As an important course assessment form, portfolio assessment requires a scientific rating scale for its effective application. Taking the case of the course Comprehensive English and adopting the method of teacher-student cooperative construction, this study collected and analyzed the independent ratings and reflections of teachers and students on portfolios, focused group discussions and questionnaire surveys to develop a rating scale for the portfolio. It subsequently validated the portfolio through the Many-Facet Rasch Model analysis of student ratings. The study provides empirical evidence for applying portfolios to foreign language courses, and has methodological implications for developing rating scales for other courses of foreign language programs.

The College English Test (CET), a language testing system with distinctive Chinese characteristics, was designed and developed by Chinese language testers in the 1980s. In this article, a review was undertaken of the reform and development of the CET in the past three decades, focusing on its role in promoting college English teaching and learning. Directions for the further development of language testing in China were discussed based on the validity theory of language testing. It was suggested that language testers in China should pay due attention to the Chinese context and be actively engaged in research on the social dimensions of language testing so as to facilitate a sustained development of domestic language tests with Chinese characteristics and enhance their international recognition.

Through a quantitative content analysis of the research methods in Business English (BE) studies published in CSSCI and SSCI journals from 2007 to 2017, this paper finds that: (1) In research design, both domestic and overseas studies emphasized BE education, while international academia witnessed more BE discourse studies; both domestic and overseas studies were mainly based on linguistics, but more interdisciplinary studies were published in SSCI journals; a wider range of business genres, spoken and computermediated genres in particular, were investigated by overseas researchers. (2) In data collection, nonprobability sampling was widely applied both at home and abroad, while surveys, interviews and observations were more frequently used by overseas researchers. (3) In data analysis, mixed and qualitative methods were the mainstream in overseas studies, while quantitative methods were preferred domestically; in addition, domestic researchers made full use of corpus tools. (4) Reliability and validity tests were inadequate in both domestic and overseas studies. The paper is concluded with implications for domestic BE studies.

Based on the author's personal experiences of learning to do qualitative research, this autoethnography reflects on the dilemma of qualitative research development in China's academia of foreign languages and seeks its solutions. The narrative inquiry finds that the dilemma is largely due to difficulties in learning and applying qualitative research, misunderstandings of and bias toward qualitative research among some researchers, and repellence from the traditional research culture and current academic context. In the era of methodological pluralism, the practice of teaching and learning qualitative research needs to be integrated into Chinas foreign language teacher education and postgraduate programs, and qualitative research deserves a place in domestic academic journals'

This paper expounds the theory and application of a dialectical research paradigm (DRP). It includes three major sections. The first section discusses the essential differences between the DRP and the DRM (dialectical research method). The second explains the theoretical framework of the DRP. Finally, the third looks into the practical value of the DRP by drawing on the authors own research experiences, and points out the problems to which the DRP users should pay attention.

This paper first probes into the evolution of Blended Language Learning (BLL), focusing on the debate over the legitimacy of BLL, the broad versus narrow BLL, and the concept of BLL versus CALL. Then it analyses the multi-layer BLL construct from such dimensions as physical space and time, technology application, SLA and pedagogical theories. It proposes that BLL involves developing a language learning ecology which expands from blending space-time to integrating multiple SLA theories and building communities of inquiry. By adhering to systematic epistemology and integration of multiple research methods and theoretical models, future BLL research needs to adopt an evidence-based approach to address three key issues of learning mechanism, evaluation and system design from the perspective of blended learning ecology, aiming at promoting the development of blended foreign language teaching theory and practice with Chinese characteristics.

Starting from college English teachers concern over the practice of blended teaching and taking the design of the textbook series New Progressive College English as an example, this paper attempts to discuss the background, principles and advantages of integrating textbooks with digital resources in blended teaching, so as to encourage graded teaching by embracing new teaching tools and foster students autonomous learning ability by using online platforms with teaching management functions.

This paper deals with the textbook series New Progressive College English in respects of its background, compiling concepts, framework and distinctive features. Written in accordance with the Guidelines on College English Teaching and drawing on rich experience from the College English and New College English textbook series, the New Progressive College English aims to meet the requirements of teaching EFL in China in the new era. The textbook series provides reading materials from the latest English articles, various exercises and digital resources, all of which involve pioneering practices in college English textbook compilation.

This paper provides an academic dialogue with Professor Michael Byram on localization of intercultural communication theories, dimensions and evaluation of Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) in teaching materials. The dialogue reveals that the Chinese scholars have managed to localize intercultural communication theories in practice. ICC presentation in teaching materials shall give priority to skills of relation and discovery among cultures, attitudes and critical cultural awareness. ICC evaluation shall integrate formative assessment of intercultural activities to improve students ICC. The paper is concluded with implications of intercultural communication theories for teaching materials evaluation.

