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  • XU Yueting, GU Yue
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 60-72. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.007

    Artificial intelligence (AI) represented by ChatGPT can not only promote learners to learn foreign languages but also improve teachers’ work efficiency and reduce their work burden. However, the educational revolution triggered by ChatGPT brings challenges to foreign language teaching and results in identity tensions to foreign language teachers. By reviewing research on the application of AI in the field of foreign language teaching and language teacher identity, this paper analyses challenges of foreign language teaching and teachers, identity tensions and solutions, and puts forward corresponding suggestions from three aspects, including teachers, schools, and government. This paper not only provides theoretical support and practical guidance for the implementation of AI-assisted teaching in the field of foreign language education but also has enlightenment for other subjects in dealing with teacher identity tensions and exploring the path of deep integration of AI and education.

  • WANG Haixiao
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 23-33. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.002

    The rapid development of generative AI technology provides an important opportunity for innovation in College English textbooks. This article first reviews the development history of digital textbooks in China and analyzes the potential of generative AI in areas such as dynamic content generation, personalized learning support, multimodal resource integration, and optimization of classroom interactions. Based on the current needs of College English teaching and relevant literature, this paper proposes a framework for the development of novel intelligent digital textbooks in the era of generative AI. This framework includes eight dimensions: textbook structure, textbook form, learning experience, teaching activities, teaching content, cross-disciplinary integration, assessment and feedback, and quality assurance and ethical standards.

  • LI Jingjie, CHEN Qiuyan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 73-83. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.008

    Artificially intelligent writing has become an irreversible trend. This article, from the perspective of human-machine collaboration, provides an assessment and comparison of artificial intelligence writing systems in three stages: the emergence stage of AI writing, the stage of diversified exploration, and the stage of comprehensive development. It analyzes the characteristics and development trends of human-machine collaboration in intelligent writing systems at different stages. Building upon this analysis, it discusses the progress, issues, and implications of human-machine collaborative intelligent writing systems in academic English writing and teaching in terms of the integration of writing assistance and revision assistance, dialogue-based interaction, comprehensive coverage of the writing process, and Man-Computer symbiosis.

  • SHU Dingfang
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 7-22. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.001

    Textbook research primarily encompasses three major domains: content, consumption, and production (Harwood 2014). Globally, the development of English teaching materials is typically publisher-driven, with hired writers participating in compilation based on publishers’ requirements, often involving professional textbook authors. In contrast, the development of primary and secondary English textbooks in China, while also publisher-led, strictly adheres to mandates from educational administrative authorities and undergoes official professional reviews. Compilers usually consist of researchers paired with frontline teachers. Due to the cross-regional use of textbooks, core compilers are not from the same geographic area nor are they key teaching researchers within the relevant regional educational ecosystem. Such textbook development only begins to impact subject-specific teaching in a region after the materials are put into use.

    The development of compulsory education English textbooks in Shanghai has organically integrated stakeholders within the foreign language education ecosystem and critical affordances of the ecosystem. First, compilers study national policies—particularly curriculum standards—analyze existing textbooks (especially exemplary overseas materials), and investigate local realities of foreign language teaching. Second, the textbook development team incorporates core future users, such as district-level teaching researchers and frontline master teachers, into the design and compilation process. Not only does the team incorporate their feedback and suggestions, but these future users also enhance their professional expertise through collaborative workshops and the compilation process. This deepens their understanding of the textbook’s essence, theoretical foundations, and practical applications, thereby laying a solid foundation for subsequent textbook implementation. The compilation process itself embodies interactions, collaborations, negotiations, and mutual empowerment among key stakeholders in the local foreign language education ecosystem. Textbook development is seamlessly integrated with teacher professional development and training for material usage, forming the defining feature of Shanghai’s current compulsory education English textbooks and representing a unique case in international foreign language textbook development. This process has catalyzed a new ecosystem for basic foreign language education, where textbook compilation and ecosystem construction serve as mutual goals and foundations, fostering reciprocal advancement.

  • CUI Fengjuan, XIE Lin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 79-88. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.007

    Knowledge-centered translatology posits that translation is a process of globalization of local knowledge, which centers around knowledge construction. Subtitle translation of documentaries exemplifies this interaction and transfer between local and global knowledge. Guided by the principles of truth, virtue and beauty, this paper examines the subtitle translation of the documentary Harmony Between Humanity and Nature and explores the inherent mechanisms of subtitle translation in this work. By analyzing representative cases, we find that some translations of the documentary’s subtitles adhere to the principles of truth, virtue and beauty. Therefore, these translations convey authentic meanings, take into consideration the target audience, and meet the aesthetic standards of the target language. However, others do not follow these principles, which hinders the documentary’s international reach.

