The Ways Cultural Differences Influence College Students’ Intercultural Oral Communicative Competence1.doc

文化差异影响跨文化口语交际能力的途径The Ways Cultural Differences Influence College Students Intercultural Oral Communicative CompetenceContentsAbstract.1Key words.1I. Introduction.2II. Cultural difference and communicative competence.22.1 What is cultural difference?.22.2 What is intercultural oral communicative competence.32.3 The relationship between cultural differences and intercultural communicative competence4III. The ways cultural differences influence students motivation in speaking foreign language.53.1 High context culture VS low context culture.63.2 Collectivism VS individualism.63.3 Different concepts of face.73.4 Different power distance.73.5 Different concepts of examination.83.6 Different social and economic environments.9IV. Verbal differences resulted from cultural differences influence intercultural oral communication.104.1 Incorrespondance in conceptual meaning.104.2 Incorrespondance in connotative meaning.114.2.1 Animal words.124.2.2 Plant words.124.2.3 Historical events.124.2.4 Metahpors.134.3 Incorrespondance in collocative meaning134.4 Different communication strategies.134.5 Different ways of greeting.144.6 Different farewells.144.7 Different ways of praising and responding to praise.15V. Nonverbal differences.165.1 Different concepts of time.165.2 Different concepts of space.175.3 Different dinning etiquettes.17 5.4 Different body languages.18IV. Conclusion.18References.18The Ways Cultural Differences Influence College StudentsIntercultural Oral Communicative Competence摘 要： 许多中国大学生了解并能够讲出标准的英语，但他们却无法在特定的场合中运用合适的语言或是很好地与英语国家的人交流。换言之，很多中国大学生的跨文化口语交际能力都不是很强。众所周知，所有的语言都是深深地扎根在其所属的文化中的，因此笔者认为这种现象是由他们对文化差异了解不足所引起的。跨文化口语交际能力不但包括说的能力还包括对因为文化的不同所引起的语用习惯以及非语言交流方式的区别的敏感程度。文化差异对跨文化交际的影响是多方面的，本文将介绍其影响大学生口语交际能力的几种途径。首先，文化差异影响大学生参加口语练习的积极性从而也影响他们对口语的掌握程度。其次，文化差异还影响着人们的语用习惯以及非语言交流方式。关键词：文化差异；影响；大学生；跨文化口语交际能力；途径Abstract: While most Chinese college students know Standard English and also can speak it in the classroom; they may not speak appropriately in certain communicative circumstances or talk with the native speakers. In another word, most Chinese college students are not very good at intercultural oral communication. The author insists that this is resulted from their inadequate knowledge of cultural differences since it is known to all that language is essentially rooted in the correspondent culture. Intercultural oral communicative competence includes not only speaking ability but also the ability to recognize the pragmatic habits and the means of non-verbal communication that are culturally specific. This paper intends to introduce the ways cultural differences influence college students intercultural oral communicative competence. First, cultural differences influence college students motivation in participating in oral English activities. Second, cultural differences influence people pragmatic habits and means of non-verbal communication.Key words: cultural difference; college students; influence; intercultural oral communicative competence; waysI. IntroductionWith the policy of opening and reforming, more and more people in China are learning English for various purposes. However, after years of hard work on English learning, they are still either extremely poor in listening and speaking or apt to experience failure in intercultural oral communication even with quite good command of English. As is known, intercultural oral communications take place across national boundaries. This means that understanding the different environments that exist among nations and considering cultural differences in all facets of oral communication are of vital importance to the operation of smooth intercultural oral communications. According to Jane Orton (2002), “a knowledge of Culture is not just an interesting option or addition to language learning, but a necessity in learning language successfully.” Each culture has its own peculiarities and throws special influence on the language system. The symbolizing of the linguistic sign is controlled by the language system, the society and the peculiar culture of the community. A great deal of cross-cultural misunderstandings occur when the “meaning ” of words in two languages are assumed to be the same, but actually reflect different cultural patterns. Cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication. Learning a foreign language means learning a second culture to varying degrees. Transcending cultural limits is a formidable but essential task if oral communications with foreigners are to succeed. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the reasons why Chinese college students are not good at intercultural oral communication from a cultural perspective.II. Cultural difference and communicative competence2.1 What is cultural difference?It is noted that communicative competence includes not only linguistic competence but also cultural awareness. Therefore, after Dell Hymes had formally established the concept of “communicative competence” in the 1970s, the word “culture” has been a hot topic in the field of foreign language learning all through these decades. At present, teachers as well as students in China know quite well that culture plays a crucial role in the process of language acquisition. However, not all of these foreign language teachers and learners know exactly what cultural difference is and where it lies in. To have a better understanding of cultural difference, we are required to have a brief review about the definition of culture. The definition of culture was first given by the British anthropologist Edward Tylor in his classic book Primitive Culture in 1871. It goes like this: “Cultureis that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capacities and habits acquired by man as a member of society.” (Jin Wenhua, 2004). Nostrand (1989) says that the "central code" of a culture involves above all the cultures ground of meaning: its system of major values, habitual patterns of thought, and certain prevalent assumptions about human nature and society which the foreigner should be prepared to encounter" (Jin Wenhua, 2004). In addition, it is argued by many anthropologists, most notably Clifford Geerts, that culture is a symbolic meaning system. It is a semiotic system in which symbols function to communicate meaning from one mind to another (Li Yuxiang, 2005). Li Yuxiang (2005) claimed, “From the standpoint of contemporary cultural anthropologists, culture is characterized by the following four basic features: 1) Culture is a kind of social inheritance instead of biological heritage; 2) Culture is shared by the whole community, not belonging to any particular individual; 3) Culture is a symbolic system in which language is one of the most important ones. 4) Culture is a unified system, the integral parts of which are closely related to one another.” Therefore, cultural differences lie in the incorrespondence of two cultures including their systems of value, habitual patterns of thought, certain prevalent assumptions about human nature and society, and their respective languages which are the most important symbolic systems. 