Our SFL faculty members are working to improve education itself by investigating how students learn and how best to teach English. So far, seven university-level research institutes have been established– Institute of Foreign Linguistics & Applied Linguistics, Institute of Foreign and Comparative Literature, Institute of Translation Studies, Institute of Elementary Foreign Language Education, Institute of Modern Education Technology, Institute of American Culture and Higher Education, and Institute of Japanese Language & Culture.

In 4 years from 2012 to 2015, the research projects undertaken in SFL at various levels include 5 National Social Science Fund projects, 5 Humanities & Social Science projects sponsored by the State Ministry of Education, 14 Provincial Social Science Fund projects, and 8 Jiangsu Philosophical and Social Sciences Research Fund projects for Institutes of Higher Learning. In addition, the faculty of SFL have published 43 academic books, including textbooks, and translations, 85 CSSCI academic articles, 1 SSCI article, 1 A&HCI article, and received 6 province-level social science awards.