The discursive relationship between intercultural communication and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages （TESOL）

【Abstract】The prevalence of intercultural communication across the globe gives rise to the emergence of the notion of ‘World Englishes. In order to shape a mutual understanding between people from different cultural backgrounds and promote international cooperation sequentially， TESOL teachers are faced with numerous opportunities and challenges simultaneously in the contemporary age.

【Key words】intercultural communication； World Englishes； English language teaching

Intercultural communication refers to interpersonal interaction between people from a diversity of cultural backgrounds （OToole， 1994）. And English provides one of the most ideal medium for such interpersonal interaction. However， one language does not simply consist of lexico-grammatical patterns； instead， it embodies significant cultural and social values， according to Crystal （2007）. Differentiated cultural and social values belonging to first language （L1） would inevitably pose challenges to individuals second language acquisition （SLA）. Thus， as Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages （TESOL） teachers， we should continually prioritize the teaching responsibility of helping learners overcome difficulties related to cultural differences in their progress to achieve sound English competences. This thesis aims to represent learners majors challenges interlinked with cultural norms in listening， reading， speaking and writing sections and provide suggested solutions respectively， drawn from my own teaching experiences in China.

Listening

Listening as a goal-oriented activity， involves both ‘bottom-up processing and ‘top-down processing （Nunan & Carter， 2001）. In terms of Chinese students， listening tasks account as a major challenge for them because methodologies of second language teaching （including English language teaching） in China center on the development of reading and writing skills mainly. Such kind of bias not only lies in the priority of formal grammar in Chinas education system； but also， more basically， results from strong uncertainty avoidance in Chinese culture. According to OShaughnessy and Stadler （2005）， uncertainty avoidance refers to the extent to which members of one society are anxious about the unknown and attempt to cope with anxiety by minimizing anxiety.

To relieve such anxiety， teachers should continually set listening tasks in the classroom throughout the entire learning process. The more practices students take， the stronger sense of speech tones， mood and stress towards the second language they would own. And more essentially， we should prioritize the task-based learning （TBL） approach and place textual analysis in the second place. In other words， ahead of interpreting each lexico-grammatical pattern， we should utilize tasks （such as， ‘what item Joe offers Susan in the school？） to drive students to discover and comprehend certain details of the whole listening text. For most students， seeking out details such as form-filling cloze or multiple choices is as much interesting as exploring treasures.

Reading

Reading， as Davies （1995） claims， is concerned with the ability to decode words and with particular skills judged to be prerequisite to fluent， independent reading. As is known to all， decoding each word is essential to appreciate the whole text； however， in many Asian countries such as China， what is forgotten by many TESOL teachers are those ‘particular skills or called contextual analysis. According to Nuttall （1996）， contextual analysis means a particular kind of reading strategy， the one in which readers comprehend strange lexises or phrases and complex sentences via the implication of contextuality and logical deduction. However， in the context of Chinese culture， new knowledge and complex questions should be totally taught and resolved by teachers and students should follow teachers steps exactly. Therefore， TESOL teachers who face learners from different kinds of cultural backgrounds， have the responsibilities of teaching students how to overcome cultural difference and adopt the mode of independent self-determination. Thus， contextual analysis should be initially delivered in the early stage of TESOL classrooms and conducted completely by learners themselves in the following.

Writing

As the widely-known most difficult part of English language learning， writing requires students to master both basic grammar knowledge and fundamental academic expressions. Grammar knowledge， on one hand， is well delivered to students and carefully constructed in learners minds in many countries of which official language is not English. Nevertheless， the teaching of academic expressions is quite scarce in many English lessons. For example， due to the direct influence of Chinese （both Mandarin and Cantonese）， most Chinese students would express their own ideas and meanings in an euphemistic way. In fact， direct expressions such as topic sentences at the beginning of each body paragraph， is fairly crucial in English writing tasks （Hamp-Lyons， 1991）.

Besides， due to high power distance in China， Chinese students are lacking of creative ideas always. Thus， with the aim of helping students overcome writing difficulties， firing students creativity and directly delivering lexical chunks to them would be ideal learning strategies to be utilized by TESOL teachers.

Speaking

A number of English-as-Second-Language （ESL） learners are much less willing to practice speaking compared to listening， reading and writing tasks. The reasons lie in Hofstedes theory of power distance and uncertainty avoidance （cited in Schneider， 2005）， as detailed above. In addition， students who live in the context of collectivism， for example， Chinese ones， are afraid of standing alone and making a speech independently. In order to help students overcome their verbal difficulties and psychological obstacles， we should offer students continual praise and mainly focus on content rather than lexico-grammatical errors during communicative tasks.

In conclusion， as Gumperz （1982） claims， one major duty of TESOL teachers is to deliver cultural and social values bounded with English language to students with diverse cultural backgrounds and meanwhile， to give respect to their own cultural identity. Thus， TESOL teachers should tailor their teaching strategies and syllabuses based on their target audiences and hence make contribution to the development of world Englishes.

References：

[1]Crystal，D 2007，How language works，Penguin books，Australia.

[2]Nunan，D & Carter，R 2001，The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages，Cambridge University Press，New York.

[3]OToole，M 1994，Semiotics at work in The language of Displayed Art.London，Leicester University Press，London.

作者簡介： 趙陽（1991.10-）， 男， 江西南昌人， 出版專業(yè)專任教師， 初級職稱， 碩士研究生，研究方向： 媒體與文化學(xué)， 新媒體用戶分析， 應(yīng)用語言學(xué)等。