2.2 What is intercultural oral communicative competence?What is intercultural oral communicative competence? It sounds a bit confusing since almost all foreign language researchers are familiar with the term “communicative competence” but merely anyone knows the phrase “intercultural oral communicative competence”. It is natural that before we introduce something new the review of the related old ones that people are familiar with is necessary. Thus, it is vitally important that we derive the definition of intercultural oral communicative competence from reviewing the definition of communicative competence. The concept of “communicative competence” was first elaborated by the famous American anthropologist Dell Hymes in the 1970s. After that there have been constellations of literature works relating its definition. Among them, Chomsky (1986) stated that Communicative competence is the knowledge needed by a speaker or hearer, and is much more broadly based than "linguistic competence" (Ren Qiang, 2004); Ellis divides communicative competence into linguistic competence and pragmatic competence (Hu Zhuanglin, 1997, Zhang Yun, 2005); Thomas (1983) further divides pragmatic competence into pragmalinguistic competence and social-pragmatic competence. She also points out that pragmalinguistic competence refers to the competence to use proper language to perform an illocutionary act. (Zhang Yun, 2005). The communicative competence of D.H. Hymes (1997) has the following components:1) Grammaticality: agreeing with Chomskys Competence, meaning using language according to norms. To be understandable.2) Accessibility: easy to handle, to process, interpret and memorize. To be easy for operation.3) Appropriateness: apt to the context, proper words for a particular situation. To be acceptable.4) Practicality: idiomatic, fluent, agreeing with culture and thought. To be good to perception. (Hou Guojin, 2004)From these definitions, we can conclude that communicative competence is composed of linguistic competence and cultural competence alike. Communication, upon which communicative competence operates, means “a giving or exchanging of information, signals, or messages, as by talk, gestures, or writing” according to the Websters New World Dictionary. So Fu Mengyuan (2004) defines cross-cultural communication as the following: “the exchange of thoughts, messages, and the like, as by speeches, signals or writing, between native speakers and non-native speakers”. As intercultural oral communication takes place face-to-face across national boundaries, it involves not only verbal communication but also non-verbal means of communication. Consequently, by intercultural oral communicative competence, the author means that non-native speakers should be competent in producing and receiving proper verbal signals as well as appropriate non-verbal signals which are oftentimes culturally specific. To put it simple, intercultural oral communicative competence includes two parts: oral proficiency and cultural competence.2.3 The relationship between cultural differences and intercultural oral communicative competenceAs is known, intercultural oral communications take place across national boundaries. This means that understanding the different environments that exist among nations and considering cultural differences in all facets of oral communication are of vital importance to the operation of smooth intercultural oral communications. Transcending cultural limits is a formidable but essential task if oral communications with foreigners are to succeed. Zhang Jianping (2005) said “neglecting the culture of the target language, the speakers will make mistakes in their speech communication.” Li Yuxiang (2005) stated that cultural differences are the most serious areas causing misunderstanding, unpleasantness and even conflict in cross-cultural communication. Hu Yaping (2005) stated that language is rooted in a specific cultural environment and it cannot be understood properly without considering the context and its function.Therefore, to be competent in intercultural oral communication one has to be not only good at that specific culture-loaded language but also quite familiar with the non-verbal communication means which are culturally specific. Cultural differences are central to the study of communication between members of different cultural groups because they affect all intercultural and cross-cultural communication. This means that ones intercultural oral communicative competence depends heavily on his knowing the difference between the target culture and his own. III. The ways cultural differences influence students motivation in speaking foreign language As oral proficiency is in its first place an indispensable ingredient of intercultural oral communicative competence, we are required to study how students foreign language oral proficiency is influenced by cultural differences. Practice makes perfect. Oral English, as one of the basic skills of in language acquisition, also can be acquired through unending practice. In another word, students oral English proficiency on a large part depends on their participation in oral activities. Wang Luqiu, 2005) declared that “L2 motivation is one of the most important factors that determine the rate and success of L2 attainment: it provides the primary impetus to initiate learning the L2 and later the driving force to sustain the long and often tedious learning process.” Wang Xusheng, (2005) made it clear that “over the last three decades, autonomy in language learning has taken on a growing importance in the language education.” It is widely acknowledged that Chinese students are passive in participating in oral English activities whereas their western counterparts show fantabulous eloquence in discussing and debating. This is probably the reason why Chinese college students, after years of English learning, still cannot blurt out what they want to express. We all know that we cannot change this situation without finding out its deep roots. Thus it is necessary for us to find the initiator of Chinese students passiveness and Western students activeness in participating in oral activities from a cultural perspective.3.1 High context culture VS low context cultureIt is generally acknowledged that Chinese culture is considered a high context culture whereas Western culture a low context one. This difference of culture resulted in Chinese and westerners different attitudes towards speaking. Gu Xiaole (2005) stated, “Chinese culture is a high-context culture in which language is considered a fast way but not the most effective tool for communication. People depend on a number of paralinguistic factors, of which silence is of great significance, to decode the speaker's intention. However, in America, which has a low-context culture, people load as much information as possible in their words.” Western people, especially Americ