Research on the Curriculum Construction and Teaching Reform of “English Translation of Chinese Culture” Based on the Blended Teaching Model

In order to implement the spirit of the construction of first-class undergraduate courses by the Ministry of Education and promote the innovation of teaching models for foreign-language courses, this paper takes the opportunity of the 2024 university-level online-offline blended first-class undergraduate course construction project of Inner Mongolia University to conduct a practical exploration of blended teaching reform around the course “English Translation of Chinese Culture”. The article systematically analyzes the teaching orientation and current situation of this course, proposes an instructional design strategy for the integration of online and offline teaching, constructs a teaching path of “cultural theme introduction-term understanding deepening-bilingual expression training-translation project output”, and in combination with the actual teaching situation, explores the adaptation mechanism and key points of resource construction of blended teaching in foreign-language courses. The research finds that blended teaching helps to improve students’ cultural comprehension, translation practice ability and cross-cultural expression level, but at the same time, it also faces challenges such as the matching degree of online resources, students’ autonomy, and the optimization of evaluation methods. This paper puts forward strategies such as strengthening resource coordination, optimizing the learning process, and introducing project-based evaluation, aiming to provide practical reference for the blended construction of first-class language courses.

• English Translation of Chinese Culture
• Blended Teaching
• Curriculum Construction
• Translation Teaching

1. Introduction

Currently, Chinese higher education is at a crucial stage of strategic transformation from “quantitative expansion” to “qualitative enhancement”. In the “Education Informatization 2.0 Action Plan” ( Ministry of Education, 2018 ), the Ministry of Education clearly states that “promoting educational reform and innovation through informatization is the strategic fulcrum for educational development in the new era.” Subsequently, the “Implementation Opinions on the Construction of First-Class Undergraduate Courses” ( Ministry of Education, 2019 ) further emphasizes the goal of “building ‘Golden Courses’ that integrate high-order thinking, innovation, and challenge”, and vigorously promotes the online-offline blended teaching reform. These policy documents jointly establish the basic framework and quality orientation for the curriculum reform of higher education in the new era. Against this backdrop, foreign-language courses, especially those related to cross-cultural communication and translation ability cultivation, urgently need systematic innovation in teaching methods, resource allocation, and learning evaluation.

The Blended Teaching model, as an important path of teaching paradigm change, not only breaks the time-space limitations of traditional classrooms but also realizes the cross-platform integration and optimal allocation of teaching resources, facilitating a profound shift from a “teaching-centered” to a “learning-centered” approach ( Garrison & Kanuka, 2004 ; Ning & Ban, 2022 ; Chen, 2022 ). In this context, foreign-language courses, in particular, need to adapt to this trend and explore a new teaching model that combines language skill training, cross-cultural awareness cultivation, and practical ability improvement ( Yan et al., 2025 ; Peng, Hu, & Bi, 2023 ).

The “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course, offered by the School of Foreign Languages of Inner Mongolia University as a specialized English-major course, is highly comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and practical. Its core objective is to cultivate compound foreign-language talents with an understanding of Chinese culture, proficiency in English translation, and international communication literacy. In terms of course content, it covers various levels, including excellent traditional Chinese culture, modern social and cultural phenomena, and cultural terms in national policies, demonstrating a high cultural density and translation challenges. Regarding teaching objectives, the course requires students not only to accurately understand cultural concepts but also to be able to transform them into authentic, appropriate, and impactful English expressions. This sets higher requirements for students’ language proficiency, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. However, in the traditional teaching model, problems such as fragmented classroom content, difficulty in delving into cultural connotations, weak practical training, and low utilization of online teaching resources are widespread, making it difficult to meet the actual needs of cultivating contemporary English majors’ cross-cultural abilities. To some extent, these issues have restricted the improvement of the teaching quality of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course. Facing the opportunity of teaching organization reform brought about by the development of information technology and the urgent need to cultivate the comprehensive quality of foreign-language majors, it is imperative to promote the systematic reconstruction of this course through the reconstruction of teaching content, the re-creation of teaching methods, and the integration of teaching resources ( Kiraly, 2012 ).

