The Possibility Of Using American Drama To Improve Intercultural Competence Of Chinese English Learners

This thesis studies the importance and advantages of using American TV seriesand movies as a cultural teaching tool, for advanced English learners in China andhelp them improving their intercultural communication competence. As the importantculture carriers, movies and TV series show the audience a rich cultural background ofAmerica. It’s assumed that by being exposed to the original cultural material ofAmerican TV programs and movies the Chinese audience could have a betterunderstanding of American cultural values and behaviors. The author tries to interpretthe possible functions of TV series as a cultural teaching tool. In exploring theAmerican cultural values embedded in Friends, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions areemployed. The American cultural characteristics have been identified in Friends, suchas individualism, masculinity, low uncertainty avoidance, and low power distance. Theauthor recommends that the value and potential of American movies and TV series asa cultural teaching tool should be exploited for intercultural communication study andalso English language study. Although there are many inadequacies in this paper, it isexpected to “throw out a minnow to catch a whale” in the future...