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.

Microreactor platform for continuous synthesis of electronic doped quantum dots

Electronic doped quantum dots(Ed-QDs),by heterovalent cations doping,have held promise for future device concepts in optoelectronic and spin-based technologies due to their broadband Stokes-shifted luminescence,enhanced electrical transport and tailored magnetic behavior.Considering their scale-up requirement and the low yielding of several current colloidal synthesis methods,a stable and efficient bulk synthesis strategy must be developed.Microreactors have long been recognized as an effective platform for producing nanomaterials and fabricating large-scale structures.Here,we chose microreactor platform for continuous synthesis of Ed-QDs in the air at low temperatures.By original reverse cation exchange reaction mechanism together with varying the kinetic conditions of microreactor platform,such as liquid flow rate,the Ag doped CdS(CdS:Ag)Ed-QDs with higher yield have been synthesized successfully due to the continuous synthesis advantages with a high degree of size selectivity.Enabled by microreactor engineering simulation,this research not only provides a new synthetic method towards scale-up production but also enables to improve chemical mass production of similar functional QDs for optical devices,bioimaging and innovative information processing applications.