Abstract i
摘 要... ii
1.   Introduction. 1
1.1. Background of Intercultural Communication. 1
1.2. Research Significance and Purpose. 1
1.3. Layout of the Thesis. 2
2.   Literature Review.. 4
2.1. Definition of Intercultural Communication. 4
2.2. The Criteria for Effective Communication. 4
2.3. Overseas Perspective of Intercultural Communication. 5
2.4. Chinese Perspective of Intercultural Communication. 6
3.   Investigation on Communicative Competence. 8
3.1. Purpose and Object of Investigation on Communicative Competence. 8
3.1.1. Research Purposes. 8
3.1.2. Research Respondents. 8
3.1.3. Research Methods. 9
3.1.4. Research Contents. 9
3.2. Analysis of Investigation. 10
4.Strategies for Improving the Communicative Competence. 13
4.1 Improving Teaching Methods. 13
4.2 Creating Bilingual Environment 14
4.3 Developing Cultural Awareness. 14
4.4 Improving the Level of English. 15
5. Conclusions 16
5.1. Major Findings. 16
5.2 Limitations. 17
5.3 Suggestions for Further Study. 17
Bibliography. 18
Acknowledgements 19
 

 

Abstract

 
With the development trend of globalization and the improvement of social informatization, intercultural communication has broken the boundaries of geography. It is becoming more and more important to strengthen the intercultural communicative competence of the undergraduate ,our universities pay more attention to cultivate of English majors ' intercultural communicative competence. In the context of the increasingly of intercultural communication activities,it is of much importance to cultivate the ability of English majors to master the professional knowledge based on language and to promote their intercultural communication competence.
This project investigates the current situation of the Intercultural Communicative Competence of English Major Students in Jinling Institute of Technology. It aims at analyzing the quality and characteristics of English majors, and explores the feasible strategies to promote the intercultural communicative competence so as to promote the improvement of intercultural communicative competence of English majors. The purpose is to help English majors understand the cultural differences in different countries and provide reference thereof.
 
Key words: Intercultural communication ; English major ; cultural difference
 
 
 
 
 

 

摘 要

 
随着全球化的发展趋势，社会信息化不断提高，跨文化交流已经打破了地理的界限。增强大学生的跨文化交际能力变得越来越重要，本科院校对于英语专业学生跨文化能力的培养也更加重视。在跨文化交际活动日益频繁的大背景下，培养英语专业学生掌握以语言为基础的专业知识的同时，促进提高跨文化交际能力至关重要。
本文通过对金陵科技学院外国语学院英语专业学生跨文化交际能力现状调查，针对英语专业学生素质与特点分析，探究提高跨文化交际能力的可行性策略，从而促进英语专业学生跨文化交际能力的提高。本文的目的是帮助英语专业学生进一步了解不同国家文化差异，为跨文化交流提供参考。
 
关键词：跨文化交流；英语专业；文化差异
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

1.   Introduction

 

1.1. Background of Intercultural Communication

 
As a result of people in different countries have different values and ways of thinking, especially as to the second language level, cultural awareness and nonverbal knowledge and other aspects have great differences. It is an important factor that can cause communication obstacle, language knowledge, thinking way, life style and so on to influence intercultural communicative competence. It is necessary to investigate the current situation of intercultural communicative competence of English majors and to reveal the main problems existing in the intercultural communicative competence of English majors.
 

1.2. Research Significance and Purpose

 
Bi Jiwan (1998) puts forward that cultivating students ' intercultural communicative competence is the main goal of the second language teaching. For English major students, it is significant to form a new way of thinking while learning a foreign language, linking language learning to the country's cultural and historical background, insight into cultural deposits and cultural and customs. To some extent, language education is together with the culture learning. “The foreign language teaching is not only about the language level, but also should include the training in the aspect of intercultural communication ability. ”(Wu，2010:92)It is urgent to pay attention to the improvement of intercultural communicative competence of English majors in universities.
Experts and scholars at home and abroad have done a lot of research in promoting intercultural communication, including the importance of improving intercultural communicative competence, the general situation of intercultural communication and the factors affecting intercultural communication. “The research found that the intercultural communication papers published in China's core academic journals accounted for only 13.5% of all intercultural communication papers published in China.”（Peng,2010:4）However there are still areas of research that are worth digging for in particular groups. The research of intercultural Communication in China has not made remarkable achievements as some scholars have pointed out. The research of intercultural communication has not yet become the mainstream academic research in China. In other words, the mainstream academic journals in China have not really regarded intercultural communication as an important subject. This project based on the research results of experts and scholars, analyze the connotation and characteristics of intercultural communication from the perspective of culture. At the same time, we probe into the practical feasibility strategy of the research on the current situation of intercultural communication between English majors of Jinling Institute of Technology. We are aimed to help English majors learn more about cultural differences in different countries, help them deal with the problems in communication, reducing misunderstandings, and further promoting intercultural communication.
 

