Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Background of the Study
We live in an era of globalization. The obvious features are that the connection betweenculture is increasing, the boundaries are fading and the mutual influence is being deepened.Intercultural awareness becomes more and more important in English teaching.
With the publishment of National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School(hereinafter referred to as NECS) in 2017, more and more scholars and educators have come torealize the importance and urgency of cultivating intercultural awareness.
Intercultural awareness plays a vital part in intercultural communication. People who wantto communicate appropriately with foreigners should have intercultural awareness. Students withintercultural awareness can perceive the differences between Chinese and foreign culture.Through the comparison of Chinese and foreign culture, they can deepen their understanding ofChinese language and strengthen cultural confidence. And they can also learn about the excellentChinese and foreign culture and form correct values.
The NECS (2017) points out the goals of cultural awareness are to enable students toacquire cultural knowledge, understand cultural connotations, compare cultural similarities anddifferences, draw the essence of culture, form correct values, strengthen cultural self-confidence,form self-esteem, self-confidence and self-improvement, and have the ability of interculturalcommunication and dissemination of Chinese culture.
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1.2 The Objectives and Significance of the Study
Due to the influence of Chinese traditional linguistics and the restriction of exam-orientededucation for a long time, the cultivation of students' intercultural awareness has not been paidmuch attention in Chinese foreign language teaching. Especially in senior high school, under thepressure of college entrance examination, teachers more focus on students' mastery of languageknowledge, but ignore students' learning of cultural knowledge, which leads to students'incorrect intercultural communication. Therefore, in order that students can adapt to thedevelopment of globalization, this research aims to study the current situation of senior highschool students' intercultural awareness and find out the factors that influence the interculturalawareness of senior high students. Based on the conclusions of the survey, correspondingsuggestions are made to the education authorities, schools, teachers and students, hoping toprovide real information for the research on the cultivation of senior high students' interculturalawareness, arouse the attention of education authorities, schools, teachers, etc. to the cultureteaching.
Through the analysis of the research results, the current situation of intercultural awarenessof senior high students in our country, the factors that affect high school students' interculturalawareness, some solutions are obtained, which can promote the development of English teaching,help English educators have a more profound reflection and a comprehensive summary of thecurrent situation of English teaching in senior high schools and improve the current situation ofEnglish teaching in our country.
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
2.1 Definitions of Key Terms
In this part, it pays attention to culture and intercultural awareness. Learning English is notonly to learn a kind of language but also to understand a kind of language culture. The studentswho have intercultural awareness can learn English more easily because in the process oflearning English, intercultural awareness can help students understand different cultures andcarry out intercultural activities properly. Thanks to relative theories, the cultivation ofintercultural awareness becomes easier.
2.1.1 Culture
The definition of culture has aroused great interest at home and abroad. The meaning ofculture is very wide and there is no uniform definition at present.
British anthropologist Taylor (1984) is the first person to define culture in a scientific sense,and his definition is classic. He (1984) defines culture as civilization. In its broad ethnologicalsense, culture includes knowledge, belief, art, morality, law, custom and the ability and habitacquired by anyone as a member of society.
Sapir (1921), the founder of American Cultural Linguistics refers to that culture is used byethnologists and cultural historians to express anything inherited through social life in humansocial life, including material and spiritual aspects.
Shu Dingfang and Zhuang Zhixiang (1996) pide culture into broad sense and narrowsense. In the broad sense, it includes the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth created byhuman beings in the process of social and historical development; in a narrow sense, it includesthe knowledge system composed of human cultural value.
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2.2 Theoretical Bases
In this part, there are two theories that are related to the paper being introduced.
2.2.1 Learning Transfer Theory
According to the nature of transfer, Li Xiaodong (2008) pides transfer into three types:positive transfer, negative transfer, and zero transfer. Positive transfer is the positive influence orpromotion of one kind of learning on another. Negative transfer is the negative influence orinterference of one kind of learning on another. Zero transfer has no influence. In the process ofEnglish learning, it is inevitable to be influenced by mother tongue culture.Su Chenzhi (2004) thinks that learning transfer refers to the influence of one kind oftransfer on another kind of transfer, that is, the influence that occurs between the knowledge,experience, cognitive structure, motor skills, learning attitude, strategies and methods thatstudents obtain, and new knowledge and new skills.
In China, most students begin to learn English when they have known about their nativelanguage and most of students' native language system has been established. Therefore, in theprocess of learning target language, students are inevitably affected by their mother tongue,which is the transfer of mother tongue. Mother tongue transfer takes place in the whole processof English learning. In English teaching, how to effectively reduce the influence of negativetransfer of mother tongue is a problem. Therefore, teachers, in particular, should adopt effectivestrategies in teaching to help students overcome negative transfer and cultivate students'intercultural awareness.
Table 3.1 Dimensions of Questionnaire for Students
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Chapter 3 Research Methodology.........................................18
3.1 Research Questions..........................................18
3.2 Research Subjects............................................ 18
3.3 Research Instruments...................................18
Chapter 4 Research Results Analysis and Discussion..................................... 22
4.1 Analysis and Discussion of the Questionnaire Results About Intercultural Awareness............................ 22
4.1.1 The Overall Situation of Senior High Students' Intercultural Awareness................22
4.1.2 Senior High Students' Cultural Knowledge.........................................23
Chapter 5 Conclusion............................................ 45
5.1 Major Findings.........................................45
5.1.1 The Current Situation of Senior High Students' Intercultural Awareness................45
5.1.2 The Factors that Influence the Cultivation of Senior High Students' InterculturalAwareness..................................45
Chapter 4 Research Results Analysis and Discussion
4.1 Analysis and Discussion of the Questionnaire Results About Intercultural Awareness
In order to know about the current situation of senior high students' intercultural awareness,the data of the questionnaire is analyzed as follows.
4.1.1 The Overall Situation of Senior High Students' Intercultural Awareness
This part will describe and analyze the overall situation of senior high students' interculturalawareness from four aspects: cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, interculturalcommunication awareness and intercultural communication competence.
Table 4.1 The Descriptive Statistics of Intercultural Awareness
Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings
From the result of the study, we can get the current situation of high school students'intercultural awareness, as well as the factors that affect senior high students' interculturalawareness.
5.1.1 The Current Situation of Senior High Students' Intercultural Awareness
Through the research results, a conclusion is drawn that the level of current students'intercultural awareness is different in different aspects. Students' performance in culturalunderstanding and intercultural communication awareness is relatively good. However, thestudents' cultural knowledge is needed to be improved. Comparing with cultural knowledge,senior high students are even more short of enough intercultural communication competence.
5.1.2 The Factors that Influence the Cultivation of Senior High Students' InterculturalAwareness
From the analysis of the results of the research, it can be learned that senior high students'intercultural awareness is influenced by some factors.
1)The Influence of College Entrance Examination System
College entrance examination is a double-edged sword
From the cultural knowledge test (questions 17 and 18), it can be seen that students aregood at the knowledge related to the test. However, through interviewing with teachers andstudents, it is also known that influenced by the college entrance examination, teachers spend alot of time on the key points of the examination, while ignoring the culture teaching.
2)Teachers' Cultural Literacy
In the process of English teaching, teachers are the main body of teaching work, so theirEnglish cultural ability and comprehensive quality will greatly affect the students' final culturallearning level.
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