An Exploration of the Blended Online and Offline Teaching Mode of Intercultural Communication Courses for Japanese Majors

College of Foreign Languages,Minjiang University,Fuzhou,China Email:gaosarah6@163.com

[Abstract]Intercultural Communication course is gaining a lot of attention with the deepened implementation of“Belt and Road”worldwide.Since the pandemic of COVID-19,traditional ways of teaching has given its way to onlinecum-offline mode,in which the course of Intercultural Communication can be broken down to pre-class guiding,offline cultural issue simulation,role-playing,group discussion and online evaluation.The aim of such practice is to ensure efficient teaching of the course while keeping the teaching mode of this course up-to-date.This paper,with a specific focus on the course of Intercultural Communication under the program of Japanese language,explores the five processes and attempts to offer some insight to relevant studies.

[Keywords]Japanese major;Intercultural Communication;Online and offline;The teaching design

Introduction

Intercultural communication refers to the communication between people with different cultural backgrounds(Hu,1999),which involves language,culture,values and other aspects.In the actual process of intercultural communication,language proficiency alone may not ensure smooth communication.With intensified globalization,along with the worldwide implementation of the“Belt and Road”programs,the conflicts on international communication,business and territory issues are brought to scholars’attention,and there is a growing demand for talents with both language proficiency and high intercultural communication competence.How to develop students’intercultural awareness and intercultural communication competence in intercultural communication courses has gradually become one of the important topics for the cultivation of foreign language talents in the 21st century.As one of the important nonuniversal languages,Japanese also plays an important role in the process of global integration and the concept of“Belt and Road”.In 2001,it was pointed out in the“Syllable of Basic-level Japanese Language Teaching for Higher Education”proposed by China’s Higher Education Sector that“the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching is to cultivate students' intercultural communication competence,and language knowledge and language skills are the foundation of language communication competence”(Japanese Sector,2001,p.7).Intercultural communication competence is an important part of Japanese language teaching; it is also the main goal of foreign language teaching for higher education.For the Japanese major,the cultivation of Japanese intercultural communication competence is an indispensable and important part(Wei,2014).The goal can only be achieved through an organic integration of language teaching with culture teaching as is proposed by scholars.

Since the beginning of 2020 during the outbreak of COVID-19,the technology-driven network informatization has been increasingly applied to long-distance education.Such practice further promotes the revolution of teaching mode in colleges and universities.During and after the epidemic,as one of the core courses for Japanese majors,how to use the online and offline tool to better teach Intercultural Communication course has become a big concern.This paper,focusing the Intercultural Communication course for Japanese majors,studies the actual teaching design of the course,discusses the application of the blended online and offline teaching mode in the course and explores the best mode for teaching the course.Through studying and investigating relevant issues relating to the five steps mentioned at the beginning of this article,it attempts to offer some insight to relevant studies.

Characteristics of mixed online and offline teaching mode of Intercultural Communication course

With the development of information technology,using multimedia,new media and other network means to carry out diversified teaching has gradually become the mainstream mode of teaching in the new era.The brand-new mode of teaching,offline-cum-online,breaks through the barrier of time and space in course teaching,and brings about a closer interaction between teachers and students.In this new mode,students are better encouraged to participate in the classroom activities and are more willing to learn.

The online teaching platform is available with abundant educational resources,which enable students to do roleplaying exercise in simulated real circumstance.A platform like such may well resemble the real situation of language use.Studying in this platform,students are even able to submit annonymous questions whenever they have doubts or questions in class,and teachers are able to check them without a delay.In this way,student-teacher interactions are brought closer despite of the fact that they are not in a same classroom,face-to-face.Students within this teaching mode are whereas more confident as their problems are looked into more quickly; besides the embarrassment arising from asking questions is no longer what students worrying about.In the meantime,teachers are able to respond to students question timely and effectively.In offline teaching,face-to-face discussion or non-verbal behavior intercultural communication teaching can be conducted to further consolidate and extend the knowledge learned online and guide students to hit the target of learning a certain course.Thus,we argue for the blended online and offline teaching mode,which enjoys the merits of the two different ways of teaching.This new method of teaching,however,requires teachers to change their teaching concepts,realize the urgency and importance of cultivating students'intercultural communication skills,improve their comprehensive cultural literacy,and fully grasp the specific steps and methods of online and offline teaching of the course.

