1　Introduction

This paper reviews the developmental trajectory of foreign language disciplinary connotation construction, clarifies the conceptual connotation of an autonomous knowledge system for foreign language disciplines, and attempts to explore its construction pathways and methods, aiming to provide reference for new paradigms of talent cultivation in this discipline.

2　Rethinking the Connotation of Foreign Language Disciplines

This paper reviews four stages of foreign language professional education development in New China: from the founding of the People's Republic of China to the mid-1980s, focusing primarily on language skills training; from the mid-1980s to around 2005, shifting toward interdisciplinary and instrumental talent cultivation; from 2005 to 2019, characterized by diversified reform explorations; and from 2019 to the present, entering the stage of New Liberal Arts construction with proposals for "returning to humanistic education" and other diversified approaches. On this basis, it proposes that the connotation of foreign language disciplines should be reconstructed from five dimensions: in the value dimension, serving national strategies and cultivating interdisciplinary compound talents; in the conceptual dimension, establishing the idea of a "grand foreign language" disciplinary cluster and promoting integration of liberal arts and sciences with technological empowerment; in the content dimension, consolidating traditional foundations such as linguistics and literature while avoiding instrumentalization; in the ideological dimension, integrating curriculum-based ideological and political education to cultivate patriotism and the ability to tell China's stories well; and in the pathway dimension, encouraging various universities to form differentiated and distinctive development based on regional and industry needs.

3　Conceptual Connotation and Core Aspirations of an Autonomous Knowledge System for Foreign Language Disciplines

This paper systematically elaborates the connotation of an autonomous knowledge system for foreign language disciplines from three levels: conceptual origins, construction dimensions, and core aspirations. In the conceptual origins section, it provides an in-depth analysis of three key terms—"autonomous," "knowledge," and "system"—emphasizing that knowledge must transcend empirical contingency, reveal universal necessity, and possess truth, systematicity, and socio-historical character, with its construction logic encompassing three levels: subjective-objective foundations, generation and preservation, and value orientation. In the construction dimensions section, it summarizes the essence of this system as a systematic knowledge system that takes the unique research objects of foreign language disciplines as its carrier, reveals the laws of linguistic activity and mutual learning among civilizations, and serves Chinese modernization and new forms of human civilization, specifically manifested in three dimensions: subjective-objective unity, historical generativity, and value orientation. In the core aspirations section, it focuses on the three-layered meaning of "autonomous"—originality, ownership, and self-use—emphasizing that "Chinese consciousness" is the prerequisite for construction, requiring that knowledge production, disciplinary construction, and value missions all be grounded in China's concrete realities, and through spiral practice of "deconstructing Western discourse—constructing Chinese narratives—dialoguing with global civilizations," achieving the integration of locally-rooted practice and internationally innovative vision, ultimately providing discursive support for Chinese modernization and building knowledge bridges for a community with a shared future for mankind.

4　Overall Framework for Constructing an Autonomous Knowledge System for Foreign Language Disciplines

This paper systematically explores the construction framework of an autonomous knowledge system for foreign language disciplines from three levels: domain scope, objectives and principles, and developmental pathways. At the domain scope level, knowledge system construction should be guided by the combination of language law exploration and mutual learning among civilizations, promoting the theoretical expression and international dissemination of Chinese experience; academic and discursive system construction should break through Western discursive hegemony, enhance international discourse power through critical translation, terminology reconstruction, and "self-centered" academic evaluation standards, and innovate research methods through big data and artificial intelligence to establish a "Chinese perspective" paradigm for area studies; talent cultivation should reverse the tendency of "emphasizing skills while neglecting ideas," constructing an integrated education system of "language competence—professional literacy—patriotic sentiment" to cultivate internationally-oriented strategic talents with cultural confidence and the ability to "unify knowledge and action," while leveraging the role of foreign language disciplines in global talent cultivation and aggregation. At the objectives and principles level, it emphasizes being oriented toward serving national development strategies, subordinating the small logic of talent cultivation to the large logic of national strategic needs, and cultivating compound talents with global vision and cultural confidence; it also emphasizes the principle of practical efficacy, promoting the discipline's shift from knowledge stock competition to solution provision, constructing a dynamic knowledge production mechanism of "problem identification—knowledge creation—effect verification," and making foreign language disciplines become the "linguistic infrastructure" for national strategic capacity building. At the developmental pathway level, it advocates that foreign language disciplines actively embrace the transdisciplinary paradigm, promote mutual learning among liberal arts, interdisciplinary integration of liberal arts and sciences, and fusion of liberal arts and engineering, and explore "foreign language+" compound talent cultivation reform; it also advocates keeping pace with the development trend of artificial intelligence, proactively seizing opportunities for technological empowerment, and promoting high-quality development of university foreign language education.

5　Conclusion

This paper discusses how foreign language disciplines possess three attributes—"strategic instrumentality," "knowledge originality," and "systematic constructiveness"—and how their autonomous knowledge system is deeply embedded in China's autonomous knowledge system, serving the rise of great powers and civilizational dialogue through a cycle of "discourse production—knowledge transformation—technological empowerment"; it emphasizes that disciplinary connotation construction and autonomous knowledge system construction are mutually reinforcing, and proposes a preliminary framework based on the clarification of conceptual connotation; it points out that foreign language disciplines are transitioning from "peripheral interface" to "core hub," and are at a critical juncture of transformation from "heteronomy" to "self-determination," and that in the future they need to balance multiple relationships between internationalization and localization, technological empowerment and humanistic care, and disciplinary differentiation and interdisciplinary integration, in order to form an autonomous knowledge system with Chinese characteristics and global influence.