The Theoretical Evolution, Knowledge Structure, and Digital-Intelligent Turn of the Production-Oriented Approach: A Study Based on CNKI Literature

Based on the studies on the Production-Oriented Approach (POA) included in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), and combining bibliometrics with close reading, this paper examines the research characteristics, conceptual evolution, and digital-intelligent turn of this theory. The findings show that POA research has moved from rapid growth into a stage of stable deepening, with core authors and institutions becoming concentrated, and research themes expanding from college English to teaching Chinese to speakers of other languages, less commonly taught languages, textbook development, and intelligent teaching. Centered on the problem of 'separating learning from use,' the theory has refined its teaching principles, hypotheses, and procedures, forming a four-dimensional teaching framework that links learning, use, and assessment in a closed loop, together with a unit-nested teaching procedure. Generative artificial intelligence can empower teaching, yet existing studies are mostly short-cycle, single-course, and small-sample practices. Future research should carry out cross-language and cross-stage long-cycle comparisons, and build a human-machine collaborative assessment system based on classroom production, so as to address problems such as data bias, the weakening of teachers' subjectivity, and technology dependence.