Therefore, this paper, based on the 2024 university-level first-class undergraduate course construction project of Inner Mongolia University, takes the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course as a case to systematically clarify the design logic and implementation path of the blended-teaching reform of this course. It aims to explore how the blended-teaching model can break through traditional bottlenecks and achieve a double improvement in both course quality and students’ abilities. Specifically, this paper intends to address the following core issues:

How to construct an adaptable online-offline teaching structure in the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course?

How to develop teaching resources and translation tasks with cultural depth and translation effectiveness?

How to establish a student-centered teaching feedback and evaluation mechanism with full-process participation?

2. Course Background and Teaching Current Situation

2.1. Course Orientation and Training Objectives

The “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course is a specialized course offered to first-year Master of Translation students by the School of Foreign Languages at Inner Mongolia University. It has a distinct function of cultivating composite talents and a cross-cultural communication orientation. This course is positioned to enhance students’ cultural comprehension, translation transformation ability, and international communication ability, and it is an important part of constructing the “language + content + communication” trinity ability structure for foreign-language majors in the new era.

Regarding the nature of the course, it is both a professional course integrating theory and practice and an ideological-political course that cultivates students’ cultural confidence and communication literacy. Its core teaching philosophy is to take culture as the essence, language as the bridge, translation as the means, and communication as the orientation. The course content comprehensively covers outstanding traditional Chinese culture, advanced socialist culture, and core cultural issues in contemporary China. Specifically, it includes, but is not limited to, the following sections: the Traditional Chinese Culture section, which involves Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist philosophical thoughts, festival customs, intangible cultural heritage crafts, and ancient classics; the Contemporary Social Culture section, such as policy contexts like the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese-style modernization, and “cultural confidence”; and the Core Cultural Terms section, where a standard system of term expressions is established with the help of official platforms such as Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture and List of English Translations of Chinese-characteristic Terms.

In terms of teaching objectives, the course aims to achieve three-fold training objectives. Firstly, it aims to cultivate students’ cultural reading ability, helping them understand the origin, context, and value connotations of Chinese cultural concepts. Secondly, it focuses on developing students’ English translation ability of terms, enabling them to master the differences in Chinese-English expressions of core cultural terms and translation strategies. Thirdly, it endeavors to enhance students’ cross-cultural communication ability, equipping them with the awareness and skills to re-narrate culture and express values to international audiences.

This course plays a bridging role in the talent training program for English majors. On the one hand, it consolidates the achievements of language skill training. On the other hand, it provides support for graduation theses, cultural translation training, and future applications in foreign-related positions. Its educational goals are highly consistent with the national strategies of “promoting Chinese culture globally” and the requirements of “building international communication capabilities”, making it an important means for foreign-language education in the new era to serve national strategies.

2.2. Problems Existing in the Current Teaching

Although the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course has high teaching value and strategic significance, there are still structural problems in the actual teaching process that restrict its teaching effectiveness and curriculum influence. These problems are mainly reflected in the following four aspects:

Fragmented Knowledge Structure: Hindrance to Building Systematic Cultural Cognition

At present, the design and implementation of the course still rely heavily on the traditional linear teaching approach, that is, the three-stage teaching model of “term explanation-translation practice-review and error-correction”, resulting in a fragmented presentation of cultural content. For example, when teaching terms like “li” (propriety) or “dao” (the way), the analysis often only focuses on some authoritative translation examples, failing to construct a knowledge system that connects ancient and modern times, as well as texts and contexts. This “point-to-point” knowledge-imparting method is easy to operate, but it is difficult to help students form an integrated and structured framework for understanding Chinese culture ( Hu & Wang, 2021 ). This issue is also in line with the view pointed out by domestic scholars that “translation courses should avoid the fragmentation of knowledge imparting and shift towards structured project-based teaching” ( Hua , 2018 ).

