跨文化交际教育论文范文

时间:2023-04-08 10:14:49

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跨文化交际教育论文

篇1

1)推动文化教学与英语教育的整合

语言是文化的重要载体,随着当前跨地区、跨国以及跨民族交流的日益频繁,英语作为通用语言成为了国际交流中重要的工具之一。学生跨文化交际意识的培养不仅涉及到英语语言本身的知识与理论,同时也涉及到了英语文化,因此,重视推动文化教学与英语教育的整合,是提高学生跨文化交际意识的有效途径。教师在英语教育中来合理的选取英语文化内容并融入教学活动中,不仅可以让英语教学本身具有更加丰富的素材,同时能够在促进学生英语素养提高的基础上为英语教育创设良好的分为。在此方面,教师应当注意,英语文化教学内容的选取应当以学生的学习需求以及认知水平为出发点,并根据学生的学习需求以及认知水平来在不同的阶段开展具有不同侧重的教育教学活动。如在高校大一阶段,教师应当侧重于语言教学,从而确保学生具有良好的英语语言基础,而在大二以及之后的阶段,教师则应当有意识的融入英语文化教学内容,从而较好的实现文化教学与英语教育的整合。

2)在重视学生主体地位的基础上引导学生开展自主学习

在高校英语教育过程中,学生是教学活动开展的重要参与主体,无论是教学内容的选择还是教学方法和教学模式的设计,都应当以学生的英语基础和知识接收能力为出发点。在以培养学生的跨文化意识为重要教学任务的英语教育中,虽然教学的内容得到了扩展,但是高校英语的教学课时却没有响应的增加,在此背景下,教师只能够在传授给学生合理科学的学习策略与学习技巧的基础上来让学生自主的完成教学任务与教学目标,因此,为了实现学生跨文化交际意识的有效提高,教师有必要在教学过程中承认并尊重学生的主体地位,并在此基础上引导学生开展自主学习,在此过程中,教师有必要通过了解学生的学习策略、学习风格等来对学生进行有针对性的指导,从而促使学生在自主学习中对英语文化作出体验、对提高跨文化交际意识的重要性做出认识,同时推动学生英语知识的自主构建并使学生树立终身学习的英语学习观念。

3)使用多元化的教学渠道来挖掘学生潜能

随着信息技术的发展以及在社会各个领域中的广泛应用,信息技术的价值以及优势已经得到了社会各界的广泛肯定,而在高校英语教育中,通过实现英语教学和信息技术的整合,不仅能够让英语教学具有更加丰富的教学素材和更加直观、生动的教学内容呈现形式,同时能够为学生学习英语文化创造良好的条件。如通过在培养学生跨文化交际意识的过程中运用信息技术来辅助教学活动,教师可以利用网络搜索一些英语电影和英语歌曲对英语文化进行展现,这些内容可以让学生对英语文化进行亲身体验,并提升学生开展跨文化交际能力的兴趣,从而对学生的跨文化交际潜能进行有效的挖掘。

4)体验式教学与说教式教学并重

在英语教育过程中,相对于学生而言,教师在英语专业知识以及英语文化知识方面的素养优势更加明显,所以教师可以通过说教式的教学方式将自身对跨文化交际的体会讲授给学生,虽然在这种教学方式中,学生出于被动接受的地位,但是这种教学方式在培养学生跨文化交际意识方面所产生的成效是不容忽视的。另外,体验式教学也是培养学生跨文化交际意识的有效路径,在此过程中,教师可以通过组织各类参观活动或者在课堂中进行角色扮演来促使学生对英语文化进行体验,使学生在实践中不断积累知识与经验,从而让学生对英语知识以及英语文化作出更加深刻的认知。

5)引导教师对母语文化和英语文化进行对比

在汉语环境中,学生本身无论是在语言知识方面还是文化认知方面都具有着一定的思维定式,并且学生在学习英语的过程中也很少对这种思维定式做出反思,并且也经常出现将汉语语言知识和汉语文化套用到对英语语言知识和英语文化的理解中。因此,教师有必要引导学生对母语文化和英语文化作出比对,并使学生在了解文化差异的基础上深化对英语文化的认知并提升学生的跨文化交际意识与跨文化交际能力。通过引导学生对母语文化与英语文化进行比较,可以在教学过程中构建一种跨文化交际的氛围,并在提高学生学习积极性的基础上使学生对英语语言知识以及文化知识作出更加牢固的记忆。同时通过这种比较,可以让学生认识到文化是多元化的,并且文化之间并没有优劣之分,只有在承认每一种文化的合理性基础上,才能够与更好的开展跨文化交际,这不仅有利于学生跨文化交际意识以及跨文化交际能力的提升,同时能够培养学生开放且包容的文化观。

6)在认识学生差异的基础上因材施教

在高校英语教学中,包括培养学生的跨文化交际意识在内的所有教学活动都应当承认并尊重学生的个体差异性,并对学生差异性做出了解的基础上进行人才视角。由于学生生活背景、学习历程的不同,所以无论是在文化体验、思维方式还是价值观方面,每个学生都会存在差异,而这些内容恰恰又是文化教学的基础,所以在培养学生的跨文化交际意识过程中,教师有必要从学生的文化体验、思维方式以及价值观出发来对母语与英语文化作出比较,从而促进学生跨文化意识的强化。

2重视提高教师的跨文化素养

在高校英语教学过程中,高校英语教师是学生跨文化交际能力提高过程中的主要引导者,同时是连接学生与英语文化之间的桥梁,教师本身所具有的跨文化综合素质对学生跨文化交际能力的培养产生着决定性的作用,因此,作为高校英语教师,要具备强烈的跨文化意识,并重视对自身的英语文化知识结构进行完善,在充分了解母语文化与英语文化差异的基础上推动自身跨文化修养的提高。语言是文化的重要载体,如果教师与学生不能充分了解英语文化准则与英语文化模式,则将难以对英语语言专业知识作出真正的掌握。虽然当前大部分教师都对学生跨文化交际能力的培养给予了高度重视,但是由于自身欠缺跨文化素养或者欠缺跨文化教育经验,针对学生开展的跨文化交际能力培养也往往难以取得良好的教学成效。

所以,在高校英语开展跨文化教育的过程中,教师需要做到以下两点内容:一是教师有必要对自身的文化修养进行提高。作为高校英语教师,在不断丰富自身英语专业知识的基础上,有必要通过阅读英语文学作品、鉴赏优秀的英语原声电影、欣赏高雅的英语歌曲以及结交外国朋友来对英语文化作出全面深刻的了解。另外,教师要在掌握英语文化知识和文化特点的基础上具备较好的汉语文化认知与教学能力,通过在课堂教学中向学生展示汉语言文化与英语文化的差异来加深学生对英语文化的理解与认知,从而促使学生的文化洞察力以及文化敏感性得到提高,并在此基础上提高学生的跨文化交际能力;其次,在高校英语教师的跨文化素质提升过程中,高校有必要对教师的继续教育内容作出改革,从而让教师提高自身跨文化能力的提高得到进一步的拓展。在教师培训以及继续教学方面,培训内容以及继续教育内容有必要涉及到民俗学、历史、文学以及地理等多种知识,从而让教师深刻的理解英语文化产生的根源,并在此基础上对英语文化作出理解与认知。另外,在教师的培训以及继续教学方面,有必要增加多远文化教育以及跨文化教育内容。从而在使教师树立开放且包容的文化馆基础上,对英语文化进行接纳与吸收。

3解决跨文化交际能力培养过程中的阻碍

在高校英语教育中,培养学生跨文化交际能力的重要性已经得到了大部分教师的认可与支持,并且教师也愿意尝试使用多元化的教学方法来开展文化教学,从而推动学生跨文化交际能力的提高。然而当前高校英语教育中的跨文化交际能力培养在传统教育理念的影响下仍旧面临着众多阻碍,这些阻碍主要体现在以下几个方面:一是当前的高校英语教材中缺乏跨文化教学内容。虽然我国当前的高校英语教材已经在以语言知识和语言技能为核心的教材基础上做出了一些改革,但是其中所具有的跨文化教学内容依旧缺乏,这种问题主要体现在,教材内容所设计的文化内容层面较窄,并且文化信息也欠缺系统性,虽然这些内容中涉及到了较多的英美文化,但是却没有突出其他英语国家的文化,另外,语言教学内容和文化文化教学内容难以实现紧密结合也是主要的表现之一;二是高校英语教学时间限制跨文化交际能力的培养。在有限的高校英语课时中,教师不仅要完成教学任务,同时要确保学生掌握较高的英语理论知识素养和英语应用素养,所以在教学过程中,对学生理论知识以及应用技能的巩固成为了主要的教学内容,而用剩下的时间来对学生的跨文化交际能力进行培养显然是十分紧张的;三是学生的跨文化交际能力评价体系有待完善。虽然高校英语教育已经将培养学生的跨文化交际能力当做了重要的教学目标,但是由于当前高校英语教学考核评价中依然围绕考试的方法来开展,所以学生的跨文化交际能力评价体系并不完善。因此,即便是教师在培养学生的跨文化交际能力方面投入了较大的精力,但是却无法了解学生的跨文化交际能力提升到了何种层次,这让教师在下一阶段的跨文化交际能力教学中出现了依据确实的情况,从而导致教师无法有针对性的开展跨文化交际能力教学活动。针对高校英语教育跨文化交际能力培养中存在的阻碍,高校英语教师可以通过以下策略进行解决:针对高校英语教材中缺乏跨文化教学内容问题,高校可以根据自身的师资力量来进行高校英语教材的编撰,在此过程中,高校有必要组织具有较高英语专业水平和跨文化素养的教师来开展这一工作。

篇2

关键词:高职英语教学;中西文化差异;跨文化交际能力

语言教学的目的是培养学生的跨文化交际能力。“跨文化交际”(Interculturalcommunication)是指具有不同文化背景的人们之间进行的交际。

一、语言知识与语用知识并举,了解西方文化

在课堂教学中,我们一向较注重教学的内容和语言能力,即培养学生能造出一些意义正确、合乎语法规则的句子的技能。但是学生没掌握语用知识,不知道运用这些知识和技能在具体环境中用英语进行准确的跨文化交际[1]。“不懂得语言的运用规则,语法规则将变得毫无用处”(Hymes1972)。如“Whydon''''tyouopenthedoor?”是一句符合语法规则的句子,但它含有强硬的命令口气,就不适合对长辈或初交的人说这句话,可用“Whynotopenthedoor?”来表达。又如,当夸奖别人的菜做得好时不能说“Ididn’texpectyoucouldmakesuchdeliciousfood!”(没想到你能做一手好菜!),通常可说“Whatadeliciousfood!”在与外族人交谈时,本族人对于他们在语音和语法方面的错误往往比较宽容,而违反说话规则会被认为是不够礼貌的(Walfson,1989)[2]。这里的说话规则是所在语言交际活动中为了达到特定的目标,说话人和听话人之间必须存在的一种默契,一种双方交际时都遵循的“合作原则(CooperativePrinciples)”[3]。为使学生在一定的语境中能准确运用所学语言,必须语言知识与语用知识并举,才能真正了解西方文化,而高职学生就是欠缺文化背景知识。如《大学英语精读III》Unit4“LadyHermitsWhoAreDownButNotOut”的课文标题“DownButNotOut”学生很难理解。笔者先介绍美国拳击术语“downandout”,意思是拳击手被对方击倒后淘汰出局。再结合课文对“女隐士”特点的分析理解,把标题译为“潦而不倒”学生才恍然大悟。可见,不了解西方文化以及背后的文化内涵就很难理解它在特定场合中引申出的社会意义。同是这篇课文中“…ifshechoosesyourdoorwayasherplacetosleepinthenight,itisasnormallyhardtoturnherawayasitisalostdog.”这句话令人费解。狗在西方视为人类忠实的朋友,所以赶走一只丧家之犬属不道德行为。又如:“WhyITeach”一文中,很多学生不理解“Beingateacherisbeingpresentatthecreationwhentheclaybeginstobreathe”。这里的creation和clay涉及到《圣经》典故:上帝用地上的尘土clay造人,并赋予人以生命力。作者在这句话中用clay隐喻没有知识的人,用breathe比喻“获得知识,开始成长”。这个典故把教师育人和上帝造人作了类比,使我们领会到教师育人与上帝造人同样伟大[4]。学生明白这些文化及隐含意义后,终于茅塞顿开。

二、比较中西文化的差异,谨防“文化休克”

“文化休克”(Cultureshock)最早是由世界著名文化人类学家KalveroOberg在1960年首先提出的。初到国外的人往往由于不熟悉对方社会交往的信号或符号经常会有不同程度的心理焦虑反应,这种现象在跨文化学中称“文化休克”[5]。学生如果不把握中西方文化差异,用汉语的思维去理解、判断英语的语境,极易产生“文化休克”。思维方式是沟通文化与语言的桥梁,而文化差异就是思维方式的本质差异。中国传统思维方式具有女性阴柔偏向,西方思维方式具有男性阳刚偏向。中国人偏人文,西方人重自然;中国人重悟性,西方人偏理性;中国人好静、内向、守旧,西方人好动、外向、开放;中国人求同、求稳,西方人求异、求变。我们在教学中有必要把日常生活交往中英汉文化的主要差异以及语言表达方式进行归纳、比较和总结,这将有助于学生逐步区别语言的文化内涵,培养跨文化意识,增强文化差异的敏感性和适应性。

1.赞美之词

中国文化对赞美之语总是比较崇尚谦虚原则,“YourEnglishisverygood”和“Ilikeyourbeautifulwatch”之类的应答都要用“Thankyou”,因为这些赞美之词仅仅表示友好或是引起谈话的手段。

