On Gender Differences In English-Chinese Cross-cultural Communication

As an important aspect of cross-cultural communication, gender factors are paid more attention in research. As the main communicative part, people are classified into "men" and "women" according to gender. While, in verbal and nonverbal communication, men and women must show different features. Just because of the existence and the effects of these differences, cross-cultural communication is more personalized and varied, and communication activities thus become colorful. However, if these factors are neglected, misunderstandings will destroy communication. Hence communications cannot go on wheels. By a comparative study between English and Chinese language, this thesis analyzes concrete representations of gender differences in verbal and nonverbal communication, and discusses the effects of these differences on cross-cultural communication.In foreign language teaching, teachers should not only impart language knowledge but also should pay attention to cultural background. The basic aim of foreign language teaching is to cultivate students' communicative competence. The fully understanding of gender differences in cross-cultural communication devotes referential and practical significances to both foreign language teaching and the cultivation of students' cross-cultural communicative competence.