Effects Of Intercultural Interaction Experiences And Reflection On Intercultural Competence Of Chinese College Students

With the increasingly frequent exchanges between China and other countries,the demand for higher talents with intercultural competence is also increasing.College English Teaching Guide(2020 Edition)proposed that developing Chinese college students’ IC is an important content of college English teaching.However,how to effectively develop IC among college students is still a research topic to be answered in the current study of college English education and IC.Based on this,this study adopted Kolb’s(2015)experiential learning as a theoretical basis,selected 68 non-English major undergraduates who attended the course “Overseas Study and Intercultural Communication” as subjects,and randomly divided them into control group(33students)and experimental group(35 students).The university where the subjects were located had a high degree of cultural diversity and more international students.In the first and eleventh weeks of the course,the questionnaire of intercultural competence of Chinese college students was administered as the measurement tool to conduct the pre-test and post-test of IC respectively and track the development of IC of the two groups.Within 11 weeks of course teaching,two groups received the same classroom teaching.However,from the second week to the tenth week,the experimental group received intervention to interact with international students face-to-face no less than once a week and then write Autobiography of Intercultural Encounters every three weeks.The purpose of the experiment is to compare the development of IC between the two groups through pedagogical intervention,and to explore the value of structured reflection through AIE in the development of IC.Specifically answer the following questions:(1)compared with the control group,whether IC of the experimental group receiving pedagogical intervention has improved?(2)If so,what are the changes in the components of IC in AIE?(3)Under this kind of pedagogical intervention,what is the characteristic of students’ IC development?The results showed that:(1)although the mean values of IC of the control group before and after class has increased,there is no significant difference.Compared with the control group,IC of the experimental group receiving pedagogical intervention has significantly improved in both the overall level and each sub-dimension.(2)The content analysis results of 105 copies of AIE of the experimental group provide specific qualitative data for the development of students’ IC.The basis for the development of IC components is found in the dimensions of knowledge of Self,knowledge of Others,attitudes towards international students,intercultural communicative skills,intercultural cognitive skills,intercultural awareness and emotions.(3)Under this pedagogical intervention,the development of IC is a dynamic process,and students go through four stages of intercultural interaction experiences,reflection,abstract thinking and action.The significance of this thesis involves: 1)at the theoretical level,this study examined the positive impact of classroom teaching supplemented by the pedagogical intervention on enhancing Chinese college students’ IC,verified the effectiveness of intercultural interaction experiences and AIE on IC development,and enriched the experiential teaching model of IC development.2)At the practical level,this study advocated the integration of intercultural interaction experiences and autobiographical reflection into teaching,offered empirical data for intercultural teaching and IC development,and provided a teaching reference for more effectively improving college students’ IC.