2.提供帮助

中国人对于别人的帮助往往采用“接受+感谢”的方式,在西方人们崇尚自立,会以“谢绝+解释”作回答。如回答“Wouldyoulikesomecoffee?”这样的kindoffer,通常用“No,thankyou”或“Yes,I’dloveto,butnotnow”之类的婉转回答。

3.文化禁忌

西方人一般都能容忍非本族语的人的语言错误,但对文化错误却会耿耿于怀,特别是文化禁忌。笔者把英语国家人士初次交谈的“禁忌”归纳成W-A-R-M四个字母,其中W代表weight,A代表age,R代替religion,M代表marriage,同样引出“七不问”:不问年龄、体重、收入、、婚姻状况,不问“去哪儿”和“吃了吗”。4.交际势能——把握交际讯号的强弱

西方人最常用最安全的话题是谈论天气,如“It’sreallyacoldtonight,isn’tit?Yes,itis.”这样的对话很容易使双方转入其他话题,并且能缩短会话距离,避免交际障碍。假如你碰巧遇到一家老外吃饭,主人客气地邀请你一起吃,“Wouldyouliketohavedinnerwithus?”如果你真的没吃,最好不要客气,否则挨饿的就是你自己了。

三、创设交际语境,培养跨文化语言交际能力

现代英语教学非常重视语境,建构主义理论也提倡语境化教学(Situatedinstruction)。因此教师要尽力为高职学生提供真实的或模拟的交际情景,力求创设学生能主动参与的课堂教学氛围,将学生引入一定的问题情境中。如《综合英语II》Unit7“ListeningandActivities”听说部分,为使学生了解并熟练掌握“祝愿”和“问候”的日常交际用语,我设置如下情景作为导入:Weallknowtherewillbe“AJobHunting”inourcampustomorrow.Areyouinterestedintheinvestigationonjobhunting?Howdoyougreettheinterviewers?Andhowdoyourespondtotheirreply?学生积极动脑,很快列举出许多学过“祝愿”和“问候”或“代问候”及其应答的表达。听力结束教师趁热打铁适当补充,引导大家归纳总结。接着学生在具体的场景中自编对话进行操练,做到学以致用,运用自如。

随着多媒体技术在教学中的不断应用,我们应该充分利用现代化的教学手段,使教学更加生动形象,如利用多媒体、幻灯、音像或互联网等创设良好的英语交际环境,使学生在教师、学习伙伴的帮助下,利用必要的学习材料,通过意义建构的方式获得更多的文化信息,从而提高跨文化语言交际能力,使课堂教学真正交际化。在《BEC》“Interview”这一项目设计课上,我先组织学生看一段有关招工的录像,然后提出问题引发学生思考:Whatdoyouwanttodoafteryougraduatefromtheuniversity?Whatquestionsarelikelytobeaskedinajobinterview?Whatwouldyouaskifyouweretheinterviewer?接着我用PPT设计了几种模拟招聘的具体场景,让学生申请做家教、商店促销员、收银员和导游,然后在课堂上表演。师生们从语音语调、内容设计、体态表情、语言得体和合作创新等方面进行互评。大家积极参与,表现了空前的兴趣和竞争力,体现了良好的团队合作意识。更可喜的是那些平时在课上不愿开口说英语的学生在大家的鼓励和配合下,增强了信心,消除了紧张情绪,获得了很好的锻炼机会。运用多种电教手段,创设教学情境,课堂变成了社会的缩影,学生的主体性得到了充分发挥。学生在与他人和环境的互动中勇于开口,乐于开口,在模拟情境中建构新的语言能力,从而有效地培养了学生运用英语进行跨文化交际的能力。

四、渗透中西文化,培养跨文化非语言交际能力

交际能力包括语言交际能力和非语言交际能力(Non-verbalcommunication)。非语言交际行为是指语言行为以外的所有行为。在面对面的交际中,语言至多只占整个交际过程的35%,而其余的社交信息都是依靠非语言交际传递的(Birdwhistell,1970:50)。因此非语言行为就成了跨文化交际成功与否的关键。不同文化背景的人有不同的空间观,因而导致不同的会话距离。在英国,礼貌的听者会认真地注视讲话者并不时眨一眨眼表示对对方所谈之事感兴趣,美国人则希望听者频频点头或发出哦、嗯之类的声音表示对所讲内容感兴趣。中国人则通常会眼看着对方保持安静。有位颇为出色的中国学生到一家英国公司接受最后的面试。敲门进入办公室后,学生坐下并顺手把放在经理面前的一张椅子向前拉了一下。面试后,该生自我感觉良好最终却遭拒绝,是因为英国经理事先将椅子放在他认为合适的交谈距离位置,而中国学生无意间向前一拉,将距离调整到他认为舒适的位置,可能使经理感到不适,最终导致被拒绝录取。

一种事物的特点,要跟别的事物比较才显出来(吕叔湘1977)[6]。教学中教师要善于进行中英非语言交际对照教学,如中国人用拱手和鞠躬表示感谢,英语文化的人用亲吻和拥抱表示感谢;美国人习惯用手指胸膛表示“我”,而中国人手指鼻子表示“我”的动作,在美国人看来是滑稽可笑的;美国人用手拍成年人的头表示同情、鼓励对方,中国人则认为这是有意侮辱对方;中国人气愤至极会跺脚,美国人在急不可待时才跺脚;英文化的人喜欢佩戴猫头鹰图像的徽章,因为在英文化中猫头鹰是智慧的象征,而在中国人看来猫头鹰是邪恶的化身,俗话说猫头鹰进宅无事不来,预示着凶多吉少。中国人在给人指方向时,习惯于用食指指点。在英语文化中,这是既不雅观、又不尊重别人的手势;用手下意识地摸一下鼻子,在中国人看来既无什么含义,也无伤大雅。美国人却将这一动作视为隐匿不好的想法或谎言的手势,或者表示不同意或拒绝对方的看法。

参考文献:

[1]蒋永远.大学英语教学中跨文化交际能力的培养[J].边疆经济与文化,2007,(11).

[2]柏音.大学英语教学中跨文化交际能力的培养[J].南京理工大学学报,2000,(2):73-79.

[3]张卫红,张凯.外语教学中语用知识的应用分[J].陕西师范大学学报,2006,(3):329-331.

[4]尹锡荣.中西方文化差异与大学英语教学[J].合肥工业大学学报,2002,(6):85-87.

篇3

关键词: 跨文化交际 英语语言教学 文化背景

一、引言

语言与文化有密切的关系:语言既塑造文化,又被文化所塑造;语言既反映社会现实,又对社会产生影响。跨文化交际是指不同文化背景群体之间的思想、信息等的交流,是不同文化背景群体之间的文化接触。目前,在中学英语教学中,不少教师对交际教学法、语言与文化的关系有一些模糊的认识,其一是:认为中学阶段英语教学主要目的应当是语言知识的教学(语言的准确性、语法的扩充、语法与句型知识等);其二是认为目前中学教学内容相对简单,文化教学无法进行。这种模糊认识已经对中学生的日常交际产生了不良影响。

那么在日常教学活动中,教师应从哪些方面着手,对学生进行交际中的跨文化意识的培养,使学生了解英语国家的文化而学习外语,又通过了解语言背景去理解其文化,使二者互相贯通,互为表里,相互促进呢?我们认为有如下几点值得注意:

二、文化背景知识教学要贯穿于交际性语言教学的始终

1.不同的文化背景形成了不同的特定的语言表达方式。

语言产生各具特色,其交流方式就有很大差异。即使在同一种语言中,不同场合也要用不同的语言而表达。如:在英语里要表达歉意,可以说“Excuse me.”,也可以说“I’m sorry.”,但使用范围不同。如果无意中伤害了某人或有约而迟到了,可以说“Excuse me for being late.”或者“I’m sorry that I’m late.”。

在英语中,一个简单的见面问候,也因不同的情景而异。与人初次相识彼此问候,须用正式语言“How do you do?”其答语也只能是“How do you do?”;向熟人打招呼,多用问候身体状况的寒暄语“How are you?”;若只是一般随便向人打招呼,通常用“Hello/Hi,Good morning/afternoon”等。再如,打电话过程中简单的用语“你是谁?”“我是……”,其表达方式与汉语就不同,须用固定句式“Who is that?”“This is...speaking.”这就要求我们在英语语言教学中培养学生在跨文化接触时的适应能力。初次与不同的文化接触时,往往会受到文化冲击(Culture shock),从而产生某种不适应。要使交际得以继续下去,必须设法减缓冲击、提高适应能力。

在JEFC和SEFC教材中,上述交际语言在对话课中出现很多,在教学中随时可遇,而这些交际语言与我们民族的语言差异很大,因而要引导学生尊重这些文化差异,以客观、理智的态度来接受、学习,体会隐含在语言中的文化差异。

2.文化背景不同限制着交际过程中交流的内容和行为方式。

来自不同文化背景的人,在交际过程中所涉及的内容不同,通常所表达的行为亦有差异。如在我国新结识一个人总习惯于拉家常,问及家庭、工作、年龄、薪水等状况;而在英美国家人眼中,这些纯属个人私事,不是相当亲近的朋友是不能随便询问的,并视为不友善的行为,会引起别人的反感。因此在英美国家中,既要避免初次见面无话可说的尴尬局面,又要展开交流,就只好谈天说地、谈运动、谈晚会、谈比赛等,以求在爱好和欣赏上产生共识。例如,在英美国家中,受人邀请做客,赴约时尽可能正点;用餐时,你可以尽可能地去享受各种食物而无需担心会不礼貌,反而主人会因为你喜欢多食而感到高兴。

3.文化背景不同,在交际过程中,对方表达信息的反应不同。

一个女子若长得漂亮,或某人具有某种让人羡慕的东西或工作干得很出色等,遇上一个美国人当面就会道出些赞美之辞:“You are beautiful!”“How nice your coat is!”“What a good job/you’ve well done!”等。然而要一个普通的中国女子正面接受一个陌生人或不了解的男子对自己容颜的夸赞,那是不可能的,甚至会引起严重的误解。西方文化强调自我,如果按照中国传统习惯,以恭谦的方式作出反应,道出“不”“不怎么样”“哪里”等语,那就会引起很大的误会,甚至无意中伤害了别人。人家会觉得你认为他是一个说假话、浮夸的人。你应当对这些赞美之辞理所当然地接受,并用“Thank you”来回应他。

三、在教学过程中,对一些词句的教学有必要进行文化背景知识介绍

众所周知,英国在历史的发展过程中历经沧桑,这无疑对其文化的丰富和发展起到了促进作用。既然英语是一种多民族的混合体,这就使它的产生背景更神秘,更复杂了。如猪、羊、牛活着时被称为pig,sheep,cow或ox,而宰杀后上了餐桌就成了pork,mutton,beef。这是因为英国本地人Saxons(撒克逊人)把它们喂养大后上贡给Normans(诺曼人),宰杀后变成美味佳肴被法国人享用时,就变为法语了。英国中很多词,就是在这种背景下产生的。外来语不断融进英语中,而词汇本身也会因历史文化的变迁发生一些或进或退周期性的变化,如Negro一词,过去提到美国黑人时,用Negroes,而种族歧视主义者则称他们为Blacks,大约从20世纪五六十年代起,黑人掀起了反种族歧视运动(高中英语第二册下),开始为自己的肤色感到骄傲,于是自己改用了Black或the Black people,Negro这个词反倒被认为含有贬义,很少使用。同时,一种语言在形成和发展过程中会吸收很多典故,形成文化经典,用以纪念古人或告诫后人。如经常遇到的Sandwich,jeep,cat’s paw等词组或成语都各有其来源背景。再者,对一些成语更不能望文生义,以免造成笑话。例如:Let the cat out of the bag.(无意中泄露了机密)。在这里,解决问题的关键是在教学中尽可能给学生讲清两种政治文化背景在具体词汇上的烙印,否则是不可能达到准确运用的。

四、语言材料的教学离不开文化背景知识的教学

文化教学可以帮助学生把握学科内及跨学科之间的联系。培养学生的跨文化意识,对理解语言尤为重要。在教学中,可以将课文背后的西方价值观作为主线,把课本中散落的文化知识点贯串起来,也可采用“文化旁白”(胡文仲、高一虹,1995)的方法,给学生加入文化知识的介绍和讨论。例如学习China Daily时,可以介绍当今世界的几种大报,以及它们的政治倾向和读者群等。JEFC和SEFC教材中有不少课文是文学名篇,教师可以以此帮助学生领悟文章的美感。因为文学作品是了解一个民族文化的镜子,能生动具体地反映该民族的心理状态、文化特点、风俗习惯、社会关系等。高中第三册的“The Merchant of Venice”是语言大师莎士比亚的作品,具有代表性,因而教师可以引导学生根据人物对话的特色,从欣赏入手,去领会人物的性格特征。

语言学家格林说:“我们的语言就是我们的文化。”因此,不了解文化,想要轻松地学习、熟练地运用体现该种文化的语言几乎是不可能的。其实,学习外语最大的障碍是由文化语言的生疏带来的心理隔阂。外语教育专家认为:交际中的错误主要有两种,语言错误和文化错误,并认为后者的性质更为严重。再者,外语教学的最终目的是语言应用能力的培养,学习一种语言必然要学习这种语言所代表的文化。这就要求我们在教学活动中有意识、有步骤地对学生进行跨文化意识的培养,“增进学生对外国,特别是英语国家的了解”(大纲语),对英语语言有更深的了解,从而更好地掌握英语语言,成为能与其他民族和文化正常交往的新一代,能为中华民族自立于世界民族之林作出贡献。

参考文献:

[1]杜瑞清,田德新.跨文化交际学.西安交通大学出版社,2001.

[2]胡文仲.跨文化交际概论.外语教学与研究出版社,1999.

