An Investigation On The Mediating Effect Of Senior High School Students' Cultural Self-confidence In The Relationship Between Intercultural Sensitivity And English Achievement

The concept of cultural confidence is first put forward in The National English Curriculum Standard(2017).It's pointed out that teachers should not only help students deepen their understanding of cultural differences and strengthen their confidence of our national culture,but also help students improve their sensitivity to different cultures and have the ability of intercultural communication and dissemination of Chinese culture.As an affective factor of intercultural communicative competence,intercultural sensitivity can help students develop the ability to recognize cultural differences.With the method of literature and questionnaire survey,289 senior high school students from a school in Zhangzhou city are invited to participate in the survey.The study is designed to explore the following questions: Firstly,what is the general level of senior high school students' intercultural sensitivity and cultural confidence? Secondly,is there any correlation among senior high school students' intercultural sensitivity,English achievements and cultural confidence? Thirdly,does senior high school students' cultural confidence have a mediating effect between English achievements and intercultural sensitivity?Through statistical analysis and structural equation modeling,the conclusions are as follows: firstly,the level of senior high school students' intercultural sensitivity and cultural confidence are not very high,which are at a medium level.And among five dimensions,respect for cultural difference is at a relatively high level(m=3.6522),and the order of other factors is: interaction engagement(m=3.2916),interaction enjoyment(m=3.2618),interaction attentiveness(m=3.2007)and interaction confidence(m=3.0620),all of which are at a moderately level.Secondly,there is correlation among senior high school students' intercultural sensitivity,English achievements and cultural confidence.Senior high school students' English achievements((R=0.528,P<0.05))and cultural confidence(R=0.273,P<0.05)can both positively predict students' intercultural sensitivity.This shows that to a certain extent the higher the students' cultural self-confidence or English achievement,thehigher the level of intercultural sensitivity.English achievements(R=0.133,P<0.05)can also positively predict students' cultural confidence.This shows that the higher the students' English achievement,the higher the level of cultural confidence.Thirdly,the direct effect of English achievement on intercultural sensitivity is 0.221,and the final total effect of English achievement on it is 0.318 when the mediating variable of cultural confidence is added.It shows that cultural confidence plays a part of mediating role in the relationship between English achievement and intercultural sensitivity,that is,when the mediating variable of cultural confidence is added,the influence of English achievement on intercultural sensitivity increases.Based on the above results,combining the current situations of culture teaching,the author puts forward some corresponding suggestions.