  • JIA Fan, FENG Yuhan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 44-54. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.004

    《中国英语能力等级量表》(China’s Standards of English Language Ability,下文简称CSE)作为我国本土研发的英语能力量表,为不同学段、不同等级的教、学、测提供了客观量度,也为教材研发与评价提供了重要参考。本文参考CSE考察四套英语专业教材语法项目的分布。通过文本分析,研究发现: (1)四套教材中所编排的语法项目覆盖了CSE3CSE7;语法项目涉及句式多样性描述语较多,而涉及复杂句式描述语的覆盖频率较低。(2)四套教材语法项目间对CSE3CSE7的不同描述语的覆盖存在显著差异,缺乏语法项目定级的统一标准。本研究对CSE在教材中的应用研究和英语专业语法教学有启示意义。

  • LIU Junping
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 96-111. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.010

    Professor Yang Feng, the founder of Transknowletology, put forward the proposition that “The fusion of knowledge in science, sociology and humanities will solve the puzzle and problem of classification anxiety for the translation discipline for the time to come. Translatology armed with the knowledge of natural sciences, social sciences and humanities will inevitably become a meta discipline or supra subject”(Yang Feng 2021:2). Proceeding from the insightful statement, we can observe that Transknowletology intends to integrate the resources and refine its key concepts and reformulate its epistemic framework from the above three disciplines based on complex system to construct the meta-knowledge of translatology. Thus, Transknowletology as general translatology will necessarily touch upon the knowledge and ideas of translatology, philosophy, sociology, cognition, hermeneutics. Through analysis and synthesis, construction and refining, it will become a meta-discipline for translation studies embodying both the logical facts and ethic values.If it intends to reach such a goal, Transknowletology must include epistemic concepts, paradigms and epistemic reintegration and reclassification on its road map so as to reformulate its model. On the epistemic structure, it should proceed from the onotology, methodology and teleology of epistemology, attach importance to the dialectics of methodology, integrate East-West epistemology,reorganize the internal and external knowledge of translatology, give weight to humanistic, aesthetic and ethic knowledge. Thus formulated, it will depart from the binary separation of knowledge to the existential and life world experiences. Consequently, it will lessen the tensions between the scientific rationality and humanistic reason. Based on the “ method of harmonious balance of Transknowletology ” and the logic of dialogue, the newly formed branch of learning will perfect its methodology of restructuring its knowledge base and will eventually deal with the ultimate concern of “what is a translator” so as to actualize the “Epistemic Turn” in contemporary Translation Studies.

  • TANG Jihua
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(3): 108-118. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.03.010

    As an emerging meta-discipline in translation studies, Transknowletology has developed through three years of theoretical and practical exploration. This study examines its disciplinary institutionalization by analyzing 2022-2025 literature from China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) using academic historiography and descriptive analysis methods. Key findings indicate: (1) Theoretically, an ontological framework emphasizing “theoretical construction” has been established, enriched through interdisciplinary engagement with philosophical epistemology and sociology of knowledge; (2) Practically, research frontiers have expanded beyond humanistic translation to form specialized paradigms in science, medicine, and law. However, critical gaps persist: insufficient empirical research in natural and social sciences and lack of research on translation historiography and knowledge genealogy. To address these, future directions should focus on: (1) enhancing empirical studies in natural science, social science and interdisciplinary translation. (2) advancing knowledge archaeology through disciplinary translation histories and genealogical mappings to clarify knowledge’s centrality in translational evolution. This article provides a foundational reference for Transknowletology’s disciplinary positioning and strategic development.

  • YANG Lianrui, ZHANG Hui, LIU Xiaolan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 34-42. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.004

    The capacity for international communication is a critical indicator of a nation’s soft power, with the cultivation of high-caliber talent serving as the cornerstone of this development. Mastery of foreign languages is indispensable for enhancing international communication, and foreign language majors should aim to produce versatile professionals equipped with a strong sense of national identity, global awareness, and specialized expertise. This paper, grounded in the framework of the New Liberal Arts, proposes the establishment of an innovative talent cultivation platform within foreign language majors to enhance educational efficacy and better support the development of international communication competencies. The platform seeks to integrate resources across institutions and classrooms, providing interdisciplinary and cross-professional knowledge and skills. Its primary focus is on cultivating students’ abilities in critical areas such as comprehension, interpretation, analytical thinking, and innovation. Meanwhile, the platform is distinguished by four core features: broad scope, targeted relevance, adaptability, and a strong emphasis on practical application. It offers foreign language students an innovative environment to reinforce their foundational knowledge while enhancing their capacity to contribute to global communication efforts.