[3]Sandra,L.M.Nancy,H.,Sociolinguistics and Language Teaching.Shanghai Language and Teaching Reach Press,1999.

[4]杨平泽.非英语国家的英语教学中的文化问题.国外外语教学,1995,(1).

[5]陈舒.文化与外语教学的关系.国外外语教学,1997,(2).

篇4

1、覆盖面广

国际旅游、求学、公干等项目人数剧增,出入境人数创历史新高,与去年同比增加37%。仅春节和黄金周,出境人数就赢超过150万人次。跨国公司、合资公司使外企供职和聘用外籍人士成为常态。我国经济实力的增长,承接大型的国际高峰会议,ALPC、奥林匹克运动会、上海世博会、APEC会议等,覆盖范围广,与人们的生活息息相关。

2、时代需要

跨文化交际能力与商务英语的使用,已经成为社会主流文化之一,是衡量现代人才的重要标志,它是时代的产物,应市场的需要而生,应社会的需求而发展。媒体文化、商务交流等已经成为跨文化交际的主要范畴。因为,懂英语、说英语、写英语和用英语的能力是现代人才的重要素质。英语交际能力和沟通能力是最为常见的要件,不可或缺。

二、跨文化能力视阈下的商务英语教学路径分析

1、丰富教学大纲,为跨文化交际能力正名,教学有理有据

在传统的商务英语教学中,注重学生的基本素质,侧重于英语的学习,即听说读写的能力。教材编写方面、教学内容安排、教学课程设置、以及教师给定的教学重点内容等等,皆以英语培养为主,以交流为辅,往往忽略了文化背景因素。从这个层面上讲,传统商务英语教学是落后于社会发展需求的。将跨文化能力素质提升明确纳入到商务英语教学大纲之中,提升教师的敏感性,提高学生的重视程度,从根本上给与跨文化交际能力正名,明确目标,端正认知,才能完成教材编写、课程设置、文化内涵的培养、跨文化敏锐性的训练等一系列后续问题的改变。否则只能说起来举足轻重,做起来松松垮垮,甚至无视眼中,跨文化能力只能纸上谈兵,或者沦为空谈。

2、突出文化导向,为跨文化交际能力加筹,教学有章可循

语言与文化息息相关,密不可分,语言是文化中的语言,脱离了文化,语言就只是符号。文化视阈下的语言才赋予了语言灵魂和家园。结合二者方能使二者彰显各自的特点,发挥特长。将跨文化交际能力提升到重要位置,是对商务英语教学的挑战,是革新的重要举措。语言一直在英语教学中立于不败之力,几十年的教学经验丰富,而跨文化的技巧尽管与语言有同等重要的地位,但从文化积淀和授课技巧角度而言,则远远不够。要将语言和文化合二为一,要多方借鉴,多元发展,突出文化导向,设定情景,加大商务英语训练力度,灵活多变,不断研究、丰富和实践,为跨文化交际的商务英语教学提供参考。

3、注重科学研究,为跨文化交际能力助力,教师训练有素

尽管跨文化研究起步较晚,但是由于我国投入大量的人力和物力,已经初见起色。在国际上,我国的商务英语影响力度和科研成果,远远不及美国。就亚洲而言,也与日本不可同日而语。在借鉴跨文化交际研究中,我国应该顺应时代潮流,在国际全球化的大背景下,体验商务英语技巧,建立跨文化商务英语教学模式,培养一支业务精、能力强的高素质师资队伍,是商务英语中亟待解决的问题。要创造教师境外交流的学习机会,公派年轻教师融入英语国家,感受文化、体验文化、诠释文化、传授文化。要善于挖掘中国的外教人才,为他们提供平台,以实现国际间的文化交流和差异互补。

4、功夫在诗外,为跨文化交际能力拓展,理论联系实际

篇5

对语言能力的培养,语言能力是跨文化交际中必须具备的交际能力,它与语用能力以及语言策略能力共同构成了外国学者所认为的跨文化交际能力。在英语的教学过程中,英语老师应该适时适当的向学生指导语用的学习方法,以此提高学生的交际能力;语言策略能力指的是人们对语言的运用应变能力,现在很多学生学习英语,掌握英语的含义和用法已经非常的熟练,但是如果运用到生活中,在不同的语言环境下和他国的人交流就经常会出现了一些问题,这就要求老师针对这一问题,在对学生进行英语训练的时候让学生意识到应该根据不同的语言环境去学习,讲究语言应用的策略,这样的练习方法可以弥补学生词汇和语法知识缺乏的不足。这样训练学生学习英语,培养了学生的语言能力,使学生能够积极有效地去处理交流中遇见的问题,准确的传达自己的想法,从而提高学习的整体交际能力。

二、思维能力的培养

在以往的教学教法中,人们对英语学习的认识就是熟悉掌握词汇和语法,并没有考虑怎样的运用,所以培养大学英语跨文化交际能力,就应该联系他国文化,学习他国语言特色以及思维方式,加以训练,这样的学习方式有助于以后同他国人民进行交流时的实际应用,避免因为思维方式的不同,造成沟通内容上的误解,正确的思维能力是培养跨文化交际能力的前提,是良好沟通的必要保障。

三、行为能力的培养

跨文化交际能力的最终体现者就是行为能力,所以提升跨文化交际能力就不容忽视对行为能力的培养。外国人对行为能力的定义就是行为规范的理解和对行为冲突的对策的能力,培养行为能力,首先就应该了解他国的行为规范,例如:基本礼仪和文化禁忌等等,从而避免因为不了解他国文化而在交流的过程中触犯了他国的禁忌,引发不必要的矛盾和冲突;行为冲突能力就是在已经因为某些因素在交流的过程中与他人发生了争执,这个时候应该灵活的分析导致问题发生的关键因素,采用巧妙的解决方式化解尴尬的冲突局面。行为能力的培养是跨文化交流的体现者,因此,在大学英语跨文化交际能力的培养体系中应该在行为能力培养这一方面加强力度,以提升跨文化交际能力。

四、社会性发展能力的培养

篇6

关键词:跨文化交际;民族;差异;语用迁移

中图分类号:H03

文献标识码:A

文章编号:1673-2111(2008)11-003-03

作者:陈建生,长沙理工大学外国语学院教授,博士;李杨源,长沙理工大学08级在读硕士研究生

基金项目:语言非任意性研究。湖南省教育厅(2007)

引言

在跨文化交际中,汉英两个民族之差异会表现在文化背景、价值取向、社会规约等方面。一旦交际中的两个不同民族的人们忽略了它们,或不能设身处地地理解对方在这些方面的差异,或把一己之文化准则与社会规约强加于对方的同一领域,并视其为评价与解释对方行为之标准,语用迁移就产生了,它的产生表明双方的交际以失败而终。

语用失败的问题由来已久,目前已越来越引起人们的重视与关注,各路专家对此已有言在先。社会语言学家恩.沃尔逊(N.Wolson)于1989年提出了自己的观点,认为语用失败最终所显示出来的是因语用迁移所致的言语行为之施为力已荡然无存,即不能在既定领域产生任何影响,尤其是社会影响。因此,人们谓之社会语用失败。托马斯(Thomas)曾经在谈及社会语用规约时也持此观点,他同时指出了语用失误的严重性,认为“语法错误可能使人不愉快,或影响交际,但至少在规则上,它们是一清二楚的,听话人会立即感受到它的存在;而且一旦意识到说话人的语法能力较弱,对其是容忍的。然而,语用失败则不然,如果一个非本族语者说话流利,对方不会把其明显的不礼貌或不友好的行为归因为语言缺陷,而会认为是粗鲁和恶意的自然流露。语法错误可能显示出说话人还没有获得一定的语言能力,语用错误可能反映出说话人的人格有毛病”(Maletzke,1996)。

诚然,各国各地区多样的文化才使得整个世界变得丰富多彩。文化的多元性也使得因语用迁移所致的理解失误时有发生。在此情况下,交际难以成功,或交际者不能遵循交际规约,也不能使施为之力产生作用,更不能实现既定的目标。

汉英跨文化交际中的语用迁移现象主要表现在如下一些方面:

一、与人打招呼

见面打招呼是一种社会模式,而且是一种约定俗成的行为模式,常人在乎它,他们将见面不打招呼视为一种无礼的行为:社会学家、语言学家也在乎它,他们认为“打招呼”能够揭示见面时双方的关系,并表现为言语行为的一种固定模式。见面打招呼或交谈等是任何一个民族文化中都少不了的。汉英两个民族均有自己的招呼语,而且其招呼语有各自不同的民族特点与文化特质。从形式上看,“招呼语”有两种:命题式与非命题式。中国人见面打招呼就有明知故问式、拉家常式等。且看,一天早上路过一处时,一国人发现一熟人在修汽车,他如此地向熟人打招呼:“你在修汽车?”国人打的这种招呼是一种命题式的招呼;而英国人则会如此打招呼:“Hello,Good morning!”英国人打的这种招呼则是一种非命题式的。国人打招呼的口头禅可谓多了,听人说得最多的是“你去上班吗?”“你吃饭了吗?”有时某人士从WC出来,这时有人会冲他/她招呼道:“你从哪里来?吃饭了吗?”真是既煞风景又伤雅气。那么英国人会如此作为吗?按其打招呼的模式,他们是不会这般作为的。因此,千万不可视中国人的口头禅为英国人的打招呼的用语。英国人认为,

“Have you hadyour meal?”是要对方作出回答的一种正式提问。由此可推断,如果无心邀请对方外出美餐一顿,是不可以发此问的,说了非但不能融洽彼此的关系,反而产生消极影响,同时英国人会感到对方在有意作弄他/她或拿其开心,因而感到尴尬或不开心。由于中国人很在意或重视吃,所以中国的饮食文化特别发达,当然这也必然会要反映到日常生活中来。

二、交谈话题

因文化差异所致的不同社会言语行为规约,使得汉英民族所谈及的话题内容的侧重点不同,所表现出来的兴趣差异也悬殊。上面已经说了中国的饮食文化特别发达,同时自古以来中国也是一个农业大国,从古时起人们就讲究吃,信奉比上不足比下有余的生活之道,生活节奏相比之下慢于工商业较发达的西方国家,谈吃与拉家常的机会明显多于西方人;此外,周围环境的差异使得中国人和英国人见面之后的问候之余,感兴趣的话题各有不同。英国人喜欢谈“天”、谈旅游,而中国人喜欢谈“吃”、“拉家常”式地天涯海角式地聊个没完没了、无所不谈。但应该注意这种闲聊是内外有别的,和英国人或其他西方人闲聊应避免谈及如下话题:

How old are you?(您多大年纪了?)

Are you married?(你结婚了吗?)

Do you have any children?(您有孩子吗?)

How much d0 you earn per month?(您每个月挣多少钱?)

Do you haye a happy home life?(你的家庭生活幸福吗?)

上述问题均是中国人第一次见面寒暄时要问及的,而且使用频率极高,在中国文化的范围内使用它们,自然是无可指责的。但在跨文化交际中,这些用作寒暄的问题是应该避免的,因为英国等西方人视其一种打听对方隐私的行为,在他们看来这是不妥、不可取的;这只有在法庭或警察那里才有可能发生。因此,在一般和谐的交际中,不可随意地向英国人问及婚姻、家庭、子女情况、年龄、工资收入、夫妻生活等,特别是被问及者在相关方面有难言之隐或遭不幸:年老了;离婚了;孩子夭折了;遭人抢劫了;夫妻生活不和谐或吵吵闹闹;甚至身体发胖了、考试未过、挨了别人的打,即凡是触及他人痛处的方面都要尽量避免谈及。

笔者曾耳闻目睹一位学生在与一英国老太太交谈时,提了这个问题:How old are you?老太太刹那间脸上现出苦苦的样子,说“Ah,it is a secret!”一方面,从文化上讲,如上所述英国文化主张交谈时(尤其是与关系一般的人或陌生人或老年人交谈时),双方应尽量避免谈及年龄,否则被视为侵犯他人隐私或对他人不尊重,另一方面,现在人人尽享因科技的发展、社会的进步所带来的美好生活,从心理上说谁都想青春永驻,长生不老,也不想让年龄给自己带来精神压力。据笔者调查,如今不论是中国人还是英国人或其他西方人,在涉及年龄的问题上,彼此都很谨慎,特别是过上了好日子的人,都尽可能地避谈它,因此可以说经济的发展促使文化发生变化,而调查发现过苦日子的人根本就不在乎问年龄,甚至他们中有不少的人还抱怨 自己为何不早点死,活着受苦有啥意思,认为自己不配做人,给他人给社会添麻烦,是社会的累赘。

文化也随一个民族的社会观念的变化而变化,旧社会,侵略者就不把中国人或说中华民族当人看,侵略者肆无忌惮地侮辱中国人,而那时的中国人看着“华人与狗不得入内”,就只得咬紧牙关无声地气。现在时代不同了,中国人也不是好欺负的了,我们的综合国力、国际地位已发生了翻天覆地的变化。国内的学者、外语培训师们也应该教教外国人:他们在来中国之前,也应该好好学习并了解中国文化,以便消除过去的霸道作风,知道随时随地在与中国人交谈时应谈什么、什么应该避谈;笔者发现西方学者、教师在著述、施教时常常教导外国人怎样尊重他们的文化,怎样避免冒犯他们。可我们国内的学者们在谈跨文化交际时,总是片面地强调交际双方应该避免和英国人或西方人发生因文化差异产生的碰撞或矛盾冲突,但从来没有教导过外国人怎样注意尊重中国文化、尊重中国人,这样就不可避免地会使外国人尤其是西方人误以为中华民族是一个生来就很“贱”的民族,无尊严可言,任何人都可以在中国人面前犯忌、胡说八道,任何西方人都可以冒犯、都可以诋毁这个民族中的任何人。

