On March 10, Professor Ren Wei, a distinguished scholar, Professor, PhD Supervisor, and Associate Dean of the School of Foreign Languages at Beihang University, was invited to the International Exchanges College (IEC) to deliver an academic lecture titled “A Pragmatic Study of Sharing Practices on Social Media.” The lecture was chaired by Liu Yuying, Interim Dean of IEC, and was attended by all full-time faculty members of the college.

Drawing from his own academic experience, Professor Ren shared insights on how scholarly research should balance personal interest with practical relevance. He emphasized the importance of identifying linguistic research questions through observations of daily work and life. He noted that traditional politeness theories often fall short in explaining emerging online phenomena, calling for theoretical reconstruction to broaden research perspectives. In analyzing sharing behaviors on social media, he proposed a multidimensional analytical framework that encompasses information transmission, interpersonal relationship management, and platform-specific features, while stressing the need to consider socio-cultural contexts and individual factors.

The lecture highlighted an empirical study conducted by his research team based on data from Douban groups, which compared the linguistic features of posts by users who succeeded versus those who failed in high-stakes exams. The findings revealed the significant impact of psychological stress on language choice and challenged conventional assumptions about online anonymity.

Professor Ren also outlined future research directions, including cross-platform and cross-linguistic comparisons, analysis of Chinese-language data produced by international students, and the application of artificial intelligence tools in linguistic research. The lecture offered rich content and novel perspectives, providing valuable inspiration for faculty members engaged in language research and practice in the context of new media.