1 Introduction

Data-Driven Learning (DDL) is a pedagogical paradigm that treats learners as language researchers, enabling them to autonomously discover linguistic patterns through digital corpora. DDL holds significant application value in second language teaching, but challenges include insufficient validation of teaching effectiveness with large-scale authentic corpora, limited exploration of reading instruction, and a lack of empirical research on the tension between DDL's "empowerment" and "cognitive load." Internationally, DDL research primarily focuses on English, with inadequate attention to non-English languages like German. Domestic DDL research started later, achieving results mainly in English teaching, while paying insufficient attention to non-English languages like German and lacking systematic action research. Exploring DDL's application in German reading instruction carries substantial academic and practical value. The DDL approach aligns with the framework of German reading competence, helping to overcome traditional teaching limitations, enhance students' constructive understanding of German linguistic patterns, and reduce learning barriers. In Chinese higher education, German language programs face issues such as insufficient authenticity in language input and weak motivation. Developing a DDL-based reading teaching model tailored to German characteristics can promote the localized application of DDL and cultivate interdisciplinary German language talents.

2 Research Design

This section introduces an action research study aimed at fostering digital reading competence among Chinese university students majoring in German through Data-Driven Learning (DDL). The study adopts a "practice-oriented" action research methodology, examining the impact of DDL on students' reading competence through two rounds of teaching interventions and reflections, while exploring the applicability of DDL theory in the Chinese German-teaching context. Participants included 74 second-year undergraduate German majors who had mastered basic grammar and elementary reading skills but lacked deeper comprehension and meaning construction. The study addresses three questions: how DDL enhances German reading competence, challenges students face, and how to develop a new paradigm for digital German reading competence. The research was conducted over five weeks in the spring semester of 2024, following a cyclical process of pre-testing, classroom practice, reflection, optimized instructional design, post-testing, and evaluation. The first round focused on textual comprehension and digital deconstruction using tools like DWDS, Wikipedia corpora, and AntConc, while the second round incorporated Google searches and mind maps to enhance reflection and reconstruction of textual meaning. Data collection included quantitative (pre-/post-test scores, questionnaires) and qualitative (learning logs, classroom observations, interviews) measures to comprehensively evaluate DDL's effectiveness. The study strictly adhered to academic ethics and protected student privacy.

3 Research Findings

The impact of DDL instruction on students' German reading competence was analyzed through questionnaires and objective measurements. Students widely agreed that DDL effectively improved their traditional and emerging reading abilities, particularly in information processing, innovative thinking, multimodal reading, and autonomous learning. Objective results showed significant improvements in comprehension, construction, and reflection, with construction skills showing the most notable gains. However, DDL instruction also posed challenges, including heavy time demands, difficulties in information filtering, and technical barriers, which affected learning efficiency and experience.

4 Discussion

This section discusses the notable effectiveness of Data-Driven Learning (DDL) in enhancing digital reading competence among Chinese university students majoring in German. Multi-source data consistently demonstrated DDL's significant impact on multidimensional reading skills, with students achieving cognitive leaps through active corpus analysis. Objective assessments revealed marked improvements in comprehension, construction, and reflection, with reduced individual differences. The study also found that DDL had limited effects on reading speed, suggesting this reflects not inefficiency but a deeper shift in cognitive processing patterns. Moderately slower reading facilitated strategic processing and deeper textual understanding. DDL encouraged students to better identify linguistic forms, contextualize meaning, and actively apply cultural knowledge, leading to substantial gains in comprehension, construction, and reflection despite increased reading time. Based on the findings, this study proposes a "New Paradigm for Digital German Reading Competence Development via DDL," comprising three dimensions: digital intensive reading, digital extensive reading, and digital interactive reading, providing a theoretical framework for DDL's application in German reading instruction. Digital intensive reading emphasizes structured knowledge building and critical awareness; digital extensive reading focuses on multimodal information processing, interest-driven exploratory reading, and innovative thinking; digital interactive reading addresses challenges in DDL practice by highlighting information processing, autonomous learning, and collaborative learning.

5 Conclusion

DDL significantly enhanced students' German reading competence, particularly in comprehension, construction, and reflection, fostering multimodal, exploratory, and autonomous reading abilities. However, improvements in reading speed and collaborative reading were limited. While DDL facilitated students' transition from passive recipients to active meaning constructors, it also introduced challenges such as time burdens, information filtering, and technical barriers. The proposed paradigm for digital German reading competence development—encompassing intensive, extensive, and interactive reading—demonstrates operationalizability and adaptability to diverse teaching contexts and learner needs. This paradigm deepens the localized understanding of DDL and provides a framework for foreign language reading instruction in the digital age, applicable to German and other languages. Limitations include a small sample size and short research duration. Future studies should test the paradigm's applicability across institutions and languages and examine DDL's long-term effects on foreign language reading competence.