现在的中国人也有与西方文化相同的禁忌,如人发胖了,过去人们认为中国人不忌讳它。现引包惠南老师在《文化语境与语言翻译》中的一段话为证:

一见面是寒暄,寒暄之后说我“胖了”,说我“胖了”之后即大骂其新党。(鲁迅《祝福》)

When we met,after exchanging a few pol iteremarks he said I was fatter,and after sayingthat immediately sarted a violent attack on therevolutionaries,(Foreign Languages Press,1972)

译文将“胖了”直译为“fatter”这容易引起西方读者的误解。中国人对于“说我胖了”,容易理解,这是中国人重逢时常用的寒暄语之一,“胖了”的意思是“发福了”;然而英美人不仅无此礼仪习惯,更忌讳肥胖,很容易把“说我胖了”误解成是一方对另一方的提醒或告诫,因此译文中宜增译解释性词语,以准确传达原句语义:

After exchanging a few polite remarks whenwe met,he observed that I looked“fat”,and having made that complimentary remark he started aviolent attack on the revolutionaries,(包惠南,2001:21)

从包老师所言来看,说“胖了”是中国人重逢时常用的寒暄语之一,意思是说它是中国人能接受的寒暄语、是一种礼仪,只有英美人无此礼仪习惯,更忌讳之。笔者认为说“胖了”如今并非是中国人见面时常用的寒喧语,也不是什么礼仪习惯,相反越来越多的人忌讳他人说自己“胖了”。因此,也要开始教导西方人在中国同样不可随便对一个中国人说“你胖了”。

还有其他一些源自传统文化的禁忌,在这些方面西方人是不可以冒犯的。比如说,中国传统文化视“无后”即所谓的“断子绝孙”为最大的不幸与耻辱,这与西方文化差异很大,在此方面告诫西方人是十分必要的。以下引包惠南老师在《文化语境与语言翻译》中的一段话为证:

“这断子绝孙的阿Q”,远远地听到小尼姑的带哭的声音。(鲁迅《阿Q正传》)

“Ah Q,may you die sonless!”sounded the lit-tle nun’s voice tearfully in the distance,

“不孝有三,无后为大”是中国的封建传统道德观念,一个家庭没有子嗣是最大的不幸,不生儿育女是对祖宗的最大不孝,时至今日这种传统的观念依然根深蒂固,这是数千年来形成的一种民族心理;在中国人的观念中,骂人“断子绝孙”是最刻薄的咒语。而在西方社会,这种观念要淡薄得多,尤其在追求享乐的现代年轻人中,独身主义蔚然成风,断子绝孙对个人和家庭而言无足轻重,因此英美读者不可能译文中“sonless”文化含义,因而译文中必须加上一条注释:――a curseintolerable to ear in China,才能使译语读者确切理解全句的语用含义。

以上例证表明,在中西文化交流中,交际双方在话题的选择上是不一致或不尽一致的,不可用热情或寒暄来替代各自文化的规约性,不要以为本民族文化与外来文化是相通的。

三、观念与风格

中国是世界上四大文明古国中最大的一国,也是古文化丰富多彩、文物最多、民族传统与风俗习惯受国家保护的如今人人享有人权的大国。中华民族具有独特人文传统,她与欧美人之间的差异比较大,在对待某些事务方面观念常有差异,欧美人对与他人见面,提倡提前预约,否则会遭遇拒绝。中国人多数情况下则认为提前预约实在没有必要,只要你想来你就来吧,讲那么规矩干什么。但是随着西方文化的不断渗透、工作的日益繁忙及各种压力对人的影响,部分城里的中国人也开始有了点西方式的预约色彩,但不是主流。预约对坚持中华文化传统的人则会产生负迁移。在中国人的传统观念里“沉默是金”即当有人向你发问时,在沉默与作答之间你可以选择沉默,但对方在心理上可能会有些不快,不过很快就会得到谅解。这与实际交往中的芬兰文化有相似之处,即芬兰文化允许交际双方相对而坐并在较长一段时间内沉默不语:可西方人对所提问题的要求是必须作答,即使是文不对题或答非所问也无妨,你就是必须说。旧的中国习俗把家里来了客人看得很重,和客人一起用餐时,女性与小孩皆回避,即他们都不得和客人在同一餐桌上吃饭,而多半是呆在厨房里吃饭,而且被要求席间笑莫露齿话莫高声。有的家长如果只有一个小孩――宝贝儿子,家长有时会把他叫来和客人一起进餐。但这只是极个别现象(据笔者考察有相当一部分距城镇较远的农村地区仍保留着这种被称为不合时宜的文化)。比较而言,俄罗斯文化却不但允许小孩说话,而且鼓励他们这样做;而在美国文化中恰恰不同。言谈贯穿于整个交往之中。中国人对有人在问及某某何时能回家或何时能办成某事时,往往会如此回答说“三两天”,“三两天”是什么呢?起码,这不是一个确切的时间。我们知道国内译界多将它译为“a couple of days”这种译法是精确的还是模糊的,笔者想把它交给大家去讨论。“Money is every-thing”所传递的西方人的观念,就是“金钱万能”,“有钱就有一切”。这与中国传统文化所传达的“钱财如粪土,仁义值千金”、“有钱不等于拥有一切”、“有钱不等于拥有幸福”可以说格格不入。因此,学习英语的人就得知道在跨文化交际中应该怎样消除这些负面的影响因素。

在经贸洽谈方面,中西文化的相互撞击在此最能得到体现,语用负迁移的影响尤为突出,因为西方人和中国人完全具有不同的表现风格,西方人说话喜欢直来直去,而中国人说话则往往不直说,好象生怕伤及对方感情,体现一个“和”字,即“和为贵”、“和气生财”,有时即使谈不成,也要用诸如此类的“现在还不能回答你”、“我们还得想想办法,好好研究研究”、“我们得从长远着想,不可草率行事”,等等。这实际上反映了中国文化中所具有的思维模式,在谈判中感情因素把感情因素置于法律之上。由于重感情或重友谊,往往使得谈判不能很好地依法进行,要么就是因一方不表态而僵持不下,要么就是西方的谈判人不耐烦而不欢而散,要么就是感情替代原则,在合同签后方知上当不小,或凭私人友谊以口头协议了之,结果带来了巨大的经济损失。因此,语用负迁移常常会造成理解失误、交际失败。只有从跨文化交际角度培养交际能力交际者才能避免这些失败或失误。

篇7

摘    要

近年来,随着我国改革开放的发展和我国与国际间的经济、科技、文化交流日益频繁,人们越来越重视外国文化问题。同时,我们也逐渐认识到了了解外国文化在对外交往中的重要性。在教育领域中,外语教学也渐渐重视对学生交际能力的培养。然而,对许多老师而言,文化教学还是一个较新的概念,从跨文化角度对英语教学进行研究探讨在目前还是个新领域。我们必须认识到交际能力的培养是外语教学的主要目标,培养学生跨文化交际的技能是中学外语教学要达到的一个目标。文化教学在中学英语教学中的重要性不可忽视,英语学习者不了解英语国家的文化,就无法获得交际能力。因此在中学英语口语教学中应该目标明确地,循序渐进地,方法得当地导入文化教学,使英语学习者在学习语言和知识的同时受到文化的熏陶,在跨文化交际中游刃有余。

关键词: 跨文化交际;文化教学;中学英语口语教学

ABSTRACT

Since last century, because of reforming and opening policy, many people, especially young people go abroad to get a better job or get further education and so on. Besides, many foreigners are curious about our country. Consequently, people come to realize that if we know little about cross-cultural communication, there will be many conflicts. Some experts suggest that today’s English teaching should emphasize intercultural communication. Learners ought to know not only grammar or words, but should learn cultural knowledge. If not, they will meet many difficulties while they communicate with foreigners. Therefore, it is important to introduce this kind of knowledge while teaching. We can’t neglect the importance of culture teaching in middle school foreign language teaching, English teachers should integrate culture into ELF teaching gradually and appropriately. Thus the students may have a better understanding of the target language, and they may communicate freely and effectively in cross-culture communication.

Keywords:Cross-cultural communication; Cultural teaching; middle school ELF oral teaching

Contents

1. Introduction 2

2. the concept of intercultural communication 3

2.1 Literature review 3

2.2 Definition of intercultural communication 4

3.A survey based on classroom observations 7

3.1 The analysis of interviews 7

3.2 The analysis of a questionnaire 7

3.2.1 Data analysis on the questionnaire (1) 9

3.2.2 Data analysis on the questionnaire (2) 10

3.2.3 Data analysis on culture curriculum 12

4. Ways of improving cross-cultural communication competence in middle school oral teaching 15

4.1 The necessity of develop cross-cultural communication competence 17

4.2 Some strategies for improving cross-cultural communication competence in the ELF oral learning in chinese middle school 17

4.2.1 Some strategies to learners 17

4.2.2 Some strategies to teachers 19

5. Conclusion 25

Acknowledgements 26

References 27

AppendixⅠ 28

1. Introduction

Language is just like a mirror that reflects its national culture. Sociologists and anthropologists believe that culture comprises all products of human activity, including fields of literature, art, music, architecture, and scientific as well as aspects of customs, life-style, code of conduct, worldly wisdom and social organization, etc. Languages are generally accepted words and rules drawn from speech. Language is the carrier of culture and culture is the content of language20.

   Worldwide interest in intercultural communication grows out of two assumptions. First, we live in an age when changes in technology, travel, economy, and political systems, immigration patterns, especially the emergence of Internet, have created a world in which we increasingly interact with people from different cultures. And whether we like it or not, these interactions will continue to grow in both frequently and intensely. Second, people now know that the influence of culture affects communication in a subtle way. Our culture perceptions and experiences help determine how the world looks and how we interact in the world.

    However, as we look back to see the situation in China’s high schools. We see that, for several decades, language teachers have not been able to pay attention to the role of culture knowledge in language oral teaching. Nowadays, in the ELF oral teaching, especially in middle school, teachers pay much attention to vocabulary.

   As Chinese culture is not the same as that of English-speaking countries, the rules for using Chinese are, in some respects, different from those using English. There is especially good evidence that Chinese students may transfer their mother tongue references of language used to their English performance and fail to communicate effectively[1]24. Misunderstanding caused by cross-cultural communication should break down and much attention should be paid to them in English language t eaching.

   So in middle school ELF oral teaching, teachers must not only improve students’ language level, but also pay attention to cultivating students’ abilities of intercultural communication.

2. The concept of intercultural communication

2.1 Literature review

More and more common practice of intercultural communication promotes the emergence of the concept of intercultural communicative competence. It is a challenging issue for language study and language teaching.

In 1965, Chomsky put forward the concept of linguistic competence and linguistic performance. Later, it was challenged by Campbell and Wales (1970) and Hymes (1972). Hymes (1972) argues that the appropriateness of language is the core of communicative competence, and he sees communicative competence as part of cultural competence. Canale and Swain (1980) put forward a more complex framework, and Canale (1983) summarized communicative competence in the way that it includes four component parts --- grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic. Canale’s conclusion in fact suggests that all aspects of language using are determined by culture. The continuous theoretical research of communicative competence has paved the way for the development of language teaching in which cultural factors are considered more and more important.

In 1975, the first textbook on intercultural communication “An Introduction to Intercultural Communication” (Conden & Yousef ) was published, and many other books followed it. The research on intercultural communication has developed quickly, and has exerted incredible influence on language and cultural teaching.

Traditional language teaching divides language techniques into listening, speaking, reading and writing. Deman (1987) applied the theories of intercultural communication to language and cultural teaching, and viewed cultural teaching as the fifth dimension of language teaching. Seelye published a book named “Teaching Culture: Strategies for Foreign Language Education” in 1984. Gumperz (1982) conducted investigations on the “discourse strategy” of the communicators who had a non-English cultural background and who spoke English as the second language. He revealed that those communicators’ assumptions of the world that had been formed in their native cultural context would exert great influence on intercultural communication. This, in turn, has stimulated a trend in language teaching that sees culture as discourse (Widdowson, 1984; Mclarthy, 1991; Kramsch, 1993; Candlin,1994; Hanks,1996). So since 1990, process-centered and task-oriented teaching mode has been widely adopted in the west.

Besides, American applied linguist G. Robinson (1985) put forward an important concept that through language and cultural teaching learners would gain “Cultural Versatility”. That is to say, through learning culture, learners would change internally. This viewpoint is quite significant.

Prof. Michael Bryam’s research is also strikingly notable. He holds that foreign language education includes four parts: language learning, language understanding, cultural understanding, and cultural experience.

2.2 Definition of intercultural communication

“Intercultural Communication” can hence be defined as the interpersonal interaction between members of different groups, which differ form each other in respect of the knowledge shared by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of symbolic behavior. In this Concepts of intercultural and Combines the Concepts of intercultural and communication, It also describes the problems and pitfalls of misunderstanding and the skills and competence required for successfully understanding member of other culture.

Thanks to Edward T. Hall who is regarded as the founder of intercultural communication, a new brink knowledge, intercultural communication, has been becoming more and more widespread in the whole world ever since the publication of his great work The Silence Language. Intercultural communication is a symbolic, interpretive, transactional, contextual processing tool with which people from different cultures create shared meaning[2]115. Intercultural communication occurs whenever a message produced in one culture must be processed in another culture. It can best be understood as cultural variance in the perception of social objects and events. The barriers to communication caused by this perceptual variance can best be lowered by a knowledge and understanding of cultural factors that are subject to variance, coupled with an honest and sincere desire to communicate successfully across cultural boundaries.

Intercultural communication refers to communication between persons who have d ifferent cultural beliefs, values, or ways of behaving.

