An Intercultural Course Design For TCM International Exchange Students

Intercultural Training (ICT), distinguished from other types of training, is exclusively aimed at improving communication and work efficiency in a cross-cultural context. Intercultural Education (ICE) is a highly specialized form of instruction designed to prepare people to live and work effectively in cultures other than their own. As one of the biggest residents in the increasingly globalized village, China is inevitably more and more internationally involved, which is also reflected in the international recognition of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). To well adapt to the trend of internationalization, it is highly focused on the cultivation of foreign-oriented TCM talents. Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SUTCM) is a case in point. In recent years, SUTCM has launched a number of joint programs with foreign universities, in which some Chinese students will be sent abroad as exchange students.Are these TCM international exchange students interculturally prepared for their study in a foreign country? Is it necessary to offer an intercultural course to help them maximize their study experience abroad? What kind of intercultural course suits their needs? These are the questions that this thesis intends to address.The purpose of this thesis is to develop an intercultural course framework for the TCM international exchange students participating in the cooperative programs. It begins with an introduction of the foundational theories of ICT and ICE, including the typology of ICT, popular training models, and the concept of intercultural competence which works as the yardstick to control the quality of the course design. The third section examines course designing theories and procedures with a view to providing theoretical support for the development of an intercultural communication course. In the third chapter, the author investigates the current situation of SUTCM's international programs and students'intercultural competence by means of questionnaires and interviews. Based on the theoretical support and needs analysis, the course is designed in light of the factors about teaching methods and content. The fourth chapter is devoted to the development of the intercultural course, including the course objectives, requirements, grading policy, contents and schedule. Then the author applies one unit of the course to a group of international exchange students for the purpose of evaluating and modifying the course design. The last part concludes the thesis, stresses the application aim of the study and points out its limitations and the directions for future studies.