跨文化交际英语论文.doc

Abstract Over the last two decades, the discussion carried on in TEFL has been concentrated on the dichotomy between grammatical competence vs. communicative competence. However, as the communicative approach in TEFL is gaining increasing popularity and researches on language and culture have been done pervasively, more and more researchers and scholars begin to concern themselves with learners ICC competence rather than the two mentioned above. Even American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language has added the socio-cultural competence to communicative competence. To sum up, the development of the learners ICC competence has become the ultimate goal in TEFL. However, for a long time in China, the grammar-oriented perspective has led to the emphasis on the learners grammatical competence instead of his ICC competence, which results in the inefficiency of TEFL in China. On the other hand, even though it is now commonly accepted that language teaching should focus not only on the forms of language, but also on its social rules and pragmatic rules, the fact is, however, in the process of TEFL, little emphasis has been placed on the development of the learners intercultural awareness and ICU competence. As a result, although the students have received several years of formal English education and have good grades in school, they frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use English, and to understand its Intercultural communication and Strategies to Develop ICC Competence in TEFL appropriate use in normal intercultural communication. In most cases, misunderstandings caused by cultural differences have involved them frequently in intercultural communication. Since the goal of language teaching is to enable students to communicate appropriately and effectively in the target language, improving the students cross-cultural awareness and developing their ICC competence become essential. Enlightened by the above-mentioned belief that the ultimate goal of TEFL is to develop the learners ICC competence, the present dissertation endeavors to explore the nature and sources of intercultural miscommunication, and strategies to develop ICC competence from both the learners perspective and teachers perspective. It is believed that a systematic study and analysis of intercultural communication and strategies to develop ICC competence will contribute greatly to raising the learners intercultural awareness and their ICC competence.Key words：communicative competence Intercultural communication Strategies摘要 二十多年来，外语教学(TEFL)界一直存在着一种争论:外语教学的目标何在?是培养学生的语言能力还是交际能力?随着交际教学法的普及和普遍开展的语言文化研究的深入，越来越多的外语教学专家和学者达成了共识:外语教学的目标是培养学生跨文化交际能力(ICC competence)，外语教学应包括目的语文化教学。 过去，中国传统外语教学主要采用语法翻译法和听说法。语法规则的讲解和操练成了传统外语教学的主要内容。教学、教材只重视语言形式分析而忽略了语言功能分析和对使用中的语言的研究。外语界甚至形成了一种认识:学习语言就是学习一整套的语法规则。这种以形式为纲的语法学说直接导致了中国外语教学仿徨不前、效率极低的不利局面。在外语教学实践过程中，由于教师过份强调培养学生的语法能力，而忽视培养学生跨文化交际能力，结果，虽然许多学生接受了多年的正规外语教育，但在正式的跨文化交际场合，他们外语的实际应用能力低下，不懂得如何恰如其分地使用外语，文化差异及语用失误所引起的文化错误常使他们遭受跨文化交际失误的困扰。那么，什么是跨文化交际失误?如何才能避免或克服跨文化交际失误所带来的困扰?跨文化交际失误是指拥有不同文化背景的交际双方在交际过程中由于文化取向、价值观念、社会规范、思维方式、编译码过程、言语和非言语行为、语言使用规律、语篇组织结构等方面的文化差异而产生的交际失误。它的产生会给拥有不同文化背景的人们的相互理解与和睦相处带来重重困难，使人们烦恼、苦闷，甚至产生强烈的失落感。因此，在外语教学中，教师必须加强目的语文化的导入与教学，增强学生的跨文化意识，培养学生的跨文化交际能力，以避免和克服跨文化交际失误所带来的困扰。本文认为，对跨文化交际失误的系统分析和研究在培养和提高学生的跨文化意识方面具有积极的意义。 近年来，在教育的各个领域，人们越来越强调“以学习者为中心”的教学方法。人们已经意识到学习者是影响学习结果的决定性因素，在外语学习过程中，学习者是一个积极主动的参与者，是学习的主体。学习者的情感因素，包括动机和态度等对学习效率乃至成败有至关重要的作用。在接受语言和文化的输入时，学习者对其进行分析处理，并从中“悟”出规则，加以吸收。在输出语言，对自己的语言、文化行为进行自我监控等一系列过程中，学习者始终处于异常活跃的状态。研究表明，每一个外语学习者在试图完成某一学习和认知任务时，都会自觉或不自觉地调动自己的原有知识和认知策略。对学习者的学习策略的研究不但可以充实应用语言学理论，而且可以对教师外语教学实践和学生学习过程起到启发和指导作用。因此，本文认为:为了增强学生的跨文化意识，提高学生的跨文化交际能力，教师应将语言文化教学内容、学习者的学习策略和教师的语言文化教学策略有机地结合在一起，这不仅是必要的，而且也是可行的。关键词：交际能力 跨文化交际 策略Chapter 1 Intercultural communication1.1 Definitions of CultureCulture is a vast topic. It is an uneasy task to define culture because of its multi-facet nature. However, the definitions suggested by scholars can throw light on the conception of culture. As early as 1925, A. L. Kroeber and C. Kluckhohn listed 164 definitions of culture that they found in the anthropology literature (Samovar and Porter, 1994: 47). Since then, other definitions have been added to the list. Edward Sapir defines culture as the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determine the texture of our lives (Sapir, 1970: 207). According to Nida (1993: 28), culture is all learned behavior which is socially acquired. Porter and Samovar (1994) claim that culture refers to knowledge, experience, meanings, beliefs, values, attitudes, religions,concept of self, the universe, and self universe relationships, hierarchies of status, role expectations, spatial relationships and time concepts acquired by a group of people. 1.2 Culture and Communicationn order to understand intercultural communication much better, we should firstly come to know what human communication really is. Just like defining culture, defining Intercultural Miscommunication and Strategies to Develop ICC Competence in TEFL communication is also a difficult task. Communication can be defined in a number of ways from different angles, but it is probably more helpful to present communication in the form of model, which may enable us to visualize different aspects of the process. Culture is the foundation of communication. Whencultures differ, communication practices also differ. Smith (1983) points out, In modern society, different people communicate in different ways, as do people in different societies around the world; and the way people communicate is the way they live. It is their culture. Who talks with whom? How? And about what? These are questions of communication and culture . Communication and culture are inseparable. (Samovar and Porter, 1994: 44-45). Culture and communication are so inextricably bound that most cultural