On Cultural Conflicts in Cross-Cultural Teaching.doc

on cultural conflicts in cross-cultural teachingcontentsabstract2introduction4chapter 1 cultural conflicts61.1 definition of culture conflicts61.2 culture conflicts in cross-cultural teaching7chapter 2 cultural conflicts in class between foreign teachers and their chinese students92.1 main problems92.2 reasons existing in the foreign teachers102.3 efficient factors12chapter 3 cultural conflicts on management between foreign teachers and the chinese administrative departments143.1 main problems143.2 measurement to regulate management to foreign teachers15chapter 4 solutions to the cultural conflicts18conclusion20bibliography22acknowledgements24on cultural conflicts in cross-cultural teaching of foreign teachers in chinaabstract:with the advancement of globalization, english as a main language of intercultural communication, is used more and more frequently and extensively in the world. as a result, more qualified english teachers are needed. however, the cultural conflicts bring about many problems in english teaching. firstly, from two different aspects, the thesis explores the cultural conflicts in cross-cultural teaching of foreign teachers in chinese universities: the cultural conflicts in class between foreign teachers and their chinese students, and the cultural conflicts on management between foreign teachers and the chinese administrative departments. then,the thesis further explains the deep structures of the cultural conflicts. lastly, the conclusion was summarized by putting forward some suggestions to better avoid their disadvantages and efficiently exert their unique the chinese higher education.key words: cultural conflicts; foreign teachers; chinese students摘要：随着全球化的不断深入，英语作为跨文化交际的主要载体，在世界范围内各个领域的应用日益增多这种趋势迫使英语教学领域需要更多合格的英语教师。然而，文化冲突带来了许多问题。本文从两个角度探索了中国高校中的外籍英语教师在跨文化教学中遇到的文化冲突:中国高校中的外籍英语教师与中国学生在课堂上的文化冲突;中国高校中的外籍英语教师和中国大学行政部门在管理上的文化冲突，并阐述了产生这些文化冲突的深层原因。文章最后讨论了解决这些问题的方法，也帮助改善中国教师水平。关键词：文化冲突；英语外教；中国学生introduction every year, thousands of foreign teachers are employed to teach english in various colleges and universities in china. a famous research from jinfang wen, one of well-known professor, showed that the situation about foreign teacher in china. foreign teachers age are between 20 -30 and 50-60 are in proportion of 29.7% and 27.0% respectively. the 30-40 are 16.2% and the 30-50 are only 13.5%. on the other hand, more than 54.1% just have undergraduate education background.there are many benefits for china bringing in foreign teachers: firstly, some foreign teachers who have full teaching experience bring about western advanced teaching methods and ideas , which are used for reference to reformation in english teaching. secondly, they impart lots of excellent western culture and traditional knowledge that enrich students knowledge structure , strengthen their comprehensive culture quality and extend horizon. thirdly, recruiting foreign teachers has advantage on chinese teachers improving their teaching level and skills. recent years, teachers from different countries such as england, america, australia, canada, new zealand, ireland and other english speaking countries have been teaching in china. some of them major in social sciences as linguistics, literature and economics, while others in natural sciences as biology, electronics and engineering.they have different educational background and different working experiences as well. some of them are rich in teaching experiences, with one or two years teaching practice in china, while others are green hands, newly graduated from colleges and universities; when all these people with different nationalities, different religions and different likes and dislikes come together, they themselves have already mingled the cultures of different nations and have different interpretation of cultures of their own. with all these differences, any kind of carelessness in management would lead to misunderstanding or resistance.so,something must be done to scientifically coordinate and unify management to all of them, and thenform a set of standardized ways to initiate the working zeal of the foreign teachers and tap their potentials to the full to serve us in our english teaching and help us promote effectively the quality of language education.chapter 1 cultural conflictscultures are like underground rivers that run through our lives and relationships, giving us messages that shape our perceptions, attributions, judgments, and ideas of self and other. though cultures are powerful, they are often unconscious, influencing conflict and globalization in imperceptible ways. cultures are embedded in every conflict because conflicts arise in human relationships. cultures affect the ways we name, frame, blame, and attempt to tame conflicts. culture is always a factor in conflict, whether it plays a central role or influences it subtly and gently. for any conflict that touches us where it matters, where we make meaning and hold our identities, there is always a cultural component.1.1 definition of culture conflictsculture is inextricable from conflict, though it does not cause it. when differences surface in families, organizations, or communities, culture is always present, shaping perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and outcomes. given cultures important role in conflicts, what should be done to keep it in mind and include it in response plans? cultures may act like temperamental children: complicated, elusive, and difficult to predict. in my opinion, being familiar with culture is a key tool for disentangling and managing multilayered, cultural conflicts. we should be aware of their natures, how they work, and ways they intertwine with our relationships in times of conflict and harmony. also, we should be aware of several dimensions of