Design of mixed online and offline teaching mode for Intercultural Communication courses

In 2005,the Ministry of Education released the file,“About strengthening the construction of institutions of higher learning online open courses application and management of the opinions on the proposed”.It puts forward the key task of“encouraging colleges and universities to start up online open courses by encouraging students to participate in online learning,blended online and offline learning,and higher education should pay a special attention on teachers’online teaching skill development,so as to constantly forge ahead by information sharing and more participation in on-campus and inter-university courses”(Lu,2020,p.96).To achieve these goals,relevant supporting policies have been continuously introduced in all provinces in order to further promote the development of online course platform and provide a concrete guarantee for the development of online and offline mixed teaching,which is increasingly valued by university teachers.In view of the current situation of intercultural communication course for Japanese major,how should the mixed online and offline teaching mode of this course be designed to better improve students’level?The specific teaching mode of this course is designed from the following four aspects:

Do the online pre-class tasks well

Compared with the traditional teaching mode,the online and offline mixed teaching mode mainly places students at the center of the teaching activity and has higher requirements for teachers’lesson preparation and teaching.Before class,teachers can upload teaching PPT or upload the main knowledge points of each class to the online platform,and recommend students to watch supporting teaching videos and courseware such as Mooc and micro-classes related to the course,so that students can prepare well before class and attend class with problems.In this way,students can choose different types of learning resources according to the course.Questions in the pre-class preview process can be collected to the teacher anonymously online.Eliminate students’tension and fear of asking questions.Such practice enables both teachers and students to work well in terms of asking and answering questions.In addition,before class,the teacher can also assign tasks to the students by asking several questions.For example,when talking about Japanese euphemisms,the teacher can ask several questions as pre-class tasks:What is the relationship between Japanese euphemisms and Japanese social culture? What are the euphemisms like in China? What is the difference between Chinese and Japanese euphemisms?To guide the students to think positively about the differences and connections between Chinese and Japanese cultures concerning euphemisms of two different cultures,and make good preparation before class.Further enables the students to establish a sense of intercultural communication,encourage students to learn courses independently,turn passive into active studying.It improves students’enthusiasm and initiative in learning,guide students to improve their sensitivity to different cultures,and more effectively absorb classroom knowledge.

Situational simulation and role-changing exercises

In the usual classroom teaching,teachers should consciously guide the student to understand the culture behind the language factors,to introduce students to the unique customs and habits,social environments,suggests the related behavior,the Japanese culture psychological presence,the outlook on life,values,etc.,for example,to explain in detail that“いただきます”,should be said before you start eating,as this sentence is not only the meaning of“I begin to eat”;teachers also need to suggest students that this is the use of give-and-take verbs,and it is a symbolic of the gratitude of the Japanese people for the food given to them.Through an instruction like such the students are exposed to both real culture and language of context.At the same time,in class,attention should be paid to the applicability and practicality of language,and appropriate teaching activities such as scenario simulation and role exchange should be carried out.It has been pointed out in the teaching program for the basic stage of Japanese major in colleges and universities that“language competence does not mean communicative competence.communicative competence refers to the ability to use language appropriately and flexibly in practical communication.Therefore,in the teaching materials and teaching methods,we should adopt the relevant modern teaching means,such as computer,multimedia,Internet,etc.,combine form and content organically,and carry out the training of communicative activities.”(Japanese Sector,2001,p.7)Accordingly,we can avail the opportunities of offline teaching to develop a certain means of teaching,such as,have students working in teams to practice Japanese gift-giving activities,in the specific dialogue,let the students simulate the specific communication scene,play the role,feel the cultural difference between China and Japan,avoid measuring the foreign culture with their own thinking,which may lead to the barriers of intercultural communication; experience the communication between different cultures,and learn to respect,understand and tolerate the Japanese culture.In addition,students may also select their favorite video clips or book chapters and form a team to conduct situational simulation dialogues,so that students can deeply experience the real context of language use in the simulated environment,so as to realize the improvement of intercultural communication competence.