anthropologists believe the terms are virtually synonymous. The link between culture and communication is essential to the understanding of intercultural communication. Once people from different culture meet, their communication practice differs from that of people in the same culture. Thus intercultural miscommunication arises. The solution to these problems is mainly our concern in this dissertation. Therefore, the notion of intercultural communication is first to be explored.1.3 Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication refers to communication between people from different cultures. Samovar (1994: 19) claims that intercultural communication occurs whenever a message that must be understood is produced by a member of one culture for consumption by a member of another culture. To put it more precisely, intercultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbols are distinct enough to alter the communication event. Besides the term intercultural, there are other terms such as interethnic,interracial, transcultural, transracial, and cross-cultural. All these terms denote slightly different aspects of the wider field comprising the contrast or comparison between two different cultural communication. Probably because intercultural covers the widest field, this term seems to be generally preferred now (Dirven&Putz, 1993: 144). That is the reason why we have employed the term intercultural here.1.4 The Relationship between Language and CultureLanguage does not exist in a social vacuum, but is firmly fixed in the way of life, beliefs, practices and value systems of its speakers, which anthropologists call culture. It is believed that language is inextricably tied to culture. It not only exists in culture, but also reflects culture. It is now commonly accepted that language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider language the keystone of culture. Without language, they maintain, culture can not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. In the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of people, and it comprises their historical and cultural background as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. 1.5 Importance of Developing ICC Competence With the globalization of the contemporary world, intercultural communication becomes one of the most prominent and significant activities in the 21st century. The frequent exchange of culture and significant technology enables us to keep instant and constant contact with people all over the world with the help of communication satellites,sophiscated television transmission equipment and internet. People throughout the world are capable of sharing news, ideas and other information simultaneously. In one word, we are living in the same Global Village, and intercultural communication is indispensable for us.In the 21 st century, Chinas modernizations are closely bound up with intercultural communication. Modernization is a process involving both economic development and evolution of value system, in which people make full use of advanced technology and other means to improve their physical and spiritual conditions. This dual nature of modernization and urgency of modernization determine the significance of developing learners ICC competence. Just as Hu and Gao (1997: 64) put it, intercultural awareness is closely linked to economic and spiritual modernization.Chapter two ICC Competence and its ComponentsHymes (1972) first conceptualizes the notion of communicative competence as consisting of four parameters: degree of possibility, feasibility, appropriateness and occurance. Later, Canale and Swain (1980) develop Hymes original idea and define communicative competence as including grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. what is ICC competence? 2.1 The defining IIC competenceThe definitions of ICC competence will be explored from different perspectives.2.1.1Cross-cultural Attitude Model of I CC Competence Over the last quarter of this century, many studies have been conducted on the concept of ICC competence. It has been investigated under many different labels such as inter-cultural effectiveness, cross-cultural awareness, communication competence, interpersonal competence and intercultural competence.2.2.2 Behavioral-skill Model of ICC CompetenceThe most common approach to conceptualize ICC competence is to regard it as a behavior construct. In his pioneer research in ICC competence, Ruben (1976) measures intercultural effectiveness based on communicators performance on seven behavioral skills. He believes that the most observable and the most significant is behavior.2.2.3 Relational Model of ICC Competence Based on the previous approaches, Imahori and Lanigan (1989) present a theoretical conceptualization of ICC competence in an effort to incorporate these different approaches. Four axioms are developed regarding theoretical assumption of ICC competence based on a relational, interactive perspective of ICC competence.2.2 Components of ICC CompetenceICC competence should include language competence, Cognitive competence, episodic competence, strategic competence and so on.2.2.1 Language CompetenceLanguage competence in this dissertation is being used to refer to learners ability to listen, speak, read, and write in the target language, which indicates that learners are expected to possess certain language skills. These basic language skills are the essential integrated parts of ICC competence. Among the most important skills identified as crucial to the cultural adaptation process is the competent use of the host countrys language.2.2.2 Cognitive CompetenceCognitive competence is the knowledge dimension of ICC competence, which includes such internal capacities as the knowledge of the target language and culture. The knowledge of the