A Study Of Edward T. Hall's Thought On Intercultural Communication

The 21st century is a century of intercultural communication(IC). During this age of globalization, intercultural conflict has become one of the critical issues that influence world peace and human development.One important reason for the occurrence and existence of intercultural conflicts or crises is the inadequate knowledge of people's cultural differences, the lack of intercultural theories that may guide intercultural interactions. Practically, the study of Edward T. Hall's IC thought will help people understand IC issues; further cultural reflection and the understanding of one's own culture; improve intercultural awareness, develop intercultural competence, so as to meet the challenge of IC. Academically, the study of Hall's IC thought will further the comprehension of communication, it is also supplement to domestic IC studies.The research method of literature analysis and content analysis are applied in the study. The main literature of the study includes Hall's works and research on Hall from other scholars. The study also used emails for interview and investigation, used BBS and internet search engines for literature collecting.Based on previous studies on Hall's IC thought at home and abroad, this study analyzes Hall's IC thought from five aspects: 1. Background for Hall's IC studies; 2. Main academic influences on Hall's thought; 3. Hall's intercultural experiences and research practice; 4. Contents of Hall's IC thought; 5. The role of Hall's IC thought and its limitation.The originality of the study lies in that, for the fist time, multi-angle and a systematic research on Hall's IC thought is conducted from the above five aspects.The article argues that:1. Originated in the U.S., the discipline of IC studies is a product of special era.2. Hall's thought on IC studies originated in cultural anthropology, linguistics, physiology, ethology and Freudian psychoanalytic theory.3. Hall collected rich materials in his intercultural experiences, he considered intercultural issues in professional vision, finally his academic sparkle ignited.4. Hall's approach to IC studies is the inclusion of culture in the study of human communication behaviors. He deems culture as communication, communication as culture. As for different layers of culture, he focuses on unconscious culture which was ignored in previous research. Accordingly, he focuses on nonverbal behaviors...