1.3. Layout of the Thesis

 
The thesis can be divided into three parts.
Part one consists of Chapter one and Chapter two. Chapter one presents an overview of this thesis which includes the background of the research, purpose and significance of research. Chapter two is literature review which is related to the definition of intercultural communication and relative theories of it abroad and at home.
Part two is Chapter three and Chapter four. In this part, it shows an investigation on communicative competence. Then, we analysis the the result of the investigation and conclude the strategies for improving the communicative competence pertaining to the investigation.
The last part refers to Chapter five. The aim of this part is to conclude the thesis. First of all, main findings are presented. Then the limitations are expressed and the suggestions on further studies are given in the end.
 

 

2.   Literature Review

 

2.1. Definition of Intercultural Communication

 
Intercultural communication refers to the communication between native speakers and non-native speakers, as well as any communication between people “whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event”(Samovar&Porter,2000:48). Culture is the core of intercultural communication research, the history, tradition, religion, values, customs and social system of a nation will influence intercultural communication. Culture itself embraces history and also reflects reality. Because of diverse geographical and ethnic factors leading to cultural differences, intercultural communication may occur in the international community, but also between distrinct cultural groups. The word “communication” is derived from the Latin word “commonis” which means to share.(Xie,2013) “Communicative competence consists of four factors, including reality, feasibility, grammar and appropriateness.”（Liu,2011:68）From the perspective of psychology, the compilation and decoding of information is the communication of people from various cultural backgrounds, which is intercultural communication.”(Jia,1997:1)
 

2.2. The Criteria for Effective Communication

 
The  principal cultural factors that affect intercultural communication include: A nation's history, tradition, religious thought, customs, values, social organization, political system and social development stage. Understanding the concept of intercultural communicative competence requires consideration of the  essentiality of the essential elements constituting the conceptual content. Intercultural communicative competence is a social evaluation of communicative behavior of communicators. The appropriateness of communicative behavior refers to the social and cultural norms and behavior expectation of communicative object in communicative context. The practical knowledge of social culture is the basis of intercultural communicative competence. “Only cognitive communicative context affects the communicative factors can effectively use the target language to communicate.”(Rui,2013:36)
“The internal factors mainly include gender,personalities, motivations and knowledge. The external factors mainly include experiences and reflections,especially overseas experiences, intercultural atmosphere and culture input resources.”(Rui,2016:6) “In the preface to the book "American English and American culture," Lixin Zhen said, intercultural communication often come up against obstacles, which can be attributed to language, culture, or both.”(Zhang,2008:29)A successful communicator is supposed to have appropriate and effective behavior, relevant language, culture , knowledge of collecting information and excellent psychological quality, and should have respect for others and receptive to cultural differences of the moral concept.
 

2.3. Overseas Perspective of Intercultural Communication

 
Foreign experts and scholars have done a great deal of research on the connotation of intercultural awareness, the importance of improving intercultural communicative competence and the factors influencing intercultural communication.In 1979, Robert Hanvey studied levels of cross-cultural awareness and proposed four levels of intercultural awareness fostering, focusing on the sensitivity of participants to cultural factors. In 1980s, Gudvkunst published his writings “intercultural communication theory” and Toomey and Stella published writings “language communication and culture”, Establish the theoretical structure of disciplines in intercultural communication; In2001 Intercultural Communication scholar Young Yun Kim put forward the theory of intercultural communicative competence. This project expounds the composing of intercultural communicative competence, including cognitive ability, affective ability and behavioral ability, which are interrelated and affect each other. In addition, Bennett and Allen's Discourse on intercultural communication is thorough, aiming at the three-level implications of intercultural communicative competence: The ability to transcend the ideas of National center, the ability to appreciate other cultures, and the ability to perform properly in a multicultural environment are elaborated, but the content is relatively abstract and not easy to practice.
 

2.4. Chinese Perspective of Intercultural Communication

 
Thousands of intercultural communication and intercultural communication essays have been published in China. In view of the specific strategies to improve intercultural communicative competence, the research of Chinese scholars has never ceased. Undoubtedly, the importance of intercultural communication has been more and more recognized by domestic scholars, and has become a number of foreign language and cultural scholars research focus areas. Intercultural communication research in the early 80 's, after the reform and opening-up, intercultural communication has gradually become an significant topic. The emphasis is on foreign teaching and the relationship between culture and language. From the published works and papers, the study of Chinese scholars focuses on: the relationship between language and communication, nonverbal communication, Chinese and western customs, comparison of Chinese and Western management models, and national studies. Lin Dajing (1996) proposes that intercultural communicative competence can be explained from three aspects of behavior, knowledge structure and moral ethics.” WU　and　ZHU　（2010）has　conducted　a　research　on　intercultural　communication　teaching　in　universities.　Findings　from　their　questionnaire　investigation　to　29　teachers　from　29　universities，　plus　interviews　to　some　teachers　indicate　that　there　are　problems　in　intercultural　communication　teaching　in　teaching　materials，　curriculum，　and　teaching　methods.”(Huang＆Kou,2012:6)　In the " An Introduction of Intercultural Communication", Hu Wenzhong combined with language teaching to analyze how to combine the different viewpoints held by different cultures to further study how to improve intercultural communication ability. It has played a positive role in intercultural research.