target language goes beyond linguistics which includes phonetics, syntax, and vocabulary to the pragmatic use of the language in everyday life. The knowledge of pragmatic rules ranges from knowledge of cooperative principle, politeness principle, speech act theory, turn-taking, adjacency pair, to cohesion, coherence. Therefore, the knowledge of language includes a linguistic component (sounds, graphemes, forms and grammar of language), a paralinguistic component (tone, pitch, volume, speed), a sociolinguistic dimension (a repertoire of style each appropriate for different situations), and a pragmatic dimension (various pragmatic rules).2.2.3 Affective CompetenceAffective competence facilitates cross-cultural adaptation by providing an emotional and motivational capacity to deal with the various challenges of cross-cultural exchanges (Kim, 1994:385). It has something to do with how communicators regulate their feelings and emotions to make intercultural communication easier. It includes communicatorswillingness and determination to learn the target language and culture. Affective competence also includes the communicators ability to understand and empathize with the emotional and aesthetic sensibilities of the natives. As to affective competence, many scholars of intercultural communication have concerned themselves with communicators ability to empathize and understand the natives, their culture and language.2.2.4 Operational Competence Operational competence is closely linked with co娜tive competence and affective competence. According to Kim (1994: 395), the operational competence refers to communicators capacity to enact or express their cognitive and affective experiences outwardly when communication begins. Communicators operational competence is based on their cognitive and affective competence.As a component of ICC competence, the operational competence enables communicators to choose an appropriate combination of verbal and non-verbal activitiesto meet the demands of daily activities-from managing face-to-face encounters to seeking appropriate information sources to solve the problems.4.2.5 Episodic Competence The concept of episodic competence is first suggested by sociolinguists and interculturalists in recent years to interpret meaning in context. Episode is closely linked with context, so they believe that it might help to solve polysemous problem when a polysemous utterance is put into a concrete context.Chapter three Strategies to Develop ICC Competence in TEFLthis dissertation will endeavor to probe further into some strategies to develop learners ICC competence from both the learners perspective and teachers perspective. 3.1 Learning Strategies to Develop ICC Competence The most fundamental change in the area of foreign language teaching in recent years has been the shift from the concern with the teacher, the textbook and the method to an interest in the learners individual differences and the learning process. Corresponding with this shift, research literature on learning strategies has experienced tremendous growth, just as Skehan (1991) claims, the study of learning strategies has seen an explosion of activity (qtd. in Ellis, 1997). Within the study of strategies in second language learning, there co-exist two different terms: learner strategies and learning strategies. Some researchers prefer learner strategies, while other researchers prefer learning strategies. Others like Ellis (1985, 1997) employ both terms. However, the disparity in using the term does not suggest thatresearchers of strategies hold to totally different views. Actually, the two terms have much in common, and in most cases, they can be used interchangeably.3.1.1 Memory strategies and Development of ICC CompetenceMemory strategies have been used for thousands of years. In ancient times, even before literacy became widespread, people used memory strategies to remember practical information about farming, weather, or when they were born. Memory strategies are Chapter Five Strategies to Develop ICC Competence in TEFL powerful mental tools. Human mind can store some 100 trillion bits of information, but only part of that potential can be used unless memory strategies come to the aid of the learner. Memory strategies include grouping, association, using keywords to remember and using metacognitive strategies. Grouping is one of the most significant and useful memory strategies. It can help classify or reclassify cultural materials into meaningful units, which makes the material easier to remember by reducing the number of discrete elements.3.1.2 Cognitive Strategies and Development of ICC Competence Cogntive strategies concern manipulation or transformation of information. Theyinclude practising, receiving and sending messages, analyzing and reasoning, and creating structure for input and output.Strategies for practising are among the most important cognitive strategies. They encompass repeating, formally with sounds and systems, recognizing and using formulas and patterns to help learners to achieve acceptable proficiency, a goal which requires large amount of practice. A key strategy for practising is practising naturalistically, which means practising the new language items in natural, realistic settings, as in participating in a conversation, reading a book or an article, listening to a lecture, or writing a letter in the new language.3.1.3 Social Strategies and Development of ICC CompetenceOxford classifies social strategies into three categories, which include askingquestions, cooperating with others and empathizing with others. Among these, the third one, empathizing with others is very important for the development of ICC competence.3.2Teaching Strategies to Develop ICC Competence It is now commonly accepted that a good command of English vocabulary and grammar does n