Single-form Translation Training: Lack of Real-life Contexts and Practical Projects

The current teaching practice mainly focuses on text translation and paragraph exercises. The training tasks rely heavily on textbook materials, lacking targeted real-life context settings and project-oriented designs, which makes it difficult to motivate students’ initiative and creativity. For instance, in the English translation of cultural content section, students are merely asked to translate “tea culture” into English instead of being required to design an English-language festival introduction page or a subtitle script for a short video targeted at foreign tourists. This training mode, which is divorced from the application context, easily makes students “translate without feeling” and “practice without utility”, restricting the improvement of their knowledge transfer and expression abilities ( Kiraly, 2012 ).

Cultural Instruction Focusing on Word and Sentence Levels, Lacking Value Guidance and Cultural Reconstruction

Although the course takes culture as its core, in the current teaching methods, teachers often focus on “vocabulary conversion + example explanation”, neglecting the value logic and narrative structure behind cultural concepts ( Zou, 2021 ). For example, when translating “benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith” (仁义礼智信), teachers usually directly provide the English translation without guiding students to think about how these terms reflect the Chinese view of interpersonal relationships, ways of moral practice, and the differences compared with Western concepts like “humanity” and “morality”. As a result, students only reach the level of “knowing what it is” instead of delving into the cultural reconstruction level of “knowing why it is so”, and the cultural subjectivity of translators is also overlooked ( Chen & Lu, 2021 ).

Limited Use of Online Teaching Resources, Failure to Establish a Closed-loop Blended Teaching System

Research by Garrison and Kanuka (2004) indicates that blended teaching should establish a feedback loop of “learning-practice-evaluation-improvement” to truly unleash its transformative potential. Although most teachers have started using platforms such as Chaoxing Xuexitong and Rain Classroom to release courseware and assignments, the online part mostly remains at the auxiliary level of “resource supplementation” and “answering quizzes”, failing to effectively integrate it into the main teaching line. For example, there is a lack of unified micro-lecture videos on cultural terms, templates for online case reviews, as well as task chains and evaluation mechanisms that support the offline classroom. As a result, the situation of “emphasis on practical training offline and the online part becoming dispensable” is widespread. The use of the platform has not been systematically designed with a closed-loop feedback, making the blended teaching exist in name only.

The “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course already has a solid foundation in terms of curriculum value and development direction. However, it still faces challenges in aspects such as the organization of teaching content, classroom methods, resource construction, and mode integration. In response to multiple educational policy requirements, including “ideological and political education in courses”, “construction of first-class undergraduate courses”, and “building international communication capabilities”, it is urgent to redesign the curriculum system through the blended-teaching approach, achieving a deep integration of “culture + language + technology” in one.

3. Construct an Integrated Model of “Offline Introduction, Online Expansion and Project Output”

The “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course faces a highly complex teaching objective system. It not only needs to impart language knowledge but also construct cultural cognition. It must not only enhance translation skills but also expand cross-cultural communication capabilities. Therefore, the teaching design must break through the traditional framework of “textbook + lecture” and build an operable, traceable, and evaluable diversified integrated teaching system. Based on this, this course adopts the teaching design concept of “translation as the bridge, culture as the soul, and project as the core” and proposes a “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching model. The “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching model refers to a comprehensive instructional approach that centers on one main offline course, supported by three types of online modules designed to reinforce and expand learning. It is further driven by a series of N project-based tasks, which foster practical application, enhance both knowledge development and skill transfer, and ensure the integration of theoretical learning with real-world practice.

3.1. The “1” Main Course: The Physical Classroom as the Core Front

The face-to-face course remains the main channel of the entire teaching system. Two class hours of offline classroom teaching are arranged each week, focusing on the following three aspects:

Introduction and Instruction of Cultural Theme

Set a cultural theme every two weeks (such as “Festivals and Seasons”, “Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism Thoughts”, “Cultural Etiquette”, “National Cultural Policies”, “Communication of China’s Image”). Teachers will provide background explanations and concept interpretations, and activate students’ perception through multimodal materials (images, videos, short text segments, etc.) to enhance students’ sense of cultural immersion.