2.2.1 Cultural and cross-cultural communication

Cultural awareness in language learning is the ability to be aware of cultural relativity following reading, writing, listening and speaking. As Claire kramsch points out…[12]

If…language is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language teaching, cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling language proficiency…

Language itself is defined by culture. Language competent cannot be achieved without a good understanding of culture that shapes it, especially in foreign language learning. It is not only therefore essential to have cultural awareness, but also have cross-cultural communication awareness, such as the understanding of the relationship between target culture and native culture.

2.2.2 Culture teaching and ELF oral teaching in middle school

The interrelationship between culture teaching and language teaching has been explored in depth by Michael Byram. The basis of Byram’s position is that it views language as a cultural phenomenon, embodying the values and meanings particular to a specific society, referring to the traditions and artifacts of that society and signaling its people’s sense of themselves—their cultural identity: “to teach foreign culture is to introduce learners to new competences and to allow them to reflect upon their own culture and cultural competence[2].” It is assumed by others that language could somehow stand alone and be taught as a value-free symbolic system. But the social nature of language works oppositely when separating it from its original culture, especially when appearing in overseas contexts, where the learners’ contact with the culture is largely confined to the foreign language classroom.

Traditional foreign language teaching does not pay much attention to cultural factor. It focuses mainly on the vocabulary and structure of the language. But plenty of facts prove that language is not only a symbol, a system, which put forward by pure linguistic theory scholar, but also a social practice. Therefore successful foreign language teaching must help the student master the knowledge of culture rules, in addition to use them in particular situation. Every nation has its unique culture pattern and language is the carrier of culture. For instance, Asians emphasize the importance of orderly society whereas Americans emphasize the importance of personal freedom and individual rights. For effective and appropriate communication, learners in middle school must be familiar with the differences in the foreign culture which they are learning and take according language behaviors.

3. A survey based on classroom observations

Survey date: 25/02/2009

Survey instrument: interview and questionnaire.

Subjects: students of Ning Bo Chai Qiao middle school.  30 students are interviewed, 98 students (30 interviewed students and another 68 students) participate in questionnaire. All the 98 copies of questionnaire are valid.

The objective of this survey is to investigate:

1) Students’ attitudes towards cross-cultural communication in the ELF oral learning

2) Current situation of students’ information input.

3.1 The analysis of interviews

     Thirty English learners are interviewed and are invited to answer only one question: what is a competent language learner like in your eyes? The responses tend to fall into three categories:

 (1)  Twenty five interviewees think that he or she is good at English listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities, especially at speaking and listening;

 (2)  Ten of them think he or she is familiar with foreign culture and is a successful cross-cultural communicator.

 (3)  Five of them think a good command of native language is necessary.

 In order to describe more directly, the results of interviews are put into a table (Table.1).

Table1. Results of the Interview

                               

Positive attitudes  Percentage

Language proficiency learning(reading, writing, speaking and listening) 83.33% (25/30)

Accumulation of culture 33.33% (10/30)

Mother tongue proficiency 16.67% ( 5/30)

    These students’ responses reveal the following information:

    Firstly, these students still see the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) as their main study objective. Secondly, cross-cultural communication competence has already been realized by language learners, but this group is small compared to the whole. Thirdly, the importance of mother tongue competence has only been seen by a few interviewees.

    According to this interview, most interviewees have realized the importance of language proficiency in language learning, but the point is why only one third of the interviewees have realized the importance and necessity of cross-cultural communicative competence since which are discussed so warmly in present language teachin g world? Do they hold a negative view on it or do they just have not yet obtained the awareness consciously?

3.2 The analysis of a questionnaire

The English learning questionnaire consists of nine closed-ended questions (see Appendix), For instance, “you have the interest and passion in English and language learning”, and the answers falls into four types:

 1. Strongly Agree (SA) 2. Agree (A) 3. Disagree (D) 4. Strongly Disagree (SD)

 According to the research content, the analysis of questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first five are put in Table 2 and the rest four questions are put in Table 4.

3.2.1 Data analysis on the questionnaire (1)

  This part of analysis involves data analysis on questions 1-5 in the questionnaire and a comparison between the responds of the interviews and the questionnaire.

3.2.1.1 Data analysis on the questionnaire (1)

Table2. Results of Questions 1-5 in Questionnaire

                                    

 SA A D SD

1) The cultivation of English skills(reading, writing, speaking and listening) is the foundation of the language learning  60.29%  31.65% 2.04% 6.02%

2) Reading English novels everyday is necessary  17.35%  69.39% 13.26% 0.00%

3) It is important to acquire a good knowledge of native language in the ELF oral learning  44.90%  53.06% 2.04% 0.00%

4) The accumulation of language and cross-cultural communication competence are of equal importance   50.00%  48.98% 1.02% 0.00%

5) It is necessary to read materials regularly about politics, economy, culture, and so on   39.80%  60.20% 0.00% 0.00%

                                              

Questions 1-5 (see appendix) indicate a clear picture of students’ attitudes towards language proficiency learning, native language learning, and accumulation on cross-cultural communication competence, literature, and politics and so on. On the importance of the cultivation of reading, speaking, listening and writing in language learning, 91.94% (60.29% SA+31.65% A) of English majors agree and of which 64.29% strongly agree. On daily English novels reading, a total of 86.74% (17.35% SA+69.39% A) consider it necessary. On the necessity a good command of native language, 97.96% (44.90% SA+53.06% A) of English learners agree. On the relation of native language learning and foreign language learning, 98.98% (50.0% SA+48.98% A) believe that these two are of equal importance. Finally, on a regularly reading of politics, economy, and culture, all (39.80% SA+60.20% A) the students hold a supportive attitude.

3.2.1.2 Comparison between the interviews and the questionnaire

     With regards to the similarities of the contents examined, it seems necessary to

have a comparison between the responds of the interviews and the questionnaire.

Table3. Comparison between the Interviews and the Questionnaire

Positive attitudes (SA+A) Interview

(open-ended) Questionnaire

(close-ended)

Foreign Language proficiency learning(reading, writing, speaking and listening) 83.88%  91.94%

Accumulation of intercultural communication competence 33.33% 98.98%

Mother tongue proficiency 16.67% 97.96%

From the table above, the comparison is very clear that, towards the same research content, interviewees’ responds vary when they are faced with different types of questions. The gap is especially seen on the accumulation of cross-cultural communication competence and native language proficiency. Compared with open-ended question in the interview, interviewees tend to hold a more supportive view on closed-ended questions in the questionnaire. In other word, most English learners subjectively admit the importance of the accumulation of cross-cultural communication competence and native language proficiency, but the point is, not all of them have already obtained the awareness. However, two questions have been proposed from the comparison: (1) Why English learners have not obtained the cross-cultural awareness which should be tied up with the ELF oral learning? (2) Is that because they subjectively lack learning motivation or objectively, they lack timely and efficiently teachers’ cultural guidance?

3.2.2 Data analysis on the questionnaire (2)

     This part of questionnaire (table4 in next page) mainly focuses on students’ attitudes towards learning motivation as well as classroom learning. Before the analysis is taken, a brief introduction on motivation can help to have a better understanding on the analysis.

1) Integrative motivation

Motivation has been identified as the learners’ orientation with regards to the goal of learning foreign language69. This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation.

.2) Instrumental Motivation

In contrast to integrative motivation is the form of motivation which is known as in strumental motivation. This is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical from the study of foreign language[9]125. With instrumental motivation, the purpose of study is more practical, such as meeting the requirements for college graduation, applying for a job and achieving higher social status.

Table4. Results of Questions 6-9 in Questionnaire

                                      

 SA A    D  SD

6) Your have the interest and passion in the ELF oral learning 14.29% 61.22% 21.43% 3.06%

7) You would prefer to get an English-related job after the graduation 21.43% 66.33% 11.22% 1.02%

8) The present classroom teaching can cultivate your learning abilities and improve your cross-cultural skills  2.04% 7.14% 71.43% 19.39%

9) You hope to have English class in various forms such as discussion, presentation, debate, performance and so on. 25.51% 63.27% 9.18% 2.04%

As is shown in the table (results of questions 6 and 7), 75.51% (14.29%SA+61.22%A) of English learners have the interest and passion in language learning, and 87.76% (21.43%SA+66.33%A) of them would like to get an English related job in the future. According to the introduction of motivation, the answers to those two questions (questions 6 and 7) can be taken as the representation of integrative and instrumental motivation respectively. Therefore, a conclusion can be made that, most students subjectively want to make a living by using their language competence.

In order to check the condition of students’ cultural information input, questions 8 and 9 are designed and analyzed. 89.82% (71.43%D+19.39SD) of English learners do not think that the  present classroom teaching can cultivate their learning abilities and improve their cross-cultural communication competence, whereas a total of 88.78% (25.51%SA+63.27%A) hope to have English class in various forms such as discussion, presentation, debate, performance and so on. It can be found that most English majors are not satisfied with the current classroom teaching. They hope to enjoy a more interactive and communicative teaching style. The traditional text-based grammatical and linguistic teaching could not meet the needs of the cultivation of communicative competence to some extent. What’s more important is that students are supposed to have a consciously as well as unconsciously cultural awareness promote by language teachers.

3.2.3 Data analysis on culture curriculum

It is shown from the result of question 8 in the table above (table 4) that present foreign language teaching has not provided a satisfactory fruit on cultural awareness cultivation. A question should be taken into consideration, that is, how can cross-culture awareness be expressed in the foreign language curriculum, with the purpose to cultivate language learners’ cultural awareness and communication insight into the target civilization? For a long time, this has been attempted by introducing the geographical environment and historical or political development of the foreign culture, its institutions and customs, its literary achievements, and even everyday life of its people. Take English learners in Ning Bo Chai Qiao middle school as an example, their cultural input has largely come from courses such as Extensive Reading, Communication between Cultures, American Literature, and An Outline Introduction to Britain and America, and so on. Following is a basic analysis on the four courses.

                     Table5. Courses Information

Course Duration Teacherˊs background

Extensive Reading first 4 terms Chinese

 Communication  between cultures the 7th term New Zealander

American literature  the 7th term Chinese

An Outline Introduction to Britain and America  the 7th term Canadian

Extensive Reading was taught by a Chinese teacher during the first four terms, and the teaching contents mainly focus on western culture, economy, politic, education and so on. After two years study, it helps students build up a general view on western civilization. Communication between Cultures is taught by a English-speaking teacher from New Zealand, the teaching content seems “boring and meaningless” said the majority of students, the teacher read the chapters from the book to the class instead of giving practical cross-cultural communication analysis. So for most students, they did not learn as much as they expected from this course. American literature was taught by a Chinese teacher, and the teaching contents include background information introduction and literacy reading. An Outline Introduction to Britain and America was taught by a Canadian teacher who has a good experience on both British and American cultures. In this course, students are introduced to a comparison of the British and American culture.

From what have been introduced above, it can be seen that although there are four courses and an 28-month course duration, most of what students have taken is an education of “cultural background knowledge” on Chinese or English rather t han practical cross-cultural communication stimulation such as comparisons or contradictions between the target and native  culture. To some extent, it revels why most English students have not got a conscious awareness in cultural or cross-cultural communication competence.

Through comparisons between the interview and the questionnaire, it can be seen that students hold positive attitudes on develop the competence of intercultural communication, but for some reasons, not so many have already obtained conscious cross-cultural awareness. Through further analysis of curriculum on cultural teaching, it reveals that present cultural teaching in ELF oral teaching shows the weakness in practical, sufficient and conscious cultural input to help build up language learner’s cross-cultural awareness. Moreover, the current teaching is also expected to be more communicative and interactive. Thus, following on are the possible ways to promote the competence of intercultural communication,

4.1 The necessity of develop cross-cultural communication competence

Firstly, it is vital for language teachers to help language learners develop their cross-cultural communication competence. If the final purpose of intercultural communication competence cultivation is to help students to acquire cross-cultural communication competence, then what cross-cultural communication competence is? According to Kramsch’s opinion, cross-cultural awareness is not really a skill, but a collection of skills and attitudes known as a competence[12].

Secondly, it is necessary to make clear what cross-cultural awareness skills students are supposed to acquire. It has been suggested that cross-cultural awareness consists of having four different perspectives on communication with a different culture. Cross-cultural competent students should be able to:

----look at their own culture from the point of view of their own culture (for example, having a good understanding and awareness of their own culture)

----Be aware of how their culture is seen from outside, by other countries or cultures

----understand or see the target culture from its own perspective (for example, understanding and being aware of what other people think of their own culture)

----Be aware of how they see the target culture

4.1.1 The request of the development of Internationalization

Lin Dajin in the “cross-cultural communication study, ” pointed out that culture can be defined as “ the integrated feature that a nation is distinct from another nation. ” Cultural differences are the barriers of cross-cultural communication. The modernization process accelerated the circulation of spiritual and material products, and brought all nationalities into a common “global village”, cross-cultural communication became an integral part of national life. If people do not understand the cultural convention in the USA or Britain, and use the way of China to treat foreigners, then it will create a lot of jokes, and even hurt each other's feelings, self-esteem and cause misunderstanding. Thus, to overcome the cultural differences caused by communication barriers has become a common problem faced by the entire world.

4.1.2 It is imperative to understand the cultural background knowledge

Understanding cultural knowledge is the key to language learning. “One can not really learn the language, and teach language well unless one knows the patterns and norms of culture and cultural background[14]224. ” Without a specific cultural background, language is non-existent. If we don’t know the culture of target language, we would find it is difficult to understand the meaning of certain words. For example, “Thanksgiving”, “Sandwich” has been brought about in a specific social and historical circumstance, it is not enough merely to know the meaning of the surface of these words. Another example is: “You are, indeed, a lucky dog”, the literal translation is “you are a lucky dog. ” This is a satiric sentence in China, because, in Chinese views, “dog” is an expression when people used to refer generally to dislike someone. While in English, it can mean, “You are a lucky man. ” In Western society, “dog” is a family member, and they are harmonious coexisting with people “Dog” here refers to people instead of satirizing others, but a very intimate expression.

