By Guo Rui

On May 5, the thesis defense for English Majors of 2012 was held by the School of Foreign Languages in Liyun Building. The graduates took part in this thesis defense in 12 teams-- two more than last year.

During the defense, every student made a presentation within 3 to 5 minutes and answered some questions related to the thesis from the teachers. The teachers often pointed out their mistakes and made some suggestions on their theses or even on their future study.

Most of the students made much count of the defense and prepared for it carefully. A student called it "the most important presentation in university" and she was too nervous to fall asleep last night.

There were still many excellent theses this year. With sufficient preparations, most students such as Cai Wanying and Sun Xue spoke fluently and expounded clearly in a logical way.

This defense also attracted many junior students. They wanted to know what they should do in the coming year. And a student even recorded the presentations with a MP3 player. Some students said that through the thesis defense, they knew the importance of expressing themselves in English and the way to get rid of tension. After the thesis defense, some junior students began to consider the orientation of their theses.

As for the theses, Dean Tao who expected more creative theses suggested that students should develop their skills in expressing their thoughts in English. Mr. Xie, Vice Dean of the SFL, said that theses should be more academic and students should follow the schedule of SFL, which would contribute a lot to a good thesis.