Exploration and Reflection on Cross-Culturally Oriented Integration of Ideological and Political Elements into German Language Teaching: Evidence from the Sino-German Cooperative Mechanical Engineering Program

Abstract

Objective: Against the backdrop of advancing Sino-foreign cooperative education and national “Curriculum Ideology and Politics“ initiatives, this study explores the integration of ideological and political elements into German language teaching in Sino-German cooperative mechanical engineering programs. The paper framework covers three core parts: analyzing the necessity (aligning with the “Manufacturing Power“ strategy and addressing students’ cross-cultural value challenges) and advantages (German original textbooks, multi-cultural foreign faculty) of the integration; presenting two practical teaching cases (a textbook-based craftsmanship seminar and a cross-cultural interview activity); and summarizing outcomes and proposing future optimization directions. Methods: It adopts a case study approach, taking the Sino-German Cooperative Program in Mechanical Design, Manufacturing, and Automation at Qilu University of Technology (Shandong Academy of Sciences) as the research object, combining qualitative analysis (textbook element extraction, interview content analysis) and practical teaching verification (activity design, student feedback collection). Results: Major findings show that the integration enriches German teaching content, enhances students’ cultural identity, national confidence, and intercultural communication skills, and provides a replicable paradigm for foreign language Curriculum Ideology and Politics in educational opening-up contexts.