| With the continuous advancement of globalization and cultural integration,exchanges across national and cultural boundaries have become increasingly frequent.Therefore,Intercultural Communicative Competence(ICC)has become increasingly important.ICC is a requisite ability for individuals,organizations and countries in the globalized era,and it has been paid high attention by international organizations,governments and academic circles at home and abroad.In addition,Intercultural Sensitivity(ICS)is an important component of ICC,and it is one of the starting points and necessary conditions for improving it.Hence,the focus has been on how to scientifically assess and cultivate ICS in order to improve ICC.Foreign Language Teaching(FLT),cultural courses in university foreign language education particularly,is of great significance to college students’ ICS and ICC.However,there have been relatively few studies on the impact of cultural curriculum on learners’ ICS at home and abroad so far.In addition,empirical research at home and abroad rarely focused on how to conduct cultural teaching to increase ICS and thus improve ICC.Based on this,the current study has reviewed the previous research,adopting qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct the impact of culture-oriented courses on the students’ ICS.This experiment was based on the theory proposed by Chen and Starosta,and used their scale,ISS,as the assessment tool of the experiment.Taking 43 students from a department of Jilin University as subjects,the researcher assessed and analyzed their levels of ICS before the class,Major English-Speaking Countries: A Survey in 2020,and after the class.Besides,the interview related with this questionnaire was conducted,aimed for studying the reasons of the change of five factors and the implications of culture teaching.The research questions of this study are:(1)Will the learners’ ICS be changed after they take the culture teaching course? If yes,what are the specific changes in terms of the five factors of ICS?(2)According to the students,what has caused the changes in their ICS with respect to the culture teaching course they have taken?(3)How can culture teaching be better facilitated to promote ICC from the perspective of ICS?The findings of this study are as follows:(1)The level of the students’ ICS was at the moderate level before they took the culture-oriented course.After taking the course,their ICS level has improved significantly.The level of Respect for Cultural Difference has increased the most,the Interaction Confidence increased the least,and the Interaction Enjoyment was not improved.(2)The textbook of Major English-Speaking Countries: A Survey includes foreign cultures,social customs and geography,which contribute to the significant increase in the level of students’ ICS.Plus,the ICS increase was also caused by the comparison between different cultures taught by the teacher in the cultural curriculum.However,the lack of intercultural interaction has led to almost no improvement in students’ Interaction Confidence and Interaction Enjoyment.(3)Through multimedia tools,teachers will motivate students to learn different cultures.Besides,it also helps students better understand intercultural contents,therefore increase their Interaction Confidence and improve Interaction Enjoyment further.Based on these findings,this study proposes the following implications:(1)For students,increasing intercultural interaction is the key to the improvement of ICS and ICC.Therefore,it should be widely valued by FTL in China.(2)For culture-oriented courses,the comparison of different cultures should be further enriched,in order to better improve students’ Respect for Cultural Difference and therefore their Interaction Confidence.(3)Improving ICS and ICC eventually relies on the reform of FTL,which requires improvement of policy,textbooks and foreign language examinations. |
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