1 Introduction

In January 2024, "Foreign Language Education" became a secondary discipline under "Foreign Language and Literature," aiming to systematically study the entire process of foreign language education and its influencing factors, reveal the essence and laws of foreign language education, and enhance foreign language education capabilities. The academic community emphasizes the necessity of linguistic diversity in constructing this discipline, pointing out that foreign language education should not be limited to English but should include multiple languages; otherwise, it may hinder the implementation of the "Belt and Road" initiative and participation in global governance. For a long time, English education has dominated foreign language education research, but since the proposal of the "Belt and Road" initiative, non-commonly taught languages have received more attention. Existing research covers areas such as language planning, program development, theoretical application, ideological education in curricula, textbook construction, and teacher development, but lacks a holistic perspective from the discipline's viewpoint and cross-linguistic comparative analysis. Amid unprecedented global changes, it is crucial to seize the opportunities for disciplinary development, prioritize linguistic diversity, explore the commonalities and individualities of education in various languages, depict the full picture of China's foreign language education, implement targeted measures to address issues, and achieve shared foundational concepts, resource sharing, and classified excellence across all language educations under the guidance of the new discipline.

2 Definition of Research Subjects

China's foreign language education exhibits linguistic diversity at the undergraduate level. The "Undergraduate Program Catalog of Regular Higher Education Institutions" published by the Ministry of Education includes 101 foreign languages, among which non-commonly taught languages refer to those other than English, Russian, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and Arabic. Commonly taught languages have independent teaching sub-committees, while non-commonly taught language programs are guided by the Sub-Committee for Non-Commonly Taught Language Programs. The concept of non-commonly taught languages is unique to China and should not be understood literally as languages with small populations or limited usage. Non-commonly taught languages offered in Chinese universities can be categorized into three groups based on the number of undergraduate programs, with Korean being the most prevalent. The educational goals, traditions, and resources vary significantly across language programs, influenced by factors such as language planning, the status of the target country, socio-cultural development, and bilateral relations. This paper primarily compares non-commonly taught language education and English education at the undergraduate level.

3 Commonalities in Foreign Language Education

The discussion highlights the commonalities in foreign language education, emphasizing that foreign language education activities must keep in mind the basic functions of language and the fundamental questions of education. The functions of language have evolved from communication tools to cultural vessels and identity symbols, while the attributes of foreign language education have expanded from instrumental and communicative to ideological and humanistic. All foreign language education should follow the same principles, cultivating students' critical thinking and intercultural communication skills. The Ministry of Education's "National Standards" (Guobiao) stipulates the training objectives for foreign languages. Foreign language education should be grounded in the fundamental task of "fostering virtue through education," constructing a planning framework around "for whom to educate, what to educate, and how to educate," and completing the process in three stages: needs analysis, resource construction, and evaluation.

4 Individualities of Non-Commonly Taught Language Education

The individuality of non-commonly taught language education lies in its response to the needs of specific periods and special fields of the nation. Compared to commonly taught language education, its talent cultivation is irreplaceable, particularly in intergovernmental exchanges and regional and country studies. The development of non-commonly taught language education is strongly driven by national demands, such as the need for translators and country studies during the Anti-Japanese War and the establishment of language programs after the founding of the People's Republic of China. However, current non-commonly taught language education faces issues in planning and implementation, such as a lack of coordination in program setup and insufficient awareness of differentiated development.

Non-commonly taught language education should adopt an elite education model, focusing on the quality of talent cultivation and emphasizing high-end language, cultural, and regional studies professionals. However, due to dispersed program locations and weak reserves, the number of teachers per program has not significantly increased, making it difficult to substantially improve the quality of talent cultivation. The scale of the teaching workforce for non-commonly taught languages is hard to expand, and the academic lineage structure remains relatively homogeneous, making the traditional "apprenticeship" model inadequate to meet current needs.

The teaching foundations and academic levels vary greatly across different universities and programs, leading to uneven quality in talent cultivation. Non-commonly taught language education lags in curriculum systems, teaching standards, textbook compilation, and reference materials. It is necessary to further refine competency requirements by language or language groups based on the "National Standards" and "Guidelines," and develop more scientific evaluation criteria. Leveraging language proficiency scales to design syllabi, set up courses, compile textbooks, and develop exams can enhance the scientific, standardized, and normalized aspects of the educational process.

5 Countermeasures and Suggestions

Countermeasures and suggestions for non-commonly taught language education are proposed. First, it is recommended to deepen needs research, optimize training models, increase stakeholder participation, revive the "order-based" training model, comprehensively understand national, societal, and individual needs, enrich multilingual education options, and establish more multilingual programs. Second, it emphasizes integrating existing resources, strengthening resource construction, improving the structure of the teaching workforce, enhancing textbook development, fully utilizing online educational resources, and forming teaching and research communities. Finally, it suggests learning from the advanced experiences of English education, initiating the development of evaluation standards for non-commonly taught languages, clarifying the scope of proficiency scales, balancing Chinese perspectives with international norms, and incorporating ideological education into evaluation criteria. Overall, as a new discipline, foreign language education should explore the commonalities and laws across different educational stages and languages, clarify development directions, leverage the synergistic advantages of multilingualism, and actively address challenges.