Alternatively, choose a specific textbook of English and show how you can cultivate your learners’ knowledge of intercultural communication - cultural differences and improve their inter
Trang 1TIỂU LUẬN MÔN: GIAO THOA VĂN HÓA
Topic
Write an essay of about 300-3500 words, suggesting what Vietnamese teachers of EFL should
do to improve EFL Vietnamese learners’ intercultural competence
Alternatively, choose a specific textbook of English and show how you can cultivate your
learners’ knowledge of intercultural communication - cultural differences and improve their intercultural competence with that textbook
BÀI LÀM
Abstract
Intercultural communication is the product of the interact between people with different
backgrounds, and in the modern world, with the fast development of transportation and
information transformation, intercultural communication become and will become the necessary part in the life of human being For reducing the problems and conflicts in the intercultural communication, we should become intercultural communication competence
In this essay, we have discussion about the definition of intercultural communication, cross-cultural communication impact factors And then, give some problems in cross-culture
communication and suggestions for improving intercultural communication, so that we can become intercultural communication competence, and have effective intercultural communication with others
How to improve the intercultural communication
1 Introduction
In cross-cultural communication, people from different cultural backgrounds who even overcome the natural barriers of language difference often fail to understand or to be understood The problems are not due to any inability to hear them or understand their words There exist culture differences Cultural differences are seen as the main reason of cross-cultural conflicts And if we are unaware of the significant role culture plays in communication, it may cause the pragmatic problems Pragmatic problems which arise due to culture differences is an area of cross-cultural communication breakdown Pragmatic failure can be divided into pragmalinguistic failure and sociopragmatic failure Pragmalinguistic failure is simply a question of highly conventionalized usage which can be taught straightforwardly as part of the grammar It is fairly easy to overcome
it And sociopragmatic failure is much more difficult to deal with, since it involves the student’s system of beliefs as much as their knowledge of the language So English learners should acquire pragmatic competence and refine student’s awareness to become a better
communicator
2.Culture and communication
2.1The relationship of culture and communication
Culture and communication, although two different concepts, are directly linked Whenever people interact they communicate To live in societies and to maintain their culture they have to communicate Culture is learned, acted out, transmitted and preserved through communication Communication our ability to share our ideas and feelings is the basis of all human contact Whether we live in a city in Canada, a village in India, or the jungles of Brazil, we all participate in the same activity when we communicate The results and the methods might be different, but the process is the same All five and a half billion of us communicate so that we can share our realities with other human beings Communication and culture are inseparable The way people communicate is the way they live It is their culture When the elements of communication differ
or change, the elements of culture differ or change
2.2 The importance of culture in communication
Because of cultural differences, misunderstandings may arise in communication, although the
Trang 2language used in communication may be faultless The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to different peoples Because of cultural differences, jokes by a foreign speaker may be received with blank faces and stony silence Yet the same stories in the
speaker’s own country would leave audiences holding their sides with laughter With difference in cultures, difficulties often arise in communication between cultures and across cultures
Understanding is not always easy We should learn the ways in which native speaker’s language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society Learning a language is inseparable from learning its culture
3.Cross-cultural communication
Although all cultures use symbols to share their realities, the symbols employed are often quite different In one culture you smile in a casual manner as a form of greeting, whereas in another you formally in silence, and in yet another you acknowledge your friend with a full embrace Communication becomes even more complex when we add cultural dimensions Having
developed the relationship between culture and communication, we are now ready to discuss the study of cross-cultural communication
The term “cross-cultural” as a shorthand way of describing not just native -non-native
interactions, but any communication between two people who, in any particular domain, do not share a common linguistic or cultural background This might include workers, management, members of ethnic minorities and the police In its most general sense, cross-cultural
communication refers to a communication between people from different cultures It implies a comparison between cultures It occurs when a member of one culture produces a message for consumption by a member of another culture More precisely, Samovar (1994:19) claims that cross-cultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and