不同文化之间的交际与外语教学

Cross-Cultural Communication as Related to Foreign Language Teaching

一、何谓“不同文化之间的交际” “不同文化之间的交际”(InterculturalCommunication)可以作狭义与广义两种不同的理解。狭义的理解指大众传播方面所涉及的文化因素及有关的问题。广义的理解则是指具有不同文化背景的人们在各种交际中涉及到的文化诸方面。目前对于不同文化之间的交际通常作广义的理解。

Intercultural communication is a frontier discipline that involves anthropology, sociology,ethnology, linguistics, sociolinguistics, folklore, the study of culture and theories and methods inteaching foreign languages. In conventional foreign language teaching attention has been paid tothe study of history, literature, arts, and philosophy of the particular country whose language is beingtaught. Since 1950s anthropological influence has been growing and the last 10-15 years haswitnessed an increasing number of publications on intercultural comnunication. Views expressed in the publications include: 1) Culture is all pervasive and often subconscious.2) There is no homogeneous culture. Differences between regions, social strata and individuals existwhich make the teaching of the cultural component difficult. 3) Cultural bias and ethnocentricity arehard to overcome. 4) There are different levels of cultural awareness and empathy and transspec-tion are goals not easily attainable. 5) A variety of methods may be used in teaching to enhancethe students' cultural awareness. Larry Smith and others believe that since English is becoming international in character, it isnot necessary to relate language teaching to one particular culture. Smith proposes varying culturalemphases for different types of learning.