The framework and cultivating modes of intercultural communication competence for business English majors in vocational colleges： Based on the study of vocational colleges in Guangxi

The teaching objective of vocational business English is not only to improve students＇ English language competence, but also to develop their intercultural communication competence. Based on an analysis of the outcome of a survey on cultivation of English majors＇ intercultural competence among vocational colleges in Guangxi, the paper aims at exploring the framework and cultivating modes of intercultural communication competence for business English majors in vocational colleges.

Intercultural Communication Competence Developed by Chinese in Communicating With Malays in Bangka Island, Indonesia

This study aims to explore the cultural identity of Chinese related to their self-perception, their perception of Malays, and their communication with the Malays in Bangka Island, Indonesia, emphasizing the Chinese intercultural communication competence in terms of their self-presentation in business relationships with the Malays. The study employed an interpretive approach, more specifically the symbolic interactionlst and dramaturgical tradition. The researchers focused on intercultural communication experiences and competence as enacted by the 25 Chinese in the area of the research. The study used in-depth interviews with the Chinese as the main method with some observation of the Chinese communication with the Malays. The researchers also interviewed eight Malays as additional subjects of the research to corroborate the research findings. The study found that the Chinese in Bangka Island perceived themselves as open and willing to mingle with the Malays They are hospitable, hardworking, tenacious, frugal, and fond of maintaining long-term relationships. In contrast, in the Chinese view, the Malays are open and willing to mingle with others, obedient to the teachings of Islam, but they are lazy and are keen on being flattered, consumptive, and easily seduced. In terms of their intercultural communication competence, the Chinese are skillful in their self-presentation by employing various verbal and nonverbal tactics to adjust themselves to the interpersonal, group, and business situations where they encounter the Malays in their everyday lives

A Study on Influence of Students'Intercultural Communication Competence in the Application-oriented University through Short-term Overseas Study Tours

Short-term overseas study tours, as a new type of cross-cultural autonomy education in the era of globalization, aims to help students improve their intercultural communication competence through tourism and cultural learning. Many studies' subjects are concentrated on the higher learning institutions. However, few of them are concerned about application-oriented university students' ICC. So the behavior and role of students' ICC in the overseas study tours in 2016 and 2017 in one of the application-oriented universities in Zhejiang province becomes the main focus. It exams from three aspects: intercultural attitudes, knowledge and behaviors. Basically, students benefit a lot from study tours, especially in the aspect of practical communication, among which, they change from shy, inexperienced learners to be brave, confident, and skilled in the tours. Also, considering the problems of host school are existed, the suggestions proposed by participants that practical courses of destination countries had better be arranged for students to understand and adapt to it beforehand. Besides, more communication and interactions between students and teachers should be increased to create a more active and relaxed classroom atmosphere, which contribute to mobilize students' initiative and enthusiasm to better become a complementary influence to promote students' ICC.

The Education of Japanese Honorifics and Cultivating Intercultural Communication Competence

Japanese honorifics which symbolizes the social culture of Japan are linguistic forms that are indispensable in the Japanese language education.Hence,the Japanese language education requires an improvement of previously solidified teaching methods with the cultivation of students’intercultural communication competence,in order for students to understand Japanese honorifics in-depth and apply them in practice.This paper analyzes the necessity of cultivating students’intercultural communication competence,the difficulties in Japanese honorifics education,and proposes specific training methods to help students improve their competence.

Cultivating Cultural Self-Awareness to Teach Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication is undisputably important in today’s world.Schools on every level in China attach great importance to educating young people with intercultural communication competence.Chinese anthropologist Fei Xiaotong developed the concept of cultural self-awareness to meet this urgent need.The paper explores the rich meanings of cultural self-awareness concept and how the idea is relevant to teaching intercultural communication.

Study on Tourism Workers’ Intercultural Communication Competence

Under the background of the development of Hainan tourism and con-sumption destinations to increase the reception level of international tourism in Hainan,an empirical study is carried out to investigate the intercultural commu-nication competence of tourism workers in Hainan from cognitive,operational and affective dimensions.In this study,the cognitive dimension is reflected by the knowledge of domestic and foreign culture;the operational dimension focuses on verbal and nonverbal communication abilities;and the affective dimension is represented by emotional level,which mainly focuses on the participants’ability to understand and appreciate another culture as well as their willingness to interact with people from other cultures.The results indicate that tourism workers’knowl-edge of domestic culture is the best,followed by their emotional level,which are all above average.Next are nonverbal communication ability and knowledge of foreign culture,both of which are below average.Their verbal communication ability is the lowest among thefive factors.The intercultural communication com-petence of Hainan tourism workers is not satisfactory.The analytical results also show that each factor among the three dimensions is positively correlated with each other.

The Impact of Street Interviews on Chinese EFL Undergraduates’Intercultural Communicative Competence

The study adopts Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence(ICC)model as the theoretical framework,and structured interviews were conducted to explore the impact of street interviews on the participants’ICC.Analysis results revealed street interviews help students acquire knowledge in intercultural attitudes,intercultural knowledge,skills of discovery and interaction,and critical cultural awareness,aligning with the four components of Byram’s ICC model.Meanwhile,they have positive perceptions of street interviews.Therefore,street interviews have a positive effect on the development of participants’ICC.