In addition,in offline situation simulation,attention should also be paid to boost students'non-verbal communication awareness,such as body language,facial expressions,sight,gestures,posture,and keeping an appropriate distance from each other.Non-verbal communication in foreign cultures is also an important part to ensure the smooth communication.For example,the Japanese used to bow when they meet others rather than shaking hands in China;when they are talking to each other,they would try to keep a certain distance away from the other,try to avoid looking directly at the other person,or direct eye-contact with each other.When the other person is speaking,he or she will echo and nod his or her head to show that he or she is listening to what the other person is saying.In addition to explaining language knowledge,teachers should also pay attention to non-verbal communication behaviors in teaching to avoid misunderstanding or conflict.

Integrate into the intercultural communication situation and discuss in groups

After the students’situational simulation and role-playing exercises,the teacher will sort out and review the contents of the situational simulation,and then organize the students into different study groups to encourage all the students to actively participate in the discussion on the topic of situational simulation.This may encourage students to think about whether the students’language performance is wrong or inadequate in the situation simulation,or to ask questions.such as:What should be paid attention to when the answer,the students simulation conversation,whether there is a non-verbal communication errors,etc.,let the students carry out related topics,questions of discussion,improve the enthusiasm of students to learn,enhance the students’desire for truth,let the students have the initiative to go deep into the class.Teachers can also conduct discussions through films and television programs,select relevant films and television programs,and ask questions,such as a certain dialogue is used in the plot,What would be the differences in the communication between Chinese people on this issue?On the basis of having a certain understanding of students’learning ability,the teacher optimizes and groups the students,assists students in the discussion,and answers questions put forward by the students,or carry out interactive discussion between teachers and students.Through the case teaching of film and television works,actively create an atmosphere of cross-cultural communication,so that students can have a deep understanding of Japanese social culture.Through group discussion,students can further solve the problems assigned before class,so that students can truly master the knowledge points and realize knowledge transfer.This also highlights the students' position as the center in the classroom,which is conducive to enhancing students'understanding of different cultures,enhancing students’awareness of cross-cultural communication,and improving the teaching effect.

Online assessment and evaluation

In the mixed online and offline teaching mode with students as the center of learning activity and all students are encouraged to participate in the classroom,whether students really understand different cultures and master crosscultural communication skills has a great impact on the actual cross-cultural communication situation.Therefore,it is totally necessary to monitor and investigate students'response to the learning situation in time and listen to the real voice of students.Online assessment and evaluation should be divided into two parts.One is students’assessment of the course,the other is teachers’assessment of students.Students’evaluation of the course can be conducted by writing some brief thoughts and comments,and teachers’evaluation of students can be used to test students’learning status in the way of grading.It is helpful to analyze the difficult problems that students meet in the learning process through the evaluation data,and provide powerful reference for teachers to adjust the teaching design.

Through online assessment and evaluation,it helps students check their learning results timely,tracks and gives feedback to the whole learning process of students.This mode of assement and evaluation makes students have a sense of gain from learning,and is conducive to further carrying out follow-up learning activities.

Conclusion

The mixed online and offline teaching mode provides students with more substantial teaching resources and creates more diverse classes by using network technology.Online learning lays the foundation for students' in-depth study,while offline learning further consolidates the basic knowledge learned in online courses.The mixed online and offline teaching mode of Japanese major in cross-cultural communication further expands the inclusiveness of traditional teaching,promotes students’initiative in learning,inspires students to think critically,and stimulates their interest.To understand the cultural connotation of Japanese and the cultural psychology of Japanese,students can internalize the knowledge and further master the expression characteristics of Japanese.Moreover,through the simulation of the subject,students can properly apply to the real context of language use the knowledge they have learned in the actual cross-cultural communication.The mixed online and offline teaching mode deeply integrates curriculum resources,teaching methods,teacher-student interaction,student evaluation,and provides a multi-dimensional learning environment for students.A multi-dimensional classroom is built to provide students with more target-oriented teaching guidance.At the same time,it also suggests that teachers should constantly update their teaching ideas,keep pace with the time,and improve their own cultural literacy.

In short,blended online and offline teaching greatly stimulates students’initiative and inspires students’crosscultural awareness.Only by paying attention to the effective integration of online and offline teaching can the smooth development of intercultural communication courses be ensured,thus providing favorable support for the improvement of students’intercultural communication ability and giving better play to the function of language teaching in serving society and national construction.It further serves international cultural exchange and cooperation against the backdrop of“Belt and Road”.