Cultivation of Crosscultural Communicative Competence in English Language Teaching

1、 在英语语言教学中培养跨文化交际能力 cultivation of cross-cultural communicative competence in english language teaching abstract: in the cross-cultural communication between the chinese and the westerners, culture, the conflicts from cultural differences has seriously affected the smooth progress of contacts, so it

2、is necessary to find out the deep-seated causes, and measures must be taken to cultivate the ability to have cross-cultural communication to avoid a clash of cultures. the thesis focuses on how to cultivate learners cross-cultural communication competence in english language teaching and provides so

3、me tentative suggestions. the foreign language teaching and cross-cultural communicative competence are complementary and inseparable. many students have studied english for many years and have had a mastery of the linguistic knowledge of english, such as grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc

4、. but they cannot make themselves understood well in communication with foreigners, it is the less knowledge of culture of the other side that causes the failure in communication, and cant reach the anticipated purpose. the purpose of english teaching is to develop talents with cross-cultural commun

5、icative competence. so, cultural communication theory should be used as a guidance for english teaching.key words: english language teaching; cross-cultural communication; cultural differences; cultural conflicts摘 要：在中西跨文化交际中，文化冲突的事例屡见不鲜，严重影响了交往的顺利进行，因此我们很有必要找出其深层次的原因，并采取一定的措施来培养跨文化交际的能力，避免文化冲突。本文主要

6、谈论的是如何在英语教学中培养跨文化交际能力。外语教学和跨文化交际能力的培养是互补的，不可分离的。尽管很多英语学习者，已经掌握了语言知识，如：语法，词汇，句子结构等，但他们在与外国人交际中仍不能准确的被人理解。这种失败就是由于不了解对方语言文化而造成的，当然也就不能达到预期的教学目的。大学英语教学的目的是培养具有跨文化交际能力的人才，所以，英语教学应以文化交际理论为指导。关键词：英语教学；跨文化交际能力；文化差异；文化冲突contentsi. introduction.1a. research purpose. 1b. research significance.1ii. literature

7、review.1a. definition of culture. 2b. the relationship between language and culture.2c. cross-cultural communication studies abroad. 2d. cross-cultural communication studies in china. 3 iii. cultural conflicts in cross-cultural communication.5a. privacy conflict.5b. time conflict.5c. courtesy confli

8、ct.5d. dining custom conflict.6iv. reasons for the common cultural conflicts. 6a. difference in the mode of thinking.6b. difference in the code of conduct.7c. difference in values. 7d. pragmatic transfer impact.7v. specific measures of developing cross-cultural communication competence in elt.8 a. i

9、mproving teaching methods.8b. creating an efficient classroom environment. .9c. paying attention to non-verbal communication abilities.10d. making extensive contacts with western culture materials.10vi. conclusion.11works cited.13i. introductiona. research purposesince the policy of opening to the o

10、utside world was carried out in the 1980s, cultural resources have greatly accumulated; socialist market economy has become more and more merged into the international market especially since the entry of wto; international prestige has been greatly enhanced and china plays an increasingly active ro

11、le on the international stage. so it is a good thing to deeper our understanding of western society, but this is not a simple matter, because what we face are from the unfamiliar cultures and countries. when we communicate with people from other cultures, we are often confronted with languages, rule

12、s, and norms different from our own. confronting these differences can be a source of insight into the rules and norms of our own culture, as well as a source of frustration or gratification. therefore, what we have to learn is to understand culture, communication, and the process of communication b

13、etween people from different cultures. such knowledge is extremely important. in fact, it is necessary for us to fully comprehend the daily events of todays multicultural world. in this case, china is in an urgent need of talents with cross-cultural communicative competence. to learn a language is n

14、ot only to learn it as a tool to understand passively but also to communicate actively and effectively. language teaching is faced with new challenges. b. research significance there is some important significance of developing cross-cultural communicative competence as follows: 1. english learners

15、have an opportunity to foster their awareness about the interaction of communication and culture and know more knowledge about culture so that they can successfully cope with a new culture situation. 2. improve my own research levels both theoretically and practically.ii. literature review a. defini

16、tion of cultureas we have seen, culture is ubiquitous, multidimensional, complex, and all-pervasive. as was the case with communication, many definitions have been suggested for culture. as early as 1952, kroaber and kluckhohn listed 164 definitions of culture that they found in the anthropology lit

