Year of the Goat adopts a learner-centered approach and infuses elements of AI-assisted language acquisition into its lessons. Volume 2 of the textbook explores the themes of food, family, ancestry, religion, livelihood, and romance.

The book follows a student, an interpreter, a flight attendant, a software engineer, and a music artist whose lives become intertwined during a year in China. In the process, it addresses such hot-button issues as student debt, illegal immigration, relationship infidelity, and gun violence by introducing uncomfortable situations in which characters must draw on their cultural understanding and pragmatic knowledge to navigate problems.

The book is an intermediate-level Chinese language textbook that contains traditional and AI-powered exercises and is paired with a companion website (resourcecentre.routledge.com/books/9781041001300) that provides access to grammar podcasts and audiovisual content.