Brief analysis of developing the intercultural communicative competence in secondary vocational Business English teaching

Lin+Chao

【Abstract】With the rapid progress of economic globalization tide， English teaching in secondary vocational school is no longer limit to basic proficiency in listening， speaking， reading and writing. To cultivate high qualified talents， Inter-cultural communication， as a proficiency skill in English learning， becomes the key point of Business English teaching. Language is the major medium of cultural transmission. So Business English teaching should be covered with cultural education and language skills. Teachers should pay more attention to the cultivation of communicative ability which can help students apply the languages properly.

【Key words】Intercultural communicative competence； Business English teaching

1. The concept of Inter-cultural communication

Inter-cultural communication is a communication between the native speakers and non-native speakers. Since different nationalities live in different culture， environment and customs， different languages produce different language habits. During the communication， people are used to comprehending other languages because of their inherent habits. It may cause misunderstanding or contradiction. By studying Inter-cultural communication， students can pay more attention to the difference between Chinese and foreign languages. Also， they can learn to know how to deal with foreigners properly， decently and politely.

Improving students ability of intercultural communication is the core training objectives of the Business English major. As the secondary vocational school students， Inter-cultural communication will encourage them to understand the business communication in diverse perspectives.

2. Application of Inter-cultural communication in Vocational Business English teaching

As we know， most of the vocational students have a vague impression of foreign customs and etiquette. At present， most of the Business English teaching methods in vocational school separate the English learning and business knowledge. The traditional teaching modes only focus on language learning. Most of the Inter-cultural communication in English teaching are placed emphasis on several aspects as below.

2.1 Salutation

Therere quite different between China and other countries in salutation. In China， causal chatting always begins like， “Wherere you going” or “Have you had lunch”. Chinese think these kinds of salutation show their hospitable， while foreigners think them as gossip. In most of the western countries， people always begin their chatting by talking about the weather or just say hi.

2.2 Privacy

We can easily find some dialogues like “How old are you？” or “How many members are there in your family？” in some English books. In China， conversation may refer to the privacy. Chinese treat it as a way of enhancing friendship and understanding. But in foreign countries， age， salary， marriage， religion， state of health and so on are considered as privacy. In foreign countries， people show great respect to ones privacy.

2.3 Idiom and slang

As we know， idiom and slang are always local and colloquial. Moreover， some of the idiom and slang have little or none relevant to literal meaning. For example， “Youre a lucky dog” means “Youre lucky” in English. In foreign countries， dog represents a loyal friend of human. However， in Chinese， dog always has negative connotation.

2.4 Knowledge of politics， economics， and business culture in foreign countries

Because of the diversified social culture， different political institution and economics background， people have variant cognition and comprehend in different things， which make the business negotiations become more complicated. Most of the foreigners are accustomed to planning schedule， and they will stick to their schedule. If youre in German， Germany will ask you to arrive ahead of the meeting. But if Malaysian tells they will be late for five minutes， it means that， they will be late for an hour. In some countries， being late is acceptable， and you dont need to apologize for being late.

3. The development of Inter-cultural communication in Vocational Business English teaching

Here we will take some examples to show how to achieve the goal of teaching covered with cultural education and language skills. In the book of “English” （Basic module 3， Version No.2）， published by Higher Education Press， Unit 1， “He decided to have a big Christmas party” will be taken as an example in the following.

3.1 Set up Pre-class tasks

Students are supposed to preview the content of this unit. According to the subject of this unit， teachers can assign some pre-class tasks to the students. Take “Festival” as an example， students can collect some material about “Festival”， and find out the difference between Chinese and Western. By previewing before the class， students can have a better understanding of “Festival”， and their interest of learning will be stimulated. Furthermore， students can learn to study knowledge actively and consciously.

3.2 Extend and contrast the teaching material

Teachers can add more Inter-cultural knowledge in class. For example， when were talking about the festival or some foreign culture， we can contrast the difference between Chinese and Western so that students can deepen their understanding of foreign cultural background. Students can share what theyve learned about the festival with classmates in class.

3.3 Build business situation

What we did above is to help students learn about the knowledge better and wider their horizon. Because of these， we can create some business tasks and ask students to finish the business practice. For example， youre a new clerk of a trade company， and youre asked to select a gift to your customer Tomas for appreciating his great help and support. Teachers can set a situation， ask students to finish the tasks and have a presentation in class.

3.4 Summarize topics

After the pre-class tasks， situational practice， and presentation， teachers should summarize and emphasize the key parts and difficult points of this lesson or this topic. At the same time， students should pay more attention to etiquette during the inter-cultural communication. For instance， when youre doing business with foreign customers， youd better know how to greet and shake hands， how to give and receive name cards and so no.

4. Conclusion

Mr Wang Zuoliang， a well-known English professor， once said that， “No one can master language if you dont comprehend the culture in the language”. Language is a carrier of communication. The aim of secondary vocational Business English teaching is to develop students language application competence， so that they can communicate with different people with different cultural background properly. Only in these ways can improve students English application competence and link the theory with practice. Having a competence of intercultural communication， students can be more competitive in job market and have further self-development.

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