The Correlation Between Intercultural Sensitivity And Junior Middle School Students' Acquisition Of English Culture-loaded Vocabulary

The ultimate goal of English teaching is to enable learners to complete communication in a globalized society successfully,namely to develop students' intercultural communicative competence.Language is the carrier of culture.Compared with grammar and sentence structure,vocabulary is the basic unit of language which is loaded with cultural information.Therefore,we can conclude that students' ability to grasp the cultural meaning of vocabulary plays an important role in their acquisition of culture.Previous researches rarely focused on the relationship between intercultural sensitivity and culture-loaded English words,and the subject of studies often focused on the contrast among overseas students or on college students for they all have more chances to contact with foreign cultures.In addition to some basic vocabulary,the English curriculum standards for compulsory education put forward the requirements of cultivating junior high school students' intercultural communicative competence and cultural awareness.Therefore,how to promote junior high school students to effectively grasp cultural loaded vocabulary is very important.According to the conceptual system of intercultural communication competence,this research focuses on the affective factors of intercultural communication competence---Intercultural Sensitivity.As an important part of intercultural communicative competence,intercultural sensitivity is essential for the effective acquisition of culture-loaded vocabulary.This study answered the research questions proposed by the author: What is the actual situation of junior middle school students' intercultural sensitivity? What is the actual situation of junior middle school students' acquisition of culture-loaded English words? What is the relation between junior middle school students' intercultural sensitivity and acquisition of culture-loaded English words? In the research,292 students in Hefei No.30 Middle School are selected.They are from Grade Three and were randomly chosen from ten classes.During the process of research,300 questionnaires tested for intercultural sensitivity and vocabulary test papers for culturally loaded English words were handed out in the students' regular English class time.With the help of analysis software SPSS 22.0,aseries of statistical data can be analyzed.The results of this research show that most students have a middle level of intercultural sensitivity while the result of culture-loaded vocabulary test is not satisfactory.According to Pearson's correlation analysis,intercultural sensitivity has a positive correlation on the acquisition of culture-loaded vocabulary.Students who have a higher level of intercultural sensitivity are indicated to own a better performance in cultural-loaded English words learning.According to the data of this survey,we can find it necessary for both English teachers and students to improve the education of culturally loaded words.Therefore,the author described the enlightenment on foreign language teaching and corresponding teaching suggestions in order to improve students' learning of culturally loaded words by the development of intercultural sensitivity.