  • XU Ying, YUAN Jie, HUANG Mengjia, CHEN Jin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 84-95. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.009

    Learning engagement is an important indicator to measure learning achievement and teaching effectiveness, however, not much attention has been paid to non-English major students’ learning engagement under the blended teaching mode. To this end, this article aims to examine their engagement with the course of “English for Academic Purposes” under the blended teaching mode by employing questionnaires and semi-structured interviews for data collection. It was found that students’ engagement consists of three dimensions including cognitive, affective and behavioral; their engagement on the cognitive, affective and behavioral dimensions are rank-ordered from high to low in terms of the strength; factors relating to students themselves, learning resources and settings, and classroom interpersonal relationship have a significant effect on their engagement. The above findings disclose the multi-faceted and interactive nature of ecological relationship between various factors, and could shed light on the application of blended foreign language teaching in China.

  • GAO Jie
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(3): 140-151. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.03.013

    生成式人工智能技术的突破性发展为教育领域带来结构性变革。作为典型应用的DeepSeek系统,其在外语教育场景中展现出多维赋能价值:构建自适应学习支持系统,实现语言技能发展的个性化诊断;创设多模态技能发展框架,通过智能对话机制强化跨文化交际能力培养;建立自动化评估反馈体系,运用自然语言处理技术提升教学诊断效度;创新教学设计范式,为教师提供基于大数据的学情分析工具。然而,该技术的教育应用伴随显著的伦理风险与实践挑战:学术诚信体系面临智能代写导致的效度危机,教师专业身份遭遇人机协同的教学权威重构挑战,学生认知能动性呈现技术依赖引发的弱化趋势,以及生成内容存在文化偏误与逻辑谬误等效度偏差问题。研究指出,教育场域的技术治理需建立三重平衡机制:在工具理性与价值理性间构建人机协同的教育生态,在效率追求与质量保障间形成动态监测体系,在技术创新与教育本质间确立伦理审查框架。建议通过开发教师智能教育能力认证体系、构建学生数字素养培育课程模块、完善智能教育产品质量标准等路径,实现生成式人工智能技术与外语教育目标的深度契合,促进语言能力培养与核心素养发展的有机统一。

  • WANG Yin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 18-26. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.002

    Innovation should not go to extreme; criticism should not make radical remarks. Linguistic theory has inherited and developed until today via rethought and initiative. The present-day mainstream Cognitive Linguistics (CL) has also undergone the stages of “start, improvement, dominance, reconsideration”. Dᶏbrowska(2016)severely pointed out the seven deadly sins in the paper entitled “Cognitive Linguistics’ Seven Deadly Sins”, which, we think, is extremely inappropriate. She could not see the academic values of CL from the viewpoint of historical materialism: CL has criticized the two modernist great masters Saussurean “linguistic transcendentalism” and Chomskyan “linguistic nativism”, thus bringing linguistic theory into postmodernist era. In academic research, one should not harbor the mentality of “angry young cynic”, but pursue the path of “inheritance and development”. CL’s shortcomings are not at all seven deadly sins listed in her paper, but can be remedied by Embodied-Cognitive Linguistics, with the two terms “embodiment (ti)” and “cognition (ren)” emphasizing materialism and humanism in linguistic research. The present paper also thinks that we should hold postmodernist “View of Elephant and Leopard” and “Pluralism”, neither restricted to a single idea, nor influenced by extreme remarks, but with a standpoint of “long and wide view” and “inclusive and convergent attitude” so as to continuously promote a healthy progress of disciplinary construction.

  • ZHAI Shilei, LIU Meng
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 182-190. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.017

    To develop area studies as a discipline has been a consensus in diverse fields, but research about the core competence of area studies talents needs to be furthered. Area studies talents are supposed to combine interdisciplinary theories with international governance. In this regard, the core competence of area studies talents should include some crucial, deciding and fundamental abilities in aspects such as collaboration, intercultural strategic communication, creativity and critical thinking. With such abilities, individual talents are able to research and communicate better. Consequently, the cultivation of area studies talents should synchronize cognitive competence with non-cognitive competence. It is believed this new cultivation pattern could equip integrated talents with a high level of language competence for area studies and international governance.

  • DAI Guangrong, SHEN Siyi, HUANG Dongliang
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 125-138. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.012

    In the era of Language Intelligence, translation pedagogy ushers into a more diverse and complex landscape, knowledge within this system broadens deeper than ever, but students’ learning didn’t go to depth with the development of technology. The shallow learning-based education model is no longer suitable for the current translation pedagogy and its knowledge translation production and spreading. This paper aims to explore innovative pathways to address the predicament in talent cultivation. With Transknowletology as its core, this paper elucidates the concept, content and scope of deep learning and puts forward the model for translation technology education combined with deep learning and knowledge system. Lastly, this paper attempts to construct an efficient and scientific path of enhancing translation technological thinking skills, in a bid to enhance the knowledge translation development and acceptance.

