This paper reports the design, implementation, and outcome of an action research. The research aimed to examine and improve college students＇ attitudes towards varieties of World Englishes through a mild intervention...This paper reports the design, implementation, and outcome of an action research. The research aimed to examine and improve college students＇ attitudes towards varieties of World Englishes through a mild intervention in an intercultural communication class. Viewing education as a means to facilitate Intercultural Communication Competence （ICC）, of which language attitude was an integral part, the study designed a four-step pedagogical intervention to help students become more open and critical of their attitudes. The four pedagogical steps included language attitude elicitation, deconstruction, reconstruction, and creative solutions to communicative problems. The study found that students largely had conservative language attitudes and prejudices to start with. After the intervention, over 40% of the students acquired more open language attitudes, while some remained ambivalent about embracing linguistic diversity, and a small number of students maintained their previous conservative attitudes. Challenges of attitude change and language attitude education are discussed.展开更多
This paper investigates the impacts of intercultural experience through English as a lingua franca （ELF） on language attitudes, with the focus on Chinese speakers＇ narratives of ELF experience in relation to their ...This paper investigates the impacts of intercultural experience through English as a lingua franca （ELF） on language attitudes, with the focus on Chinese speakers＇ narratives of ELF experience in relation to their views of Englishes. The data retrieved through 769 questionnaires and 35 interviews with Chinese users of English revealed the impacts in four aspects. First, the lack of ELF experience helps to maintain the assumption that conformity to native English is necessary for interactants to understand each other. Second, ELF experience triggers the question about the exclusive connection between nativeness and intelligibility. Third, it raises challenges to the exclusive relevance of native English for successful intercultural communication. Fourth, it helps to develop an awareness of intercultural communication strategies as important for communicative effectiveness in the context of the diversity of English. Attitudes revealed in the four aspects all point to a concern with the issue what is intelligible English. This paper thus discusses intelligibility in relation to （non-） nativeness and the role of intercultural experience in making sense of the issue of intelligibility, which leads to the exploration of pedagogical implications of this study.展开更多
基金part of the post-funded project"Language Attitudes and Identities of English Users,"supported by the National Social Science Fund of China(14FYY001)
文摘This paper reports the design, implementation, and outcome of an action research. The research aimed to examine and improve college students＇ attitudes towards varieties of World Englishes through a mild intervention in an intercultural communication class. Viewing education as a means to facilitate Intercultural Communication Competence （ICC）, of which language attitude was an integral part, the study designed a four-step pedagogical intervention to help students become more open and critical of their attitudes. The four pedagogical steps included language attitude elicitation, deconstruction, reconstruction, and creative solutions to communicative problems. The study found that students largely had conservative language attitudes and prejudices to start with. After the intervention, over 40% of the students acquired more open language attitudes, while some remained ambivalent about embracing linguistic diversity, and a small number of students maintained their previous conservative attitudes. Challenges of attitude change and language attitude education are discussed.
文摘This paper investigates the impacts of intercultural experience through English as a lingua franca （ELF） on language attitudes, with the focus on Chinese speakers＇ narratives of ELF experience in relation to their views of Englishes. The data retrieved through 769 questionnaires and 35 interviews with Chinese users of English revealed the impacts in four aspects. First, the lack of ELF experience helps to maintain the assumption that conformity to native English is necessary for interactants to understand each other. Second, ELF experience triggers the question about the exclusive connection between nativeness and intelligibility. Third, it raises challenges to the exclusive relevance of native English for successful intercultural communication. Fourth, it helps to develop an awareness of intercultural communication strategies as important for communicative effectiveness in the context of the diversity of English. Attitudes revealed in the four aspects all point to a concern with the issue what is intelligible English. This paper thus discusses intelligibility in relation to （non-） nativeness and the role of intercultural experience in making sense of the issue of intelligibility, which leads to the exploration of pedagogical implications of this study.