The first summit forum on the construction and development of the worldclass discipline of foreign language and literature, and the inaugural meeting of the China University Alliance for the Development of Foreign Language and Literature Discipline was hosted by Shanghai International Studies University in March, 2018. This paper analyzes the hot topics of this summit forum. Through content analysis and document analysis, it summarizes the main academic views of the experts and scholars. The paper also discusses the status quo and multiple developmental trends of the worldclass foreign language and literature discipline in the Chinese higher education, so as to bring some enlightenment to the construction of the worldclass discipline of foreign language and literature in China.

With 72 freshmen of non-English majors as the subjects, the present study explored the effects of input frequency of different occurrences and output frequency of different occurrences on the acquisition of second language chunks' productive knowledge. The study results showed that (1) input frequency of different occurrences had an effect on the immediate acquisition of second language chunks productive knowledge, and had a delayed effect in one week; (2) output frequency of different occurrences had an effect on the acquisition of second language chunks' productive knowledge in one week, and the delayed effect remained in two weeks; (3) there were significant differences between the effects of input and output frequency of different occurrences on the acquisition of second language chunks' productive knowledge. The study will not only enrich the understanding of explicit/implicit teaching and effects of frequency, but also provide pedagogical implications for chunk teaching.

Within the theoretical framework of L2 Motivational Self System and by questionnaires and SEM, this study examined the mediating effects of motivated behavior on L2 Self and English reading and writing skills. The results show that Ideal L2 Self exerted a significant effect on reading skills, and motivated behavior partially mediated the effect of Ideal L2 Self on reading skills; L2 Learning Experience had a significant effect on writing skills, and motivated behavior partially mediated the effect of L2 Learning Experience on writing skills; Oughtto L2 Self exerted no significant effect on reading and writing skills, and thus no mediating effect existed. These results may contribute to the teaching and learning of English reading and writing skills.

Foreign language talents in the new era are expected to have more abilities than merely language ability, among which are critical thinking ability and intercultural communicative competence. Therefore, effective language tests will be needed to assess such abilities. By reviewing relevant literature and investigating two tasks in the English Test for International Communication, this study focuses on the development of test tasks integrating the target abilities from the aspects of task forms, task contents and evaluation criteria, with an expectation to provide useful insights for the selection and cultivation of foreign language talents.

This paper explores the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in foreign language education research, and proposes a systematic and multi-dimensional framework for research topic selection and methodological recommendations. First, it constructs a “four-dimensional” conceptual framework comprising national policies, foreign language teaching design, teaching implementation, and teachers and learners as educational agents, highlighting the logical interconnections among these dimensions. Second, it presents three approaches to topic selection: top-down systematic progression, flexible selection with comprehensive examination, and focus on teaching and learning subjects. The paper then elaborates on applicable research methods, including mixed methods, case study, case analysis, design-based research, dialectical research, etc., and illustrates their applications with specific examples. Finally, it emphasizes the significance of AI technology in foreign language education research, and suggests directions for future research.

Through content analysis of the empirical studies on foreign language testing published in 14 main domestic foreign language journals from 2006 to 2017, this paper attempts to reveal the development trends, contents and features of the empirical studies on foreign language testing in China. The results show that the number of empirical studies on foreign language testing moves along a wavelike curve; more than half of the studies focus on largescale tests, and the studies deal with not only such traditional topics as test validity, construct, washback, human scoring, items/tasks/test papers, cognitive factors, affective factors and testtaker performance, but also new topics like computer and internetbased testing, automated scoring, classroom assessment, social factors, English proficiency scales, assessment literacy and cognitive diagnostic assessment; the empirical studies are characterized by a wide range of subjects, a variety of topics and mixed research methods, but they await further investigation to become more balanced, systematic and forefrontexploring. The paper further draws on the recent hotspots in international studies on language testing and puts forward suggestions for domestic studies.

Taking 60 Chinese science and engineering major postgraduates as the subjects, and adopting the methods of independent-samples t test, Pearson's correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis, the current study investigated the changes of English morphological awareness (MA) after morpheme training, the relationship between different levels of MA and listening comprehension ability, and the relationship between different types of MA and listening comprehension ability. It had several major findings. First, MA training significantly improved English learners' MA. Second, MA was significantly positively correlated with listening comprehension ability. Third, compound MA exerted the most salient predictive influence on listening comprehension ability, followed by inflectional MA and derivational MA. Implications of the findings concerning MA training were discussed in the end.

