A Study On The Correlation Between College English Teachers’ Staying Abroad And Their Intercultural Sensitivity

The intercultural exchanges in the globalizing world become more and more frequent,which brings about the rapid development in the discipline of intercultural communication.More in-depth researches are done, involving cognitive, affective and behavioural aspects. Thestudies on intercultural sensitivity lie among the relatively mature ones, but it is seldom to seethe kind of studies focusing on the correlation between college English teachers’ stayingabroad and their intercultural sensitivity. As the important affective factor of successfulintercultural communication, intercultural sensitivity affects individual’s interculturalcompetence tremendously. College English teachers, facing learners who are about to attendintercultural communication, impart not only knowledge and skills but also affection andattitude. Then what are the differences in intercultural sensitivity among teachers of variedlength of staying abroad? And what is the correlation between college English teachers’staying abroad and their sensitivity? This study focusing on college English teachers’ stayingabroad, explores the correlation between it and their intercultural sensitivity.Beginning with the interpretation of intercultural competence, intercultural sensitivity aswell as the relationship between them, this thesis intends to investigate intercultural sensitivityof28college English teachers who possess different-length of staying abroad. Chen andStarosta’s Intercultural Sensitivity Scale is adopted to measure teachers’ interculturalsensitivity and SPSS16.0is employed to analyse the data collected.It is found that college English teachers staying abroad for a certain period of timepossess the level of approximately medium-high level of intercultural sensitivity. Andamong the five sub-factors of intercultural sensitivity, namely, InteractionEngagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction Confidence, InteractionEnjoyment, and Interaction Attentiveness, they enjoy the highest level in Respect forCultural Differences while the lowest level in Interaction Confidence. In addition, asignificant positive correlations are showed between college English teachers’ stayingabroad and their general level of intercultural sensitivity, as well as most sub-factors of it except Respect for Cultural Difference which is proved no significant correlation existsbetween staying abroad and it. Although a rising trend is showed in intercultural sensitivityand its five sub-factors with the length of staying abroad increased generally, but it is not astraight-lined growing process but a spiral-rising one featured with intermittent periods ofregression or stagnation.Therefore, as for the development of college English teachers’ intercultural sensitivity,different strategies should be taken according to different situations, and the key point forimproving teachers’ intercultural competence is to strengthen their weak aspects in trainingand teaching process.