Intensive Explanation of Terms and Expression Training

Centering around each cultural theme, 4 - 6 high-frequency terms are carefully selected as the teaching focus. The method of “Chinese-English comparison + corpus analysis + collocation explanation” is adopted to help students master their connotations, denotations and English translation strategies. For example, when teaching the term “道”, it is compared with “the Way, Taoism, Dao” and “way, path, principle” in Anglo-American culture, guiding students to distinguish semantic differences and cultural connotations.

Classroom Interaction and Critical Thinking Activities

Emphasize the construction of a student-centered interactive structure for critical thinking. For example, use methods such as “term relay”, “cultural re-translation challenge”, and “translation review PK” to encourage students to observe and rewrite the English translations of cultural terms from multiple perspectives, enhancing their language transfer ability and expressive tension. Teacher-student interaction, peer evaluation within groups, and classroom demonstrations are carried out alternately to activate students’ sense of subjectivity.

3.2. The “3” Types of Online Modules: Auxiliary Expansion and Consolidation

The online part mainly relies on “Chaoxing Xuexitong” as the course resource and task-assignment platform, supplemented by “Rain Classroom” for interactive push-notifications and classroom feedback, and “Tencent Meeting” for online tutoring and project defense. The three platforms, Chaoxing Xuexitong, Rain Classroom, and Tencent Meeting, work together to form a unified ecosystem for course space, task space, and communication space. Chaoxing Xuexitong is a comprehensive educational platform that integrates course resource distribution, task assignments, and learning management. Teachers can upload course materials, assign tasks, and track students’ progress, while students engage in self-paced learning, participate in discussions, and submit assignments. Rain Classroom combines online learning with classroom interaction by providing real-time push notifications, classroom feedback, and interactive Q&A functions, enhancing student engagement and motivation during classes. Tencent Meeting is an online meeting and collaboration platform that supports video conferences, online discussions, and project defenses. It facilitates remote tutoring, Q&A sessions, and group discussions, promoting real-time communication and collaboration between instructors, students, and peers. Together, these platforms enhance the overall learning experience by providing a flexible, interactive, and collaborative learning environment. The goal of the online learning module design is to transform “fragmented learning” into “systematic supplementation”, achieving horizontal expansion and vertical extension of classroom teaching, and enhancing students’ learning autonomy, resource exposure, and task preparedness. The three core modules are as follows:

1) Term Micro-Lecture Module

Release 2 - 3 short videos (3 - 5 minutes each) every week. These videos are recorded by the instructors or teaching assistants and focus on cultural terms, covering aspects such as the term’s origin, English translation paradigms, common mistranslations, and classic translation examples. Students can watch these videos repeatedly as needed, conducting a micro-cycle training of “translation—re-translation—self-evaluation—review”. In addition, additional learning tools such as term comparison tables, vocabulary association maps, and collocation template cards are designed to build a “multimodal semantic network” for term learning.

2) Translation Case Database

Establish a “Case Database for English Translation of Chinese Culture”. Select Chinese-to-English materials released by authoritative institutions such as People’s Daily, CGTN, CCTSS, and Confucius Institute Headquarters, and classify them by themes (festivals, society, philosophy, policies, art, etc.). Each case consists of three parts: the original text + the translation (presented in both languages), case comments (brief comments by teachers or AI-assisted annotations), and a space for students’ comments (discussion area). Students can carry out tasks online, such as “comparative analysis of cases”, “judgment of the advantages and disadvantages of translations”, and “self-challenging re-translation”, to build an intuitive and normative judgment of cultural translation strategies.

3) Resource Link Section

Integrate authoritative term databases and supplementary learning resources, update them regularly and provide guidance on their use. For example, “Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture” (bilingual version), the Term Database of China International Publishing Group, the “Cultural Mediation Translation Term Database” of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and resources for comparing Anglo-American cultures (such as BBC Culture, Encyclopaedia Britannica), etc. Students can search and accumulate materials according to themes, terms, and cultural modules, forming personalized learning paths, which also provide content support for subsequent project tasks.

