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Reports at international academic conferences generally include panel reports, poster sessions, and roundtable discussions. Among these, students often feel confused about roundtable discussions—what exactly is a roundtable discussion? How is it different from other forms of academic reporting? How should a roundtable discussion be conducted? In response to these questions, Professor YU Hua made a unique teaching attempt in the “International Conference Communication” course offered to international students.
Professor YU Hua, the course instructor, explained that this teaching experiment was carefully designed as a "two-stage" training program to address the common issue on participating in roundtable discussions. During the two-week course, over 40 graduate students from various countries formed discussion groups, with five students per group. One student acted as the moderator of the roundtable discussion, while the other four took on the roles of philosophers—Socrates, Descartes, the African philosopher Mbiti, and Bakhtin—to engage in an academic dialogue on the philosophical theme of "self-awareness."
The classroom activities were conducted over two weeks. In the first week, Prof. YU and her students explored what constitutes a group discussion and a roundtable discussion, compared and contrasted the two, and learned how to use appropriate language to express opinions, compare different viewpoints, express agreement or disagreement, and summarize ideas. “We particularly emphasize the authenticity of the academic scenario,” said Professor YU. Additionally, students were required not only to master academic conversation techniques such as “May I build on that point,” but also to accurately grasp the philosophical systems of the thinkers they represented through literature research. Students formed their own groups and engaged in heated discussions, generating a draft of the roundtable discussion with the help of AI tools like DeepSeek, and confirmed their respective character s or roles.
In the next week, students performed their rehearsed roundtable discussions in front of the classroom podium. This unique classroom activity greatly stimulated student enthusiasm. Both the moderator and the four "philosophers" meticulously costumed to embody their characters, carefully prepared digital background slides related to the discussion topic, and invited technical support to display relevant background images and record the entire session. During the roundtable discussion, each student naturally and skillfully used the expressions learned in the previous class, and portrayed their roles with authenticity in real-time interaction—from Socrates' probing questions, Descartes’ confident reasoning, Mbiti’s warm wisdom, to Bakhtin’s engaging dialogue. At the same time, the moderator perfectly guided the rhythm of the discussion, making profound ideas clear and easy to understand, while keeping the atmosphere lively and engaging. When the discussion concluded, the room erupted in applause. Everyone, both on stage and off, experienced an immersive, time-traveling, thought-provoking journey.
After class, students actively shared their thoughts in the WeChat group, overflowing with excitement. Adil, who played Bakhtin, commented: “This was my first time being part of a roundtable discussion, and I learned a lot about spontaneous speaking, active listening, and collaborative thinking.” Just like the philosopher Mbiti he portrayed, Simon—who is also from Kenya—felt thrilled and proud to have the opportunity to disseminate African philosophy and culture. The audience was equally enthusiastic, saying: “It felt like we were actually sitting with Socrates, Descartes, Mbiti, and Bakhtin as they debated about the self.” Some students also compared roundtable discussions with the academic oral presentations they usually practiced, remarking: “While presentations are helpful, they are often one-way communication. In contrast, the roundtable format encourages real dialogue and reflection, making it an excellent addition to the course structure. I would highly suggest including more such activities in future courses.”
This teaching experiment innovatively introduced the roundtable discussion format used in international academic conferences into the classroom, achieving "immersive academic training" through role-playing. It replaced traditional lecture-based teaching with lively and engaging student performances and experiences, subtly enhancing students’ understanding and application of global competence, critical thinking, roundtable discussion, AI-assisted language learning, academic communication competence, and real-time multidimensional interaction. At the same time, this pedagogical innovation successfully achieved four integrations: the integration of language ability and critical thinking, the integration of global competence and academic English, the integration of academic competence and humanistic literacy, and the integration of language learning and AI empowerment—thus exploring a new path to enhance graduate students' capabilities in international academic communication.
【News Background】
Roundtable discussions at international academic conferences usually involve multiple scholars sitting around and talking freely, emphasizing equal communication and instant interaction. They are an important form of communication that is different from academic presentations.
Authors: YU Hua and Muhammad Adil
Video: Department of foreign languages, UCAS
Photo: YU Hua
Editor: GAO Yuan
