A Study On EFL Reading And University Students’ Intercultural Communication Competence

With the rapid development of Chinese economy andglobalization, international cooperation and interculturalcommunication have become more and more frequent in modernsociety. This paper firstly introduces the relationship between language,culture and communication, and then analyses the related content ofTeaching Requirements of College English Curriculum, revealing somedeficiencies of cultural teaching in Teaching Program of College English.Since language, culture and communication are inseparable fromeach other, how to foster university students’ interculturalcommunication competence draws much attention from scholars ofapplied linguistics. Reading, as a central part in College Englishteaching, plays an essentially important role in the whole developmentof university students’ linguistic competence.This thesis investigates non-English major university students froman intercultural perspective. Through theoretical and empirical analysis,the author finds the current situation of non-English major universitystudents’ intercultural communication competence and their readingcomprehension ability, both of which should be improved. Viewed fromthe survey, most of the students show interest to a different culture butfail to pay enough attention to the learning of intercultural knowledge.Empirical study reports that teachers do not teach culturesystematically, let alone cultivate students’ intercultural communicationcompetence. Based upon the above analysis, the author discussessome possible strategies of improving students’ interculturalcommunication competence through teaching EFL reading so as tohelp foster their multi-dimensional thinking styles as well as ameliorateintercultural relationships.This thesis integrates reading theories, including top-down and bottom-up models, schema theory and interactive model, with culturalteaching. It not only incorporates cultural teaching into readingpractice but also into pronunciation, sentence structure andvocabulary. In addition, the author designs some activities fordeveloping university students’ intercultural communicationcompetence from its three dimensions—intercultural attitude,awareness and communication skills. The discussed strategies are alsoan ideal means of enhancing university students’ comprehensivequality. Finally, the author proposes some suggestions for the furtherresearch concerning the area of improving the university students’intercultural communication competence.