The culture teaching model from the perspective of cross-cultural competence: building and practice

Відсутність китайських культурних знань серйозно вплине на міжкультурну комунікацію студентів, але викладачі та студенти не повністю усвідомили її важливість, що вимагає реформування викладання та встановлення нової моделі викладання культури. Дослідження намагається побудувати модель навчання культури, в якій викладачі ефективно інтегрують елементи китайської культури у викладання англійської мови за допомогою методу культурного порівняння, щоб покращити міжкультурну компетенцію студентів та уникнути явища «культурної афазії» на випадки спілкування.

Завдяки емпіричним дослідженням буде доведено ефективну обґрунтованість для досягнення результатів підготовки студентів до кваліфікації та компетентності. У дослідженні використовувалися такі методи дослідження, як анкетування, перевірка знань і статистичний аналіз даних, щоб забезпечити підтримку моделі викладання культури, які доводять, що модель навчання може покращити міжкультурну компетентність і гуманістичну якість студентів, а також підвищити їх культурне самопочуття. також впевненість. Поєднуючи міжкультурну теорію та її практику, навчальний дизайн здійснює реформу викладання, ефективно інтегрує онлайн- та офлайн-викладання з перевагами мережевих медіа, щоб покращити мовну компетенцію студентів та також гуманістичну якість.

Ключові слова: міжкультурна компетентність, викладання, мовна компетенція, гуманістична якість, культурна впевненість.

Introduction. China's cross-cultural research is still in its infancy. Theoretically, most findings draw lessons from the existing research in Europe and America. In terms of teaching practice, educators have a certain understanding of culture teaching, but they do not have enough understanding of the position of Chinese culture in foreign language teaching, and the empirical research is also in its infancy. In order to realize the unity of instrumentality and humanism in language learning, foreign language teaching requires college students not only to have a solid language foundation, but also to have strong crosscultural competences to meet the needs of extensive international exchanges. Although achievements have been made in foreign language teaching in Chinese higher education, some problems still exist, such as too much attention to the training of students' language skills, the connotation of language and culture ignored, and insufficient understanding of the role of mother tongue culture in cross-cultural competence, resulting in students suffering from “Chinese cultural aphasia' in communications. Cross-cultural communication is a two-way cultural exchange, which demands the communicators should not only master foreign language and culture, but also spread Chinese culture.

The purpose of this study is to build a culture teaching model from the cross-cultural competence viewpoint and conduct some teaching experiments to testify the teaching effect, so as to improve students' cross-cultural competence and humanistic quality, and cultivate their cultural self-confidence as well. The study is based on the problem that the lack of Chinese culture leads to the lack of cross-cultural competence. The main research methods are knowledge test and interview. The objects of knowledge test and interview are sophomores and junior students for the bachelor's degree in translation and interpreting at the language pair of English and Chinese. Through the knowledge test, we can understand students' mastery of Chinese culture and their ability to express Chinese culture in English. Through interviews, we can understand the views and attitudes of teachers and students on integrating Chinese culture into English culture teaching. Through the analysis of the final test results of the culture course in the experimental group and the control group, this study compares the differences between the two groups of data to test the teaching effect.

Theory and method. Cross-cultural competence is the theoretical starting point used in the analysis of the teaching model. The goal of this research is to advance the higher level of effectively training the students' competence confronted with the cultural differences. Ruben (1976), Imahori & Lanigan (1989), Byram (1997), Ting-Toomey (2005), Gudykunst (2014) have matured the study of cross-cultural competence from different theoretical viewpoints, including behaviorism, relations, foreign language education, identity negotiation and interpersonal communication. Brislin (1990) pointed out that, to establish a correct outlook on culture, students learn the features of their own and other cultural values and behavior with the help of teachers, so that they will appreciate cultural differences arising in exchanges.

Chinese scholars, Lin Dajin (1996), Xu Lisheng (1997), Zhong Hua & Fan Weiwei (2013) have also developed the theory of cross-cultural competence from the angle of foreign language learning and teaching, relying upon linguistic competence and the criticism of the main views in the western countries. The basic elements for cross-cultural competence include cognition, behaviour, emotion and ethics. The main features of cross-cultural competence are appropriateness and effectiveness.