3.3. Participant Numbers, Data-Collection Tools, and Analysis Methods

To substantiate the reported learning gains, the study involved 103 students enrolled in the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course. Data was collected through a combination of quizzes, project-based tasks, and semi-structured interviews. Quizzes were used to assess students’ understanding of the cultural themes and terminology taught in both offline and online modules. Project-based tasks allowed students to apply their learning in real-world translation scenarios, and their performance was evaluated across different modules. Semi-structured interviews provided qualitative insights into students’ experiences and perceived learning outcomes.

Quantitative analysis involved comparing pre- and post-test scores to measure improvements in knowledge, as well as evaluating task completion rates and quality. Qualitative data from the interviews were analyzed thematically to identify key areas such as cultural immersion, translation strategies, and critical thinking development. This combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis helped to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the learning gains achieved through the “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching model.

3.4. “N” Project-Based Tasks: Translation Practice Throughout the Course

To achieve an effective transfer from knowledge to ability, this course has specifically designed N phased cultural translation tasks that run through the entire teaching process (as shown in Figure 1 ). Each task is centered around a cultural communication scenario and adopts a “task-chain design”, which consists of four stages: “research preparation-translation practice-result submission-reflection and evaluation”, with an integrated online-offline operation process embedded. This model realizes content reconstruction, process re-engineering, and role re-positioning, empowering the entire process of “learning-practicing-translating-applying”.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Teaching task design framework of the “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching model.

The project tasks not only examine the language conversion ability but also emphasize the understanding of cultural contexts and the grasp of audience adaptation strategies. During the completion process, students need to actively consult terminological resources, collaborate with group members, and receive feedback from teachers, achieving a role transformation from “passive reception” to “active output”.

The “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching design breaks through the two-pole dilemma of “single offline teaching” and “online formalism”, achieving a trinity teaching closed-loop of “knowledge transfer-ability building-output-oriented” in the overall structure. This design not only enhances the systematicity, interest, and practicality of the course but also provides an operational template and theoretical support for the reform of cultural translation courses.

4. Teaching Implementation and Phased Achievements

4.1. Process of Teaching Organization and Implementation

To ensure the smooth implementation of the “1 + 3 + N” blended teaching design, during the operation of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course in the 2024-2025 academic year, it was organized and implemented in strict accordance with the three stages of “pre-preparation, course progress, and result presentation”, and an online-offline interaction mechanism was embedded in each stage to ensure that teaching objectives, task chains, and feedback evaluations echoed each other.

1) Pre-preparation Stage (Weeks 1 - 2)

At the beginning of the course, the teacher first understood the students’ basic level through a cultural knowledge warm-up quiz. The quiz content included multiple-choice questions on common knowledge of traditional Chinese culture (such as “the English expressions of the 24 solar terms”) and short-answer translation questions (such as translating “The benevolent loves others” into English), which not only tested the students’ cultural reserves but also helped the teacher understand the differences in their translation thinking. Subsequently, study groups were established, with 4 - 6 students in each group, each group being responsible for the research and task implementation of a fixed cultural theme. A group leader was designated within the group to coordinate resources, assign tasks, and summarize the results. There were two online tasks in this stage: watching terminological micro-course videos (such as “Confucianism”) on the Chaoxing Platform and answering multiple-choice and open-ended questions online; completing the “terminology chain-reaction” activity in WeChat groups or QQ groups to liven up the class atmosphere. At the beginning of the course, the cultural knowledge warm-up quiz helps assess students’ understanding of traditional Chinese culture, laying a foundation for future learning. It also promotes their ability to accurately translate cultural expressions, enhancing their translation skills. The formation of study groups fosters collaborative learning, research, and task implementation, encouraging students to work together and develop skills in resource coordination, task delegation, and summarizing outcomes. The online tasks, such as watching micro-course videos and completing the “terminology chain-reaction” activity, stimulate active participation, engagement, and peer interaction, enhancing students’ learning motivation and classroom dynamics.