culture, including communication, ways of naming, framing, and taming conflict, approaches to meaning making, identities and roles.globalization requires more than physically linking the world. for it to continue apace there must also be a set of shared cultural understanding. part of the process of globalization is the need to develop a culture that, in some broad way, can transcend diverse economic, ethnic, political, racial, and religious background. the process of producing a global culture will not occur without difficulty and conflict, especially for developing nations. the core values of western societies embodied in a culture that places its primary concern on the rights of the individual. many cultures in developing countries are based on a concept of protecting the livelihood of ethnic, racial, religious groups, or those who share a common language, not individuals. this conflict can be noted in different concepts of epistemology, morality, and social values.1.2 culture conflicts in cross-cultural teaching due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in english teaching.with the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. opportunities for chinese to contact with westerners are growing, teaching should focus on culture study and learn the skills of communication. otherwise, there will be “culture shock” during the cross-cultural communication.at present, the aim of english education is not to help students learn how to communicate with foreigners, but to gain commercial profits. to judge the quality of a teacher, the education bureau only care about grades his students make in exams, especially in middle schools. in order to make students to get high marks, english teachers let students do a large number of practices. most students can get good marks in english exams. however, they are weak in listening and speaking and cannot communicate with foreigners directly.english teachers in china, especially in middle schools, are chinese. their mother tongue is chinese. they share the same culture background with their students. so their communication is not cross-cultural communication. english is one of the several subjects they have to study at school. they are busy reciting words, phrases and doing exercises.chapter 2 cultural conflicts in class between foreign teachers and their chinese students2.1 main problems1.the foreign teachers complain that(a) the chinese students are not very active in class and often keep silent when they are required to answer questions. it often takes quite a long time to motivate them to speak. only after the one student breaks the silence, can other students give their responses;(b) when they express their agreement or disagreement, they often smile or move their heads instead of saying yesor no. that is really confusing; (c) the students often follow others opinions rather than insist on their own ideas;(d) the students often need time to structure their statements and they seldom speak out their thoughts directly; (e) the chinese students do not like asking questions in class. if the students have questions, they prefer to wait till the class is over;(f) some students are very nervous and cautious in class. they can not be relaxed to enjoy what they are learning. it seems they are forced to finish tasks and afraid of making mistakes; (g) the chinese students often talk in chinese rather than in english when they are supposed to discuss a topic in group; (h) some of the questions the chinese students asked bout us involves our privacy.2.the chinese students think that(a) what foreign teachers teaching are not well systematically organized. they often talk something that is not related to the teaching content; (b) the foreign teacher often behaves like a student ratherthan a teacher. some of foreign teachers even chew gum while talking in class; (c) some of foreign teachers are a little bit proud and feel superior to the chinese people, which rouses the strong sense of objection of the chinese students.2.2 reasons existing in the foreign teachers1. not knowing the chinese-style english teaching although a majority of the foreign teachers are really serious and responsible in their work, patient and careful in their attitude towards the students, a small number of them have an inadequate understanding of the chinese culture as well as the style of english teaching in china. they may be excellent to arouse the participation of students in classroom activity, but they might neglect an important explanation of the languageusage in the reading. they might even forget some difficult points or some details in the text for the sake of a coherent understanding of the passage as a whole. whats more, they have no idea of the real meaning of dumb english, thinking the students are really poor at oral expression and listening comprehension. furthermore, they dont know how to pass on the skills and techniques to help the students pass cet4 or cet6, which may be considered a great pity for most chinese students who are so eager to get good results in the test.2. having no idea of the chinese way of studyit is usually difficult for the foreign teachers to have a thorough understanding of the students actual command of english. from time to time, they underestimate or overestimate the students level, having a lower or higher requirement of the students, making the whole class drift for a certain amount of time. for some foreign teachers, especially those who have never taught or been to china, they take no notice of the students response and give no time for the students to think. they like to ask students questions and want to get immediate reply. under such circumstances, chances of this kind are usually taken by those students who are good at english expression. they also find it hard to give consideration to