The Communicative Teaching Approach within Intercultural Framework

Author(s)

Cheng-Ming Chung

Abstract

This paper shows a couple of discoveries in an intermediate CFL course of listening and speaking based on communicative teaching approach within the intercultural framework.Teaching Mandarin Chinese as Foreign Language (TCFL) has lacked intercultural elements until present. Even though this issue has been addressed in recent years, there is still not enough research on intercultural teaching in Mandarin. Researchers define “culture” in different ways.For instance, Culture has been divided into “knowledge culture” and “communication culture” (Zhang, 1984; Zhou, 1997; Fang, 2010). Therefore, in this study, “intercultural communication” is defined as “communication culture” which consists of “Cross-Cultural Communication (CCC)“ and “Intercultural Communication (ICC)” (Gudykunst, 2003).The research method is based on a Semi-structured questionnaire. The participants are 16 3rd year students of an intermediate CFL course(2016W) in the department of Sinology at the University of Vienna. The researcher designed 12 intercultural classes with 6 topics such as customs, etiquette, health concept, education between the young and old generation, environmental protection and politics. In class, the teacher encouraged the students to compare Chinese culture and students’ own culture through various conversation questions. Inthe midterm assessment, the CCC competence was tested; in the final exam, the ICC competence was tested. In the end of course, the students were required to fill out a questionnaire with an open question in the end. The results are promising. The participants think their language skill and intercultural communicative competence have been enhanced. From these positive feedback, the researcher has launched a doctoral dissertation plan for future research.

Note: The 14 survey participants of the intermediate CFL course(2016W) have agreed with the research participation consent and given the authority to researcher to use the data anonymously.

Organisation(s)

Department of East Asian Studies

Pages

650-658

No. of pages

9

Publication date

12-2017

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

602007 Applied linguistics

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Language and Linguistics

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/4def1143-0cb2-4cfa-91a4-cc58eb427fd5