A Study On Improving Students' Intercultural Communicative Competence In High School English Reading Class

With the rapid development of economy and society, intercultural communication becomes more frequent than ever. In the process people are aware that successful communication can only be guaranteed when they combine good use of English with proper understanding of the culture. Thus in the past several decades, a series of researches on the relationships among language, culture, communication and teaching etc. have been done both home and abroad. In China, the Ministry of Education promulgated the English Curriculum Standard for Senior High School (experimentation) in 2003, in which "cultural awareness and ability" was for the first time considered as one of the ultimate curriculum goals. Therefore, the study of how to implement cultural instruction and to cultivate students'intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in EFL class in senior high school has become a critical task of reform in senior high school.The thesis attempts to explore the current ICC proficiency of senior high school students and the strategies to improve students'ICC. It employs a quantitative design and qualitative design. The qualitative design includes one ICC test and two questionnaires, aiming to test students'general culture knowledge, cultural awareness, command of etiquette behaviors and understanding of cultural differences. The qualitative design, an interview, aims to find out the reasons of students'low ICC proficiency and the strategies.Based on the data collected, the study finds that although most teachers and students in China are interested in intercultural teaching, and have realized the significance of intercultural communication, students'ICC is unsatisfying. There might be three reasons. First, the college exam system and limited classroom time compel teachers to focus on language points, neglecting culture content in teaching, at the same time, the students consider ICC equals high scores in English exams; second, teachers'ICC proficiency directly influences students'ICC proficiency; third, strategies are insufficient when teachers implement culture teaching. Based on the results and analysis, the study proposes some strategies of improving students ICC in high school English reading class and points out that enhancing the ICC of English teachers at senior high schools and English majors at normal universities is of great importance.