17、erature. and, of course, many new definitions have appeared since british anthropologist edward tylor gave a more classic definition to the culture in the “original culture” book（cheng 105）, “culture is a complex, including knowledge, beliefs, arts, law, ethics, customs and people as members of soci

18、ety and any other capabilities and habits.”b. the relationship between language and culturelanguage is a part of culture and shaped by culture; it is also the carrier of culture and reflects cultural features of a community in which the language is spoken. language and culture are closely related. f

19、rom the angle of language teaching and learning, to teach a language is to teach another culture; to learn a language is also to learn another culture.c. cross-cultural communication studies abroadmany people identify eduard hall as the father of this field. in his book the silent language. hall hig

20、hlighted the necessity of intercultural studies, “american sent abroad.should not only be taught to speak and read the language but be thoroughly trained in the culture of the country.” since the publication the silent language, an outburst of enthusiasm has arisen in the research of intercultural c

21、ommunication.in 1960, lado wrote his linguistics across cultures: applied linguistics for language teachers. years later, samovar and porter published intercultural communication: a reader. in 1977, gudykunst and kim wrote communicating with strangers: an approach to intercultural communication. in

22、1974, society for intercultural education, training and research was set up, which is one of the most influential organizations in intercultural communication and now it has its branch in europe. universities began to offer courses in this field. whats more, american council on the teaching of forei

23、gn language has brought sociocultural competence into the teaching syllabus. and american developments in intercultural communication have continued to have the strong social-psychological influence and have sought to promote effective communication applications.samovar and porter have explored the

24、importance of intercultural communication competence from the perspective of the potential communication problems in intercultural communication. lusting and koester greatly emphasize the qualities of effectiveness and appropriateness in intercultural communication, both of which have vital implicat

25、ions for the development of icc. they have made a deep research in icc and argued that the starting point of developing icc in educational context is “to understand ones own cultural background” (lusting and koester 316). moran has made a detailed exploration of icc through the perspective of experi

26、ential learning cycle, which deals with four aspects: knowing about (cultural information), knowing how (cultural practices), knowing why (cultural perspectives), and knowing oneself (self awareness). in morans carefully designed model, icc is also placed as the core competence in the model. and byr

27、am produces great insights into the teaching and assessing of icc, including the skills, attitudes and knowledge in the developmental process of this competence. he gives the definition of icc in relation to foreign language education involving various topics such as curriculum issues and the object

28、ives for teaching, learning, assessment.d. cross-cultural communication studies in china in china, scholars, experts and language teachers alike recognized intercultural communication in the early 1980s. the early works on intercultural communication in china were: introducing a new subject-cross-cu

29、ltural communication and my opinions of comparative culture by he daokuan (1983); communication of different cultures and foreign language teaching by hu wenzhong (1985); culture and communication by hu wenzhong (1994)；beyond culture and silent language by the anthropologist edward t. hall and trans

30、lated into chinese by he daokuan (1990).since the establishing of the china association for intercultural communication in 1995, a number of monographic books were written by chinese scholars. the integration of culture teaching into language teaching has been a hot topic in chinas foreign language

31、teaching, and how to develop students cultural awareness and their cultural competence has posed a new challenge to foreign language teachers. chen guoming has made a very detailed study of icc with a figure elaborating the dimensions and components of icc. he proposes a definition of icc as the abi

32、lity to effectively and appropriately execute communication behaviors to elicit a desired response in a specific environment. and he further elaborates icc from four dimensions: personal attributes, communication skills, psychological adaptation and cultural awareness, each of which consists of four

33、 components with great practical values. and chen shen elaborates icc by the emphasis of cultural creativity based on understanding of the speakers or the hearers own culture.also at home jia yuxin says icc should be the ultimate objective of foreign language teaching (jia 3). he has discussed the s

34、even constituting factors for effective communication based on rubens study, which reflects his own insightful proposals and ideas. he elaborates icc as a system consisting of basic communication competence, affective and the episodic competence. hu wenzhong and gao yihong have proposed a very detai

35、led chart consisting of two broad parts: cultural behavior and cultural psychology, for the content of culture teaching. both of them are of special practical value for the development of icc in foreign language education (hu and gao 161).in the following years, many scholars, experts and english te

36、achers alike in chinese secondary schools pay attention to cultivation of icc in foreign language teaching. english teaching includes not only language knowledge teaching but also cultural knowledge transmission. whether cross-cultural education is brought into english teaching or not is the main sy

