Developing Learner's Intercultural Communicative Competence In Middle School English Teaching

With the globalization of world economy and the popularization of the international exchange, China is in desperate need of people who are familiar with foreign cultures and capable of communicating accurately and appropriately in intercultural situation. This is a new challenge in middle school English teaching. According to the new national course standards for English learning, foreign language education is no longer a simple language-learning program. The aim of foreign language learning includes"cultural knowledge","culture understanding or comprehension"as well as the insight and ability of using a foreign language. The English course standards for primary and secondary schools in Shanghai also indicate that the English course should lay a good foundation for developing the students'communicative competence in a multicultural background. Therefore, it has been a new objective in middle school English teaching to develop the learner's intercultural communicative competence.Drawing on the English teaching experience of Shanghai Foreign Language School, the author began the research on developing the students'intercultural communicative competence among the Junior Two students, towards which six feasible approaches are adopted: selecting proper teaching materials; increasing the input of cultural knowledge by the full use of multi-media and Internet resources; organizing proper activities leading to cultural-oriented learning; making comparisons between different cultures; digging into the core of culture; strengthening extracurricular English activities, thus fostering the students'positive attitudes towards the target culture, developing their cultural knowledge, skills as well as critical awareness and enabling them to communicate appropriately in an intercultural situation.The author also points out that the frequent exchange programs in SFLS should be arranged as part of the English curriculum, which can not only make the students take full advantage of them to practice and develop their intercultural communicative competence but also push forward the construction of the English curriculum in SFLS.