Zhenyi Zhao, Yuqing Shi

Yuqing Shi

December 31, 2025

New Liberal Arts, Interdisciplinary talent, Foreign-language majors, Cultivation pathways.

The New Liberal Arts initiative is driving a profound transformation in foreign language education, shifting its focus from language skills alone to fostering interdisciplinary talents. This paper constructs a four-dimensional theoretical framework of “Concepts–Knowledge–Competence–Goals” for developing composite talent in foreign-language programs. Based on case studies of institutions like Peking University, Zhejiang University, and Shanghai International Studies University, we distill four distinctive development pathways: “Foreign Languages + Area Studies” serving national strategies, “Foreign Languages + Digital-Intelligence Technologies” responding to technological change, “Foreign Languages + Industry Sectors” aligning with industry needs, and “Foreign Languages + Major Scientific Issues” targeting scientific frontiers. Collectively, these pathways advance the foreign-language discipline from a supporting role to core problem-solving, and help the educational landscape evolve from a one-size-fits-all model to differentiated excellence. The findings offer valuable guidance for building a foreign-language education system with Chinese characteristics.

© 2025, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license