  • ZHANG Xizhen
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 191-195. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.018

    The concept of thing-in-itself was proposed by Kant to define the boundary of human rational cognition. Whether it exists or not is neither verifiable nor falsifiable, and human rationality cannot reach it, thus becoming an unresolved issue in the philosophical field. Can we imagine, present, and touch thingness (thing-in-itself) through literary narrative? This is the focus of Professor Tang Weisheng’s original and insightful thinking in his book A Study on Narrative of Thingness. The book breaks the bias of anthropocentrism and returns to thingness, exploring how literature imagines thing-in-itself from the perspective of narratology. It provides specific critical perspectives, methods, and paths for text interpretation, as well as macro theoretical categories and models for post anthropocentric narrative research. It is perhaps the very first attempt, both in theory and critical practice, towards the interpretation of narrative of thingness, which not only leads the domestic research, but also attracts much attention from international scholars on narrative.

  • LI Jing, HUA Yunpeng
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 103-114. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.009

    “Translator competence” has received widespread attention following the “translator turn” in translation studies. Existing research has primarily focused on the classification of translator sub-competences, attempting to exhaustively identify all the abilities that translators should possess. However, the interdisciplinary nature of translation studies constantly expands the number of sub-competences, a situation that not only results in a time lag between translation research and translators’ actual abilities but exacerbates the current ambiguity in defining translator competence. This paper, based on the epistemological interpretation of translation and knowledge management and by taking generalized knowledge as the starting point for examining translator competence, proposes a knowledge-oriented approach to translator competence and conceptualizes all acquired postnatal translator competences as knowledge. It argues that translator competence comprises translational declarative knowledge, translational procedural knowledge and translational metaknowledge; translator competence is, in essence, an integration of structured translational declarative knowledge acquired through continuous practice and translational procedural knowledge that can be applied according to certain rules, and it is the embodiment of these two types of knowledge in translation activities under the management, guidance, and regulation of translational metaknowledge; the nature of translator competence development lies in the quantitative accumulation and qualitative improvement of translational declarative and procedural knowledge, the optimization of their structures, and the ever-strengthened regulation of translational metaknowledge.

  • WANG Xuemei, ZHOU Maojie, MA Qiuyan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 34-43. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.003

    In the context of smart education, digital textbooks represent a key element of textbook development. This study clarifies the concept of digital textbooks in tertiary foreign language teaching and identifies their core characteristics, including intelligent adaptation, cross-temporal and spatial interaction, multimodal interdisciplinary integration, and dynamic value shaping. Then based on an analysis of survey data, the study examines the status quo of tertiary digital textbooks and explores their development pathways from the dimensions of textbook compilation and review, selection, usage, evaluation, and research. The findings aim to provide references for future studies.

  • CAI Xinle, ZHOU Zhonghao
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.001

    Due to insufficient attention from academia, the differences between ancient Chinese translation(Yi译) activities and modern translation have not been fully explored. In fact, ancient Chinese translation activities have often been confined to “linguistic and semantic exchanges”, an observation made from a modern perspective. Rewriting Chinese Translation History not only locates the activities in this way, but also misquotes ancient texts in such a way that they are untenable. Returning to the historical scene, in the Fangyan (Dilects), the term 传 in “译,传也” should be read as “zhuàn”, meaning 驿(courier stations). In the “The Historical Records of Dawan” from Shiji (The Grand Scribe’s Records), the 绎in “daoyi”(导绎) means 译 (interpreting or translating) and is the phonetic loan character of 驿(courier stations). In the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, the name of the official interpreter was “Shi Yi”(使驿). These historical materials and their interpretations tell us that ancient Chinese译 was primarily an official activity centered on “Yizhan”(驿站, courier stations), aimed at “education”, and “chongyi”(重译)emphasizes this even more. The latter did not aim at linguistic relay interpreting, but information transmission from one “Yizhan” to another that ultimately reaches the center, indicating political activities of “paying allegiance to the central state” from all directions. Exploring ancient translation activities requires an approach focused on “character-based”, with the key being the benevolent thoughts reflected in “Ziru”(multiplication of characters).

