A study on a present training situation of intercultural communicative competence in ELT by Chinese teachers at various schools

【Abstract】This paper aims to better understand the situation that how well the intercultural communicative competence in ELT is taught by Chinese teachers in different types of schools in Chinese mainland educational system. Nowadays， both students and teachers are aware language and culture should coexist in English learning class which means it is not only the word and grammar students are supposed to learn but also the intercultural communicative competence （ICC） which consists of the combination of language and culture skills. In order to see how much ICC is trained in China recently， this research is based on an interview with three English teachers in different types of school by asking them 4 detailed questions related to the research question. It is hoped this study will promote the development of ICC trainings among Chinese English learners.

【Keywords】Intercultural Communicative Competence （ICC）; ELT in China. Teachers understanding of significance of ICC

【作者簡介】李由由（1986.09-），女，河北廊坊人，中央财经大学，教师，海外硕士生，研究方向：跨文化交际， 托福听口教师。

All the teachers agree that culture teaching is very important， Quinn states： ‘I believe it is very important to teach culture in language teaching. Language is the tool to communicate therefore it would be meaningless without the culture foundation.. Carol mentions： ‘Yes， definitely. I teach culture knowledge in class is not only because it is part of the textbook， but also I would like to increase their intercultural communicative competence. Apple claims： ‘Culture issues are very important for my students in the IELTS and TOEFL readings. For example， if they do not understand Industrial Revolution， it is difficult for them to understand whether the author support or oppose it then to target the correct answer. Apart from this， there is one noticeable point by Quinn which indicates the fact that understanding of our own culture is as important as the knowledge of target culture in ICC. Quinn mentions： ‘It is better for us to learn our own culture first. If not， how can we communicate cross cultures without knowing our own cultures？. I also think Chinese culture is much longer than others so when we are having intercultural communication， it is the Chinese culture that our counterparts are more interested. According to Valdes （1986， cited in Corbett， 2003）; Byram， Gribkova and Starkey （2002） and Liddicoat （2009）， our own culture plays an important role in ICC as well because we would realize the culture difference easier， whether our behaviors will be accepted in a culture-related context and better find appropriate topics to discuss after we are conscious of our own social behaviors， virtues or customs.

Ⅰ. Teachers understanding of how to teach ICC

According to what Quinn says： ‘The approach for me to teach ICC is to compare two cultures to identify the similarity or differences. For example， when we Chinese greet with each other， we normally say ‘Have you eaten？ but in English. It is ‘how are you？， what Apple says： ‘I will compare two cultures difference on one aspect.， they agree to compare two cultures in class. According to Cakir （2006） Newton （2009）， culture difference is suggested to know and compare by teachers and students. This will be an effective approach for students to be aware that there is indeed distinction between different cultures then express their individual opinions on the culture difference. Besides， there are some common ‘teaching techniques such as movies， songs， news， videos or ‘teaching activities such as group discussion， presentation or role-play （Scrivener， 2005， p. 79） all the teachers resort to for teaching ICC， like in what Apple mentions： ‘There are also presentation and group discussion in class which I joined all of them. and in what Carol mentions： ‘I will use audio or video material to assist me such as music or movies. For one thing， the teaching techniques would offer students authentic situation where the target culture involves. For another thing， these activities will make students think about and use the cultures they learn as well as make the class interactive （ibid.）. In addition， the way for Quinn to teach ICC is in terms of culture topics. He says： ‘Some cultures encountered in basic lives such as food or dressing should be taught and I will teach them by topics. This is also called ‘culture capsules （Singhal， 1998， cited in Thanasoulas， 2001， p. 16）. In such a way， learners would appreciate cultures in every social aspect and be clearer of which expressions are appropriate for which situations （ibid.）. However， it would also limit and stereotype learners expressions and customs to deal with particular situations if they comply with culture knowledge by topics completely （Byram and Feng， 2005）.

Ⅱ. Obstructive factors for Chinese teachers to teach ICC

According to their responses of this theme， the obstructive factors can be categorized into three aspects.

