Intercultural Language Education and the Challenges Chinese College English Teachers Face

InterculturalLanguageEducationandtheChallengesChineseCollegeEnglishTeachersFaceAbstract：Currently，interculturallanguageeducationisatopicwhichreceivesmuchinterestduetotheriseofglobalization，buttheoriesandpracticeinthisfieldareonthepreliminarystageofdevelopmentinChina.TounderstandILEbetter，itsbackground，theorybasis，goals，relatedresearchesarereviewedandanalyzed.SinceILEisrelativelynewinChina，languageteachersarefacingnewchallengesindevelopinginterculturalteachingcompetencetoachievethesuccessoflanguageeducation.Suchchallengesconsistofunderstandingthelanguageitself，thedifficultyinunderstandingandteachingculture，designingpracticalclassroomactivitiesandselectingcontent.Keywords：interculturallanguageeducation；challenges；ChineseEnglishteachers中图分类号H315.9文献标识码A文章编号1006-2831（2013）02-0046-8doi：10.3969/j.issn.1006-2831.2013.01.0131.WhatisInterculturalLanguageEducation？Interculturallanguageeducation（ILE）issuchabroadsubjecttodefine.Itconsistsofinterculturallanguageteaching（ILT）andinterculturallanguagelearning（ILL）.Itsaimistopromotelearnerslinguisticcompetenceaswellasinterculturalcommunicativecompetence.Interculturallanguageteachingplacestheneedtocommunicateinthefirstplace.Itseekstoteachcultureinawaythatdevelopsinterculturalcommunicativecompetenceaswellasdevelopinglanguageskills（Liddicoat，2004：17）.Interculturallanguagelearningresearchgetsafurtherunderstandingoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Ittakesasitsstartingpointtheideathatlanguagelearningandlearningabouttargetculturecannotrealisticallybeseparated（Valdes，1986；Robinson，1988；Byram，1989；Harison，1990；Kramsch，1993a，ascitedinCortazzi&Jin，2001）.Inordertocommunicatewithnativespeakers，bothhomecultureandforeigncultureshouldbelearned.Languageteachersandlearnersarerequiredtonegotiateandidentifytheirown“thirdplace”（Kramsch，1993：257）betweenthefirstandtheforeignlanguageinordertodeveloptheabilitytoreflectbothonthetargetandonthenativeculture.1.1BackgroundoftheDevelopmentofILETraditionaleducationcannotqualifypeopletocommunicatewiththewiderangeofculturalstrangers.Thuseducatorshaveparticularresponsibilitytounderstandthenewinterculturalchallengesandtoteachthenewskillsthataredemand（Bennett，Bennett&Allen，2003：239）.Theterminterculturalrefersto“themeetingoftwoculturesortwolanguagesacrossthepoliticalboundariesofnationstates”（Kramsh，2000：81）.Interculturalcommunication，anewdisciplinehasbeenpromotedsincethelate1970s，is“communicationbetweenpeoplewhoseculturalperceptionsandsymbolssystemsaredistinctenoughtoalterthecommunicationevent”（Dai，2002）.Itisfrequentlyusedtoindicatecommunicationbetweenpeoplefromdifferentcultures，whichimpliesacomparisonbetweencultures.Successfulinterculturalcommunicationrequirespeopletohavetheinterculturalcommunicativecompetence.Previouscommunicativelanguageteachingseemsnolongertosatisfythisteachingaimalthoughithastakenafurtherstepintheexplorationofhowtodealwithteachingcultureinlanguageeducation.Itfailedontwocounts.Oneisthatitdidnotfullyrecognizetherelationbetweenlanguageandculture；itdidnotprovideanapproachtodepictingcultureinlanguageuse.Theotheristhatitfailedtorealizethatlearningabout“another”culturewasnotenoughtopromoteunderstandingbetweencultures（Crozet&Liddicoat，1999：113-115）.Languagelearnersarerequiredtodistancethemselvesfromtheirowncultureandtrytofindtheirownplacebetweenthenativelinguacultureandthetargetlinguacultureinordertoachievethesuccessofinterculturalcommunication.Researchesoninterculturalcommunicationcallonanewteachingapproachtoappear.Traditionaleducationcannolongermeetthedemandofthesociety.Interculturallanguageeducation，asanemergingmodernapproach，shouldtaketheresponsibilityofeducatingqualifiedlanguagelearners.ILThasshifteditsaimfromcommunicativecompetencetointerculturalcompetence.Interculturalspeakersratherthan“nativespeakers”shouldbetheaimofinterculturallanguagelearning（Byram，1997；Guilherme，2002，ascitedinCorbett，2003）.Throughinterculturallanguageeducations，learnersareexpectedtoserveas“mediatorsbetweendifferentsocialgroupsthatusedifferentlanguagesandlanguagevarieties”（Corbett，2003）.However，interculturallanguageeducationisbeingconsideredtobeinitsinfancy，especiallyinChina，thetheory，researchandpracticeinthisfieldarestillevolving.1.2TheoryBasisoftheDevelopmentofILEInthissection，itwillbrieflyexaminetherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture，thustoshowwhytheteachingofcultureshouldconstituteanintegralpartoftheEnglishlanguagecurriculuminILE.Languageandculture，intrinsicallydependentoneachother，haveevolvedtogetherthroughthehistory.Theirmutualinterdependencecanfindproofintheriseofcivilizationandhumancommunication.EdwardSapirinthe1920smadetheconclusionthatlanguageandthecultureofitsspeakerscannotbeanalyzedseparately.Languagecanbeseenasawaytodescribeandrepresenthumanexperienceandunderstandingoftheworld（Sapir，1921，1961，ascitedinHinkel，2001：3），andmembersofalanguagecommunitysharesystemsofbeliefsandassumptions，whichunderlietheirconstructionsoftheworld（ibid.）.AccordingtoSpair-wholfHypothesis，thestructureofthelanguagepeoplehabituallyuseinfluencesthewaystheythinkandbehave.Thatistosay，differentlanguagesofferpeopledifferentwaysofexpressingtheworldaround，theythinkandspeakdifferently，thisisalsoknownaslinguisticrelativity.Fromtheethnographerspointofview，languageandculturearefromthebeginninginseparablyconnected.Theybelievelanguageacquisitiondoesnotfollowauniversalsequence，butdiffersacrosscultures.Generallyspeaking，languageshavetheircertainorigins，anddifferentlanguagesmayreflectdifferentcultures，differentculturesentaildifferentlanguageexpressions（Dai，2002）.Inthelightofculturetheory，languageisoftenviewedasacomplexsystemthatreflectswhatmeaningsareattachedtobehaviorsandhowtheyareexpressed（Gardner，1984）.Kramsch（1993）putsforwardthateverytimeweuselanguageweperformaculturalact.Kramsch（2000：3）defineslanguageas“theprinciplemeanswherebyweconductoursociallives.Whenitisusedforcommunication，itisboundupwithcultureinmultipleandcomplexways.”Shesummarizestherelationshipbetweenlanguageandcultureas“languageexpressesculturalreality；languageembodiesculturalreality；languagesymbolizesculturalreality.”Theimplicationofthelinkbetweenlanguageandcultureforthelanguageeducationareevident.Languageteachingandlearningiscultureteachingandlearning.Manystudentsandeventeachersregardlanguageonlyasacommunicationtoolamethodpeopleusetorefertotheobjectsandideasoftheirphysicalandsocialworld.Fromthispoint，languagesaresetsofwordstiedtogetherbyrules，andlearningaforeignlanguageisthesimpleprocessofsubstitutingwordsandrulestogetthesamemeaningwithadifferenttool（Bennett，1993：16-21）.Thiskindofthinkingcanleadtobeinga“fluentfool”.Afluentfooldescribessomeonewhospeaksaforeignlanguagefluentlybutdoesntunderstandthesocialorphilosophicalcontentofthatlanguage.Thesepeoplearelikelytogetintotroublewhencommunicatewithnativepeopleofthatlanguage.Lackingtheunderstandingofthetargetcultureusuallycauseconfusionsandcomplications.Eventually，thefluentfoolmaydevelopanegativeattitudetowardsthenativespeakerswhoselanguagetheyunderstandbutwhoseculturecontinuestoconfusethem.