Teaching Methods and Countermeasures of Cross-Cultural

Communication in College English

Xiaoqiao

ZHANG

Zhengzhou University of Industrial Technology, Zhengzhou, Henan, 451100, China

Keywords: College English, Cross-cultural, Competence Training.

Abstract: English, a universal language and the vital link of friendly exchanges and cooperation between countries

and people, is gaining extensive attention from domestic government and society nowadays. However, at

present teachers still adopt traditional teaching methods in the process of college English education, namely

strengthening indoctrinating teaching of vocabulary and grammar, with little emphasis laying on the

differences between Chinese and Western cultures and their ways of communication, causing serious risks

for students’ future occupation. In this case, the work, in combination with years of work experience,

stressed a brief analysis of the ways to cultivate students’ cross-cultural competence in college English

teaching.

1 INTRODUCTION

As is known to all, China is a country formed by

fifty-six nationalities, with different ethnic cultures

preserved in each minority. Just as different regions

share distinctive customs, there are huge cultural

variations between countries as well. Under the

circumstances of globalization, cultural diversity has

given rise to an immense barrier for the national

economic development and international academic

exchange. Thereupon, English, serving as the bridge

for communications among different countries, is of

great significance to the cultivation of students’

English cross-cultural competence. Nevertheless, the

English teaching in the period of high school

education is far from perfect, mainly available to the

exam-oriented education while useless for the

application in real life. Hence, the English teaching

at the university level should no longer rest on the

mode of exam-oriented education, but rather make

study serve the practical purposes. Teachers and

students are required to attach importance to the

acknowledgment of western culture, communication

customs and lifestyle, as well as highlight the

education of grammar and context, which is often

mentioned as the training of English cross-cultural

competence.

2 DOMESTIC DEVELOPMENT

OF CROSS-CULTURAL

TEACHING COMPETENCE IN

COLLEGE ENGLISH

As Cross-cultural education is one of the most

important aspects in college English, domestic

government and education sectors have given much

attention to it long before. Temporarily, the cross-

cultural teaching competence has been underlined as

the focus in the process of college English teaching

at all colleges and universities, while cross-cultural

teaching has just been regarded as an indispensable

part of modern college English education. The cross-

cultural communication, firstly put forward by an

American educator in the 1950s, refers to a way of

communication between people or groups with

different cultural backgrounds. Until around 1980s

when China took off its reform and opening up, the

so-called communication competence and mode

were gradually introduced in. Then owing to the past

30 years of development, studies on cross-cultural

communication have achieved a certain

accomplishments. On this basis, education sectors

have paid enough attention to the role of cross-

cultural communication in English education and

teaching. It is clearly regulated in the newly issued

College English Objectives that stress should be laid

on the cultivation of cross-cultural communication

competence among college students. Students are

316

Zhang X.

Teaching Methods and Countermeasures of Cross-Cultural Communication in College English.

DOI: 10.5220/0006025103160319

In Proceedings of the Information Science and Management Engineering III (ISME 2015), pages 316-319

ISBN: 978-989-758-163-2

expected to be guided to learn and apply knowledge

under the background of foreign culture, instead of

being taught on the surface of domestic culture.

Through constant research, domestic educators make

a division of English cross-cultural communication

competence into three parts: basic communication

skills, cross-cultural language use capability and

social cultural ability. Thereinto, the basic

communication skills consist of linguistic and non-

verbal behavior skills, speech act competence and

ability of communication; Cross-cultural language

use capability can be distributed into three aspects,

the abilities of using cross-cultural knowledge and

communication strategy, and cross-cultural cognitive

ability; Social cultural ability concludes the

sensitivity of cultural knowledge and cultural

literacy as well as that of cultural awareness and

cultural differences. In spite of the adequate

attention paid to the cross-cultural communication

competence training in college English by education

institutes, there is still a long way to go before

fulfilling all the established expectations and goals.

3 TEACHING METHODS AND

COUNTERMEASURES OF

CROSS-CULTURAL

COMMUNICATION IN

COLLEGE ENGLISH

3.1 Cultivating in a Different Way

from the Traditional Classroom

Teaching

In the traditional classroom teaching, teachers are

supposed to lecture on the podium while students are

listening carefully on their seats—a typical mode of

indoctrinating teaching, adverse to the application of

language. If teaching in such a way, situations will

always arise where students fail to understand the

English background culture introduced by teachers

or only be able to comprehend the superficial

aspects. In order to conquer this problem, teachers

can utilize an interactive teaching method, in other

words, fostering good interaction between teachers

and students. Once students have any doubts or

misunderstandings about the cultural contents in

class, it is allowable to raise hands and exchange

ideas with the teacher at any time until the problem

is settled. In the process of college English teaching,

while teaching students the correct English grammar

and cultural background, it is also necessary to make

comparisons about grammar, idiomatic expressions

and cultural differences, through which students can

truly understand the differences between China and

the Western countries. For example, age is often

discussed by Chinese people in daily life while

seldom in the west, because for many western

people, age is a personal privacy that is not suitable

to be talked about as a topic.

In addition, in order to enhance the cultivation of

students’ cross-cultural communication competence,

English teacher is able to demand students to collect

materials about western culture after class based on

the teaching progress and arrangements. Students are

asked to exchange information and ideas collected

with each other in English or Chinese, which

depends on the English level of students. As for

English majors, with better skills in English listening,

speaking, reading and writing, it is suggested to use

English for cultural communication. While for non-

English majors, Chinese is also permitted. But

students are required to translate all the contents into

English after class. With this teaching method,

students can gain more knowledge about western

culture and their English abilities are effectively

improved at the same time.