4.1.3 Cultural knowledge teaching is the objective of language teaching

The main objective of language teaching is to train and develop students’ interpersonal skills. And cultural knowledge teaching can increase the ability of cross-cultural communication, which is the important content to achieve goals of language teaching. For example, in American society, praise and compliments language that flatter mainly a personal appearance, new things, personal property, and individuals in a ce rtain area are commonly used as the introduction to a conversation. This is different from Chinese. Thus, different nations have different cultural environments, different living habits and different languages behavior expressions. And as a language learner, if not ideologically “physically entering their social linguistic environment” will be difficult to achieve the goal of language learning,not to say that language teaching objectives will be accomplished.

4.2 Some strategies for improving cross-cultural communication competence in the ELF oral learning in Chinese middle school

After the survey research and data analysis, now we have a clear idea of the common reasons that triggered the weakness of the cross-cultural communication in middle school ELF oral teaching. However, we do not have a clarity solution about this situations. Therefore, some strategies were listed here to help learners with their language learning.

4.2.1 Some strategies to learners

4.2.1.1Raising culture awareness

Culture awareness is the term we have used to describe sensitivity to the impact of culturally---induced behavior on language use and communication. It including two qualities: one is awareness of one’s own culture, the other is awareness of the culture[7]15.

      Unfortunately, in China, cross-cultural communication errors can be found from time to time. In the ELF oral learning, culture factor needs to be taken seriously. To cultivate students’ intercultural communication we need first to arouse their cultural awareness. Because of different cultural background, life experience, profession, sex, education, even age, character, people may have different modes of interaction. People learn to think, feel, behave and strive for what their culture considers proper. These means there might not be the same as what is intended by the speaker. If we are aware of this, we can avoid ethnocentricity, and can have better communication with people all over the world.

      Speakers of a foreign language often have the experience of making careless mistakes which may cause get angry, may be embarrassing and may arouse hostility from native speaker. Often such mistakes occur even though the application of the linguistic rules of grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation is correct. These mistakes are culture errors but occur because of not knowing or choosing the appropriate style, and manner to use for effective communication.

4.2.1.2 The development of sensitiveness to culture differences

   There are four stages in the development of the sensitiveness to culture differences. The first, one can make out the obvious, superficial culture characteristics. In other word, he will find them interesting and exotic. The second, one can judge the delicate meaningful cultural characteristics that are quite different from his own. Usually he will feel them incredible or hard to accept .The third, one can accept the cultural characteristics after rational analysis. The fourth, one can be in the other peoples’ shoes and appreciate the cultural characteristics. In other words, the first three stage can be understood, and the fourth empathy.

4.2.1.3 The development of empathy

  In order to communication effectively, you need a deep degree of empathy, that is to be able to understand the other person’s affective and cognitive states. Empathy differs from sympathy in that it does not include pity or approval. And focuses on the feelings of others, not our own[12]114. Empathy involves relativism and flexibility, which knowledge alone cannot consist. Teachers can create good classroom environment where students tolerate and appreciate different norms by bringing up students’ empathy. In China, we always emphasize collectivism instead of individualism. But in English class, we advocate differences, to encourage students to understand each other.

     To facilitate empathy, we can take these measures:

(1) Subjects like history, anthropology, and sociology should be introduced into

the curriculum. Through these subjects, the students can not only acquaint themselves with the examples of foreign culture, but also master some concepts and principles concerning with culture.

(2) The students should be encouraged to read broadly in Chinese middle

school, both fiction non-fiction, literal or philosophical. Including proverbs, broad reading can be a student better understand and communicate with other cultures. Only through broad reading can he know the taboos, values, beliefs and religion of another culture, only through broad reading can be truly come to realize why privacy is so important and that individualism is so cherished.

(3) The students should he sent abroad for further study if possible. Thus they

can live with the natives for some time, no chance is better than the close contact. They can enjoy the new culture. By enhancing ICC, the intercultural communication of the learners can be carried out tactfully, acco rding to different context.

4.2.2 Some strategies to teachers

Language teachers are supposed to exert instructional strategies to help language learners promote their cross-cultural communication competence, that is, provide language learners with some useful ideals for presenting culture from its own perspective, for example, understanding and being aware of what people in target culture think of their own culture.Chinese teachers should take advantage of foreign teachers. Foreign teachers are rich in knowledge, idiomatic English, strong teaching culture context, full of wit and humor, longing to understand much more about Chinese culture. This attitude can have a great influence on students, and increased their desire of learning English well and knowing about the culture of English-speaking countries. Teachers can make full use of such rare chances and consult foreign teachers that they are according to the calendar, then all of the teachers and students can try their best to create all kinds of conditions to speak them imitatively —Action speak louder than words. Just as what we mentioned above, we have been aware of the importance of learning some cultural knowledge about the target language. It seems impossible and unnecessary for us to have a systematic study of target culture, which covers almost everything, in one’s whole lifetime. The difficulty shows that culture is ubiquitous, multidimensional and complex. A good solution to this problem might be to learn selectively those cultural factors that have great influence on intercultural communication, and that are closely related to the language. So on culture teaching we should follow these principles :( 1) interrelated. that is culture teaching must be interrelated with the content of the text. (2) Appropriate, that is culture teaching must be subjected to language teaching. (3) Practical, that is culture teaching must try to be “useful” for students in their communication. (4) Scientific, that is culture knowledge must be taught correctly, completely and objectively. (5) Flexible, that is culture teaching must be flexible according to the change of the world.

    We must obey these five principles if we want to cultivate students’ abilities of cross-cultural communication. What we should teach in ELF classes is simply a foreign way of life related to the target language and teachers should avoid bringing their own cultural prejudice into class. The world is changing, so are the traditions and customs. The constant changes require us to improve our skills of intercultural communication by doing two things: understanding the cultural differences, especially the differences in the deep structure of different cultures, and becoming flexible in intercultural communication. There is a great tendency that one culture adopts the elements from another that are compatible with its own values and beliefs or that can be changed without causing major disruption.

 

4.2.2.1 Make full use of developing the interest of the competence of intercultural communication in the ELF oral learning in Chinese middle school

  Intercultural communication is a big issue, which is not easy for both teachers and students to understand and realize. For successful cultural teaching, we suggest doing the following:

(1) Teach culture differences. Teachers should directly address the similarities and peculiarities between the source culture and the target culture. This can be done through the comparison of the two cultures.

(2) Provide opportunities for students to use the language in situational conversations. While introducing the students play a real-life role and practice their everyday language use according to the varied situation.

(3) Induce students to read literal works, which are vivid and abundant material to understand the character, the psychological state, culture characteristics, convention, and social relationships. Reading newspaper is also the direct path.

(4) Be aware of your students development level, when selecting themes or concepts to present. At first, learning activities should be clear and specific in lower levels, gradually, becoming more complex than the level of the student increases. There are a variety of children’s fiction which presents concepts like similarities, differences and prejudice which can be used at lower levels. At upper levels fiction and biographies can be used to present the more complicated ideas. Try to connect the unfamiliar with the familiar, the known with the unknown.

(5) Use plenty of ways in both general learning tasks and in language learning tasks.

(6) Use varied methods to check the understanding level of the students.

(7) Be enthusiastic. As a teacher you need to be aware of the value of learning a second language in terms of its contribution to developing cultural aware and a range of other cognitive and vocational benefits. Your attitude will influence the attitudes of the child ren in the class and their parents.

    Beside, Chinese teachers should take advantage of foreign teachers. Foreign teachers are rich in knowledge, idiomatic English, strong teaching culture context, full of wit and humor, longing to understand much more about Chinese culture. This attitude can have a great influence on students, and increased their desire of learning English well and knowing about the culture of English-speaking countries. Teachers can make full use of such rare chances and consult foreign teachers that they are according to the calendar, then all of the teachers and students can try their best to create all kinds of conditions to speak them imitatively —Action speak louder than words.

    For example, we once tried to spend Christmas and Hallowmas with all foreign teachers together in our school .The students were very interested and active in the activities, and such experiences can have impressed them strongly and forever.

Teachers should encourage students to communicate with foreign teachers and some other foreigners in and out of school. Students and foreign teachers can have classes, play games and take part in many kinds of activities together. Communicating with foreigners can provide students with the real cultural context in which English is used actually and stimulate students to learn English well including knowing about foreign culture.

As the success of many activities depends on good organization and on the students knowing exactly what they are to do. A teacher is thus mainly an organizer, whose work is different from administrator of a school system. But the teacher, like any other organizer, works primarily with people, and his task and responsibility are to create situations in which people can do their best and achieve their best.

Since teachers are key roles during culture teaching, they must play a positive role in helping the students to develop intercultural communicative competence and increase the students’ chances to succeeding in both language learning. It is not an expendable skill tacked on to the teaching of speaking, listening, writing and reading. It is always in some background. Lack of intercultural competence will limit the students’ ability to make sense of the world around them, and lead to failure in using English for communication across-culture.

4.2.2.2 Make full use of pictures, films, TV, computers and other audio-visual aids to make the teaching lively and interesting. Explore to the full the opportunities for students with the target culture information.

(1) Plays in and out of class

It is proved that plays in and out of class are probably the most efficient ways of language teaching.

The role of plays and dramas manifests itself when learners perform by themselves. Mini-dramas acted by students expose them to a “process of self-confrontation” with the target cultural communicates. The learners can act out mini-dramas written by them, which show misinterpretation of something that happens in the target cultural context. The cause of the problem is usually clarified in the final scene. Cultural similarities and differences will be analyzed by way of follow-up discussion.

In the listening book of Senior English book3 unit24, the material involves “finding a job”, English teachers can extract one or two advertisements from the magazine for students. Teachers can ask the students to divide into two groups, one group act as recruiters, and the other group act as applicants. By looking at the advertisements, appointing to interview, using some simple props, students can exchange views on working conditions, wages and other issues. Thus, students can understand the practical knowledge of Foreign Service work; the actors also can improve their abilities of practical language.

    A short play can be broken down into sections. As learners learn (not memorize) one section, they move on to the next. By combining the sections, they have learned the play. The use of this technique enables different groups of learners to work on several short plays at the same time and leads to the creation of several shirt plays simultaneously.

     Drama is a useful tool in cultural learning. A full semester’s work can be built around a drama project, or it can fill five or ten minutes at the beginning or end of a lesson. It encourages the learners to view the linguistic and cultural knowledge as a tool for communication rather than as an academic subject. It can bring life and vitality to the classroom. 

     (2) Classroom presentation

     At the beginning of each lesson, teachers can hold a “cultural corner” sessions, with 5-10 minutes. Teachers or students can introduce one aspect of Western culture, such as famous events of foreign country in history, a prominent figure in the world, or some literary works. To accumulate the cultural knowledge for a long time, students’ cultural knowledge will naturally become broad and rich.

     (3) Photo display

     Use maps, photographs, and illustrations of the text to introduce relative cultural elements vividly. For instance, when we teach the States of Liberty which appears in the lesson 10 of junior English book3, at first we can display a wall chart of the Statue of Liberty in the United States in front of the classroom, then ask the students to identify it and then observe the Statue of Liberty carefully in the facial expressions, posture language, the hold-high arm and torch. And then teachers can introduce the following cultural background briefly: Batuoerdi, a French sculptor, builds U.S. Statue of Liberty. He takes his mother's face and his wife's body as models to manufacture it. The Goddess of Liberty not only has swallowed vicissitudes face, but also perseverance. The torch in her hand is a symbol of freedom shining all over the world. Then teachers can guide the students to make analysis of the understanding of American national spirit through the Statue of Liberty. Teachers also can allow the students to list their deepest impression in other countries or ethnic representation construction.

     (4) Song appreciation

     The important function of the songs is to express one’s wishes. Many lyrics and melody of songs are also full of rich cultural content. Students generally are interested in songs. If time is enough in the class, teachers can choose one or two representative English songs for students to appreciate or learn to sing. It is an effective method in the teaching of English cultural knowledge to analyze the content of the lyrics and music rhythm feelings. And then the students can accept the cultural baptism. For example, a song has a lyric like “Love is blue.”(Blue love). Then what representation is “blue” in English? It often expressed "frustration and anxiety". Teachers cited examples to analyze, and then asked students to appreciate this song, try to see if there are any new experiences.

     (5) Foreign festivals on the campus

    This activity is of great interest to young students. The celebration could take place in a class, a grade or the whole school with the help of the branch of the Youth League. All kinds of activities can be held in festivals, such as performance of foreign songs, dancing and dramas, holding costume parties, watching foreign films, attending lectures given by foreign experts and enjoying foreign food. By celebrating foreign festivals, learners will immerse in the target cultural context. Teachers are to give introduction on the origin and the conventional activities of the festival. A comparison of the similarities and differences between the foreign festivals and Chinese festivals can develop the learners’ cultural awareness.

    (6) Using authentic materials

      Obviously, the best way to learn foreign cultural background knowledge is to go to that country to stay there for a period of time. But we know that it is almost impossible to have such an opportunity, especially for our students. Therefore, it is practically necessary for the teachers to use authentic materials to teach culture.

 Mass media, such as, film, novels and especially newspapers and magazines, is also considered as an insightful means for teaching culture, for they reflect people’s way of life in terms of variety contemporaneity and authenticity. Students in an ELF setting will spontaneously ask questions about puzzling aspects of society and life as reflected in the film or magazine. This material is by no means easy to interpret because there is so much central inference and it requires deep familiarity with and comprehensive exegeses of the culture in question. Therefore “all such material should be selected with an eye to the subculture diversity of the target community”.

