TITLE:
Artificial Intelligence-Driven Transformation of Foreign Language Majors at Local Universities under China’s New Liberal Arts Initiative: Opportunities, Challenges, and Pathways
AUTHORS:
Yubo Zhang
KEYWORDS:
New Liberal Arts, Local Universities, Foreign Language Majors, Artificial Intelligence, Digital and AI-Enabled Transformation
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.17 No.8,
August
21,
2026
ABSTRACT: China’s New Liberal Arts Initiative and recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are changing the educational setting of foreign language majors. Local universities are expected to support regional development and introduce local culture to wider audiences, yet many work with limited staffing, digital infrastructure, and external partnerships. They cannot simply reproduce the transformation models of research universities. The analysis draws on an official national policy document and Chinese research on the New Liberal Arts, foreign language education, and local universities. It also uses recent international scholarship on generative AI in language education. It examines current problems, emerging opportunities, and practical risks through three connected dimensions: policy priorities, technological change, and local institutional conditions. The article proposes a five-domain competency framework comprising foreign language proficiency, disciplinary or industry-specific knowledge, capacity for human–AI collaboration, intercultural communication competence, and humanistic and ethical judgment. Six implementation pathways translate the framework into practice: differentiated major positioning, modular curricula, human–AI collaborative instruction, interdisciplinary teaching teams, locally grounded resources, and quality assurance and ethical governance. For local universities, this is a selective and feasible route to reform that retains language and humanistic education as the foundation of the major.