The development of Area Studies has driven a fundamental shift in Chinese foreign language education, moving from a model centered on language skills and general cultural knowledge toward one oriented toward regional knowledge, contextual understanding, and problem-solving. As a critical link connecting language competence, regional knowledge, and international engagement, intercultural communication teaching must similarly evolve from the static transmission of cultural traits to dynamic interpretation within regional contexts. Meanwhile, generative artificial intelligence, large language models, multimodal technologies, and intelligent agents create new technological conditions for organizing regional knowledge, generating communicative scenarios, and analyzing learning processes. On the basis of examining the knowledge turn in intercultural communication teaching from the perspective of Area Studies, this paper proposes a conceptual framework comprising regionally contextualized knowledge, digitally generated situations, human-machine collaborative practice, and data-driven assessment. It further constructs a practical framework centered on a regional cultural cognitive map, human-machine collaborative scenario simulation, and intercultural competence profiling. The paper also emphasizes that digitalization should not replace authentic cultural encounters. Instead, it should serve as a knowledge scaffold, situational expander, and process feedback mechanism under the guidance of teachers. To address challenges such as algorithmic bias, distorted cultural representation, ethical concerns regarding data, and teachers' insufficient competence in regional knowledge and digital literacy, this paper proposes strategies including knowledge validation, human-machine collaboration, ethical governance, and interdisciplinary teacher development. These proposals aim to provide theoretical references and practical pathways for reforming intercultural communication teaching within the framework of Area Studies.

Chengchieh Su. Digital and Intelligent Transformation of Intercultural Communication Teaching from the Perspective of Area Studies: Logic, Mechanisms, and Practical Pathways. International Journal of New Developments in Education (2026), Vol. 8, Issue 9: 35-41. https://doi.org/10.25236/IJNDE.2026.080906.

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