5. Conclusion

Today, international cultural exchange is going on directly and indirectly, with its new scope, content, form and method unheard of before. To confine oneself to one’s own culture is to go against the times. Now, in our country, the open policy towards the rest of the world has become a fundamental policy. This policy has brought about much broader prospects for international cultural exchange. Therefore, overcoming cultural barriers has become more and more important. Only by surmounting the barriers can we get a high degree of cultural exchange, make use of good things from other cultures and build up our cultural and material wealth. This exchange will contribute to understanding and friendship among nations as well as development in science and culture.

     In the practical teaching, the culture teaching should be presented as many detailed as possible in the teaching syllabus. The teaching materials should not be located only in the source culture and should be a constructive attempt to be explicit about intercultural behavior and communication, especially, in view of the limited language available at this level. Besides, in the classroom ELF oral teaching, teachers are expected to use a variety of teaching methods that are suitable to students’ level. In intercultural communication settings, Chinese learners in culture instruction should keep an open mind: we should try to avoid the prejudiced culture stereotypes over the other cultures and our own. Especially, we should put higher focus on the learning of our own Chinese culture. Another key point is becoming awareness of our own culture bottom lines. We must learn what our own culture line is ― the values where we are can negotiate, but we cannot compromise. We can allow others to be different, and respect their differences as they respect ours.

     Though the culture teaching is a very complicated and difficult part to deal with, the educators and teachers involved in language education should make great efforts to carry out this part thoroughly. This determines much whether the effective cross-cultural communication can be preceded smoothly between China and the world.

Acknowledgements

My initial thanks go to my supervisor Meng Dong, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me illuminating advice or suggestions. Without her help, I could not have finished this dissertation.

I am also indebted to other teachers and my classmates who have not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books. They are Han Xiaoya, Shen Yin and many others.

And I also appreciate Li Neng, who offer me great help during the time I was in the practice in Ning Bo Chai Qiao middle school. Without her help, I could not finish my survey in this paper.

The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.

References

[1] Byram, M. Cultural Studies in Foreign Language Education[M]. Multilingual Matters Ltd (1989)

[2] Byram, M. & Morgan, C. Teaching-and-Learning Language-and-Culture[M]. Clevedon,England:Multilingual Matters (1994)

[3] Ciccarelli, A. Teaching Culture through Language: Suggestions for the Italian Language Class.[A]. Italica,(1996)

[4] Crookes, G. & Schmidt, R. Motivation: Reopening the Research Agenda[A]. Language learning (1991)

[5] Falk, J. Linguistics and Language: A survey of Basic Concepts and Implications (2nd Ed.) [M] John Wiley and Sons (1978)

. London: the Benjamin Publishing Company (1981)

[7] Herron, C., Cole, S. P., Corrie, C., & Dubreil, S. The Effectiveness of Video-based Curriculum in Teaching Culture[J]. The Modern Language Journal, (1999)

[8] Kramsch, C. Context and Culture in Language Teaching[N]. Oxford University Press (1933)

[9] Stephens, J.L. Teaching Culture and Improving Language Skills Through A Cinematic Lens. A Course On Spanish Film in The Undergraduate Spanish Curriculum[J]. ADFL Bulletin, (2001)

[10] Tylor, E.B. Primitive Culture[N]. Gordon Press (1981)

[11] Samover,larryA.2000. Communication between, cultures. Beijing:Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press

[12] Kramsch, Claire..Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000.

[13] 胡文仲. 跨文化交际学概念[M]. 北京:外语教学与出版社,1999

[14] 胡文仲. 文化与交际[M]. 外语教学与研究出版社,1997

[15] 胡文仲. 跨文化交际面面观[M]. 外语教学与研究出版社, 1999

[16] 陈申. 跨文化交际导论[M]. 北京: 大学出版社

[17] 李郭连. 外语教学中文化内容的导入[J]. 外语教学与研究出版社 2001 P

[18] 吴丽芳. 新形式下的英语教育与培养跨文化交际能力[J].  河北青年管理干部学院学报 2005,3  P111

[19] 王亚平. 英语教学中文化导入的内容与方法[J]. 中国科技信息 2005,14  P257

AppendixⅠ

*Questionnaire:

 Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree

1) The cultivation of English skills(reading, writing, speaking and listening) is the foundation of the language learning    

2) Reading English novels everyday is necessary    

3) It is important to acquire a good knowledge of native language in foreign language learning     

4) The accumulation of language and cross-cultural competence are of equal importance    

5) It is necessary to read materials regularly about politics, economy, culture, and so on    

6) You have the interest and passion in the ELF oral learning    

7) You would prefer to get an English-related job after graduation    

8) The present classroom teaching can cultivate your learning ability and improve your cross-cultural skills     

9) You hope to have English class in various forms such as discussion, presentation, debate, performance and so on.    

诚 信 承 诺

我谨在此承诺:本人所写的毕业论文《论中学英语口语教学中跨文化交际能力的培养》均系本人独立完成,没有抄袭行为,凡涉及其他作者的观点和材料,均作了注释,若有不实,后果由本人承担。

 

                承诺人(签名):      

篇8

关键词 模因论 跨文化交际 得体性

中图分类号:H319 文献标识码:A

1关于跨文化交际及语言得体性的概念

21世纪地球村的形成拉近了世界各地的距离。植入于文化中的价值观,态度和行为等的不同成了文化交流之间的障碍。于是,跨文化交际的作用越来越受到人们的重视。

语言作为文化交流的载体,其得体性成为衡量一个人跨文化交际能力的重要体现。跨文化交际是指具有不同文化背景的人之间进行的交际活动或过程。相比之下,跨文化交际言语得体性是指在跨文化交际中运用语言行为实现交际目的的恰当性,是言语交际必须遵守的最高原则和成功交际的关键。

在进行跨文化交际过程中,由于不了解双方的文化差异而产生的交际不得体带来的不良影响往往比语言上的错误更加严重。因此在跨文化交际中,语言的得体性就显得很重要。得体性应该是跨文化交际中必须遵守的原则,否则就无法达到理想效果。所以,交际语言是否得体是能否成功进行交际的关键。陈建平在其书中指出,人类交流具有以下几个特征,包括动态性、互动交换性、不可撤销性,语境――文化性和象征性。所以,语言的得体性很大程度上能够同时基本满足以上特点。Canale和Swain认为,运用语言进行交际必须具备至少四个方面的能力:语法能力,主要指对语言本身的掌握,是准确理解和表达话语字面意义所需要的基本能力;社会语言能力,是语言运用的文化能力;语篇能力,是指能够合理将语言形式与意义组织越来,构成各种不同体裁的前后连贯的口头或书面语篇的能力;策略能力,主要指运用各种交际策略去解决交际中的困难与问题的能力。

综上所述,要想真正掌握跨文化交际能力并非一件很轻松的事,同时,语言得体性意识的培养也并非是一步登天之事。

2模因论的概述

1976年,英国牛津大学著名学者Richard Dawkins出版了《自私的基因》 一书,他在本书的最后一章讨论了基因进化与文化进化之间的类比关系,认为文化特征通过自然选择的过程得到进化。Dawkins提出了模因概念,认为模因是文化进化的基本单位,它为文化的进化提供了机制,人类可以借助模因概念对文化进化的规律做出解释。(Dawkins,1976)此外,Blackmore是大大拓宽了模因概念的指涉范围,认为“任何一个信息,只要它能够通过广义上称为‘模仿’的过程而被‘复制’,它就可以称为模因了”。

模因这一概念的提出,引起了国内外很多学者的兴趣。对此,许多学者对模因提出了自己的看法。对于模因的特点,国内学者何自然先生总结为:(1)长寿性,任何模因都有可能在纸上或人类头脑这类模因库中存留很久,存在越久,被复制的可能性也越大。(2)多产性,模因越受欢迎,其复制速度越快,传播范围也越广。(3)复制忠实性,模因复制得越忠实,原版就越能保留,往往保留的是原有模因的核心或精髓。同时,他也指出模因的复制和进化过程要经历同化、记忆、表达、传播四个阶段。

对于交际而言,也可以模因角度进行阐释。人是社会中的人,人不可能生活在与世隔绝的真空中,而是时刻与外界进行互动交际。交际在很大程度上需要借助语言,没有语言,交际将会变得异常困难,更进一步说,语言无处不在,没有语言,存在乃至人自己可能变得不可思议。从模因论的角度看,在语言交际中,语言选择和使用的过程就是各种模因相互竞争的过程。语言交际过程就是语言选择和使用的过程,就是传播模因的过程,究其原因在于人事最具模仿性的动物,而这一模仿性将成为解决跨文化交际过程中语言得体性的突破口。

3模因论视角下跨文化语言得体性探析

跨文化交际能力的培养还是基于一定语言功底为基础的,没有一定的表达能力就不可能成功进行跨文化的交流。模因论的中心观点在于“模仿”二字。根据模因的成功复制生命周期的四个阶段,即同化、记忆、表达和传播,笔者认为,言语的得体性培养同样可经历以下四个阶段:

(1)同化阶段――在什么场合说什么样的话。学习者应学会和掌握在不同场合不同的说话方式,重点在于模仿,在模仿过程中提高语言的意识和认知能力。

现如今发达的网络为学习者提供了大量的学习资料。学习者可通过这些资料了解目标语国家的文化概况,尤其是注意一些文化禁忌。学习者模仿资料中不同场景不同的用于方式是一条简便易学的方式。了解了初步的信息,接下来的任务就是尽量去记忆和模仿。

(2)记忆阶段――顾名思义,就是多多记忆所掌握的内容。其核心点还是在于模仿。通过背诵掌握更多语言的模因,提高语言的应用能力,从而加深跨文化能力,尤其是语言得体性方面的知识层面。

记忆的方式除了背诵,场景模拟或者场景言语仿写也是比较有效的学习方式,有助于强化记忆。学习者可自行设计场景,设计人物对话。通过对比在其语言环境中真实言语可找出自己设计言语的合理性和得体性。在不断的仿写或模拟过程中可进一步加强跨文化交际能力,进而提高跨文化知识技能。

(3)表达阶段――这一阶段就可以被认为是实战阶段。它检验了学习者同化和记忆的结果,是学习者自身能力的表达。正如前文指出,强势模因有三大特性:长寿性、多产性和复制忠实性。要想成为强势模因,模因就必须不断被模仿并表达出来,可以原样重复,也可创新表达。这一阶段可被认为是提高跨文化交际能力,尤其在语言表达和得体方面培养的关键阶段。

(4)传播阶段――作为模因成功复制传播的最后阶段,它既是推动模因生命周期的一个环节的完成,又是促使下一循环的开始,是实现模因普及的重要环节。作为学习者而言,此阶段是为其他学习者负责的一个关键环节。学习者应承担起传播正确模因的职责,为其他学习者提供正确的模因信息。从传播方式而言,笔者认为,可采取各种形式进行正确模因的传播,包括各种媒体,活动形式,甚至是亲自教学,都是不错的选择方式。采取这些方式,不仅能够让学习者能够反思自己的言语的得体和锻炼跨文化交际的能力,而且提高了学习者跨文化交际的情感和行为的综合能力。

模因论的观点重在“模仿”二字。所以,跨文化交际中语言得体性能力的培养可通过大量的模仿去实现。在更加真实的语境中理解和对比他国文化,比较异同,通过不断模仿到记忆,从表达到传播可以极大提高学习者跨文化交际的能力。

4结语

模因论为文化和语言输入研究提供了全新的视角。模因论的中心观点在于模仿,通过模仿可以提高创新能力和语言表达能力。从不断模仿到记忆,从表达到传播,使学习者成为众多模因的新宿主,逐步成为强势模因而传承下去。通过提高宿主的认知能力、情感能力和行为能力,最终实现跨文化交际综合能力的大大提高。

参考文献

[1] Blackmore,S. The Meme Machine[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press,1999.

[2] Dawkins,R. The Selfish Gene[M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.

[3] Samovar.et al. Communication between Cultures[M].Washington: Wadsworth Publishing Press,2009.

[4] 陈建平.翻译与跨文化交际[M].外语教学与研究出版社,2012.

[5] 何自然,何雪林.模因论与社会语用[J].现代外语,2003(2).

[6] 胡文仲.超越文化的屏障[M].外语教学与研究出版社,2004.

[7] 李相群,石琳.跨文化交际言语得体性探讨[J].湖南涉外经济学院学报,2010(2).

