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.

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.

The Application and Impact of Flipped Classroom Model in Intercultural Communication Teaching

Flipped classroom, as a new teaching method, brings new perspectives and practices to intercultural communication teaching. This paper discusses the application of flipped classroom in intercultural communication classrooms to enhance students’ language proficiency, communication skills, and intercultural awareness. Firstly, the definitions and importance of flipped classroom and cultural communication are introduced. Then, the paper explores how to integrate the principles and methods of flipped classroom into the practice of intercultural communication teaching, including pre-class activities, in-class interactions, and reflection. Finally, the advantages and challenges of implementing flipped classroom in intercultural communication classrooms are summarized, along with practical recommendations.

Teaching Intercultural Competence Using Critical Incident and Cultural Story Telling

Intercultural literacy is attached increasingly great importance in this interconnected world.People from diversified cultural backgrounds need to interact with each other for various purposes.Schools and organizations offer courses to improve people’s intercultural competence.This paper examines two effective techniques to teach intercultural competence in the classroom setting:critical incident activity and cultural story telling.These two strategies can help achieve the desired objectives of Michael Byram’s intercultural communication model.

Intercultural attitude： An ethic of the intercultural communication

Intercultural communication as one of the activities of the mankind should be coordinated and regulated by ethical roles; it is the essence of intercultural attitude. Establishing this ethic of intercultural communication can be completed either with the outer compulsive force such as international laws, WTO roles, etc that have to be obeyed passively, or through the active and self-conscious behaviors of the communicators with self-discipline so as to control and guide the process of intercultural communication. The latter is more worthy to be advocated in the world today, where a globalization process with multipolarization and pluralization as its characteristics is going on. In such a situation, the developmental tendency of continual intercultural communication requests communicators to assume the intercultural attitude for looking on state of affairs and solving problem. This attitude is conductive to forming ethic of intercultural communication and reflects this ethic in itself as well; it can bring up the rational intercultural communication to promote common development of world cultures. It consists of five basic elements： mutual respect, tolerance, cooperation, intercultural understanding and intercultural learning. These five elements make up of a whole of supplement each other.

Taking Stock of Grammar-Translation Teaching Method in Developing Intercultural Pragmatic Competence

Grammar-translation teaching method(GTTM as a shorthand below) has long been a buzzword when it is adopted in the class of English as a foreign language.It has been universally acknowledged that such teaching method contradicts the development of communicative language competence advocated in recent decades.However,I positively argue that GTTM in English class,as a comparative and intercultural model,should be given a due reconsideration to improve L2 learners' pragmatic competence.

Conceptual Evolution and Paradigm Reconstruction:An Integrated Framework for International Communication

The tracing of historical origins and disciplinary trajectories enables us to reveal that international communication,as a specific manifestation of global information flow and media evolution,is primarily influenced by the interplay of three societal factors:the roots of political conflicts,the catalytic role of economic and technological developments,and the reshaping of values into distinct blocs.These factors intertwine with the awareness of external exploration across different historical periods.Traditional knowledge production in international communication has evolved along two main lines:political economy and cultural studies.These paths have given rise to three major paradigmspropaganda,global communication,and intercultural communicationeach stemming from differing core units of analysis.Together,they have constructed a multifaceted interpretive framework for understanding self-identity and the relationship between self and the external world in the information age since the beginning of the 20th century.This paper argues that on the new journey in the new era,efforts should be made to weaken the attributes of hierarchical control and power conflict derived from the practices of Western industrial societies and the Cold War.In the context of an era marked by the fusion ofnew subjects,new networks,new media,and new values,"there is a need to return to the original purpose of communication:the sharing of information and the collective responsibility it entails.This will enable the construction of a new paradigm driven by Chinese modernization for the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations.Such a paradigm aims to unify humanity around shared values,foster the building of a human community with a shared future,and create new forms ofhuman advancement.

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.

Integrating Chinese Culture Into Language Curriculum:Teaching Chinese Culture to International Students in China

This paper explores the integration of Chinese culture into language education for German students at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology(USST).Focusing on USST’s Chinese curriculum and pedagogical strategies,the study emphasizes the importance of cultural immersion,experiential learning,and authentic materials.Drawing on Byram’s Intercultural Communicative Competence(ICC)model,the Cultural Studies Approach,and Task-Based Language Teaching(TBLT),the paper presents a case study on incorporating Chinese calligraphy into regular classes.This hands-on approach not only enriches cultural understanding but also enhances language skills.The findings stress the need for tailored,multifaceted pedagogical approaches to prepare international students for cross-cultural interactions in a globalized context.

