KINGSTON, R.I. – April 28, 2026 – Approximately 420 K-12 and higher education Chinese language educators from around the world will come to the University of Rhode Island’s Kingston Campus for the Chinese Language Teachers Association – USA’s Annual Conference on May 1-3.
CLTA promotes the study of Chinese language and culture in an international context. The national organization’s mission is to support establishing and sustaining quality Chinese language programs, K-16 articulation, teacher education, research and professional development.
The three-day weekend conference will hold various workshops, panel discussions, individual presentations, forums and meetings to help Chinese language teachers build academic programming at their respective institutions, and share research and best practices on Chinese language acquisition and teaching. Most conference events will be held in the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, 120 Flagg Road, and Avedisian Hall, 7 Greenhouse Road, on the Kingston Campus.
Topics scheduled for discussion include how study-abroad environments afford student growth, implementing artificial intelligence into Chinese language teaching, the history of Chinese language education, innovative pedagogical pathways in advanced language instruction, and tracing American media sentiment toward the Chinese language.
Hosting the conference will also offer URI the opportunity to showcase its language academic programming, especially the University’s Chinese Language Flagship Program, to educators from around the world, said Yu (Joyce) Wu, associate professor of Chinese, Chinese Language Flagship Program director, and president of CLTA.
Program faculty will present in an invited colloquium on using engaging projects to develop linguistic and intercultural competence in proficiency-based curriculum at the conference. URI International Engineering Program Executive Director Sigrid Berka, along with Yan Liu of Duke University, will hold a workshop on building interdisciplinary international language programs.
“By having the conference here at URI, we are inviting every Chinese educator to see what we are doing here with our language programs,” Wu said. “We don’t just teach language here at URI. We teach language to help solve problems in other disciplines, making our students become global professionals.”
The conference will also welcome two nationally renowned scholars to deliver the conference’s keynote addresses. Agnes He, humanities professor from Stony Brook University, will talk about language learning as a development of interactional competence in an AI-mediated world at 9:30 a.m. on May 2 in the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences.
Then at noon on May 3, Xun Yan, linguistics professor from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will deliver his speech on assessing Chinese as a second language, taking stock and exploring future directions.
Wu said she hopes this conference would help elevate the visibility of Chinese language programs within K-12 schools across Rhode Island and the New England area. Multiple Chinese language educators, including from Pawtucket schools in Rhode Island, as well as Massachusetts and Connecticut, are expected to attend the weekend event.
“Pawtucket has a vibrant Chinese immigrant community and we’re looking forward to learning from the city’s teachers what their best practices are,” Wu said. “We hope this local communication and interest can go a long way.”
The CLTA board meeting will be held May 1 from 7-10 p.m. in Hampton Inn, 20 Hotel Drive, South Kingstown, during the conference. Additionally, registered CLTA attendees will have the opportunity to visit Newport’s Cliff Walk on May 1 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.—free bus transportation will be provided. Lunch featuring special menus by URI Dining and Catering for attendees and tea will also be served throughout the weekend.
Additional information and a full conference schedule can be found on CLTA’s website.
The University of Rhode Island’s Chinese Language Flagship Program is one of eight unique programs in the United States where students dual-major in Chinese and another discipline and can progress from a beginner level to professional fluency in Mandarin Chinese. For more information on the program, contact Associate Professor of Chinese, Chinese Language Flagship Program Director Yu (Joyce) Wu at (401) 874-4704 or yu_wu@uri.edu.