COLLEGE STUDENTS' INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE — A TENTATIVE STUDY

The paper intends to test Chinese students' intercultural awareness and intercultural competence via the completion of a questionnaire conducted amongst 216 English majors by the end of their third year and 354 non-English majors (CET Band 6) in five northern universities of China. The theoretical framework of the paper originates from Young Yun Kim's structural model of factors influencing intercultural adaption and Gao Yihong's ' going across' and ' going beyond' as two levels of intercultural communication competence development. The questionnaire tests the students' knowledge of communication, culture and intercultural awareness. The results show that: The learners are prevalently lacking profound intercultural communication awareness; Intercultural communication course can validly improve the students''going across' culture; The majority of the mistakes made by the students in intercultural communication are mainly due to the 'negative transfer' of native culture.

The Concurrent Predictive Validity of the Intercultural Business Communication Competence Scale

This article reports the concurrent predictive validity of a new Intercultural Business Communication Competence Scale(IBCCS)involving three dimensions:cognitive ability about intercultural business communication situation(CB),business English linguistic proficiency(LP),and intercultural business communication motivation(CM).Survey data were collected with 120 Chinese international business practitioners.It was found that the subjects’intercultural business communication competence(IBCC)appeared to predict the three dimensions of job performance(JP):task performance(TP),interpersonal facilitation(IF),and job dedication(JD).In the three facets of IBCC,CM emerged as significant predictor of the three dimensions of JP.The present study provides more validity evidence for the IBCCS and extends the existing research on the relationship between communication competence and JP to intercultural business context.

An investigational study of non-English majors＇ international communication competence and countermeasures

Based on the data collected from the questionnaires, this paper discusses various problems concerning intercultural communication competence the non-English majors at ＂high-leveled, applicationoriented＂ level faced in Shanghai Institute of Technology. Besides, it analyzes the necessity and feasibility in developing intercultural communication competence, and puts forward some constructive suggestions to enhance intercultural communication competence in adult English teaching.

Using Social Media to Promote Intercultural Communication Between Chinese and American University Students

This paper reports a five-year computer-mediated intercultural exchange project between Chinese and American university students that explores the use of various social media tools with WeChat application as the main medium in collaborative intercultural assignments. The study combines quantitative and qualitative approaches by using questionnaires and action research, to investigate how Chinese EFL and American CFL learners increase their intercultural communication competence by assessing their knowledge, awareness, attitudes, and skills of discovery and awareness. The findings reveal their changes and progress in the following variables: knowledge about the variety and subtlety of both the home and target cultures, a different worldview, and cultural study methods;awareness of the importance of differences and similarities between the home and target cultures, their negative reactions to these differences(e.g., fear, ridicule, disgust, feeling of superiority, etc.) and therefore, critical evaluation of the target and home cultures;attitudes from excitement or blind admiration of the target culture to confusion, anxiety or frustration about the cultural differences, later to toleration and appreciation of cultural differences, adaptation to the target culture, and eventually to openness and readiness to suspend disbelief about other cultures and belief about one’s own;skills to contrast the target culture with their own, to demonstrate a capacity to interact appropriately in a variety of different social situations in the target culture and resolve cross-cultural conflicts and misunderstandings. This research will serve as a valuable reference for computer-mediated intercultural communication teaching and open up new possibilities to extend classroom teaching by bridging the gap between second-hand knowledge and hands-on experience.

On Learners＇ Perceptions of Taking MOOC in Learning Intercultural Communication （IC） A Case Study of the IC MOOC from SISU

The topic of taking MOOC in learning Intercultural Communication （IC） is an under-researched area, and there has been little empirical research published which focuses on students＇ perceptions. This study explores learner＇s perceptions of taking the MOOC from SISU in learning IC with both a quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis, which focuses on students＇ viewpoints about their MOCC learning experience, development in Intercultural Communication Competence （ICC） and their problems in Learning MOOC.

Integration of Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence

The launch of the Belt and Road Initiative in China calls for a paradigm shift in theory and practice of foreign language(FL)teaching from a communicative language teaching approach(CLT)to intercultural language teaching(ICLT),which treats intercultural communicative competence(ICC)as the core of FL education.Unfortunately,the College English Curriculum Requirements of China(CECR)does not specify the aspects for cultural teaching or assessment;nor does it provide any theoretical or practical guidance for teachers on how to teach or assess ICC.This leads to teachers’confusion about what should be taught and assessed and how,hence to a deficiency in real actions.In this paper,we first outline the learning outcomes of ICLT-oriented courses,the ICC components which respectively fall into the categories of intercultural attitude,knowledge and skills.By presenting the pedagogical practice of a cultural literacy course,we also demonstrate how FL teachers can help learners achieve these learning outcomes through a fivestage instruction process.Finally,we discuss how these learning outcomes can be assessed using formative and summative assessment tools,especially how ICC components can be incorporated into a comprehensive test of FL.

