四川大学外国语学院英文系是建校之初的三个系别之一。20世纪初以来，曾经有过众多蜚声中外的著名专家学者在该系或执教、或求学,其中包括吴虞、朱光潜、谢文炳、钟作猷、周煦良、卞之琳、钱歌川、饶孟侃、罗念生、顾绶昌、周汝昌、赵澧、石璞、朱文振、王章树、周考成等，他们为创立英语语言文学专业的学术地位，为形成朴实严谨的学风做出了巨大贡献，为本专业的发展壮大奠定了坚实的基础。
      近年来，英文系在秉承前辈严谨勤奋、求真务实的优良传统的同时，积极进取，开拓创新，以教书育人、培养英才为己任，旨在培养面向21世纪、“厚基础、宽专业、高素质”，具有良好的英语语言文学基本理论素养、坚实的语言基本功、扎实的专业基础知识、宽广的国际视野和创新意识以及较高综合素质的复合型高级专门人才。
      英文系强调打好本科阶段学生的语言基础，注重学生基本功的训练和综合素质的培养，成绩斐然。近两年来，学生英语四、八级通过率都在80%以上，并呈逐年上升趋势，远远高于全国高校和综合大学平均通过率。

（2006年英语专业八级通过率对比图）

（近三年我院英语专业八级考试通过率呈总体上升趋势）

（2006年英语专业四级通过率对比图）

（近三年我院英语专业四级考试通过率呈总体上升趋势）

      同时，英文系重视对学生文学文化知识的传授，培养并拓展学生的创新意识，鼓励学生参加各种创新实践。英文系学生在“21世纪杯”全国英语演讲大赛、“外研杯”全国英语辩论大赛、“CCTV杯”全国英语演讲比赛以及“模拟联合国”等活动中获得过冠、亚、季军、“最佳即席演讲”、“最具人气奖”、“最佳代表队”等优异成绩，获奖学生还获得了短期出国访学的机会。英文系还通过学校与美国东新墨西哥大学、西班牙巴塞罗纳大学、韩国岭南大学开展的3+2、2+1+1等学生交换项目,选派优秀学生出国学习。
      在抓好本科教育的基础上，英文系非常重视研究生培养。1978年，英文系的英语语言文学专业成为全国高校首批硕士学位授予点，也是该专业在西部地区最早的硕士点。目前，本系已有英语语言文学、外国语言学及应用语言学两个专业的硕士学位授予点，招收英美现当代文学、美国文化、欧洲文化、加拿大文化、现代英语与语言学理论、翻译理论与实践、现代外语教育及教育技术等多个研究方向的硕士研究生，在读人数约400人。2003年，英语语言文学专业获得博士学位授予权，成为西部地区该专业的第一个博士点，招收西方文论、英美文学、西方文化研究、英语语言学、翻译与跨文化研究等方向的博士生，目前在读博士研究生52人。
      英文系多年来教学与科研并重，以教学促科研，以科研带教学，硕果累累，获得了包括国家社科基金、教育部社科基金、教育部“中欧高教项目”基金等在内的多个项目，出版了一批颇有影响的学术专著和译著，在权威核心期刊和CSSCI源刊上发表论文上百篇。
      英文系积极开展对外交流（配图片2006514766，文字说明：我系学生与美国匹兹堡大学学生友好交流），每年邀请海内外著名专家学者前来讲学，举办四五十场规格较高的学术讲座，主办一两次全国规模的专题学术研讨会（配图片9，文字说明：国际学术研讨会），为教研水平的提高、学术视野的拓展和学术思想的交流起到了积极的推动作用。
        英文系多年来教学与科研并重，以教学促科研，以科研带教学，硕果累累，获得了包括国家社科基金、教育部社科基金、教育部“中欧高教项目”基金等在内的多个项目，出版了一批具有影响的学术专著和译著，其中包括：《莎士比亚戏剧精解》、《英美小说剖析》、《英诗金库》、《美国小说五十讲》、《文学理论的未来》、《哥伦比亚美国文学史》、《中英比较诗艺》、《当代美国小说理论》、《虚构与现实：二十世纪美国文学》、《中美诗缘》、《金斯伯格诗选》、《“垮掉一代”及其他》、《BG在东方相遇》、《詹姆斯·乔依斯：现代尤利西斯》、《觉醒》、《使节》、《美国印第安神话与文学》、《女性的奥秘》、《加拿大抒情诗选》、《圣经文学文化词典》、《中国和西方思想中的文化概念》、《中、英、美、加四国文化比较》、《多元文化下欧盟的教育与就业》、《历史的光影》、《触摸欧洲》、《英语语法词典》、《现代英语语法学词典》、《英语语音学引论》、《英语语法学纲要》、《英语语法理论与流派》、《英语拼读辨义用法翻译疑难词典》、《心理语言学》、《语言与社会文化》、《语言文化纵论》等。
英文系积极开展对外交流，每年都会邀请海内外著名专家学者前来讲学，举办四五十场规格较高的学术讲座，主办一两次全国规模的专题学术研讨会，为教研水平的提高、学术氛围的营造、学术视野的拓展和学术思想的交流起到了积极的推动作用。
      英文系现有教师45人，其中教授、副教授31人。本科生700多人，硕博研究生约380人。我系为本科生开设的“英汉口译“课获选2006年四川省精品课程。英语语言文学专业是四川省重点学科。