  • ZHU Jianping
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 112-124. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.010

    This paper, grounded in Marxist view of practice, explores the interaction between subject and object in the process of translation practice. It argues that each stage of translation practice — source text (ST) selection, target text (TT) production, and TT reception — involves a bidirectional movement of subjectification and objectification. Translation practice is a dynamic process where the composite subject of these stages interacts with the composite object through a mediator system. The subject of each subsequent stage takes the outcome of the preceding stage as its object and generates a new outcome that serve as the object for the subject of the following stage. Every translation practice thus unfolds as a dynamic system that develops from ST selection to TT production and TT reception. The ST selector, TT producer, and TT receiver, all integral subjects within this system, jointly facilitate the reproduction of ideas and enable the cross-cultural migration of heterogeneous concepts from the source culture.

  • CHEN Huangqi
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 77-86. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.007

    “名正言顺”可谓先哲术语辨析的探幽足迹。近代梁启超面对“旧译之病”提倡“定公译之例”。伴随着学科发展,新术语层出不穷。然而,西方术语尤其是具有学科理论突破的术语译入汉语,长期译名不一,且有的译名无法凸显原术语的核心要义,对于“洋为中用”实在不利。美国新修辞运动时期的著名术语rhetorical situation迄今有四种汉语译名,有的可以追溯使用者的理由,有的仅是沿袭他人用法未有任何说明。通过呈现“修辞情景”“修辞情境”“修辞形势”“修辞情势”四种汉语译名的使用频次和理据,重温原英语术语作者所赋予的特殊内涵,本着尊重原作原义原则,发现“修辞情势”,相对说来,最符合原术语核心要旨。因此,在“约定俗成”未“定”未“成”之时,希望引起译界尤其是修辞学界的重视,以期促进中西修辞研究。

  • ZHANG Hong, YIN Hang, LI Huiqin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 3-14. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.001

    Since the establishment of foreign language education studies as a secondary discipline under the first-level discipline of foreign languages and literatures, talent cultivation in this field has become a crucial issue for promoting the development of this discipline. This article first explores the connotation of talent cultivation in the discipline of foreign language education studies, then analyzes the challenges currently confronted in the talent cultivation process. Finally, in combination with the case of the doctoral program of the foreign language education studies major at Beijing Foreign Studies University, this article attempts to propose principles for developing talent cultivation programs as well as constructing and implementating the curriculum system in the discipline of foreign language education studies, in the hope of providing reference for talent cultivation in this field.

  • XU Jinfen, LI Juan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 125-137. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.011

    The present study conducts a systematic review of 76 articles related to teachers’ professional development in the context of digital intelligence in foreign language education from 2004 to 2024, aiming to provide insights into the current landscape. By employing the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic model and thematic analysis, the study explores the primary research focuses. Furthermore, it analyzes the types of technology along with their benefits and challenges. The results indicate that: (1) research on teachers’ professional development demonstrates an overall upward trend, despite periodic fluctuations; (2) research topics are diverse, covering various dimensions such as teachers’ knowledge, skills, practices, and training, but insufficiently address emotional aspects; (3) there is a tendency toward homogenization in research design, and the potential of data mining and analysis remains underutilized; (4) while technologies contribute significantly to teachers’ professional development, the dynamic changes in their empowering effects warrant further exploration. Finally, the study offers prospects for advancing teachers’ professional development in the digital intelligence process of foreign language education, aiming to promote its transformation and advancement.

  • HU Zhuanglin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 53-59. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.006

    During the period of January and April 2024, I successively participated in two national conferences, that is, “National Symposiium on Multimodality and Functional Linguistics” held by Shanghai Tongji University, and “Symposium on Military Application of Multimodality during the AI Era”held by National University of Defence Technology. The two symposiums indicated that the research of multimodality has become one of the key research subjects. This paper is aimed at discussing those topics about the concept of multimodality, such as connotation, contemporality, fusion, chief mode,and fragmentality. Finally, I report some of my research topics concerning multimadalty.

  • FENG Weilan, PAN Weimin
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 47-54. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.004

    Translation is a mapping and exchanging process of local knowledge in languages. Transknowletology, placing translation within different knowledge communities, focuses on the global transformation of local knowledge. The English translation of the Chinese Marxist works Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung is a state translation program and an active act to have a dialogue with global knowledge. Starting from the three elements of knowledge, language, and translator in transknowletology, this article explores the global transformation of local knowledge in the English translation of the Chinese Marxist works Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, and strengthens the positive promotion of Chinese Marxism in the world.

  • LI Min
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 25-33. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.003

    After nearly a decade of research, Foreign Language Education Studies (FLES) has recently been formally recognized as an independent discipline by China’s Ministry of Education. However, its necessity and distinctiveness still remain unclear to many in the academic community. Building on previous research, this paper further elaborates on the necessity of FLES as a distinct field of research and explores its distinctiveness from two dimensions: the innovation of research perspectives and the transformation of research paradigms. By addressing these issues, the paper aims to advance the theoretical and practical development of FLES.