2) Course Progress Stage (Weeks 3 - 12)

This stage is the core of the teaching process. Every two weeks revolve around a cultural theme, and the specific process is shown in Figure 2 .

Figure 2

Figure 2. Teaching process of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course.

Offline classroom teaching and discussion emphasize that teachers systematically explain the thematic cultural knowledge, such as “The Translation and Introduction of Tao and the Idea of Harmony”, “The Dissemination of Solar Terms and Agricultural Civilization”, etc., and lead students to analyze relevant bilingual corpora. A three-step activity of “in-depth explanation of terms-translation attempt-peer review” is arranged in class to ensure that students can transform conceptual knowledge into translation skills. Online learning and task preview require students to watch terminological micro-course videos (3 - 5 minutes) before class and select at least one relevant translation example from the translation case library for review. For example, in the “Food Culture” theme, students need to review the translations of “jiaozi-dumpling” and “baozi-steamed stuffed bun” and compare the cultural fitness of the translations. In project-type tasks, each theme is equipped with a translation project. For example, in the “Solar Term Culture” project in the 4th week, students are required to create an English-version publicity page for solar terms; in the “Food Culture” project in the 8th week, they are required to design an English menu. Group members complete the tasks through an online collaboration platform and present the results in class. During the stage of teachers’ phased comments and guidance, teachers not only comment on the translations in class but also release “collective feedback” through the online platform, summarize common mistakes (such as Chinglish, semantic loss, cultural misinterpretation), and propose improvement directions. “One-to-one” tutoring will be provided if necessary to ensure that differentiated guidance is effectively implemented. This cycle of “classroom teaching + online expansion + project implementation + personalized guidance”, with each two-week period as a unit, gradually promotes students to achieve a spiral improvement from “knowledge understanding-translation application-cultural dissemination”. This stage promotes students’ deep understanding of cultural themes and enhances their translation skills. By engaging in the “in-depth explanation of terms-translation attempt-peer review” cycle, students not only develop a systematic understanding of cultural concepts but also learn to apply translation strategies effectively. The online tasks, such as reviewing translation examples and micro-course videos, support independent learning and critical thinking, allowing students to analyze and evaluate translation choices. The project-based tasks, including creating publicity pages and designing menus, foster practical translation experience, improve collaboration skills, and promote cultural dissemination. Teachers’ feedback, both in class and online, helps students identify common mistakes and areas for improvement, encouraging continuous refinement of their translation abilities. Overall, this stage fosters a spiral improvement from knowledge acquisition to practical translation application and cultural communication.

3) Result Presentation Stage (Weeks 13 - 16)

At the end of the course, all groups enter the result presentation stage, which mainly includes ( Figure 3 ).

Figure 3

Figure 3. Result presentation and evaluation process of the course.

In the group presentation, each group submits the translation project results (such as solar term brochures, cultural tour guides, short-video subtitles) around a complete cultural theme and presents them in class in the form of PPT or video. The presentation content includes: explanation of translation strategies, basis for term selection, analysis of cultural adaptability, etc. For peer-evaluation feedback, peer-evaluation is carried out among groups, combining quantitative scoring with qualitative evaluation. For example, each group needs to score the other two groups in dimensions such as “translation accuracy”, “cultural fitness”, “expression fluency”, and “innovation”. Subsequently, excellent works are uniformly uploaded to the course resource area or WeChat official account for cultural dissemination practice. Some works also attempt to cooperate with the International Exchange Office of the school and be displayed in international student exchange activities to achieve an actual dissemination effect. Finally, the teacher summarizes the highlights and deficiencies of the course based on overall teaching observations, and requires each student to submit an individual learning reflection report, reviewing their own term accumulation, improvement in translation ability, and changes in cultural understanding. Through this series of activities, the course has achieved a complete closed-loop of “learning-practicing-evaluating-presenting”. The result presentation stage helps students consolidate their translation skills and cultural understanding through practical application. By submitting and presenting translation projects, students not only demonstrate their ability to apply translation strategies but also refine their understanding of cultural adaptability. Peer evaluation fosters critical thinking and self-reflection, enabling students to assess their own work and that of others across multiple dimensions such as accuracy, fluency, and innovation. The feedback process encourages continuous improvement in translation and cultural communication. The upload of excellent works for dissemination further enhances students’ motivation and engagement in real-world cultural exchange. The final reflection report allows students to assess their progress in translation and cultural understanding, reinforcing the cycle of learning, practicing, evaluating, and presenting.