1. Teachers competence

Based on what Quinn says： ‘When my students are in senior grade， managers from famous companies will be invited to lecture them because they acquire more experienced about how to contact with foreigners， which is what we Chinese teachers less frequently do and we are not formally trained in this area and what Carol says： ‘I am not familiar with ICC and I only grow up and live in China for a long time. How can I teach something I myself do not know？， it is obvious to see that Quinn and Carol think themselves are not that capable to teach ICC. Compared with this two， Apple seems more confident. This is the biggest problem for Chinese teachers to teach ICC. Apple mentions： ‘When we are in Smartwin， we Chinese teachers help students of the exam， the foreigner helps students to understand western cultures. According to Uso-Juan and Martinez-Flor （2008）， James （2011） and Paige （2003）， non-native teachers themselves are confused about how to teach ICC because they are unsure about what kinds of cultures to teach and diffident that whether they are capable to understand various aspects of another culture as well as whether their linguistic knowledge is qualified enough to assist them to teach ICC. Thus， this limitation results into that ICC teaching is arranged to native teachers or Chinese full of IC experience. The Chinese teachers who have little IC experience are unwilling to teach ICC as well because this teaching task will burden their preparation work for class （Jiang， 2011）.

2. Students demands

Quinn says： ‘If you are in China， the people around you are Chinese as well. Is that really necessary to learn other culture in this case？. Carol mentions： ‘Probably the English of my students are relatively poor so they cannot handle the complex culture knowledge required for ICC. It can be observed that on the students aspects， their learning goal， interests and English level all together will determine whether they will learn ICC or not. Like Quinn and Carol mention， the reason why most of Chinese students learn English is that they aim to find jobs or pass exams. Quinn says：‘ ICC should be taught with a practical aim. For example， it is very helpful for my students in the workplace otherwise few students are likely to learn it merely because their interest. Carol claims： ‘If I teach grammar or knowledge about exams they have to pass， they would focus on the class a lot but the moment when I ask them to discuss in English， do a role-play or other class activities， they are very hesitated to participate. If the job and exam has nothing to with ICC， why they will bother themselves learning something they will not use in the future. Accordingly， it is true they have seldom chance to practice ICC， the people they work with are Chinese in most cases and the English exams are more about linguistic knowledge not culture issues. Therefore， no matter how much the importance of ICC is advocated in theory， its importance has little impact on supporting students to find jobs and pass exams in China， Nevertheless， the students of Apple are more positive to ICC training. Apple mentions： ‘My students think western cultures are like new stories to them and it is a way to broaden their horizon. It can be indicated that because Apple teaches in Bejing， which is the capital of China so the students there would be more open-minded and favorite to intercultural issues resulted from that they have more opportunities to get access to ICC. This would lead to the third obstacle to develop ICC in China.

3. Intercultural environment

All of these three teachers emphasize the significance of intercultural environment to train ICC. Quinn says： ‘In my opinion， it is better for students to involve in the authentic environment to learn culture well. Apple states： ‘The difficulty why students would get only theoretical understanding of the intercultural issues is because they are not involved in the intercultural environment. Carol says： ‘Intercultural communication skill is something you acquire by experiencing it in the intercultural environment not by learning it in class.. If ICC is taught by Chinese to Chinese， there is no intercultural communication per se. This would cause that the students can interact in English with Chinese teachers successfully but this does not mean they can interact successfully with native speakers as well （James， 2011）. If ICC is taught by Chinese teachers， most of the knowledge would be in theory. Therefore， students would experience ‘ceiling effect （Swain， 1991， cited in Paige， 2003， p. 18）. They can understand ICC but cannot apply ICC. To sum up， the environment where Chinese teachers teach ICC is monolingual and the English interacted between Chinese teachers and students are not the ones used in intercultural communication. Therefore it is probable the skills of intercultural communication from Chinese teachers become invalid to students （Xu and Mei， 2002）.

Ⅲ. Conclusion

It has to be said there are flaws in this research for example the teachers teaching experiences are not very rich but a general notion can be summarized from this research that because Chinese teachers are much more aware of what ICC is along with its significance in theory and there are increasingly more cultural issues in textbook. However， due to the limitations to develop ICC in China by Chinese teachers mentioned in this research， it would make this practice invalid and impractical. Personally thinking， in order to improve， Chinese teachers should offer more opportunities to experience IC themselves and the whole English education system in China should change polices from teaching English as foreign language to as international language to transfer students demand of learning English from using English in theory to in practice. Then training ICC by Chinese teacher in China would be more valid and practical.

References：

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[3]Jiang， B. （2011）. The teaching of Intercultural Communicative Competence. Journal of Heilongjiang College of Education. （3）， 164-166.

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