  • LI Zhanzi, HAN Zeting
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(3): 119-128. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.03.011

    With the rise of generative AI, social semiotic multimodality studies face new opportunities and challenges. This paper reviews recent developments in multimodal researches to explore the application and impacts of AI technologies in social semiotics. Our findings show that AI helps overcome methodological limitations in multimodal discourse research, stimulates innovation in multimodal genres, and contributes to a paradigm shift in social semiotics theory—one that considers all communicative elements in the dynamic meaning exchange process. To address AI’s limitations in empathy and multimodal comprehension, future efforts should focus on building harmonious human-AI collaboration, encouraging interdisciplinary work and enriching the interpretation of multimodal discourse theory.

  • SHI Yun
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 89-102. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.008

    Research on the Sinologist David Roy has primarily centered on the textual interpretation of his translation, often overlooking the sinological knowledge that influenced his choice of the original Jin Ping Mei. Besides, there are research gaps in understanding the broader context of his sinological translation. This article seeks to examine the translator’s deep motivations through an epistemological lens. It reveals that the previous knowledge circulation of Jin Ping Mei in the Anglophone world is a key factor in shaping Roy’s sinological research. Through multiple interactions with the author, the original text and critics, Roy developed his sinological knowledge of Jin Ping Mei. To reconstruct the original work’s full knowledge system within the broader field of world literature, Roy meticulously traces its sources, translates it word for word, and provides detailed footnotes. In doing so, he preserves the spirit of the original work to the greatest extent and offers a model of thick translation for classical Chinese literature.

  • ZOU Gengxin, ZHU Keshu
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 66-78. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.006

    本文借助CiteSpace可视化工具对近三十年国内马克思主义翻译研究相关文献进行内容挖掘与数据分析,并以知识图谱形式加以呈现,旨在发现“马克思主义翻译”研究现状及未来研究趋势。研究发现:马克思主义翻译研究总体呈现增长趋势,研究主题具有多样性,但跨机构、跨学科的交叉研究相对较少。研究认为,未来马克思主义翻译研究应加强不同领域学者、学科及机构的交叉合作,创新研究方法,进一步注重翻译研究的时代价值。

  • ZHONG Shuneng, SHI Si
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 151-158. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.014

    From the perspective of Marxist philosophy, the relationship between cultural diversity and globalization is a complex problem of dialectical unity between the universality and particularity of contradictions, which are different and closely related to each other. With the increasing globalization of economy and information, how to maintain the diversity and uniqueness of culture under the tide of globalization is an urgent problem to be considered. Guided by Marxist world outlook and methodology, this paper attempts to explore the intersection and conflict between different cultural values in contemporary society in the process of cross-cultural communication by analyzing the correlation and contradiction between the two, in order to find an effective way for the harmonious coexistence of various civilizations and the coexistence of beauty and beauty in the era of globalization, and make a preliminary exploration for the sustainable development of cultural diversity.

  • LI Zhiling, LI Xiaoyi
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 43-52. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.005

    Since the 1960s, China’s foreign language education has been too closely following the modern linguistics and its development. As a result, it has strayed into a narrowing path of metaphysicalization and dogmatization. Therefore, though China’s foreign language education has made great achievements, a lot of problems have also ensued in its development. To reflect, and rediscover the positive elements of the traditional philological foreign language education, restore the presence of the classics of literature, history, and philosophy in foreign language education, properly handle the relation between linguistics and literature, history and the present, and the relation between China and the western world, and draw on the different schools of postmodern philosophy such as phenomenology, hermeneutics, philosophy of language,practical philosophy etc. which check and balance metaphysics and dogmatism, is of much importance for China’s foreign language education to walk out of the current self-identity crisis and confusion, and the facelift of the discipline of foreign language education as a whole. Also it is essential for the current discussion and the further reform of foreign language education in China.

  • LIU Xiao, GUO Qing
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 159-169. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.015

    National consciousness is the citizens’ cognition of and identification with their country. It is politically, historically and culturally constructed and is thus deeply rooted in the traditions of the nation state. Taking the national reading program as the starting point to examine its relevance to the national-consciousness oriented discourse practices of other nations in specific historical periods may provide insights from a global perspective on the construction of a national consciousness discourse system in China’s foreign language education. Based on the different facets of national consciousness, this paper investigates the causes and motivations behind the development of a national reading program in the United States after the end of World War II, and analyzes the multiple functions of reading in the specific historical context. The program is further examined in light of its manifestation as a political legacy in the field of reading practice in the post 9·11 era. The paper concludes that the cognitive, psychological and emotional elements inherent in national consciousness are integrated through reading action into relevant educational discourse and practice. In this way, a national reading program derived from the interactions of individual, social and national discourses can play an important role in the shape of national cognition, identity construction and national identification.

