1 Introduction

The Third Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee emphasized the need to build an international communication system, requiring foreign language education to cultivate individuals' ability to disseminate Chinese culture. Students face challenges such as unfamiliarity with national conditions and difficulties in expressing Chinese culture in foreign languages when telling China's stories abroad, leading to the phenomenon of "Chinese cultural aphasia." The "Understanding Contemporary China" textbook series aims to integrate Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era into foreign language curricula, achieving the unity of value shaping, knowledge imparting, and capability cultivation. It helps students analyze China's practices, explore its theories from a cross-cultural perspective, and understand China's discourse system and narrative framework.

2 Theoretical Foundations

The importance of discourse competence in international communication talent development is discussed, along with a review of the evolution of communicative language competence. Hymes and Canale proposed that language competence should include the ability to use language in specific contexts, strategic competence, and discourse competence. Research on discourse competence has shifted from focusing on static textual features to multidimensional and dynamic perspectives, integrating linguistic knowledge, strategies, context, culture, and pragmatics. The role of foreign language disciplines in enhancing individual discourse competence has gained attention, with methods like speeches and debates improving critical thinking and comprehensive skills. Based on domestic and international discourse competence theories, Li Yuan and Lian Fei proposed the TSSI discourse competence model, encompassing textual competence, sociocultural competence, strategic competence, and intercultural awareness. The model emphasizes multilingual thinking, diverse perspectives, and autonomous learning in cross-cultural contexts.

3 Background of MOOC Development

The background of the MOOC "Understanding Contemporary China: German Speech Tutorial" is introduced. The textbook targets senior undergraduate students majoring in German, requiring high political literacy and teaching competence from instructors to interpret China's practices through Chinese theories. Surveys revealed challenges faced by teachers and students, such as instructors' lack of teaching experience and students' reluctance or lack of speech skills. To address these needs, the MOOC "German Speech: Telling China's Stories Well" was developed to provide additional teaching and learning resources.

4 MOOC Design Philosophy and Course Structure

The design philosophy and structure of the "German Speech" MOOC are introduced. Guided by the TSSI discourse competence model, the MOOC constructs content around four dimensions: "why to speak," "to whom," "what to say," and "how to say," aiming to enhance students' textual, sociocultural, strategic, and intercultural awareness competencies. The MOOC covers traditional Chinese culture and contemporary Chinese governance, implementing content and language integrated teaching. The structure, based on the "Understanding Contemporary China: German Speech Tutorial," comprises seven units totaling 560 minutes, including 120 knowledge points, 350 test questions, over 30 tasks, and 70 ideological-political elements. Each unit consists of six lectures covering governance, speech strategies, German language skills, and speech examples. The first three lectures and speech examples are delivered in German with bilingual subtitles, providing multimodal learning resources to foster textual competence. Each unit includes cross-cultural topics and case analyses to deepen understanding of core concepts and enhance intercultural awareness.

5 MOOC Development Pathway

The development pathway of the "German Speech" MOOC follows the "comprehension-interpretation-production" framework. At the comprehension level, thematic content is linked to personal lives to boost student interest and engagement, such as understanding the meaning of "poverty alleviation begins with fostering aspirations" through exploring elders' hardships and relevant data. At the interpretation level, the integration of language and content promotes perspective-taking and discourse competence in cross-cultural contexts, such as discussing the relationship between the Belt and Road Initiative and the community with a shared future for humanity. At the production level, the "Four-Step Narrative Method" provides a framework for individual storytelling, exploring shared emotions across cultures to build a foundation for disseminating, understanding, and identifying with China's stories.

6 MOOC Achievements

After its launch on platforms like the Chinese University Foreign Language MOOC Platform, the "German Speech" MOOC has reached over 100 universities nationwide, meeting teachers' preparation and teaching needs with rich theories, case studies, and speech resources while implementing the "Four-Step Narrative Method." The MOOC drives teaching innovations, such as blended online-offline learning, freeing classroom time for more interactive activities. Its application extends to intensive reading, writing, and interpretation courses, enhancing students' intrinsic motivation and critical thinking in telling China's stories. The MOOC improves students' discourse competence across comprehension, interpretation, and production levels, enabling them to tell China's stories effectively in foreign languages. It enhances the transferability of course concepts and pathways by integrating the TSSI discourse competence model. The MOOC's development experience serves as a reference for other volumes in the textbook series, facilitating content and language integrated teaching and comprehensive discourse competence cultivation.

7 Conclusion

The importance of integrating Chinese cultural communication skills into foreign language teaching is emphasized, with the "German Speech" MOOC designed to enhance learners' textual, sociocultural, strategic, and intercultural awareness competencies. The course follows the "comprehension-interpretation-production" pathway to help learners better understand and narrate China's stories. However, the authors acknowledge limitations, including fragmented teaching resources, lack of adaptive technology, and content lag. Future plans include optimizing instructional design using MOOC resources, developing knowledge, competency, and problem maps, and creating smart courses and AI-powered digital textbooks to advance digital-intelligent learning. Additionally, empirical research on teaching reforms will explore effective pathways for international communication talent development, fostering linguistic and ideological growth to cultivate youth with Chinese roots and global vision.