On Appropriateness In Intercultural Communication

This paper concerns appropriateness in the setting of intercultural communication. It is an issue in interlanguage pragmatics which involves what is appropriateness, the relationships between appropriateness and intercultural communication, what are the factors affecting appropriateness and how to achieve appropriateness in intercultural communication.Examples of appropriateness and inappropriateness in actual intercultural communication are provided to show that high linguistic competence does not guarantee high communicative competence. The ability of using appropriate language in different contexts is not the natural consequence of good language knowledge. Two main factors that affect appropriateness in intercultural communication are analyzed in detail: culture differences and communicators'difference in communicative competence. How to achieve appropriateness in intercultural communication is another concern of this research. The author provides some appropriate strategies from three aspects: enhancing communicators'awareness of culture differences, developing communicators'communicative competence and reconsidering the ultimate goal of second language teaching in China.This paper is composed of seven chapters, each of which has a major concern. Introduction and conclusion of this research constitute the first and last chapters respectively. A brief review of previous studies related to the present research by western and domestic scholars is included in the second chapter. Some issues relevant to appropriateness are discussed in Chapter Three. Chapter Four outlines the theoretical basis of this research: theory of communicative competence, Cooperative Principle and Politeness Principle. Chapter Five focuses on an empirical study and a detailed analysis of affecting factors of appropriateness. Chapter Six lays emphasis on the exposition of appropriate strategies in intercultural communication. The research concludes with suggestions for future study.