A Study On The Effectiveness Of Cultural Contrastive Method On Students’ Intercultural Sensitivity In A Junior High School

In 2001,the English Curriculum Standard for Junior High School issued by our country included "understanding cultural differences,cultivating patriotism and strengthening world consciousness" in the new curriculum standard.The goal of "understanding cultural differences" makes us realize that the learning of national culture is closely related to foreign language learning.The use of cultural contrastive method to explain the cultural contents in the teaching material will contribute to the above objectives,as it will help to learn the national culture as well as to have a deeper understanding of foreign culture.We can also better understand the similarities and differences between the two cultures and enhance their cultural sensitivity and intercultural communication competence.In order to verify the effectiveness of cultural contrastive teaching method in intercultural teaching in a junior high school,this thesis investigates and analyzes the intercultural sensitivity of junior high school students before and after intercultural teaching.The main research questions are as follows: 1)What is the current application of cultural contrastive method in intercultural teaching in a junior high school? 2)How does the improved cultural contrastive method affect students’ intercultural communication sensitivity in a junior high school?In this study,qualitative and quantitative methods were used.In the qualitative study,a semi-structured interview was conducted with 9 English teachers in a junior high school in Hangzhou to find out how they apply cultural contrastive method in intercultural teaching in a junior high school.The results showed that despite cultural contrastive method well practiced and accepted in intercultural teaching in a junior high school,there were still common problems in the application of cultural contrastive method.Such as,teaching of fragmatic and superficial culture,scarce concern for students’ discussion and dynamic learning,cultural knowledge-oriented teaching as well.In the quantitative study,the intercultural sensitivity scale was used to carry out the pre-test and post-test to see the effect of the improved cultural contrastive method on students’ intercultural sensitivity.After the experiment,it was found that the intercultural sensitivity of students in the experimental class has been improved significantly.Moreover,the scores of the students in the experimental class were obviously higher than those in the control class.This shows that the improved cultural contrastive method can improve students’ intercultural sensitivity in a junior high school.Finally,the thesis puts forward some implications and suggestions on teaching objectives,teaching activities as well as teachers.