Through interpretative reading of humanistic foreign language education theory, Sun Youzhong (2017) pointed out that a learning community of cooperative inquiry needs to be built for culture teaching by integrating language into knowledge, then the language competence, speculative competence, cross-cultural competence and humanistic quality are promoted in the meantime. Cultural teaching as integration of language and knowledge will promote students' humanistic quality and their crosscultural competence as well. Knowledge needs to be developed about how cultural differences contribute to cognition and emotional attitude in language skills training. The author hopes to make a contribution on this point within the framework of this analysis.

Main part. The culture teaching model is built to promote the teaching effects. Through empirical research, the effective validity will be proved to achieve the results of preparing the students in proficiency and competence. Two methods of language test and questionnaire are adopted to conduct this study. The purpose of the knowledge test is to test the 150 research objects selected through the questionnaire. The Chinese cultural knowledge test paper is divided into Chinese and English versions. The contents of the two test papers are exactly the same, including the number of questions, types and scoring standards. The total score is 100 points, which is divided into two major questions. The first question is to fill in the blank. There are 25 sub-questions, with 2 points for each question. The second question is a multiple-choice question, with a total of 25 sub-questions, with 2 points for each question. and the test needs to be completed in 60 minutes. It is required to test the English version first, and then the Chinese version, so as to avoid the preconceptions of the native language affecting the test results. The findings are as follows:

In Table 1, 156 valid papers were tested, and the results of the test paper through the statistical tool of SPSS 16.0 show that the average score of the Chinese version is significantly higher than that of the English version, with a difference of 5.8489 points; within the 95% confidence interval, p < 0.05, indicating that there are significant differences between the two sets of data. It can be inferred that the difference between the two groups of test results is caused by the difference of students' language understanding ability, and the score for the Chinese test paper is higher than that for the English test paper, indicating that students' English language understanding ability needs to be further improved.

culture competence teaching language test students

Table 1

The T test of the paired samples

As for interview, the author randomly selected 15 students and asked them three questions. The first one is “why do you think the test results are different”Јє

S1: The knowledge of Chinese culture is insufficient. Even if some questions are answered in Chinese, they do not understand some knowledge;

S3: Although some Chinese cultural knowledge is familiar, there are some difficulties in expressing them in English, and the English courses rarely involve Chinese culture, so I don't know how to express in English;

S9: I don't quite understand the meaning of some English topics, and my English level needs to be improved.

The second one is “how do you think to solve these problems?” and their answers are:

S5: Chinese cultural knowledge should be integrated into English culture class;

S7: Organize more group discussion activities, compare cultural differences between China and foreign countries, improve the competence of communicating and expressing in English;

S12: The comprehensive ability of language use needs to be improved.

The third question is “Do you think the lack of Chinese cultural knowledge will affect cross-cultural competence?” and the 15 students' answer is “yes”.

Through the analysis of results of knowledge test and interview, it can be seen that: students' Chinese cultural reserves are insufficient; their language ability of expressing Chinese culture in English is insufficient; the lack of Chinese cultural knowledge will affect their cross-cultural competence;their comprehensive English ability needs to be improved. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate Chinese cultural knowledge into English culture teaching, which can improve students' comprehensive ability of English language use and cross-cultural competence.

Building a culture teaching model. The lack of Chinese cultural knowledge will seriously affect students' cross-cultural communication, but teachers and students have not fully realized its importance, which requires teaching reform and the establishment of a new culture teaching model. The building of the culture teaching model takes the cross-cultural competence theory as the theoretical framework, follows the principle of integrating Chinese cultural knowledge into English culture teaching in an indirect way, adopts the method of cultural comparison and the online and offline mixed teaching, through preclass preview, flipped classroom in-class after-class reflection and the teaching log writing, as well as online and offline multiple assessment methods for teaching evaluation, in order to achieve the unity of instrumentality and humanistic development of teaching objectives, and finally achieve the improvement of cross-cultural competence and humanistic quality. The characteristic of this teaching mode is to integrate Chinese culture into the whole teaching process by means of cultural comparison teaching method, organically combine online and offline mixed teaching and offline flipped classroom, and practice diversified evaluation methods.

