The Institute of Applied Language Studies of East China Normal University (ECNU) was established in 2002, first headed by Professor Pan Wenguo, and currently by Professor Wu Yongyi. With a loose structure, the Institute is an interdepartmental research organization. It consists of faculty and researchers in various fields of applied language research, most of whom are from the School of International Chinese Studies.

The Institute is mainly engaged in research on social applications of language and writing (including language education, language policy, language norms, network language, social dialects, etc.), comparative linguistics, translation studies, international Chinese language education, acquisition and teaching of Chinese as a second/foreign language, development of Chinese language teachers, etc. Since its establishment, the Institute has made significant achievements and undertaken a large number of National Social Science Foundation projects (including key projects), Humanities and Social Science Foundation projects of the Ministry of Education (including major projects), and Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Planning projects, as well as research projects commissioned by people's governments at all levels. It has also published a large number of influential works, delivered major papers at home and abroad, and compiled a great many teaching materials. All of these contribute to the national strategy and the building of Shanghai as an international metropolis, especially the communication of Chinese language and Chinese culture.

Adhering to General Secretary Xi Jinping's philosophy of governance, the Institute is committed to serving national strategy, urban development, and discipline and major construction, with a view to developing an international perspective while remaining locally based and breeding more high-quality interdisciplinary research achievements.