“Toavoidafluentfool，weneedtounderstandcompletelytheculturaldimensionoflanguage”（Bennett，1993：18）.1.3UltimateGoalofILETheultimategoalofILEisthatlanguagelearnersdevelopinterculturalcommunicativecompetenceaswellaslanguagecompetenceandtheyareabletocommunicatesuccessfullyinanotherlanguage.Theultimategoalofaninterculturalapproachtolanguageteachingisnotsomuch“nativespeakercompetence”butratheran“interculturalcommunicativecompetence”（Byram，1997；Guilherme，2002，ascitedinCorbett，2003）.Butwhatinterculturalcompetenceexactlyis？Althoughthisconcepthasbeenusedwidely，thereisnoconsensusaboutwhatitis.Someresearchersstressglobalknowledge，othersemphasizesensitivity，andstillotherspointtocertainskills.Inthefieldsofsocialpsychologyandstudiesofcommunication，interculturalcompetenceisseeninsocialeffectiveness（i.e.，theabilitytoachieveinstrumentalandsocialgoals）andappropriateness（i.e.，suitablecommunicationinagivensituationinaparticularculture）（Martine，1993）.Kramsch（1993）saysICistheabilitytocreateforoneselfacomfortablethirdplace.AccordingtoFantini（1997），althoughmanyaspectsofICcompetencearepresented，threeprinciplethemesemerge：theabilitytoestablishrelations；theabilitytocommunicatewithminimallossordistortion；theabilitytoachieveorattainalevelofcomplianceamongthoseinvolved.AccordingtoCrozetandLiddicoat（1999），ICistheabilitytocreateforoneselfacomfortablethirdplacebetweenonesfirstlinguacultureandthetargetlinguaculture.Corbett（2003：2）indicatesinterculturalcommunicativecompetenceincludestheabilitytounderstandthelanguageandbehaviorofthetargetcommunity，andexplainittomembersofthe“home”communityandviceversa.Byramoffersacomprehensivedefinitionofaninterculturalspeaker：Aninterculturalspeakerissomeonewhocanoperatetheirlinguisticcompetenceandtheirsociolinguisticcompetenceandtheirsocialinguisticawarenessoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthecontextinwhichitisused，inordertomanageinteractionacrossculturalboundaries，toanticipatemisunderstandingscausedbydifferenceinvalues，meaningsandbeliefs，andthirdly，tocopewiththeaffectiveaswellascognitivedemandsofengagementwithotherness.（Byram，1995）Togaintheinterculturalcommunicativecompetence，languagelearnersarerequiredtomastertheirnativeculturestoo.Withoutthefullyunderstandingofthenativeculture，theycannotmakeconnectionsandcomparisonsthustheywillnotbeabletofigureouttheculturaldifferences.2.ChallengesforChinasCollegeEnglishTeachersinAchievingILEEnglishisthemostpopularandcommonlytaughtforeignlanguageinChina.Itismadecompulsoryinthecurriculafromsecondaryschoolstocollegesanduniversities.Withthefastdevelopmentofglobalization，internationalcommunicationshavebecomemoreandmorefrequentinChina.Thesocietyisingreatneedofhumanresourceswhohaveagoodcommandofforeignlanguageandcultureandareabletocommunicatewithpeoplefromdifferentcountries.Ifourstudentsareexpectedtousetheirlanguageskillstogenuinelycomprehendandcommunicateintheglobalvillage，interculturalcommunicativecompetenceiscrucial.ThusinterculturalapproachshouldbeadoptedinEnglishlanguageeducationinChina.Ininterculturallanguageteachingandlearning，teachershaveaverysignificantroletoplay.Theyareresponsibleforcreatinganenvironmentthatencouragesstudentstodevelopinterculturalcommunicativecompetence.Theyarenotonlytheinstructorsandorganizersoftheclass，butalsotheresearchersandlearners，withmuchtocontributetothedevelopmentoflanguageeducation.AccordingtoLiddicoatetal.