Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Competence in Foreign Language Teaching in China: Practice and Challenges
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2024
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In today’s globalized world, connections between individuals from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds have grown significantly, necessitating deeper understanding and competence in intercultural communication. This development has sparked substantial academic interest, emphasizing the need for learners to acquire not only the grammar, vocabulary, and other basic language skills such as listening, speaking, reading, and writing of the target language but also intercultural competence to achieve true success in foreign language learning. Despite decades of research into intercultural competence within foreign language teaching (FLT), outcomes have often fallen short of expectations, particularly in developing countries such as China, where there is an urgent and huge demand for foreign language and foreign affairs talents that are interculturally competent. It is crucial for language courses in Chinese higher education to effectively develop students’ abilities in intercultural communication. This study aims first to explore the FLT policies, curricula, syllabuses, teaching materials and pedagogies in Chinese tertiary education to map out the history and current status of intercultural competence teaching and assessment and identify major problems and challenges. Following this, it seeks to offer targeted recommendations to enhance policy, pedagogy, and notably, assessment practices to improve the teaching and assessment of intercultural competence.
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