An Empirical Exploration Of The Intercultural Sensitivity Of English Majors

This study has empirically explored the intercultural sensitivity of a sample of Englishmajor students. The purpose of the exploration was to assess the research respondents’intercultural sensitivity, to investigate the relationship between some selected variables andintercultural sensitivity, and to examine the differences between students of a high level ofintercultural sensitivity and students of a low level of intercultural sensitivity in terms ofculture learning.The explanatory design of the mixed research method was adopted for the study. In thefirst phase, Chen and Starosta’s Intercultural Sensitivity scale and a7-item self-formulatedquestionnaire were employed in a survey. The questionnaire survey was conducted with130senior English majors in a Chinese university to measure the respondents’ interculturalsensitivity and gather the information needed to determine whether some selected variableswere associated with that level of intercultural sensitivity. In the second phase, in-depthinterviews were carried out with10students of a low level of intercultural sensitivity and10students of a high level of intercultural sensitivity to examine their differences in culturelearning.Based on statistical analysis of121valid questionnaires, it was found that English majorstudents in the present study acquired an upper-intermediate level of interculturalsensitivity. Among five factors of the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale, the researchrespondents exhibited a very high level of respect for cultural differences. However, it wasfound that their level of interaction confidence was relatively low. Besides, the quantitativedata also demonstrated that participation in foreign language-related extracurricular activities, communication with foreigners, future career plans, and English languageproficiency were factors influencing the respondents’intercultural sensitivity. According tothe findings of the second phase of the study, students of the high intercultural sensitivitygroup and students from the low intercultural sensitivity group were different in their beliefin culture learning, strategies in culture learning, international experience, and motivationin learning about culture.The findings of this study had a number of important implications for the development ofstudents’ intercultural sensitivity. The implications for learning and teaching were given toprovide suggestions on how students’ intercultural sensitivity could be developedeffectively.