37、mbol of distinguishing traditional english teaching and modern english teaching. central on cultivation of cross-cultural communicative competence, many more suggestions are mentioned by english experts and teachers in recent years.although culture teaching is important, teachers in the practical te

38、aching seldom study it closely. they focus on language knowledge such as vocabulary grammar and sentence structure. many problems still exist in english teaching practice such as textbooks with a little cultural information, english test with much language knowledge, and in service teachers training

39、. and the most important problem is that traditional english teaching is still popular and many english teachers use grammar-translation teaching method. although some english teachers has recognized the importance of culture teaching, they couldnt know how to foster students cross-cultural communic

40、ative competence. the influence of the science of cross-cultural communication is still not so wide. firstly, there are still not so many universities and colleges offering the courses. secondly, we still need some good teaching materials. thirdly, many people are not aware of cross-cultural issues.

41、iii. cultural conflicts in cross-cultural communicationthere are many culture conflicts in the cross-cultural communication between the chinese and westerners; the following is some of more common: a. privacy conflictthe chinese usually dont have strong concept on privacy. they think the individual

42、should attribute to the collective. when together, they will be solidarity and concern each other. therefore chinese are willingly to understand others bittersweet, and on the contrary the others are also willingly to talk frankly. however, westerners pay much attention to privacy and personal space

43、. they do not want to mention their own affairs, but also are unwilling to allow others to interfere themselves. in both china and the west there are many conflicts about privacy issues, for example: chinese often ask the others age, marriage status, children, occupation, even more income situation

44、when they meet by the first time. this kind of manner is a politeness for the chinese while it means interference in the privacy of western people. b. time conflictthe westerners concept on time is linked with money. the slogan “time is money” is deep-rooted in their minds, so they extremely cherish

45、 time; they make a careful plan or arrangement for time in life, and develop a good habit to attend the scheduled appointment. in the west, if they visit someone, they will make an agreement in advance, and explain the purpose, ensure time and place. after that , it can be carried out. while, the ch

46、inese are accustomed to not arranging time and the use of time is very random. they usually will not be as strict as westerners who do everything according to the plan. but westerners do not understand this.c. courtesy conflict the chinese pay attention to modesty in communication. and they emphasis

47、 on “respect others”, which is a kind of virtue. politeness is rich characteristics of chinese culture. when someone praises us, we tend to choose self-debasement for modesty and politeness. but westerners often do not behave as we do. when being praised, they will always be very glad to receive it

48、and say “thank you”. due to the cultural differences between the chinese and westerners, we believe that westerners are too self-confident without modesty. when westerners hear the chinese deny praise from others, or hear themselves negate their own achievements, even their own worthless derogation,

49、 they would be extremely surprised and think the chinese are dishonest.d. dining custom conflictchina is known as a nation with fine tradition of hospitality. during communication and the banquet, the enthusiastic chinese often express their feelings and emotion with alcoholic drinks and cigarette.

50、in chinese banquet, even if the table is covered with delicious food, the masters always say a few “sorry” and other words. and masters sometimes use chopsticks to put dishes into the guests bowls, and use a variety of ways to persuade visitors to have much dishes and drinks. in western countries, p

51、eople respect individual rights and personal privacy, so the guests are not forced to do what is against their will. during dinner guests do not need to accept dishes which are put by hosts. guests may eat what they want to; and hosts also will not persuade you to drink until you cant.iv. exploring

52、the reasons for the common cultural conflictsthere are various reasons for the cultural conflicts between the east and the west. fundamentally, we believe it is because there are many different cultures, different historical backgrounds between china and the west. these inevitably bring in the diffe

53、rences in peoples thinking, behavior, and many other aspects. next we will specifically talk about what the main reasons are in terms of some aspects as follows. a. difference in the mode of thinkingchinese culture influences peoples ways of thinking. when they think of something, they think in a cy

54、clical and synthetic way, which involves trying to grasp things in their totality (hart 124). they think about all sides that might be related, before they decide what to say. this kind of thinking can be traced in their schematic ways of appellation.on the contrary, english people give much conside

55、ration to personal wills, freedom, value and creativeness. the ties among them are loose. everyone is expected to look after himself or herself and his or her immediate family. thats why people often say that there are only two pronouns that should be capitalized wherever they appear. one is the word i which indicates individualism. another is the word he which represents god. english people are very conscious of self-d