This study examines the application of artificial intelligence, particularly large language models (LLMs) in integrating Chinese culture into foreign language teaching, focusing on two key dimensions of cultural understanding and narration. For cultural understanding, LLMs support cultural theme analysis and cross-cultural concept comparison, effectively broadening learners' cultural horizons and enhancing their intercultural sensitivity. For cultural narration, LLMs assist in optimizing content expression and narrative strategies, improving the precision of cultural communication. The study emphasizes that successful human-machine collaboration hinges on maintaining learners' active cognitive engagement throughout the learning process. Additionally, given the potential ideological issues in LLMs-generated content, teachers need to develop keen discriminatory abilities and guide learners in strengthening their cultural autonomy and critical thinking skills.

With the rapid development of new-generation information technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) is irreversibly reshaping the ecosystem of foreign language education, bringing unprecedented opportunities and challenges to foreign language education. Only by forging ahead in the right direction can AI-empowered foreign language education truly promote the development of programs and serve the progress of humanity. To carry forward the reform of foreign language education, it is essential to actively embrace AI technologies, integrate into the broader trend, and identify the contemporary positioning of foreign language education. Efforts should also be made to strengthen the internal capabilities of foreign language education, enhance its connotation, optimize its structure, update its types and models, and adhere to its humanistic nature through inheritance and innovation.

Through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews, this study examines multiple interaction levels of 776 university English learners. It also delves into the role of learners' affordance perceptions in shaping the functioning mechanism for multiple interaction from an ecological perspective. The findings reveal that: (1) on the whole, the learners demonstrate medium to high levels of all dimensions of multiple interaction, yet there exists a slight imbalance across different interaction modes and stages; (2) the learners' perceived affordance types during multiple interaction exhibit consistency, but their perceptions of affordances in terms of necessity, usefulness and accessibility vary, leading to categorization of the functioning mechanism for multiple interaction into three paths: “teacher-student interaction → human-computer interaction → peer-peer interaction” (driven by perceived necessity), “human-computer interaction → teacher-student interaction → peer-peer interaction” (driven by perceived usefulness), and “human-computer interaction → peer-peer interaction → teacher-student interaction” (driven by perceived accessibility). The study contributes to deeper understanding of learners' behavioral and psychological mechanisms in multiple interaction, and offers insights for improving foreign language teaching and learning strategies.

This paper overviews the issues related to the researchpractice relationship in second language education. In the field of second language education, there has long been a disconnect between theoretical research and teaching practice, primarily due to: (1) practical and epistemological barriers between researchers and teachers; (2) past research typically focusing only on teachers while neglecting other stakeholders in the educational ecosystem; (3) the limitations of empirical research in directly addressing complex educational contexts. To bridge the gap between research and practice, the paper proposes a series of potential actions that researchers can take, including fostering a sense of collaboration, re-examining research topics, designs and dissemination, and clarifying research directions, with the aim of better advancing second language education.

In the New Era, integrating excellent traditional Chinese culture into teaching of foreign language majors has become increasingly important and urgent. Taking the course “Key Topics on Traditional Chinese Culture” as a case study, this paper addresses the issue mainly from two aspects of curriculum framework and teaching methods. In terms of the former, the author establishes the course themes based on traditional Chinese philosophical ideology of “Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism” and traditional Chinese literature of “Tang Poetry, Song Ci, Yuan Drama, Ming and Qing Novels”, and constructs three core teaching modules, including cultural learning, foreign language expression, and translation analysis. Regarding the latter, the author proposes five methods, namely close reading and appreciation, terminology translation, comparative reading of multiple translations, cross-cultural comparison, and synthesis. The paper provides references and insights for cultivating foreign language majors' ability of “telling China's stories well” and supporting the Chinese culture “Going Global” strategy.

To build a strong nation, education must be prioritized, and to strengthen education, the quality of teachers must be enhanced in the first place. This paper, in the context of building a strong nation in education, elaborates on the “five-in-one” competencies of college foreign language teachers. It addresses how college foreign language teachers should enhance digital literacy and utilize artificial intelligence to promote the digital transformation of college foreign language education. It calls on college foreign language teachers to consciously model themselves after exemplary educators, uphold moral character, diligently pursue academic excellence, and continuously enhance their own competencies, in order to advance education modernization, deliver education meeting people's expectations and build a strong nation in education.