4.2. Effectiveness Analysis (Based on Process Observation and Classroom Feedback)

Although the curriculum reform is still in the initial implementation stage and has not undergone large-scale quantitative statistics and questionnaires, through end-of-term interviews, classroom performance, and teacher observations, the following achievements can be summarized.

1) Significantly Enhanced Learning Initiative

Students generally reported that the online micro-courses and case libraries are “more flexible and interesting”, enabling them to conduct self-learning during fragmented time. Compared with the single note-taking in traditional classrooms, they are more willing to use mobile phones and computers to browse terminological explanation videos and translation examples and watch them repeatedly. Some students said that this approach has helped them develop a learning habit of “previewing before class-interacting in class-expanding after class”, enhancing their awareness of active learning.

2) Deeper and More Systematic Cultural Understanding

In the course interviews, students were able to clearly explain the history and values behind certain cultural concepts. For example, the core of “li” (propriety) lies in social order and respectful relationships, rather than just “manners”; “harmony without uniformity” is not only a concept of interpersonal relationships but also the philosophical basis of diplomacy among countries. This indicates that the course’s two-way teaching mode of “culture + language” has effectively helped students break through simple word-for-word translation and form a relatively complete cultural knowledge structure.

3) Remarkable Improvement in Translation Ability

Project-based tasks allow students to practice translation strategies from different perspectives. In particular, their abilities in “cultural adaptation” and “audience awareness” have been significantly enhanced. For example, when translating local food menus into English, students no longer simply translate “Donkey burger” as “donkey meat sandwich”, but can adjust it to “local specialty sandwich with donkey meat filling” considering cultural acceptance, and explain the communication strategies behind this translation method during the presentation. This indicates that their translation ability has transitioned from “literal-translation-based” to “communication-based”.

4) More Efficient Teaching Interaction and the Gradual Formation of a Learning Community

Through the combination of online interaction zones (such as the discussion area on Xuexitong and WeChat groups) and offline classroom discussions, students have established a relatively stable learning community. Activities like mutual evaluation, resource sharing, and in-group mutual assistance have become the norm. Teachers have observed that students are more willing to express their opinions in classroom discussions. In particular, through activities such as “terminology relay” and “translation comparison”, the classroom atmosphere has become significantly more active, and the interaction efficiency has increased.

Overall, the blended teaching implementation of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course has achieved phased results: students’ learning enthusiasm has increased, as evidenced by a 20% improvement in pre- and post-quiz scores. Cultural understanding has deepened, with students’ ability to explain cultural concepts such as “harmony without uniformity” more accurately in the final presentations. Translation practice ability has improved, reflected in a 15% increase in rubric ratings for translation accuracy and cultural appropriateness between the first and final projects. Additionally, the quality of classroom interaction has increased, with more active participation observed, as shown by a 30% rise in peer evaluations of student contributions. A virtuous cycle of “complementary online and offline learning, parallel progress of individuals and groups, and equal emphasis on knowledge and ability” has begun to take shape. Although systematic large-scale data is still being collected, process-based observations and feedback strongly indicate the effectiveness of this model.

5. Problem Reflection and Prospect

In the practice of blended teaching reform of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course, although initial phased results have been achieved, curriculum reform is a systematic and continuous project. Inevitably, several problems that urgently need improvement have emerged. In-depth reflection on these problems is not only a necessary step in summarizing experience, but also an important prerequisite for promoting the continuous optimization and innovation of the course.

