NEWS & EVENTS
Martin Centre, Harbor of My Academic Life:
Reflections on Martin Centre Intense Course Training and Symposium
October 27, 2015
YU Meixin
I am quite enjoying my research in Martin Centre for Appliable Linguistics which is executed by Professor Wang Zhenhua and embraces a brilliant academic team in Shanghai Jiao Tong University. I feel passionate about every academic activity held by the team and I am ready to do what I can insofar as I am able because I love this team.
It was the first time for me to attend the course training in July, 2014, which was really not easy for me. After an intense training during the daytime, I had to swot up on functional grammar late into the night in order that I was well-prepared for the next day. Professor Martin, one of the most renowned linguist in the field of systemic functional linguistics (henceforth SFL), sometimes joked and said that he was torturing us. Honestly, it was a bittersweet summer. What I benefitted most from this training is that I got a bird's eye view over SFL and I will feel at ease when I am asked about the essence of SFL, although I was still confused with the concept of "appliable linguistics". I've learned through the whole summer that I have a long way to go because SFL is profound but I have just touched upon a tip of the iceberg. The team are pushing the envelope because even during the national holidays we are still concentrating our mind on the intense course while most of the national people are going on a trip. I was deeply impressed by the Symposium last October because I made a report there. It was the first time for me to present my idea to Professor Martin, Professor Wang Zhenhua and all the fellows who are devoting themselves to SFL. I attached a great emphasis on it so that I tried my best to think it over，discuss with my fellows, revise it and improve it during the break of the training. The whole process enhanced my understanding of the topic and having a better command of the methodology. Finally, I did a good job on the symposium as far as I was concerned and Professor Martin and other fellows put forward some constructive advice. Few days later, I got an email written by Dr. Wang Pin, secretary of Martin Centre, telling me that after discussion by the Committee of Martin Centre, the paper I presented on the Symposium was going to be recommended to the journal Contemporary Foreign Language Studies. I felt inspired because what I gained from the whole process of reporting will be beneficial in the future.
The training program by Professor Martin covered from the hot summer, the cool autumn to the cold winter. SFL enthusiasts got together listening, exchanging thoughts and discussing outcomes of these with Professor Martin. The topics cover functional grammar, discourse semantics and context within the framework of SFL. What we harvested in the process is knowledge, vision and friendship and something invisible. I still remember the scene where all of the members were reluctant to say goodbye at the end of last December. However, we believe that we will see each other around because we are all dedicated to SFL. We are not lonely on the bumpy road to the future of SFL.
People change although things remain the same year by year. As a PhD student who attended the training for the second time in 2015, I guarantee that it deserves more than one time to study with Professor Martin. Although the topics remains the same, people's relationships change as the time goes. The more you interact with somebody, the more you understand somebody. You can never measure the value of opportunity and thoughts by money. The training in July, 2015 finally came as I was looking forward to it after one year systemic research. This time, the state of my mind was totally different from that in 2014 because I felt more confident. I was brave enough to exchange my ideas with Professor Martin and I could put forward more thought-provoking questions. I came to be enlightened at once when discussing with my fellows and found that all systems and structures in my mind was just like a electric circuit that is on. I still remember that when Professor Martin asked me how I found my experience this year. I replied decisively that I came to know what last year, and how this year. It is easy for us to take it for granted what it is in the SFL during our own study because sometimes it seems familiar to us after we read SFL as many times as we can. So it is quite easy to block the way of thinking if we study alone without discussion or instruction by superior experts. Through this training, It seems to me that I came to understand the idea of "appliable linguistics".
I really appreciate the opportunity of the training given by Professor Martin. This kind of training for me is fairly important because the discourse semantics appears simple but complicated indeed. After a clear instruction by Professor Martin, I will get a better command of the essence.
I felt the happiness of the whole team when we are talking about SFL, about Halliday and Martin in Martin Centre, where our friendship is planted, our feelings reside in and the dream of SFL lies in.
Professor Martin, Professor Wang and other members of the team are making their best effort to design the intense training course scientifically and humanely so that all of us can enjoy ourselves and touch upon the breadth of SFL.
Martin Centre is the harbor of my academic life and where is yours? If you are still wandering about this, come and join us, please. The Centre is going to be in full swing with the intense training and international conference in the coming two months.