Research on Strategies for Enhancing the Ability of Chinese German Learners to Tell Chinese Stories Through Short Videos

In the age of new media,short videos play an increasingly important role in international cultural exchange.However,German learners often encounter challenges when producing and sharing short videos due to factors such as technology and language proficiency.Such challenges can affect the professionalism and attractiveness of the videos.This study focuses on German learners at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology.The aim of this study is to investigate students’experiences in producing short videos,identify issues through surveys and interviews,and concentrate on editing skills,language proficiency,and intercultural communication abilities.It proposes strategies for developing these skills and aims to provide insights for German and other foreign language learners in telling Chinese stories using short videos.

Privacy and Intercultural Communication-Causes Behind Different Privacy of the Chinese and the American

Chinese culture is featured by its "togetherness", collectivism, and its agricultural tradition; while American culture is featured by its "apartness", individualism and its industrial tradition. The three dominant features determine the two cultures' different privacy rules. This paper puts the focus on the analysis of the causes behind the two different privacy. What's more, the globalization influences the privacy rules of the two cultures, people are more adaptive and have changed a lot.

On the International Dissemination of Zhuang Medicine

As an important part of Chinese culture,Zhuang medicine has a long history and unique diagnosis and treatment.With the international dissemination of Chinese culture,the international dissemination of Zhuang medicine has become an increasing concern.This paper aims to discuss the status quo,challenges of the international dissemination of Zhuang medicine,then puts forwards corresponding solutions and recommendations,so as to make Zhuang medicine known by the world.

An Analysis of Value Differences in English and Chinese Idioms from the Perspective of Intercultural Communication

Idioms are the essence and gems of human wisdom and an important carrier of national culture. As a special form of language, they play an important role in intercultural communication. Due to the uniqueness of each culture, English and Chinese idioms are different in many aspects, values included. The present paper attempts to analyze the different values in English and Chinese idioms from three aspects: dependence vs independence, past-time orientation vs future-time orientation, and harmony vs competition. And the authors hope that it will be of some practical significance in people's intercultural communication.

Investigating the Reliability and Validity of Chen and Starosta's Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) against Chinese Cultural Background

Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC), as one of the research fields of intercultural communication, has been given much importance from scholars all around the world. Intercultural sensitivity is one of the three dimensions in Dr Chen's ICC model. This research investigates the reliability and validity of Chen and Starosta's Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) (2000) against Chinese cultural background by using Chinese university students majoring in English as respondents.

Analysis of the Necessity and Significance of Learning Intercultural Communication

Intercultural communication can be simply defined as communication between people ol dltterent cultures. As various aspects of culture determin and guid communication behavior, it is impossible to successfully communicate with people of different cultures without understanding how they think. By saying ＂language is the archives of history＂, Ralph Waldo Emerson is telling us that we will never seperate our language from our culture. Culture is everything and everywhere and the need for learning intercultural communication is by no means insignificant. This essay mainly disccusses the significance and necessity of understanding different culture values in intercultural communication, and shows by some misunderstanding cases how misunderstanding between different people from different cultures happens.

Dimensions of Intercultural Communication Competence

Intercultural communication competence can help us adapt better to the host culture and deal with culture shock successfully. This paper mainly discusses the dimensions of intercultural communication competence.

The Exploration of Intercultural Education in College

Intercultural education was paid more and more attention in college English teaching.However,the college English teaching is still stay in "language ability stage".So,more and more people realize that"student need a kind of intercultural communication competence,so that,they can benefit from the education of language and culture".(Byram&Morgan,1994:62).We must integrate language and culture in the foreign language classroom and optimize the atmosphere of English cultural cognition to improve the intercultural communication competence of students in college.

Discourse System and Intercultural Communication

Discourse is the language in use. Discourse system is about the study of whole systems of communication. This article tries to analyze the influences of discourse system on intercultural communication from the points of ideology, socialization, forms of discourse, face systems and context. Studying intercultural communication from the point of discourse system is an innovative and effective research method, which helps to enhance the participants＇ cultural sensitivity and makes the communication continue.

Being Chinese in Lived Intercultural Experiences:A Discourse Analysis of Chinese Undergraduates’Perceptions of Chinese Culture

The current study investigates a group of Chinese undergraduates’perceptions of Chinese culture.It examines the discourses that the students drew on to assign meaning to Chinese culture and how the students used these discourses in constructing their Chinese cultural identity.A qualitative study was conducted collecting written self-reflective reports on critical intercultural incidents from 39 Chinese undergraduates at a university in Beijing.Questions designed to evoke reports from the students had them describe incidents in their past intercultural experiences that made them acutely aware of themselves“being Chinese”and specify aspects of Chinese culture that they felt such awareness could be attributed to.A discourse analysis reveals the multiplicity and contextuality of the students’notions of Chinese culture.The findings raise important considerations for contemporary Chinese undergraduates’cultural identity and their much debated“identity crisis.”

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.