Employing Innovation Diffusion Theories To Assess Intercultural Teaching Development In China From Multiple Perspectives

Almost three decades have passed since the concept of interculturalcommunication was introduced into the China mainland and the teaching ofintercultural communication has been acknowledged as an essential element for thespreading and the deepening development of the field. However, almost no researchhas been conducted in terms of the overall teaching situation across China until thepresent, such as how the course was first originated, what the panoramic view is forthis historical development, the level of the course, and the institutional impact on theoverall teaching development.For this thesis, a national survey was designed to map the history of interculturalcommunication teaching in Chinese universities. Theories on innovation diffusionswere adopted to explain the reasons behind its development. The results suggestedthat the teaching started from the year1984and witnessed its high-speed developmentafter the new century with the year2007reaching the peak and the courses are nowcovering all levels of studies in universities. For the institutional analysis, the leadingroles of twenty-one universities with intercultural communication centers or instituteshave been also identified.In addition, for the historical development of intercultural communication inAmerica, a modified model based on Maria Loeblich and Andreas Matthias Scheu’soriginal one from a sociology of science approach has been proposed for referenceand future research.