both good students and those who have trouble in expression and feel worried or anxious in class. by and by，those studentsmay think they are neglected and find they learn nothing from the foreign teachers.3. lacking systematic teaching arrangement generally speaking, the chinese students are accustomed to having a course book in hand to acquire knowledge from or theyll feel uncertain in class. so, for most colleges and universities, long before the foreign teachers arrive, theyll try to get everything ready. the book they choose may be best in china at present, but in the eyes of the foreign experts, nomatter how or when this book is composed, certain materials are usually out of date, expressions old-fashioned and language stereotyped. as a matter of fact, they would put aside or even abandon the so-called book and make use of the materials brought from abroad, making what the students have in hand useless. without fixed or unified textbook in class, the students may consider their teaching so casual, so lack of arrangementand teaching requirement, making them sometimes wonder what they are doing or what they are going to do next.4. without unified criteria in scores what and how foreign teachers test their students may be somewhat different from what the chinese teachers do to their students. foreigners tend to provide their students with some reference books at the beginning of the course, assigning some exercises for the students to finish or asking the students to write essays by consulting books in the library.they prefer to give students rewarding scores rather than correct certain mistakes here and there. they dont intentionally or regularly give tests to the students, because they pay more attention to the process during which the students are studying.therefore,although their records of the students performance in or outside class are taken at random, they reflect their studentsprogress in their study. at the end of a course, foreign teachers are likely to give students higher marks than the chinese teachers, which may bring some troubles in management.2.3 efficient factors1.changing english teachers teaching opinionsin china, teachers still play the lead role in class. if teachers only emphasis english grammar and phrases, students can not gain the ability of cross-cultural communication. we should change our mind on teaching, and realize the risk of cultural conflicts. as english teachers, we must keep on studying, improve our own ability and explore new skills of teaching. in the process of teaching, we can accumulate the data of western culture.2.optimizing the circumstance of english learning for studentscircumstance is very important in influencing peoples life and personality. and also, it is important in learning language. as a compulsory course for junior and primary students in china, english is becoming more and more important. but the problem is how to learn english efficiently. learners at home usually have little time to listen to or speak english. except that they can speak english in their english classes for 40 or 45 minutes only, they have no chance to speak english, no chance to listen to english, even no chance to feel the existence of english. so, as teachers, the most impotent thing to do is to solve the problem, by creating a language circumstance, stimulating their initiative in learning english.chapter 3 cultural conflicts on management between foreign teachers and the chinese administrative departments3.1 main problems1.the foreign teachers point out that (a) some of the school rules are ridiculous, which are to some extent infringe on their own privacy, time and space. for example,foreign teachers should attend the meeting held by the departments once a week, without understanding what exactly the chinese people are talking about; the foreign teachers activities should under the control of the departments; (b) some of the chinese administrative departments like to employforeign teachers who are with white faces. americans of african and asian ancestors are to some extent not preferred; (c) in terms of teaching, the chinese administrative departments sometimes have too much interference. some of the foreign teachers even do not have the right to give grades to their students.2.the administrative department says that (a) for the sake of the safety of the foreign teachers, the universities make some rules to restrict part of theiractivities. however, some offoreign teachersare not accustomed to the rules and they often neglect the rules to make trouble; (b) lots of foreign teachers do not have professional language teaching background. so they may meet kind of obstacles in the process of teaching,which are to some extent against the accomplishment of teaching tasks; (c) some of foreign teachers are more or less the same age as their chinese students. so it is possible for both the young foreign teachersand the chinese students to fall in love with each other. being young people, they have the right to choose whoever they love. but their special identities make such cases hard to deal with.3.2 measurement to regulate management to foreign teachers employment of foreign teachers is generally done by personnel concerned with foreign affairs of the school according to the requirement of teaching program from the department in need. once a foreign teacher is introduced, his management will be taken both by the school in administration and by the department in teaching. therefore, cooperation in harmony among departments takes precedence over standard management. coming from varied parts of the world and having different educational systems, these foreign teachers are hard to be regulated within a short time. in order to help them adapt to the working conditions and get down to jobs as quickly as possible, schools might as w