90 / 2018-07-25 15:42:52

Study on ESP Learning of Confucius Institute Teachers from Intercultural Perspectives

ESP courses; ICC; Confucius Institute Teachers

全体主题 > ESP 语境下的跨文化交际

Previous empirical researches have indicated a low intercultural communicative ability among university students and proposed several pedagogical approaches to increase intercultural elements in ESP teaching(Zhu, 2014; Zhang&Qiu, 2017). Yet, little is known concerning the intercultural communication competence(ICC) of volunteer Chinese teachers abroad. In this regard, we surveyed ten volunteer teachers from Confucius Institutes in Nigeria and Canada, accompanying semi-structured interviews with ill-fitted informants. Statistic analysis is supported by ICC assessment tool and SPSS software. The findings reveal surprisingly unsatisfying intercultural communication experiences, in line with a relatively low intercultural understanding. Interestingly, it is also found that our informants feel much more problematic with intercultural communications in Saskatchewan, Canada than in Lagos, Nigeria. And possible reasons could be the fact that Africans are comparably more inclusive with Chinese culture while cultural differences often end up with complaints in Canada according to interviewees. More serious issue, nevertheless, could be the lack of duly intercultural awareness, as we are informed in the interviews. This paper, therefore, is expected to address the problem through ESP courses. We suggest a two-dimensional solution, involving ESP training staff and volunteer teachers, to overcome the cultural disorientation in question.