Fig. 1 Culture Teaching Model

In the culture teaching model for the English teaching, teachers work as the guiding role and students function as the center of the teaching. In the center of learning, through online and offline mixed teaching, students complete the teaching steps of preclass preview and interaction, classroom presentation, communication and discussion, and reflection. Communication and interaction run through the whole teaching process. Chinese cultural knowledge covers a wide range, including history, political and economic systems and values. Chinese cultural teaching is integrated into English teaching by the invisible learning method of cultural comparison teaching, so as to broaden students' knowledge vision and improve their ability of expression, cross-cultural communication competence and humanistic quality. In the process of teaching, teachers guide students to learn the theory of crosscultural communication, and express their beliefs, attitudes, values and world outlook in verbal and nonverbal ways; students cultivate their dialectical thinking ability through learning, communication and discussion of cultural differences between China and foreign countries. The instrumentality of foreign language education is reflected through the improvement of cross-cultural communication competence, including the improvement of crosscultural knowledge and competence, the cultivation of cross-cultural awareness, the application of cross-cultural communication strategies and the training of cross-cultural adjustment; The training of humanism in language education mainly depends on the accumulation of humanistic knowledge, such as history, literature, politics and philosophy in Chinese and foreign cultures. Students understand national psychology and people's livelihood through understanding humanistic thought, ethnic and ideological characteristics, understand other people's cultures, enhance their cultural awareness and selfconfidence, and build their own cultural ideas.

In addition, students can also master the cognitive and practical methods contained in humanistic methods, learn to think and solve problems with humanistic methods, and improve their speculative ability, which requires online and offline communication and practice. By understanding the humanistic spirit of Chinese and foreign cultures, understanding the differences in world outlook and values, students deeply understand the national spirit and the spirit of the times, study hard, shoulder the tasks entrusted by the times, and retell Chinese stories well in crosscultural exchanges. A^er conducting the teaching experiment, the testing of teaching effect is as follows.

The above research shows that the culture teaching model is effective and can improve students⁵ crosscultural competence and humanistic quality. Teachers and students have more approval of the integration of Chinese cultural knowledge into English teaching. Teachers need to reserve more Chinese cultural knowledge and receive teaching training.

Conclusions. More attention to the Chinese cultural knowledge should be paid in teaching, and it is also integrated into the language teaching in a quiet way through cultural comparison method. By online and offline cultural comparison teaching and communication, students should be aware of the differences between Chinese and foreign cultures, communication skills and psychology, and students' information collection ability to sort and classify in all links of teaching design will be strengthened, through active discussion and offline communication, and their cultural thinking ability, cross-cultural awareness and competence are sure to be improved.

Based on the research of cross-cultural competence theory, this study attempts to build a cultural teaching model for its instructional design, trying to explore a new teaching method from its teaching practice. This paper makes a test analysis and reflection on the teaching effect by using scientific research methods, such as questionnaire survey, knowledge test and data statistical analysis. As a practical case study, it is not merely for the reference of the language teachers. In the teaching design, reference is made to the cross-cultural training principles proposed by Sun Youzhong (2016), namely speculation, reflection, exploration, empathy and experience. Students exchange information, discuss and explore online pre-class, and discuss in-class to enhance their speculative ability. Teachers and students reflect through electronic portfolio after-class, in order to deepen their understanding of the problem and reach a consensus. In addition, in practical teaching, teachers should also pay attention to cultivating students' cross-cultural awareness in the global context, the ability to express Chinese and foreign cultures in English, and the skills, strategies and psychology of cross-cultural communication. Through the combination of cross-cultural teaching theory and practice, the teaching will carry out teaching reform, organically combine online and offline teaching with the advantage of network media, achieve knowledge integration and interactive communication, and improve students' humanistic quality, so as to achieve the instrumental and humanistic goal through foreign language teaching.

Table 2

Statistical results of questionnaire survey

Cross-cultural competence is a practical ability with the dynamic and developmental feature, which is closely linked with practice and through a variety of ways of interactive communication. To accumulate Chinese and foreign knowledge, teachers and students should interact more in-class and after-class tasks. What's more, it is suggested that students take advantage of various opportunities to communicate online and offline with native English speakers. Teachers should organize students to practice more, such as participating in foreign teachers' teaching, online courses, English debate, English corner and second class activities, watching English movies, and using direct or indirect communication practice to enhance their cross-cultural competence. Obviously, cross-cultural competence training and development can not be achieved overnight. It needs long-term practical teaching and reflection, and continuous improvement. Hu Wenzhong (2013) pointed out that developing cross-cultural competence is a complex and long-term process, which can not be achieved only through lectures, but also requires extracurricular cooperation, including studying or working abroad.

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