  • WU You
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 35-46. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.003

    Being essential for the rise and fall of a nation, translation plays an important part in the modernization process in China. Since the late Qing Dynasty, Marxism got introduced into China through translation, functioning as a vehicle of fighting for national emancipation. In contemporary times, the translation and introduction of Chinese leaders’ writings based on China’s position and reflecting China’s wisdom to overseas countries has achieved the leap from “one-way (West to East) travel” to “two-way dialogue” in theory. Marxist theories, originated in the West, witnessed their great success in the East. Being adapted to the Chinese context and internalized as part of Chinese discourse, these theories, in return, have contributed to the development of today’s Marxism around the world. Thus, a probe into the history of translating and disseminating Marxist theories through the lens of Transknowletology reveals an important facet of East-West cultural communication, namely, the shift from “one-way traveling” to “East-West dialogue”.

  • WU Zhuochao, ZHENG Yongyan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 138-153. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.012

    Phrasal complexity represents the advanced stage of learner language development. It is often regarded as an important dimension in the investigation of the effects of macro learner backgrounds and micro task-related variables on language production and related research has accumulated ample findings concerning the statistical distribution of linguistic indices. However, the joint effects of macro- and micro-level variables remain under-examined, and the interpretation of statistical patterns of the complexity indices lacks the support from linguistic theory. Therefore, this study explores the effects of learner backgrounds and task cognitive conditions on EFL learners’ oral phrasal complexity based on the International Corpus Network of Asian Learners of English (ICNALE) (500,000 words). This study establishes a path analysis model combining 5 fine-grained phrasal complexity indices, and investigates the interaction between learner backgrounds and task cognitive conditions (task readiness) through the lens of Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. Results show that the macro-level learner backgrounds generated multi-dimensional effects on oral phrasal complexity while micro-level cognitive conditions interacted with age and affected the expression of interpersonal meaning. This research has converged the effects of macro and micro variables on oral production and provided a functional perspective on the development of learners’ phrasal complexity.

  • QIN Lili, WANG Yongliang, WU Hanwei
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(2): 171-182. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.02.015

    The teaching concept of ideological and political education in college English courses has been promoted for more than four years, yet there has been a lack of an effective teaching evaluation scale. Most of the existing scales are derived from the macroscopic educational fields of non - English disciplines, which are difficult to meet the teaching needs of ideological and political education in college English courses and fail to provide effective guidance. Therefore, the development of an applicable evaluation scale is urgently needed. Based on two important documents, namely “The Guiding Outline for the Construction of Ideological and Political Education in Institutions of Higher Learning” and “The College English Teaching Guide”, this study utilizes the emotional experience (perezhivanie) framework in sociocultural theory to construct a scale for the effectiveness of ideological and political education in English courses. In Sample 1 (N = 500), an exploratory factor analysis was used to form a scale with 33 items. In Sample 2 (N = 504), a confirmatory factor analysis was employed to verify the good fit of the four - factor structure, and confirm the internal consistency of the scale and the measurement consistency across genders. This study provides a scientific measure for the teaching reform of ideological and political education in college English courses and offers a valuable reference for subsequent research.

  • LI La, WANG Yuming
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 191-201. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.018

    On September 14th, 2022, the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council and the Ministry of Education issued the Catalogue of Graduate Education Subjects and Specialties (2022) and the Management Measures of the Catalogue of Graduate Education Subjects and Specialties, which officially declared International and Regional Studies to be established as a first-tier discipline under the category of interdisciplinary disciplines. It proves the necessity of integrating this discipline with other related disciplines. The interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary nature of area studies is mainly embodied in its definition and disciplinary distribution of the researchers involved, which can be concluded by sorting out the definitions made by different scholars at home and abroad, and analyzing the distribution of overseas research disciplines in the projects supported by the National Social Science Fund and the distribution of the humanities and social science projects funded by the Ministry of Education. According to the results, it can also be fourd that two disciplines of Foreign Languages and World History make major contributions to International and Regional Studies. Languages serve as indispensable tools, while the discipline of World History uses languages to study the history of various countries and regions in depth. Thus, it will be highly beneficial for the development of International and Regional studies to combine Foreign Languages Discipline with the discipline of World History through multiple degrees conferring, faculty sharing and building academic communities.

