In January 2024, Foreign Language Education Studies (FLES)was officially added as an independent discipline for graduate education, injecting new vitality into the development of foreign language education in China. This article, taking Professor Cai Jigang’s work as a reference, further delineates the disciplinary affiliation, educational objectives, and social demands of FLES. It is pointed out that FLES , as a secondary discipline, should belong to linguistics rather than education studies. Its core educational objective is to cultivate research-oriented foreign language teachers with both theoretical knowledge and practical skills. The curriculum should be based on the cultivation of high-quality talents in foreign language education, reflecting both the commonality and school-based characteristics of talent cultivation.