On Raising EFL Learners’ Intercultural Communicative Awareness In Senior High English Class

Examination-oriented education system has been ingrained in English Teaching in most schools.Students are burdened with much more pressure by different model exams and scores in order to successfully pass the college entrance examination. Nowadays. the common problem of English learning is that most students can not use the English they have learned in real communicative situation. Some of the contents in the College entrance examinations are mainly related to the basic knowledge of vocabulary and grammar specifically embodied in the multiple-choice test. cloze test, error correction and sentence completion.As for cultural learning, there are mainly two different orientations in senior high English class. One is called " knowledge-transmission-based learning" or "fact-based learning", the other approach is called "task-based learning", which is interactive, experiential and care more about students’ own interest. Many senior high school students’weaknesses in oral English. vocabulary reading comprehension and writing may be the barriers in teachers raising their intercultural communication awareness. As the exams are knowledge-focused and the culture-teaching is knowledge-transmission-based in senior high schools. Students’ intercultural awareness is insufficient, too. Students spend much time learning language knowledge, memorizing words and grammar, and doing many exercises about morphology and syntax.According to the statistics in Encyclopedia Britannica, there are about160different kinds of definitions of culture in the world. The culture, which is studied in Foreign Language Education and Linguistics, is a relatively narrow-sense of culture. including a nation’s customs and habits, ways of thinking, mutual relationship so on and so force. Four aspects are used to define "Cultural Consciousness" or "Cultural Awareness". They are "cultural knowledge, cultural understanding. intercultural communication awareness and intercultural communicative competence". Intercultural communication awareness consists of not only the sensitivity to distinguish the differences between national culture and foreign culture, but also the self-awareness of one’s native culture which seems to be more important than the former aspects." New Curriculum Standard " has specific goals for the education of cultural communication awareness on different stages of teaching. Thus. we think. more contents related to native culture should be timely introduced in English teaching to make students learn about native culture and accumulate cultural backgrounds. social customs and other aspects of knowledge attentively. when learning foreign culture.Teachers should have such cultural knowledge and awareness. Firstly. we should change the traditional teaching concept and fully carry out the requirements of New English Curriculum Standard. Secondy. we should strengthen the learning and understanding of cultural diversity. Thirdly, we should value our native culture.As for raising students’ intercultural communication awareness, we need to give them lectures regularly in class on cultural issues related to the materials in the textbooks. The author attempts to suggest lectures on cultural factors in communication and cultural differences and cultural connotation in vocabulary. Task-based teaching approach could help gain more of communicative knowledge and have more opportunities to practice oral English.The new curriculum standard points out that the high school English curriculum should establish diversified evaluation system aiming to promote the comprehensive language skills of students. Therefore, multi-evaluation system is suggested by the author.