English Department

The history of the English Department can be traced back to the earliest days of Sichuan University. The department, with a century-old history, has been honored with the presence of many famous scholars and experts, who either taught or studied here. These include Wu Yu, Xie Wenbing, Zhong Zuoyou, Zhou Xuliang, Bian Zhilin, Qian Gechuan, Rao Mengkan, Luo Niansheng, Gu Shouchang, Zhao Li, Shi Pu, Zhu Wenzhen, Wang Zhangshu, and Zhou Kaocheng.
The English Department provides a solid foundation in language for its undergraduate students. It has strict entrance requirements for the students it recruits. Traditional courses, combined with modern teaching facilities, lay a solid foundation for language learning, and provide an integrated training that encompasses listening, speaking, reading, writing, and translation.
For the past 3 years, our students' pass rates for TEM-4 and TEM-8 have been more than 25 percent higher than the average for the comprehensive universities of China. Our pass rate in 2005 was 30% higher than the national average, and that of 2006, 35% higher than the national average. For the past three years, our pass rates were around 90% percent.
The Department emphasizes the importance of a wide range of knowledge in literature and high culture. It has also conscientiously fostered familiarity with the cultural and literary criticism of the American and European English-speaking countries.
The Department actively organizes and encourages students to compete in the annual English speech contest and theatrical festival. Students of the English Department have taken part in the annual national English speech and debating competitions. They have successively won the first and second prizes for the"21 Century Cup" English Speech Contest; successive first prizes in National English Contests for College Students (NECCS); third prize and best debater in the FLTRP Cup English Debating Competition; and "Best Impromptu Speech" and "Audience's Choice Award" in the "CCTV Cup” National English Speech Contest.
Since 1978, the English Department has continuously built up its postgraduate programs. 1978 was the year when the specialization of "English Language and Literature" was designated by the State Council Academic Degree Commission as one of the first of China's postgraduate programs. Hence, our first research orientation was modern British and American literature, and this has enjoyed a long history. Scholars of the older generation, such as Xie Wenbing, Zhu Wenzhen, Wang Zhangshu, and Zhou Kaocheng, laid a solid foundation for its future development.
In 1978 the Department became the first in West China to confer Masters' degrees for postgraduates of English language and literature. In the same year, the Department began to recruit postgraduate students.
The postgraduate education for the specialization of English language and literature has since been consolidated and expanded. Ours has grown into the English department with, in the field of the liberal arts, the most comprehensive coverage of research orientations among higher education institutions in West China.
At present, the Department includes a wide range of research orientations. These include British and American literature, applied linguistics, American studies, Canadian cultural studies, European cultural studies, translation theory and practice, Phonetics, and modern foreign language teaching and technology.
The graduates of the postgraduate program of the English Department have received recognition wherever they have worked, owing to their solid professional qualifications and many cultural accomplishments. In so doing they have earned international respect for themselves and for their Alma Mater.
In 2003, after approval by the Ministry of Education, the specialization of English language and literature was awarded a doctoral program, the first of its kind in Western China. The following year, the department began to recruit its doctoral students. At present, the program has 10 doctoral supervisors and 17 doctoral students.
The English Department attaches great importance to research, and our professors, despite their many classroom obligations, have responded impressively, obtaining grants for many projects from the National Social Science Foundation, the Social Science Foundation of MOE, and the Foundation for "Central European Higher Education Cooperation Program".
The English Department has published a large number of influential academic publications and translations of British and American literary works. Among these key and often award-winning works are The Columbia Literary History of the United States (provincial third prize), Comparative Chinese and British Poetics (Provincial Award for Excellent Academic Achievement in Social Science, and the Provincial Education Commission Award), Theory of Contemporary American Novels (National Social Science Foundation project), James Joyce: Modern Ulysses (Provincial Second Prize for Social Sciences), Dictionary of English Grammar (national research project), American Indian Mythology and Literature (third prize of the Provincial People's Government), Feminine Mystique (Provincial Third Prize for the Social Sciences), The Beat Generation and Others, Beat Meets East, etc.

Each year the Department hosts 50 to 60 lectures given by celebrated scholars from home and abroad and one or two national-level symposiums on a specific topic. This is very conducive to creating a favorable academic atmosphere for both faculties and students.
According to the statistics published in December 2005, the English Department has 45 faculty members, including 31 professors and associate professors. The current enrollment in the department includes over 700 undergraduate and about 380 M.A and Ph.D students.