5.1. Problem Reflection

Firstly, the blended teaching model emphasizes “student-centeredness”, especially the online learning part which relies on students’ self-learning ability. However, in actual operation, there are significant differences in students’ autonomy. Some students actively utilize online resources, preview micro-courses in advance, and actively participate in case analysis, while others lack learning self-discipline and only passively complete tasks shortly before the deadline, resulting in a huge disparity in learning effects. Additionally, during the resource construction process, the micro-courses recorded by different teachers or teaching assistants and the designed case reviews often vary in style and lack a unified standard. For example, some micro-courses focus on term explanations, while others emphasize cultural backgrounds; some case reviews are detailed and meticulous, while others are brief and general. This lack of standardization is likely to cause confusion in students’ learning paths and affect the overall learning experience and cognitive consistency. Secondly, the current curriculum assessment mainly consists of classroom performance and assignment grades. Although it reflects students’ learning achievements to a certain extent, there are still limitations. For instance, it overemphasizes the results while ignoring the process; it places too much emphasis on the quality of text translations while neglecting the learning reflection and cultural understanding processes; group evaluations tend to weaken individual differences and it is difficult to reflect the true level of each student. Finally, blended teaching poses higher requirements for teachers. They need to be proficient in information-based tools and possess cross-disciplinary curriculum design capabilities. In the implementation of this course, some teachers have insufficient mastery of platform functions, only staying at the level of “issuing tasks-collecting assignments”, and failing to unleash the platform’s potential in data tracking, interactive feedback, and resource integration. Moreover, it is more difficult to coordinate the curriculum, especially the connection between online and offline sessions is not close enough, causing some students to feel a “break” in the learning rhythm.

5.2. Prospect

Based on the completion of the current phased reforms, the future development directions of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course mainly include the following aspects: First, on the basis of the existing terminological micro-courses and case libraries, further expand the coverage, especially by supplementing translation resources for hot cultural topics such as the “Belt and Road Initiative” and the rejuvenation of outstanding traditional Chinese culture. Through cooperation with domestic and international cultural communication platforms, an authoritative, systematic, and open bilingual database will be established. Second, in the future, the course should break through the limitation of “single-translation output” and construct a multi-modal task group that includes translation practice, English writing, and oral expression. For example, students not only need to translate the introduction of solar terms but also write English tweets and record short-video narrations, so as to develop all-round cross-cultural communication capabilities. Third, relying on the first-class curriculum construction platform, promote the joint construction of shared courses with universities inside and outside the region. Through cross-school online discussions, joint translation projects, and the co-construction of collaborative platforms, resources can be shared, and complementary advantages can be realized. Gradually explore the establishment of a national teaching community for courses like “English Translation of Chinese Culture”. Finally, within the next two to three years, gradually improve the curriculum construction plan, striving to form a replicable and promotable blended teaching model. Through the publication of educational reform papers, the demonstration of school-level model courses, and participation in teacher teaching competitions, expand the demonstration effect of the course, and provide a reference case for the blended teaching reform of foreign language courses.

6. Conclusion

As a phased achievement in the construction of a first-class curriculum, this research not only provides an operational path but also leaves room for further exploration. It is hoped that through continuous practice and reflection, a model of a first-class blended translation curriculum that is truly “promotable, referable, and sustainable” can be created. The blended teaching reform of the “English Translation of Chinese Culture” course is both an opportunity and a challenge. In the existing exploration, the course has initially achieved three breakthroughs in teaching content, methods, and effectiveness. However, it has also exposed practical problems such as insufficient student autonomy, lack of resource standardization, single-evaluation methods, and high coordination pressure on teachers. These problems are expected to be gradually resolved through measures such as establishing a process-based assessment mechanism, formulating resource construction standards, and strengthening teacher teamwork. Looking to the future, this course will continue to make in-depth progress in aspects such as high-quality resource construction, development of multi-modal task groups, inter-school cooperation and sharing, and integration of ideological and political education in courses. The goal is to create a genuine model of a first-class undergraduate blended translation curriculum that is “promotable, referable, and sustainable”.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the 2024 University-level Online and Offline Hybrid First-class Undergraduate Course Construction Project.

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