Developing Students’ Intercultural Communicative Competence Through Threads of Personal Experiences: A Reflective Approach

With the development of world globalization, English works as a lingua franca for intercultural communication among different cultures in the world. This shift implies that introducing solely English native speaking cultures to students is not sufficient for their needs. This paper depicts the reflective teaching process of my ten years of experience of teaching intercultural communication.The paper describes how the teacher systematically reflects on the practice of teaching,continuously revises the curriculum, and finally formulates an efficient model of integrating students’ personal experiences into developing students’ intercultural communicative competence and awareness. This reflective study attempts to provide some pedagogical implications for intercultural communication education.

On the Ecological Evaluation of Iranian Secondary Schools English Language Course Books in Light Intercultural Communicative Competence： Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude

With the spread of English language around the world and its status as an international language, the need for more communication is felt. One pivoting aspect of this communication is the role of culture which can contribute to the success of communication at the global level and the co-construction of identities as individuals from different parts of the world get into interactions. Thus, the role of materials developed for learning English, especially the local ones, in the improvement of individuals＇ intercultural competence is significant. New course books for learning English at Iranian secondary schools entitled Prospect series have been developed recently. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the first and the second books of this series in light of Byram＇s model of Intercultural Communicative Competence （1CC）. Based on this model, ICC consists of three dimensions of attitude, knowledge, skills, and five saviors of knowledge, attitude, discovery, interaction, and critical thinking. To do the evaluation of the course books, the checklist developed based on these five saviors was used to evaluate the tasks for each unit of the books. The evaluation was done separately by each of the researchers in the study and inter-rater reliability showed a high level of Cronbach alpha. The findings indicated that about 90 percent of the activities of Prospect 1 and Prospect 2 lack the skills required for improving English language learners＇ ICC. They mostly focus on Iranian culture which might have been improved via learners＇ first language as well. This might imply the need for the adaptation of Prospect series activities in light of ICC so that Iranian English language learners can take advantage of their communication with the rest of the world.

Fostering Intercultural Communicative Competence in Writing:A Preliminary Study

The deepening of internationalization has promoted intercultural communication.Countries around the world have established education policies on intercultural communication,highlighting the importance of intercultural communicative competence.The paper offers a preliminary study of how to foster learners’intercultural communicative competence in writing.It first elaborates intercultural communicative competence and the factors that cause intercultural communication failures,and then proposes a variety of writing strategies to develop learners’intercultural communicative competence.Suggestions on how to improve English teachers’intercultural communicative competence are also provided.

Strategies to Promote Intercultural Communicative Competence in EFL Teaching

With the acceleration of globalization and internationalization, the demand for multilingual speakers is urgent, which promotes the development of foreign language teaching and learning especially English. Consequently, the English as a Foreign Language （EFL） teaching is paid great attention to in China. Many previous studies show the connection of EFL teaching and teachers＇ intercultural communicative competence （ICC）. Although it is presumed that teachers＇ ICC at this stage is a prerequisite to raise students＇ ICC, the specific strategies to promote teachers＇ intercultural skills in EFL teaching have not yet been empirically demonstrated. The goal of the present study is to put forward some specific strategies to promote teachers＇ ICC in EFL teaching. Two cases including interview and teaching plans, were administered in high school teachers. Sample analysis demonstrated teachers＇ current problems in ICC and in Chinese EFL teaching as well as the necessity for teachers to acquire the specific teaching strategies. These findings seem to suggest that specific strategies are indeed essential to promote teachers＇ ICC in EFL teaching.

Improving college non-English majors＇ nonverbal communication competence

Under the widespread view that verbal competence is essential in foreign language acquisition. nonverbal communication has not been given sufficient attention and importance in foreign language teaching in China. In most cases in intercultural interaction, people focus on verbal cues while neglecting those nonverbal messages produced by the bodies and the environment. Such neglect often results in misunderstandings and conflicts because nonverbal communication reveals basic cultural traits from which people are able to gather clues about underlying attitudes and values. So the study of nonverbal communication is an important component to the study of intercultural communication. It deserves due attention in foreign language acquisition. Grounded on the model of cultural learning put forward by Hanvey, the study puts forward a set of feasible suggestions on how to improve intercultural nonverbal communication competence of college non-English majors.

Assessment of Intercultural Communicative Competence

The present paper concems itself with the overview of the assessment of intercultural communicative competence in the field of language testing worldwide, hoping to emphasize the importance of culture testing in language projects, provide some insightful information for test item constructors, educators, authorities as well.

Cause Analysis of Sociopragmatic Failure in Intercultural Communication

With the rapid development of science and globalization,communication between people is becoming more and more convenient and flexible.However,communication breakdown still occurs occasionally in the process of intercultural communication.Pragmatics failure is one of the main causes of the bias in intercultural communication.Based on the Jenny Thomas’theory,pragmatic failure is divided into pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure,the former is defined as the lack of pragmatic knowledge,while the latter affects more fundamentally the effect of intercultural communication as sociopragmatic failure is caused by the differences in cultural dimensions,ways of thinking,value orientation between speakers.By cognizing and understanding the main causes of pragmatic failures,intercultural speakers could avoid misunderstanding between different cultures and promote their intercultural communicative competence,in order to achieve an effective result of intercultural communication.