bilingual teaching training for professional teachers who have returned from studying abroad.

4.4.2Preparing courses and writing targeted bilingual supporting teaching materials in a scientific manner. It is necessary to adjust and reform the teaching plan, compile bilingual teaching syllabus with the characteristics of aquatic discipline, and optimize, reorganize and integrate bacteriology knowledge according to the characteristics and the development trend of the discipline.

4.4.3Making a reasonable arrangement of the bilingual proportion in the course. Undergraduate students come from different places, and there are certain differences in English teaching in different places. Their foreign language foundation is also varied. After years of foreign language learning, it is still impossible to popularize foreign languages to a considerable degree. In view of this, in the course arrangement, the multimedia materials of the courses at the beginning of the semester are arranged in Chinese and English, so as to reduce the pressure of students in the classroom. With the deepening of students’ familiarity with the content of this course, the proportion of foreign language usage in courseware and class will be gradually increased. In the middle of the semester, most of the preparation of courseware will be converted into English materials, with the professional vocabulary distributed in advance. At the end of the semester, about 80% of the lectures are in English, and the basic application of courseware involving popular content is also in English.

4.4.4Making novel, practical and lively bilingual teaching courseware. On the principle of study for practice, in order to make the experimental class vivid and lively, the teaching materials are collected from TV news, the Internet, professional journals, conference materials,etc., and typical pictures in literature, books, and maps are scanned and edited as the illustrations of teaching cases. It is possible to record the diagnosis and prevention of diseases in production into pictures and video materials, and then use multimedia technology to make experimental teaching courseware, and finally reproduce the clinical cases, the morphological structure and characteristics of pathogens, and the prevention and treatment process through multimedia. The multimedia courseware adopts a bilingual comparison method, makes effort to be as concise and comprehensive as possible, and strives to simplify complex issues, visualize abstract contents, decompose the overall process, and make static knowledge dynamic.

4.4.5Actively mobilizing students’ learning initiative in bilingual teaching. In bilingual teaching, teachers should encourage students to browse online literature and scientific reports related to bacteria that reflect the development of the discipline, make full use of network resources, guide and cultivate their interest in the field of bacteriology, and stimulate their enthusiasm and self-confidence in learning. Besides, teachers should enhance the communication with students, and improve the autonomy of students’ learning through purposeful guidance, so that they can focus on and comprehensively master knowledge for a longer period of time.

4.4.6Modern classroom teaching methods have been used comprehensively from the perspective of "Internet + teaching". Teaching means are the tools and methods used to improve teaching effect and achieve teaching goals. Chalk and blackboard are the representatives of traditional teaching means. With the rise of multimedia technology, especially the recent "Internet +" concept, teaching resources and forms such as micro-lessons, MOOCs, and WeChat official accounts are quietly emerging. Modern teaching methods become more abundant, and making good use of these teaching methods will often achieve twice the results for half the effort.

4.4.7Implementing bilingual teaching in the process of experimental teaching. (i) One week before the experiment, teachers distribute the Chinese-English comparison and English pronunciation of the professional vocabulary commonly used in the bacteriology experiment to the students who will enter the experiment, so that the students can preview in advance. When they come into contact with these vocabularies, they will know their meanings. In addition, students can quickly accumulate some professional vocabulary, and based on these professional vocabularies, they can briefly communicate about the operation process of bacteriological experiments and the basis for judging results. (ii) Laboratory preparation. Teachers should mark the English names of various reagents and instruments in the laboratory directly on the corresponding reagents and instruments, such as various culture mediums, ultra-clean workbenches, automatic identification instruments, drug sensitivity test strips, various utensils,etc., so that students can repeatedly come into contact with these words every day, thereby strengthening their memory. (iii) Doing more practice. In daily learning, students are often required to describe in English the morphology and characteristics of colonies, the differences between various medium components, precautions for inoculation of different specimens, drug susceptibility test results, and operation procedures.

4.4.8Making reasonable setting of pathogen biology bilingual examination papers for teaching evaluation. The final exam is an important indicator for assessing students’ mastery of bilingual teaching in bacteriology, and it is also a reference indicator for evaluating the teaching effect of bilingual teachers. In addition to referring to the requirements of the syllabus, the final exam papers should meet the characteristics of wide coverage, high flexibility, strong innovation, and moderate quantity and difficulty of exam questions. It is also necessary to appropriately adjust the proportion of Chinese and English test questions and the types of test questions according to the overall quality of the students. The score of English test questions can account for 30%-50% of the total score. The assessment is divided into regular assessment and final assessment, the former accounts for 30%, while the latter accounts for 70%.

5 Implementation effect

Through the implementation of this project, the average score of students’ evaluation of this course is 92 points. The members of the project team published a total of 4 papers related to teaching reform, and won 2 second prizes for school-level teaching achievements. The professional English level of the students has been significantly improved, and the students have published 4 English papers as the first author. In addition, the students’ experimental skills have also been significantly improved. They have won 4 first prizes, 5 second prizes, and 2 third prizes in national level discipline competitions, and won 2 second prizes and 1 third prize in the Guangdong Challenge Cup.

6 Conclusions

Implementing the bilingual teaching of bacteriology can effectively follow the development frontier of international pathogenic biology, and make the teaching content in line with international standards. It is conducive to stimulating students’ curiosity, fully cultivating students’ English thinking, enhancing their enthusiasm for learning foreign languages, and improving their professional English literature search level and English paper writing level, so as to lay a solid foundation for their smooth transition in the future and to adapt to the study and research work of the undergraduate stage and even to the scientific research position. Also, it can effectively improve the students’ experimental operation level, and finally enable them to be competent to do experiments in relevant foreign laboratories. In addition, it is conducive to improving the foreign language level and professional quality of bilingual teachers.

The bilingual teaching mode of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology constructed in this study provides a new idea for the reform of bilingual teaching in biology courses. However, there are still shortcomings. It is hoped that in the future, we can continue to improve the teaching quality of Aquatic Animal Bacteriology through cooperation with other universities and enterprises.