A Study Of The Influence Of Tolerance Of Ambiguity On English Learning Motivation And Intercultural Communication Competence Of Non-English Majors

Information technology promotes the prosperity of intercultural communication and leads the society to develop a wider range of cultural interaction.Foreign language education is one of the most frequent areas of intercultural communication.College students' ICC has been formally put on the agenda.College English Teaching Guide explicitly mentions the requirements of intercultural communication course,which is also the demand for progress in the times.TA in English learning involves listening,speaking,reading,writing,and grammar dimensions.TA in FLT is one of the important factors affecting college students' ICC,and it is often intensified in an intercultural environment.ELM includes intrinsic interest,immediate achievement,learning situation,going abroad,social responsibility,individual development,and information medium.In the environment of FLT,learners may lose familiar cultural symbols and communication rules,which determine their initiative in foreign language learning from the perspective of motivation.ICC includes intercultural attitude,knowledge,consciousness,and skills.TA can also directly affect learners' ICC.It can be seen that TA can indirectly affect ICC through motivation,and it can also directly affect ICC.At present,some achievements have been made mainly from the influence of TA on foreign language reading and listening ability,or from the influence of TA on ELM.Based on the Affective Filter Hypothesis,this study measured 296 junior students majoring in pharmaceutical engineering(46),finance(57),psychology(53),geography(51),chemistry(42),and mathematics(47)in Northwest Normal University.The self-evaluation questionnaires were used as research instruments.Five-point Likert scale was used as evaluation standard for each item in the questionnaires.All the raw data were imported into Amos 21 to calculate the path coefficients.In the process of path analysis,30 subjects were selected as interviewees,and interviews were conducted on two certain paths of covariant relations.The results of interviews were used to assist in the analysis of impact paths.The results of one-way ANOVA test showed that there was no significant difference between the mean of each dimension of TA,but there were significant differences between the mean of individual dimensions of ELM and ICC.The modified structural equation model showed that the path coefficients between TA,ELM and ICC were significant.TA positively affects ELM(? = 0.41,P < 0.001),and TA positively affects ICC(? = 0.47,P < 0.001).ELM positively affects ICC(? = 0.18,P < 0.001).Moreover,the direct influence of TA on ICC is greater than that of indirect influence through ELM.There is a positive correlation betweenEnglish speaking tolerance and intercultural knowledge(r = 0.55,P < 0.05),listening tolerance and going abroad motivation(r = 0.51,P < 0.05),reading tolerance and personal development motivation(r =0.57,P < 0.001),and individual development motivation is positively correlated with intercultural attitude(r = 0.52,P < 0.05)Based on data analysis,this study explored the characteristics of TA,ELM,and ICC of non-English majors.It also analyzed the impact paths of TA on ELM and ICC,and then putted forward specific improvement measures.The results and analysis of research was concluded as follow:(1)Non-English majors' TA,ELM,and ICC were in the middle level,but within ELM,the seven dimensions were unbalanced;within ICC,the four dimensions were unbalanced.(2)TA of non-English majors had a positive effect on ELM and ICC,and it can indirectly affect ICC through ELM.The direct effect was the main impact path of TA on ICC.(3)The degree of TA in listening and reading was related to the motivation of going abroad and individual development,the degree of TA in speaking was related to intercultural knowledge,and the motivation of individual development was covariant with intercultural attitude.TA has a significant effect on ELM and ICC,and the direct effect of TA on ICC is significantly higher than the indirect effect through ELM.It can be seen that although the effect of TA is significant,there are obvious differences between indirect and direct paths.The contrastive analysis of paths can clearly distinguish the main impact path,so as to avoid inefficient impact paths,and provide guidance for FLT.