  • HUANG Jian
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(3): 13-24. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.03.002

    The proposal of Transknowletology has opened new prospects for translation studies that had long been suffering from a lack of fresh theoretical inspiration. As the principles of translation production and criticism embedded in this new theory, with knowledge at its core, ‘seeking knowledge with truth’, ‘demanding righteousness with goodness’ and ‘re-writing with beauty’ (or in short: truth, goodness and beauty) are rooted in philosophy and implemented in the process of translation. Thanks to their link to both theory and practice, they constitute essential elements on which translation knowledge can build up. As truth, goodness and beauty are originally basic categories from the field of philosophy, their definitions, applications and interconnections within the specific domain of translation must be considered and clarified by those who commit themselves to the development of Transknowletology. The review of the relevant literature suggests that: (1) truth can be understood as the truly sincere attitude with which knowledge is sought after and the true nature of knowledge; (2) goodness can be divided into the superior one consisting in shortening knowledge gaps between different cultures and the inferior one of facilitating target readers in acquisition of local knowledge from other cultures; and (3) beauty can be considered as a quality instrument for shedding light on truth and communicating both subject knowledge and language knowledge carried in source texts; (4) the three ought to be mutually serviceable as ends and means and are often found in subtle and sophisticated interactions. It is hoped that such contributions to the existing interpretations of the threes principles, completely drawn on the researcher’s limited knowledge and experiences, can inspire further inquiries into the topic in question with the final purpose of consolidating the edifice of Transknowletology.

  • ZHU Ping
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 184-190. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.017

    The translation and dissemination of Chinese literature plays a crucial role in the rise of China and the ‘going global’ initiative of Chinese culture. What to translate, who to translate, how to translate, and how to achieve the desired dissemination effect abroad? Professor Zhu Zhenwu has answered these questions in his trilogy “Sinologist’s Representation of the Chinese Literature in the English-speaking World”, which provides insightful enlightenment for the translation and dissemination of the Chinese literature: firstly, cultural self-awareness and cultural confidence are the prerequisite considerations; secondly, Chinese and foreign translators with their respective strengths should fully cooperate; thirdly, in terms of content, the works for translation must be well chosen; fourthly, as for translation strategies, both domestication and foreignization approaches are applicable to strike a dynamic balance between these two for different works; finally, for better communication effects, all parties involved in the actions of translation and dissemination should work as a community of synergy.

  • SUN Yan
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 134-146. https://doi.org/10.3969/i.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.012

    The growth of writers is influenced and restricted by regional culture, and their literary creation have regional characteristics. William Faulkner grew up in South America and created Yoknapatawpha County by using the realistic technique, taking it as a carrier to write the history and reality of South America. Inspired by Faulkner, Mo Yan has constructed the “Northeast Gaomi Township”, which encompasses all worldly phenomena. “The Northeast Gaomi Township” highlights the folk color, reflects Mo Yan’s hometown feelings, and provides a literary geographical space for telling Chinese stories and Chinese experience. In the process of narration, it has transcended the historical context and regional culture, constructed the connection between history and reality, and enhanced the writing value of regional culture.

  • LAI Liangtao
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2025, 25(1): 15-24. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2025.01.002

    Since the beginning of 2024, foreign language education has been officially established as a new discipline in China. Still at its infant stage, this new discipline needs to learn from relevant mature disciplines to consolidate its foundation. Educational linguistics, focusing on the interaction between language and education, is one of the mature disciplines that can provide useful insights and inspirations for the development of foreign language education. From the perspective of educational linguistics, foreign language education can be interpreted as a discipline focusing on the interaction between foreign language and education. It has two main tasks: the study on the role of foreign language in education (and in society) and the study on the education of and through foreign language. The role of foreign language in educational and other social activities in China is the start point, which determines the objective and scope of the theory of the discipline, and also conditions the principle and methodology of its practice. In summary, foreign language education should integrate the education of language skills, language knowledge and disciplinary knowledge, so as to simultaneously fulfil its instrumental and humanistic functions, bring foreign language into full use in educational and social activities, and thus ultimately enable the harmonious development of individual learners, social communities and the country as a whole.

  • LI Chunlan, KONG Lingcui, LIU Haiou
    Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies. 2024, 24(6): 55-65. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2024.06.005

    Although the study on Chen Wangdao’s translation of the Manifesto of Communist Party has scored great success, it can be found easily that the key details of the translation of Manifesto of Communist Party are still quite confusing in terms of several aspects, such as the translation initiators, the initiating time, the master copies and the sources, the respective roles of the Japanese and English master copy, proofreaders and parallel texts. In order to seek the truth of such key details, this paper first comprehensively combs through various statements in existing researches and summarizes the contradictory relationships among those statements, then focuses on the analyses of the respective spatial-temporal trails and intersections of the main figures such as Chen Wangdao, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao and Shao Lizi, and finally tries to reach the conclusion that can reflect the historical truth and conform to logic based on these analyses, related literature and logical inferences.