| Since China has played a more important role in the process of globalization,China should keep pace with the development in all domains in the world closely.As the world is shrinking,the connection between countries become much easier and faster.As a tool,language channels internationally in communication.In order to learn a foreign language,culture learning is a basic assistant tool for language learners.The requirement of intercultural communication between countries attracts more talents into the researches in the relevant domain.However in China there was a time that Chinese students found it extremely difficult to communicate with English spoken natives although their English spoken and writing proficiency are comparatively good,some were excellent.The facts were that Chinese people used to emphasize on language competence instead of language performance.That is to say,language learners were good at language knowledge but ignoring abilities of using the language appropriately in daily communication.How did this happen? For quite a long period of English teaching and learning,cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence as one important element in language pragmatics,have long been neglected.This was absolutely true when China opened its door to the world and started its international exchange activities with relevant fields in the 1980 s.When time steps into 21 st century,even if many students speak excellent English,there are still many misunderstanding or conflicts occurring when they are communicating with native speakers.This is because after students’ entrance into college and universities,most of them will not continue to learn English after two years in which most of most of them will exert their efforts into passing Band 4 and Band 6 English tests to obtain certificates.Students’ cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence are not properly cultivated or motivated.This will definitely turn out to be an obstacle in their future language communication.Therefore,English New Curriculum Standards emphasize cultivation of students’ cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence.How to meet the requirements and fulfill the task has become the author’s major concern.She puts forward three research questions: What is the current situation of students’ intercultural communication awareness? What intercultural communication competence do students have in classroom verbal and non-verbal expressions by meeting conversational maxims? What are the possible measures to cultivate studentsintercultural communication awareness?In order to find answers to the questions and fulfill the research,questionnaires are designed to survey the corresponding part which refers to the first question,the current situation of students’ intercultural communication awareness.Interviews are employed to supplement the first question and find supportive data to the second question,mainly aiming at surveying the competence of students intercultural communication competence.Classroom observation is another effective instrument employed to research the teachers teaching attitude and methods and students’ knowledge about intercultural communication awareness.Taking previous research results home and abroad as theoretical support,the author finds that the failure of cultivating cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence lies in the pressure coming from college and university entrance exam in both students and teachers who ignore paying attention to the task.She offers three effective and possible measures to revise the situation: Teachers must improve their concept about cultivating cultural awareness and intercultural communication competence in their teaching process.Teachers must adopt more effective teaching methods to develop students’ intercultural communication competence,for instance,by making use of multimedia to create more simulated contexts,to help students immerse into the atmosphere. |
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