An Empirical Study Of The Influence Of Film Teaching On English-Majors' Intercultural Sensitivity

Contemporary English teaching does not mainly focus on the language knowledge,such as words,grammar,and sentences,but also speaks highly of the communication skills,especially intercultural communication skills,namely,intercultural communication competence(ICC),which has become a hot topic in ELT area.ICC is composed of cognitive aspect,affective aspect and behavioral one.As an important affective component of ICC,intercultural sensitivity(ICS)plays a fairly crucial role in successful and pleasant intercultural communication.Jing Li(2004)sampled 112 non-English majors in China with the Inventory of Cross-Cultural Sensitivity invented by Cusher and showed that there was a positive correlation between ICS and ICC.Peng Shiyong(2006)proved that ICC and ICS was positively correlated.Some scholars also discussed the importance of the cognitive and behavioral aspects(quote Xu Guobin,2009).Hammer,Bennett,& Wiseman(2003)consider intercultural sensitivity(ICS),as the ability to discriminate and experience relevant cultural differences,is the very foundation of ICS,or even synonymous with it(quote Hammer 2011).Obviously,there is a significant relationship between ICS and ICC.Many scholars has devoted themselves to improving ICS.It is a pity that the experimental researches are far from enough.Based on the predecessors' studies,referring to Constructivism,the author utilizes Hoftede's Cultural Value Theory and seven films as teaching materials,Cheng Guoming and Starosta's Intercultural Sensitivity Scale as measuring tool,aiming to explore the impact of film teaching on participants' intercultural sensitivity.The research is made up of 68 English majors from a university.Both of the experimental group and the control group are 34 students,and the experimental group experience nine-week film teaching.The statistical data is analyzed by the independent samples T-test,using SPSS 20.0.In addition,the face-to-face interview is designed and carried out after the film teaching.Qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis are combined to exploit the effect of the research thoroughly and exhaustively.The major findings suggest that film teaching indeed plays a significant role in the improvement of participants' intercultural sensitivity.The effect particularly exists in the Interaction Engagement,Respect for Cultural Difference as well as Interaction Attentiveness,whereas it is a pity that it fails to exert influence at the Interaction Confidence and Interaction Enjoyment levels.The results may be caused by the following reasons: firstly,the experiment lasts for only nine weeks,which contributes to the inefficiency and ineffectiveness for the Interaction Confidence and Interaction Enjoyment levels,thus long-term research may be favorable and sensible.Secondly,the experiment lacks an atmosphere of communicating with native-speakers on campus,especially in the northwest of China.Thirdly,some students still hold negative attitude towards English teaching.Furthermore,positive reaction to the post-test face-to-face interview manifests students' appraise and significant progression concerning film teaching.This study intends to provide referential model practically and theoretically for future study on ELT.What's more,it also gives some feasible suggestions on foreign language teaching.