Intercultural sensitivity has been regarded as a very important ability necessary for living in multicultural countries and regions. In this research, the quantitative method was used to explore the intercultural sensitivity of university students in Macao, a typical multicultural region in China. By adopting the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale developed by Chen and Starosta and a sociodemographic questionnaire designed by the authors, this study investigated the intercultural sensitivity level of university students in Macao, and explored whether there were any significant differences in student groups in terms of gender, grade, program (language of instruction adopted in a major), courses related to intercultural communication, overseas experience, and foreign language proficiency. The findings of the study on a sample of 375 participants showed that university students in Macao had a relatively high intercultural sensitivity level. There were significant differences in different student groups in terms of gender, grade, courses related to intercultural communication, and foreign language proficiency. This study has implications for both educational policymakers and educators and can ultimately help university students in a multicultural environment improve their intercultural sensitivity and sustainable development.

In the context of the increasing digitization of education, online teachers’ competence and the affective factors of digital competence, psychological resilience, and self-efficacy have become prominent areas of academic inquiry. However, there is a dearth of extant research addressing the interactions between these variables in an online teaching Chinese as a foreign language (TCFL) environment. This study investigated the relationships among the digital competence, psychological resilience, and self-efficacy of online TCFL teachers via quantitative research methods. The questionnaires were administered to 610 online TCFL teachers, and the data were analyzed via structural equation modeling. The results indicate that digital competence and psychological resilience can significantly predict online teachers’ self-efficacy, and that the relationship between psychological resilience and self-efficacy can be significantly moderated by digital competence. This finding not only provides novel perspectives and insights for enhancing online teaching effectiveness, particularly in the domain of online foreign language instruction, but also complements and extends self-efficacy theory from the perspective of social cognitive theory.

Misinformation affects various aspects of people’s lives, such as politics, entertainment, and social interactions. However, effective intervention measures to combat misinformation are lacking. The inoculation theory has become a prevalent measure of misinformation. This study employed inoculation theory and developed an interactive game to help the public counter misinformation. In this game, players take on the role of the misinformation spreader, intending to add more followers to their virtual accounts using different strategies. A total of 180 Chinese participants were randomly assigned to game-based inoculation, graphic-based inoculation, and control groups. The results indicated that both types of inoculation interventions significantly decreased the perceived credibility and sharing intention of misinformation. Game-based inoculation was more effective than graphic-based inoculation in terms of misinformation perceived credibility, and the intervention effects were stable after 2 weeks. The graphic-based inoculation contained the sleeper effect, which interventions required a period of time to take effect. Neither inoculation produced countereffects on perceived credibility and nor sharing intention of accurate information.

Language proficiency tests significantly impact teaching and learning, commonly referred to as the washback effect, which has recently gained intense attention in China. This study explores the factors influencing the direction, timing, and intensity of the washback effect of the Chinese proficiency test (HSK). In this study, a mixed research method was used to study international Chinese language teachers and students through an ordinal logistic regression model and semistructured interviews. The findings reveal that personal, test, and environmental factors contribute to the washback effect. Notably, test factors exert a particularly strong influence on both teachers’ and students’ washback effects, whereas personal factors significantly influence only the washback effect of the HSK on students, and environmental factors significantly influence only the timing of the washback effect of the HSK on teachers. This study combines the examination characteristics of the HSK and international Chinese-language education scenarios; systematically verifies the influence of individual, examination, and environmental factors on the washback effect of the HSK; and expands and enriches the washback effect theory.