篇9

[关键词]言语行为理论 跨文化交际 语用偏差

1.言语行为理论

奥斯汀和塞尔的言语行为理论对语言研究的发展有着杰出的贡献。约翰·奥斯汀的《How to do things withwords》(如何以言行事)在1962年的出版标志着言语行为理论的创立。在《How to do things with words》一书中,Austin开始明确地把话语分成述谓句或指陈性的语句以及施为句或有施事能力的语句。Austin把言语行为分为五类:裁决类(verdictives),如“描述”、“估计”;施权类(exercitives),如“命令”、“禁止”;承诺类(commissives),如“答应”、“保证”;阐述类(expositives),如“描述”、“肯定”;表态类(behabitives),如“道歉”、“感谢”、“抱怨”等。Austin后来还根据施为动词的有无,把施为句进一步划分为显性施为句(explicit per—formatives)和隐性施为句(implicit performatives)。显性施为句即直接实施某个行为的语句,它们包含有施为动词。隐性施为句间接实施某个行为的语句,它们不包含施为动词。在此基础上Searle又进一步把施为句分为以下新五类:指令类(directives),如“请求”、“命令”、“要求”;宣告类(declarations),如“宣布战争开始”、“声明证件作废”;承诺类(commissives),如“答应”、“保证”;断言类(assertives),其施为意图是对话语表达的命题的真假做出判断;表达类(expressives),如“道歉”、“吹牛”、“感谢”等。

Austin还提出了言语行为三分说。他认为人类在说任何一句话时都同时完成三种行为:言内行为、言外行为、言后行为。也有学者把它们称作话语行为(或说话行为)即以言指事(the locutionary act)、语现行动(或施事行为)即以言行事(the illocutionary act)、言后行为(或取效行为)即以言成事(the perlocutionary act)。换句话说,言内行为包含意思,它能产生可理解的话语;言外行为体现一种语力,它通过语调、态度、感觉、动机或意图来实现。言后行为包含因果关系,它对听话人产生影响。在描述一种危险情况时(言内行为locutuinary act),说话人可能会用一种警告的语调(言外行为illocutionary act),听话人可能会因此而吓得跳起来(言后行为per—locutionary act)。同样也可理解为,言内行为是通过说话表达字面意义。言外行为是通过字面意义表达说话人的意图。如果说话人的意图能适当地被听话人所领会。便可能带来结果或变化,这便是言后行为。但是,说话人的意图未必一定被听话人领会,因而说话人希望出现的结果并未发生,这时候就会导致交际过程出现问题,从而可能会导致交际的失败。

美国哲学家塞尔在奥斯汀研究的基础上,针对其中存在的缺陷又提出了间接言语行为理论(Indirect Speech Acts)的概念:塞尔认为语言交际的最基本单位是言语行为,言语行为属于人类行为科学的一部分。而语言的形式和功能又不是一一对应的,一句话可以同时具有几种功能,一种功能并非只能通过一种句式才能得以实施。哪一种是说话人意欲的?听话人又应该如何来理解呢?例如:Can you reach thesalt?这个句子要表达的意思不能只按照词项的字面意义去理解,也不能根据句子形式以为话语的语力就是“询问”听话人是否具有做某事的能力。这个话语实际上是一个用以表达“请求”这个言语行为的典型结构。塞尔于是认为,这样的句子所表达的就是间接言语行为,这类间接言语行为已经成为一种惯常使用的标准格式。规约性间接言语行为的应用,主要出于对听话人的礼貌。间接施为言语行为比直接的施为言语行为多出来的不是句子意义,而是说话人的意义或意向。

2.跨文化交际中的言语行为

不同文化背景下的人们有社会规范、价值取向、思维习惯等各方面的差异,在跨交际过程中对种种言语行为的理解和运用自是截然不同,因此难免会导致许多语用偏差现象。它不是指一般遣词造句中出现的语言运用错误,而是指说话不合时宜、说话方式不妥、表达不合习惯等导致的交际不能取得预期效果的失误。这种语用失误是语用规则迁移所造成的,即不同文化的们在相互交际时直接把自己语言的话语翻译成目的语,而不考虑这些话语应该遵循的交际规范,其结果是一种言语行为的施为之力在不同文化中失去作用。说话人的言外行为不能完满地被听话人所正确理解,形成多义、歧义。言后行为不能圆满完成。使言语行为的表达意图与效果之间出现矛盾。

3.跨文化交际中的言语行为语用偏差

人们在实际交往时所实施的言语行为会因为文化差异的不同为交际带来了相当大的困难。在那些较为程式化的言语行为中,诸如请求、邀请,打招呼等因文化差异而导致的言语行为偏差就更为突出了。

请求这一言语行为是各社会、各群体所共有的普遍交际行为。随着语言文化的不同,请求言语行也会有所差异,但是如果我们用自己的社会规范向其它国家人士实施自己的请求行为和解释他人的请求,很有可能请求语会失去请求之力,或者不能正确理解他人的请求意图从而产生语用偏差。

中国人热情好客,喜热闹,爱串门,经常未经他人邀请便主动登门拜访。而英美人则往往先向对方发出正式邀请,表明明确的时间、地点和内容,并要求对方给予明确的答复。如只是在握手道别时说上一句:“I hope you'll come to see mesometime或Let's gave a dinner sometime”等,这便很可能是句客套话,听话人以后不一定会去看说话人,说话人也不见得会请听话人吃饭。那些没有具体时间、地点、内容安排的情况都只是客气话。如果不了解情况,把这些言外之意是表达“客气”的套话理解为“真正的邀请”那便必然会导致不愉快的言后之果了。

招呼语在人际交往中是非常重要的。它往往是言语交际的开始,其使用恰当与否有时会直接影响到交际过程能否圆满完成,一句不合时宜的招呼语有时会直接导致交际的失败。在不同的文化背景之下,招呼语的使用及其功能存在较大差异。例如:我们中国人问候他人的时候,内容并不一定就是说话人所要表达的真实意图。我们经常可以听到“你吃了吗?”,“去哪呀”并不表示说话人真的关心你是饿还是饱,不是真的想知道你具体要去哪个地方,言外行为不过是打个招呼、问候一下对方。在中国人看来,对他人表示关心和热情是礼貌的行为,而在西方,不了解汉文化习俗的外国人并不会认为这是一种起交际作用的问候,因为他们见面打招呼时不会涉及到实质性的内容。这样我们的问候就失去了原有的言语目的,

篇10

【关键词】哈贝马斯;交往行为;跨文化交际

随着远程交通工具和互联网的发展,多元民族和文化之间的交融日益加深,跨文化交际也就成为学术界越来越受到瞩目的焦点之一。而无论是从基础教育到高等教育,跨文化交际能力的培养也越来越受重视,但是跨文化交际本身涉及到众多的学科领域,比如语言学、心理学、社会学、文化学、政治学、管理学等多个领域,可谓千头万绪,而以上这些学科,自身的研究范式、思想路线、思维方法又不尽相同,所以如何培养跨文化交际能力以适应不同的文化背景成为学术界日益关心的问题。本文从跨文化交际教育的实证出发,以哈贝马斯的交往行为主义理论为指导,验证交往行为主义的三原则对于跨文化交际教育的规范构建的有效性。

一、跨文化交际教育的现状

随着全球化而来的是世界各国、各民族多元文化之间的相互交融。文化之间的,自然也就带来丰富多彩的跨文化交际活动。为了应对新时期新的跨文化交际活动,跨文化交际教育的内容和形式也都在发生着深刻的变化。1.跨文化交际教育载体的变化。传统的跨文化交际往往指的是国家之间,个体之间的互动活动,但现如今的多元主体,还包括了企业、社团、网络等等。多元的主体给跨文化交际及相关教育带来了新的形态。首先,经济全球化使跨国公司成为跨文化交际的主体之一,从表象上来说,跨文化公司内部所使用的工作语言、相关条例以及企业文化都深刻影响了传统的跨文化交际教育;从深层内容来说,跨国公司本身就冲击着不同文化背景多元文明的世界观,改变的还不仅仅只限于教育本身。从实证出发,无论是微软还是谷歌,又或肯德基或麦当劳,多元文化之间的沟通与融合,企业文化本地化的发展都成为这些跨国公司企业文化营造和教育的一部分。其次,现在有越来越多的教育机构也成为跨文化交际的重要载体,比如说遍布全球的几百所孔子学院,在传播中国文化的同时,也使以“和”为思想内涵之一的中华传统儒家文化成为促进各多元文明之间平等交流的重要思想指导。同时,像汉语桥这样的中文大赛,在扮演文化交流重要平台的角色的同时,沟通了中国和世界,尤其是和其他国家年轻人之间的文化认知。第三,互联网的迅猛发展更是使教育的载体发生了翻天覆地的变化,从实证上来说,网络教育,在线教学的兴起来自于不同文化背景的个体高效交流,跨文化交际的教育往往在潜移默化之中达成。比如一对一外教口语在线平台,无国界交友平台、聊天平台等压缩了真实的空间和时间,使传统的说教式的教学演变成了体验式的教学。2.跨文化交际教育内容的变化。传统的跨文化交际教育的重点在于解决语言交流的障碍,在语言沟通的前提下对学习者提出风俗习惯、文化禁忌等方面知识的要求。如今,浅层次对不同文化的风俗习惯等的了解已经不能适应越来越深入的文化之间的交流趋势,而且还要由浅入深,发展到对对方文明价值观的认知。同时,只是学习认同对方的价值观也并不能够完全解决多元文化进行跨文化交际时所遇到的矛盾,承认彼此的文化差异,在彼此平等的基础上实现商谈伦理,是新时期跨文化交际教育内容的应有之义。

二、哈贝马斯交往行为主义理论与跨文化交际教育

哈贝马斯交往行为主义理论对多元文化之间的交往顺利展开提出了三项重要原则,分别是真实性原则、真诚性原则和正当性原则。交往的理论建立于普遍语用学之上,这三项原则也就是实现交往主体之间言语行为“普遍有效性”的重要要求。1.真实性原则与跨文化交际教育。作为跨文化交际的首要原则,真实性原则要求语言交际必须在真实的语言情景下实现。多元主体之间的商谈,其目的是在于通过反思恢复共识,但必须认识到共识本身并不是固定不变的,而是流变的。背景的改变会使很多规则成为“先验的”,此时通过商谈来调整规则,于是主体间过程就出现了。哈贝马斯所提到的商谈的背景不同于以往我们所说的实体世界,而是生活世界,在这个虚拟的公共意见池里,摆脱了实体的政治机构和经济生活,使多元文化之间的交际不再受到权力机构的逆向导控,可谓正本清源。从实证上来说,比如目前国内所开展的跨文化交际教育,有一些始终受到英语文化一元论的禁锢,有为数不少的国内研究以及相关的教育始终集中在英语文化对其他异文化的影响,其他文化应该如何应对英语文化,其他文化怎样从英语文化当中受益,实现以英语文化为主导的文化全球化。这就完全离开了哈贝马斯所提出的平等主体为前提的交往理论,会导致文化霸权的出现。2.真诚性原则与跨文化交际教育。哈贝马斯提出的商谈伦理既不依赖,也不排斥整全性学说。他的商谈伦理规范和罗尔斯的公共理性相比,侧重于语用学的约束,而摆脱了语义学的约束。从实证角度出发,哈贝马斯的商谈伦理规范更侧重于对视角的约束,而并不限制内容。多元主体之间讨论,可以是各种内容,从宗教信条到形而上学都可以引入;但对内容的使用方式却做了严格的限制。所以真诚性原则可以使交往各方畅所欲言,积极努力的实现交往的目的。但真诚性原则对推理路径的限定,又保证了交往各方的对话在和谐的氛围中进行。比如,英国人喜欢,用谈论天气作为开始谈话的话题,那么在交往过程当中,顺应对方的习惯,使用对方的语言文化代码,就给交往的顺利进行增添了更多的把握。同样,真诚性原则不是单向的,在英国人和中国人交往的过程当中,他们也应该了解中国式的招呼,比如“您吃了吗?”的真实语用目的,做出正确的回应。当然主体间过程还表现在交往规范不再专指个体,“我”已经成为了“我们”,这恰恰适应了跨文化交际载体的新变化。3.正当性原则与跨文化交际教育。在真实性和真诚性两个原则的指导下,交往双方实现了共识,共识就构成了正当性。而正当性,就是交往规范在公众中形成引导作用的基础。正当性,提供了一系列的理由来支持交往双方的信念。哈贝马斯当初预见性的阐明冷战结束之后,全球化时代会到来,指出了民族国家自身二重性的问题。从实证的角度出发,话语作为人类基本交际能力的理性潜能,并从中构建出良好的主体间性,即所谓的“后形而上学”。在哈贝马斯所提出的生活世界的背景下,多元文化的交流主体无障碍地开展对话,没有压制,强迫或者欺骗,也没有策略行为或目的理性从旁干扰,顺利的交往,取得共识,双方的共识则传递了知识,真理的实现也就水到渠成了。但是现实当中,以特朗普等为代表的西方右翼势力思潮的兴起,以本国或本民族文化为主导文化,压制其他文化,从而使跨文化交际偏离了原有的轨道,有效的沟通自然不可能实现。比如特朗普政府所推出的“禁穆令”,引发了国际社会的广泛批评,破坏了多元化的主流价值观。

三、文化间性对跨文化交际教育的厘定

哈贝马斯的交往行为主义理论多元文化的交际过程当中,在真诚信、真实性和正当性三原则规范下,就表现为文化间性。这也是联合国教科文组织所倡导的,多元文化之间的交往,首先是在彼此互相平等、互相尊重的基础上进行的。有部分西方右翼势力轻视其他文化的主体身份,固执己见的以西方文化为主导,已经造成了在跨文化交际中更深的隔阂和障碍。就国内教育而言,我国的外语教育已经达到了全民化的程度,从基础的义务教育阶段到高等教育,外语课程,尤其是英语课程,始终都是开设的,即便在学校教育结束以后,外语能力也往往会成为职称评定、工作晋升等的考量因素。可是,全社会对于英语学习的盲目会造成独立文化主体身份的结构,近年来,在网络等各个渠道,经常可以看到以西方式的思维和视角来评价和批评中国国内事件的现象,甚至形成了错误的舆论。这就是忽视了哈贝马斯的交往行为主义理论所提出的文化间性带来的恶果。国内有的人与西方文化的全盘接受,美其名曰文化包容,恰恰也是文化不自信的表现。而文化间性则对跨文化交际活动提出了交际双方地位平等的要求,不同文化背景下的交往主体,必须认真学习和研究各自的不同信仰,价值观和生活方式,客观评价,从而实现跨文化交际教育的顺利进行。

四、结语

哈贝马斯交往行为主义理论所设计的三个原则,首先构建了交往理性的概念,实现了交往各方的商谈伦理规范,解释了生活世界和系统的二元结构,以语用学的视角,解决了在共同或完全重叠的生活世界中,交往主体之间的沟通问题。为新时期跨文化交际教育提供了理论上的构建,在互动过程和沟通过程中的重视,为把交往主体从一元文化的禁锢中解放出来,提供了可能。

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