1 Introduction

The importance of cross-cultural education was introduced, emphasizing UNESCO's emphasis on cross-cultural education and the development of cross-cultural education in the context of globalization. In the field of foreign language teaching, scholars have recognized the relationship between language and culture, and have made cultivating cross-cultural communication skills an important goal of foreign language teaching. In recent years, domestic scholars have conducted extensive research on cross-cultural communication competence, cross-cultural awareness, teacher training, and teaching practice models. This article uses the bibliometric software CiteSpace to visually analyze cross-cultural foreign language teaching research published in CSSCI journals from 1998 to 2023, aiming to summarize existing research results and provide references for future research and foreign language teaching practices.

2 Research questions and methods

Introduced the research questions and methods. The study searched CSSCI journals using keywords related to "cross-cultural" and different language teaching, covering the period from 1998 to 2023, and ultimately obtained 422 valid articles. The study adopts a mixed research method that combines quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative part uses CiteSpace V software to draw graphs and analyze data such as article titles, authors, journals, keywords, and references. The qualitative part uses literature analysis to carefully read, organize, and evaluate relevant literature, and systematically sort out the research methods of the collected literature.

Quantitative analysis of cross-cultural foreign language teaching research in China

From 1998 to 2023, the overall number of research papers on cross-cultural foreign language teaching published in China showed an upward trend, with significant fluctuations in 2007 and 2012. After 2007, there has been an increase in cross-cultural research related to English teaching, which is related to the issuance of the "College English Curriculum Teaching Requirements" and the establishment of undergraduate majors in Business English. In 2012, the publication peak was 41 articles, but the number decreased from 2017 to 2023. The research is mainly published in university journals, educational and linguistic journals. Research hotspots include intercultural communication competence, awareness, foreign language teaching, English teaching, cultural teaching, globalization, intercultural communication, and teaching Chinese as a foreign language. The co citation analysis of literature shows that the literature of authors such as Yang Ying and Zhuang Enping (2007) has a significant impact on the research field. The author's co citation analysis reveals highly co cited scholars and their research directions, such as Zhang Hongling, Hu Wenzhong, etc. The domestic research methods are mainly non empirical research, and the proportion of empirical research has increased in the past decade. Qualitative research is the main method, and quantitative research is relatively scarce. The research on cross-cultural foreign language teaching in China needs to be improved in terms of methodological rigor and innovation.

4 Analysis and Discussion

Progress has been made in cross-cultural research on English teaching in domestic universities, covering curriculum design, textbook selection, and the enhancement of cross-cultural awareness and abilities among teachers and students. The research needs to be expanded to non common languages and respond to the "the Belt and Road" initiative. Future research should strengthen the theoretical exploration of cross-cultural communication competence assessment criteria and competence construction, and focus on practical teaching methods. A cross-cultural awareness and teaching ability assessment system for foreign language teachers needs to be established. The research context should be expanded to include blended learning, international cooperative teaching, etc. Research methods need to enhance diversity, empirical validity, and scientific rigor. Interdisciplinary research helps to explore and enhance students' cross-cultural communication skills.

5 Conclusion

Over the past 20 years, research on cross-cultural foreign language teaching has been published in numerous CSSCI journals, involving multiple disciplines. Research hotspots include intercultural communication competence, English teaching, etc., and intercultural communication competence has become an emerging research hotspot. Important papers explore topics such as cross-cultural competence frameworks in foreign language teaching, providing theoretical support for empirical research and teaching practice. The research methods are mainly non empirical, with an increase in the number of empirical studies. The diversity and rigor of methods need to be improved.