This study adopts a 5-dimension error scoring system including fidelity, fluency, terminology translation, style and cultural reception to compare the English-Chinese translation qualities between a group of translation learners majoring in English and a Neural Machine Translation (NMT) system. The results show that the NMT's total error score and fidelity error score are significantly lower than the translation learners' mean error score, but its fluency error score is significantly higher than the translation learners' mean score. The differences between human and machine translation in terminology translation, style and cultural reception are not statistically significant. In view of the results, translation instructors should make efforts to alleviate learner anxiety, guide and supervise the proper use of machine translation technology, and reform measures of translation teaching assessment.

Playing an important role in learners' L2 writing development, engagement with feedback is jointly affected by individual factors and environmental factors. The application of automated writing evaluation (AWE) system has furnished L2 writing pedagogic practice with a new environment of integrated feedback. This study examines the impact of the integrated feedback environment on learner engagement and L2 writing performance. The findings reveal that: (1) integrated feedback significantly outshines teacher feedback in improving learner engagement and consequently L2 writing performance; (2) in the integrated feedback environment, cognitive engagement has the greatest impact on learners' L2 writing performance, followed by behavioral engagement and affective engagement, and regarding cognitive engagement, the use of metacognitive strategies significantly contributes to a valid prediction of learners' writing performance.

This paper centers on the development of the “Key Content Foci” section of the Guidelines for Integrating Moral Education into College Foreign Language Teaching. It details the questionnaire survey and the discrepancy needs analysis based on the key content foci of moral education through courses, and explains the five aspects of the key content foci. From the perspective of curriculum theories, it further illustrates the relationship between the Guidelines for Integrating Moral Education into College Foreign Language Teaching and the College English Teaching Guidelines, with the purpose that the two guidelines can provide better guidance to college foreign language teaching in the New Era.

The world today is going through major changes unseen in a century. Amid the new trend, how to boost a steady and sustained development of the foreign language discipline has become a new task for the academia of foreign languages. This paper explains the dialectical relationship between “going steady” and “going far”, analyses the challenges and opportunities faced by the foreign language discipline, and discusses the ways to enhance the high-quality development of the foreign language discipline.

This case study probed into the dynamism and interventions of a non-English major's positive L2 self in the iterative continuation task (including 112 individual continuation tasks) over sixteen weeks. It was found that the student's positive L2 self progressed through three stages of change, namely tentative exploration, gradual declination and further development. Meanwhile, “cognitive reframing” and “increasing self-efficacy” could facilitate the development of the student's positive L2 self, but “increasing self-esteem” brought little positive effect. The study provides insights into understanding the dynamic interplay between second language learning behavior and positive psychology so that teachers can design and implement the iterative continuation task more effectively.

Guided by the primary task of new liberal arts construction, this paper describes the core concepts of the positioning and talent training of interdisciplinary business English program in the Teaching Guide for University Undergraduate Business English Program (hereinafter referred to as the Teaching Guide for Business English) from the aspects of the definition, educational objectives and training ways of interdisciplinary business English talents, and proposes five composite training ways. It contributes to a better understanding and implementation of the Teaching Guide for Business English, and has important implications for the connotative, unique and innovative development of business English program.

This study examined the effects of output task types on EFL learners' acquisition of different types of vocabulary knowledge in sentence contexts and the extent to which the effects were moderated by the learners' genders and test intervals. Ninety university students were randomly assigned to one of the three output tasks, namely English-Chinese translation, paraphrasing and sentence writing. After completing passage reading comprehension exercises and separate word-focused activities, all the task groups were given tests of the knowledge of word spelling recognition, parts of speech and meanings immediately and a week later. The results showed that except for the significant superiority of the sentence writing task over the translation task in immediately acquiring the knowledge of word parts of speech, all the tasks fared equally well in facilitating vocabulary acquisition, independently of genders and test intervals. The study partially supports the Involvement Load Hypothesis, and suggests a reconsideration of the roles of elaboration and contextual novelty in task-based vocabulary acquisition.

Combining cognitive diagnostic modeling and standard setting, the current study explores Chinese EFL learners' mastery status of the local and global skills in listening, and probes into the developmental trajectories of learners' cognitive processing patterns. Results show that, in general, learners have a better mastery of global skills, but learners at different proficiency levels vary in their mastery patterns. Low proficiency learners perform poorly on both skills or rely heavily on one single skill, intermediate proficiency learners perform better on global skills, and high proficiency learners have a good mastery of both skills. The study provides implications for future research on EFL listening ability development, and EFL listening learning, teaching and testing practice.