（2004），interculturallanguagelearningbeginswiththeteachersunderstandingof“his/herprimaryenculturationinrelationtohis/hertargetlanguagesandcultures”.ToadoptandimplementinterculturalapproachtoEnglisheducation，ChinasCollegeEnglishteachers，withtheirbi-lingualskillsandevenmulti-culturalknowledgeandexperiences，arestillfacinganumberofgreatchallenges.Suchchallengesconsistofunderstandingthelanguageitself，thedifficultyinunderstandingandteachingculture，designingpracticalclassroomactivitiesandselectingcontent.2.1UnderstandingEnglishLanguageEnglishlanguageisunique.TheacronymofEIILEnglishasaninternational/intranationallanguagewasputforwardbylinguistsinHonoluluataconferencein1978.TwousesofEnglishwereraisedbytheparticipants.Oneisforinternationalpurposesandtheotherisforintranationalpurpose.ThusEnglishhastwouniquefeaturesthatotherlanguagesmaynothave.OneisthatitassociateswithmanyculturesinbothEnglish-speakingcountriesandnon-Englishspeakingcountries.Theotheristhatithasmanyvariations.English，likeotherlanguagesisinseparablefromAnglo-Americancultures，butEnglishisalsoemployedtorepresenttheculturesofmanycountries.ThisparadoxalwaysconfusesmanyChineseEnglishteachers.However，thisdoesnotmeanEnglishisalinguistictoolthatcanbeloadedwithanyculture.Andthereisnoculture-freeEnglishthatcanbetaughtandlearned.ChinesecollegeEnglishteachersshouldrealizethattheexistenceofvarietiesofEnglishisarichsourceforlearningforeignculture.Theconceptofteaching“standardEnglish”shouldbechanged.TounderstandtheEnglishlanguagewouldbethefirstchallengeforChineseteachers.2.2UnderstandingandComparingCulturesCollegeEnglishteachersfacechallengesinunderstandingbothEnglishandChineseculturesandtheculturaldifferencesbetweenthem.ILEplacescultureteachingatthecoreofthelanguageteaching.Tobecomecompetentinterculturallanguageeducators，“teachersshoulddevelopnotonlythelinguistic，butalsothecommunicative，andeventheinterculturalcompetence；theyhavetobeabletoanalyzeandinterprettheirownandtheforeignculture”（Kramsch，2003，ascitedinWang，2006）.SocollegeEnglishteachersshouldnotonlybefamiliarwithEnglishculture，buttheyalsoshouldbeclearaboutChinesecultureiftheywanttoachieveinterculturallanguageteachinggoals.SinceEnglishisalanguageassociatedwithmanycultures，EnglishteachersshouldnotignorethedifferencesbetweenvarietiesofEnglishandtheirculturalmeaning.ChinesecollegeEnglishteachersusuallyteachEnglishaccordingtothetextbook.SincetextbookshavebeenoccupyingaspecialpositioninChineseclasses，“atadministrativelevel，moreconcernsaregiventothecompletionoftextcontentratherthanthequalityofinstruction”（Wang，2006：80）.However，textbooksofEnglishcultureareusuallyaboutAmericanandEnglishcultures.ItseemstostudentsthatEnglishlanguageisonlyrelatedtoAmericaandUK.Theseculturesinthetextbookareusuallyculturefacts，thestaticculture，suchasfestivals，thecustomsofEnglishspeakingcountries.Englishcultureteachinginclassisratherlimitedbothinquantityandrange.Therefore，teachersareresponsibletobroadenstudentsmindbyintroducingwiderangeofEnglishculturesintheprocessoflanguageteaching.Interculturallanguageteachingimpliesthatcultureteachingisnotexclusivelyteachingaboutanotherlinguaculture，itisalsoteachingthelearnersnativelinguaculturebycontrastingittothetargetlinguaculture（Crozet&Liddicoat，1999：115）.Chinahasalonghistoryofnearlyfivethousandyears.ChinesestudentswholearnEnglishforfutureinterculturalcommunicationareendowedwiththeresponsibilitytointroduceChineseculturetotheworld.TheyshouldbeabletodiscussChinesecultureinproperEnglish.EnglishteachersshouldhelpstudentstorealizethesimilaritiesaswellasdifferencesbetweenEnglishcultureandChineseculture.Onlythroughcomparisonscanstudentsbetterunderstandbothforeignculturesandappreciatehomeculture，thustoidentifytheirownplaceincommunication.2.3IntegrateCultureTeachingwithLanguageTeachingILEchallengesthetraditionally-trainedEnglishteacherstointegratecultureteachingintoEnglishlanguageskillstraining.Cultureteachingshouldnotbetaughtseparatelybecausecultureisintegratedcloselywithlanguage.MostcollegeEnglishteachersweretrainedinthetraditionalway；theirexperiencesofEnglishlearningandteachinghaveinfluencedthemdeeply.Havingneverbeeninstructedbyinterculturallycompetentteachers，theyregardthemselvesasculturallyincompetentinEnglishlanguage.Althoughtheyunderstandthatlanguageandculturearerelatedandcultureshouldbetaughtintheprocessoflanguageteaching，theyareafraidtoteachculturebecausetheythinktheydonotknowenoughaboutit.Mostofteachersfavorintensivereadingclassesinwhichlistening，reading，speakingorwritingskillsareusuallytaught，becausetheythinktheycanavoidcultureteachinginsuchclasses.TheydonotliketoteachthesubjectssuchasEnglishandAmericancultureandliterature，becausesuchclassesrequirelotsofpreparationandcourage.Studentsmayaskunexpectedquestions.Interculturallanguageteachingrequirescultureteachingtobeintegratedinotherlanguageskillstraining.Cultureandlanguageskillscannotbetaughtseparatelybecause“Quitesimplelanguagecanoftenbeboundupwithquitecomplexculture”（Liddicoat，2004：18）.Withoutunderstandingofthecultureinwhichthelanguageisused，itisimpossibletousecorrectlanguageindifferentsituations.IfteacherscontinuetoteachEnglishlanguagelikethis，studentswillexperiencebarrierincommunication.Hereisanexampleofthewritersownexperience.OneofherstudentsoffendedanAmericanguestinaninternationalexchangeprogrambysaying，“letshavearest，youmustbeverytired，youareold.”ThewriterfullyunderstoodwhatherstudentmeansbecausewhathesaidwasquitecourteousinChinese.Itmeant，“ifyouaretired，wecantakealittlerest，sinceyouaregettingoninyears”.Unfortunately，thestudentinterpretedthemeaningtooliterally.Itgavetheimpressionthathethoughttheelderpersonwouldcollapseatanyminuteiftheydidnottakeanimmediaterest.Hefailedtorealizethatinthewestthereisanenormousvalueplacedonbeingyoungandmanypeoplesimplycannotacceptthattheyaregrowingold.Suchfailuresincommunicationarefrequentlyseenwhenthestudentsareinvolvedininternationalprograms.CollegeEnglishteachersshouldberesponsibleforthesefailurestocertainextentandtheyarerequiredtodevelopthecompetencetostartteachingculturewhileteachinglanguage.2.4InterculturalTaskDesignDifficultiesCollegeEnglishteachersfacechallengesindesigningclassroomtaskstoachievethegoalofILE.“Althoughtherearemodelsandteachingmethodsproposedbyfamousforeignscholars，theChineselanguageteachersmustadaptthemtothesituationinChina”（Holliday，1994；Lessard-Clouston，1996，ascitedinChen，1999）.However，sincemostofthemareinexperiencedinteachingEnglishasaforeignlanguagefrominterculturalperspective，howtoadoptthemremainsagreatdifficultyinpracticalsituation.InChina，theleadingroleoftheteacherintheclassroomhasbeenrecognized.Teacherisoftenregardedasthecenterofteachingpractice.Theteacheroftenfeedsthestudentswithknowledge，andstudentsarepassivereceivers.EnglishismadecompulsoryincurriculatofreshmenandsophomoresinChinesecolleges.Itmightnotbepossibletodividethemintosomanygroupstoperforminterculturaltasksinclass.Englishclassisalwaysabigclass（usually100students）composedofstudentsofdifferentmajors.Inordertocontrolthewholeclass，itseemsthatthetraditionalwayofteachingisfavorable.Iftheteacherwanttomaketheclasslearner-centered，Englishteacherneedtobeverycarefulindesigningsuchclassroomactivitiesasgroupdiscussion.Becausestudentsalwayscannothelptousetheirnativelanguagetodiscusswhentheyarenotunderthemonitoroftheteacher.Toomanystudentsinoneclassistheproblemthatteacherscannotsolvebythemselves，sohowtodesigntheclassroomactivityinacreativewayneedscollegeEnglishteacherstospeculate.Inaddition，thesestudentsinoneclassusuallycomefromdifferentcitieswithdifferentEnglishlevels.Inoperatingtheinterculturaltask，ChineseEnglishlearnersareoftencriticizedasinactiv