3.2 Cultivating by Means of New

Science and Technology

With the rapid development of science and

technology, our teaching environment is becoming

more technical in recent years, with an increasing

number of new technologies and inventions applied

to the classroom teaching in college. Computers and

network, absolutely the two most popular emerging

technologies, are being extensively utilized in every

respect of our life, work and study. At the moment,

almost all the colleges and universities in China are

equipped with multimedia instruction, which has

already turned into a trend and orientation for

modern education. Although really living in the

western countries is the best and most effective way

to understand their cultures, customs, idiomatic

expressions and lifestyle, most students have no

such an opportunity due to various reasons of family,

economy, national policy, etc. However, multimedia

teaching is conducive to solving this problem. By

virtue of multimedia teaching and network, teachers

can transmit the prepared materials, such as pictures

and videos, to students in class, and set correct and

good guidance. Thus, students are provided with a

better environment to study and experience the

foreign cultures and communication modes, so as to

make comparisons about cultures in a more targeted

Teaching Methods and Countermeasures of Cross-cultural Communication in College English

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Teaching Methods and Countermeasures of Cross-Cultural Communication in College English

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way, improve the English practical ability and lay a

solid foundation for their future occupation.

3.3 Cultivating Students’ Interest

While Enhancing Teachers’

Teaching Level

College English teaching in China mainly

concentrates on the study of English grammar and

vocabulary, with less focus on the cognition of

cultural differences and communication modes.

Gradually, this learning atmosphere can lead

students to form an exam-oriented habit. In the

process of routine study, without an awareness of

cross-cultural communication cultivation, students

merely listen to the teacher in class, but brush aside

the cultural differences and communication modes

that are not taught by teachers. Practice has proved

that English reading is an efficient way to broaden

students’ outlook of western culture and enhance

their abilities of cross-cultural communication.

Therefore, teachers can recommend some foreign

books, especially those about foreign cultures, for

students according to personal reading experiences.

Through extensive reading, students can acquire

more recognition of western cultures, and indirectly

improve their English cross-cultural communication

skills. Teachers, occupying the absolute dominance

in the classroom teaching, should make an example

to students and take the lead to arouse awareness of

cross-cultural communication. For instance, when

doing introduction to a certain western culture,

explanation and emphasis of that culture should be

specifically stressed. The differences between

Chinese and Western cultures can be highlighted

through various comparisons about culture,

communication modes and idiomatic expressions. In

the mean time, teachers should also enhance their

own teaching level and understandings of western

culture by continuous studying. With an appropriate

grasp of cultural and linguistic teaching as well as

reasonable arrangement of time and quantity,

teachers can do well in the cultivation of students’

cross-cultural communication competence while

ensuring the quality of language teaching.

3.4 Cultivating based on Classroom in

College English Teaching

On the part of students learning in schools, the study

of any subject is doomed to return to classroom, and

college English teaching is no exception. Different

from education overseas, the domestic educational

method mainly concludes the classroom teaching,

where teachers are lecturing on the podium while

students are listening on the seats. Besides,

traditional English teaching method, emphasizing

the teaching of grammar and accumulation of

vocabulary, is widely adopted in the current college

English education. Teachers teach students to speak

English verbally, write words on the blackboard and

even pronounce each sound of a word separately.

Then, students only need to recite the contents

taught by teachers as exams are always about some

of the key points in class, with few testing points on

cross-cultural communication. Consequently,

teachers who write the text books are required to

selectively add more knowledge of nature, society,

humanity and science and technology to the text

books in order to arouse students’ learning interest

and further enhance the efficiency of teaching in

class and learning for students. In this way, teachers

can make more effective efforts to develop students’

keen interest of learning and raise their grades in

college English course. Nonetheless, demonstrations

about western culture are still scarcely seen in the

text books temporarily, particularly the description

of cultural differences.

Although grades of English course are improved

effectively with such a traditional teaching method,

serious risks will be left for the future profession of

students, especially for those who are planning to

engage in the English related jobs, because cultural

differences may lead to severe inconvenience for

English communication. For example, since

different countries share diverse cultural

backgrounds, reckless application of grammar is

likely to bring about gross mistakes, or even make a

joke embarrassingly. To solve this problem, teachers

are encouraged to aggrandize more descriptions of

different background cultures, customs and

communication modes in the text books, as well as

provide students with more opportunities to exercise

their skills of cross-cultural communication through

the learning of grammar, syntax and vocabulary. For

instance, contents like introductions to western

countries, such as Britain and America, about their

policies, economy, culture and ways of

communication should be exposed to students,

teaching them that English education is not merely

about language but more of a comprehension and

master of the world culture. Expect for an

acquisition of a language, English learning can help

students widen the horizon and gain more

knowledge about the world. Thus, students will

develop greater interest in English learning, and the

efficiency of classroom teaching will be enhanced

simultaneously.

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4 CONCLUSIONS

Exam-oriented education, a problem generally

existing in the domestic education, has deeply rooted

in the education system, including college English

teaching. At present, various problems are occurring

in the process of English teaching. Driven by the

aim of enhancing students’ grades, teachers only put

a high value of grammar learning and vocabulary

accumulation rather than the cultivation of students’

practical utilization abilities, which causes a serious

damage to students’ future occupation. With more

emphases laying on the cross-cultural

communication training in college English teaching,

it is of great help to improve English grades, and

also conducive to arousing students’ interest in

English learning and enhancing their ability to

utilize English in practice. Only in this way can

students be able to adhere to the principle of making

study serve the practical purposes.

REFERENCES

Xu Lisheng. Discussion of cultural communication

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Teaching, 2010 (07): 125-127.

Fu Haiyan. Importance of cross-cultural teaching in

college english llearning. Journal of Harbin

Engineering University, 2009 (08): 35-36.

Liu Liansheng. Cultivation of cross-cultural teaching

competence of college english. Journal of USTC, 2005

(05): 59-61.

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