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LOGO
Perspectives of Developing Intercultural
Communicative Competence:
Research on ICC in China
Xu Lisheng
Zhejiang University
LOGO
Competence for intercultural communication has become one of the major research areas in intercultural communication studies.
In the past fifty years or so, competence for intercultural communication has been conceptualized in a variety of ways by scholars according to their individual theoretical orientation or specific sample being studied.
LOGO
The term “intercultural communicative
competence”, ICC for short, appears to
be more widely used than others.
In the Chinese context, ICC seems to be
very closely related to the notion of
“communicative competence” (CC)
proposed by Hymes (1972) and some
other scholars.
LOGO
To Hymes, the notion of competence
should be extended to include the „rules
of use‟ as well as the „rules of
grammar‟, and it should describe the
knowledge and ability of individuals for
appropriate language use in the
communicative events in which they
find themselves in any particular speech
community.
LOGO
Over time there has been a shift away from an agenda for looking into what is actually happening in a community regarding language use to an attempt to find out what one should acquire in learning a second or foreign language, a shift from how people in a particular culture use language to what elements comprise appropriate communication between the native speaker and the nonnative speaker.
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It is natural that the concept of CC has
been gradually transformed into the
concept of ICC, though much of the
research efforts have been centered
round language use in intercultural
communication.
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When these concepts were first
introduced into China in 1980s, it was
very well received by people involved
in foreign language teaching (FLT),
especially those who were anxious to
bring about some fundamental changes
in our practice of language education.
LOGO
But our understanding of ICC was rather
narrow in scope at the time. EFL teaching,
then, was aimed at developing the learner‟s
communicative competence so that they will
be able to interact freely with native speakers
of English in various social situations.
In fact, what scholars and teachers often
talked about was not really ICC, but culture-
specific CC.
Great emphasis was placed on cultural
acquisition in FLT.
LOGO
However, this has been questioned (Xu, 2000;
Xu & Wu, 2006).
Whose culture or whose CC (in other words,
appropriateness for language use) should the
learner acquire?
Equating cultural acquisition to acquisition of
just the culture of native target language
speakers is rather problematic, for it may have
an effect of reducing intercultural
communication to intracultural
communication.
It seems impossible and infeasible for cultural
acquisition to include all cultures that might be
involved in intercultural communication.
LOGO
Cultural acquisition must concentrate
on acquisition of appropriateness in
using the language. However, this
appropriateness cannot be simply
assumed as the appropriateness of the
language use by native speakers from
any particular cultural group. Instead it
should be contextually, and therefore
interculturally, defined.
LOGO
Emphasis has been given to
distinguishing between (culture-
specific) CC and ICC and calls for
developing ICC of our learners.
Though CC may be closely related to
ICC, but we have to recognize that
some components of CC are closely
related to ICC while others are not.
LOGO
Using Canale and Swain‟s model of
CC, it has been suggested (Xu, 2000)
that, unlike sociolinguistic and
discourse competences, strategic
component of CC is not culture-specific
and therefore will be an important part
of ICC.
In intercultural communication, where
there are more differences and less
shared knowledge between participants,
strategic competence often plays a
crucial role.
LOGO
By taking ICC as the ultimate goal and
the central link between intercultural
education and English language
teaching, some scholars (Song, 2003;
2008; 2009) further propose that three
competence dimensions build up ICC:
1. communicative competence in
one‟s first lingualculture (LC1),
2. communicative competence in the
foreign or second lingualcutlure (LC2),
3. transcultural competence, which is
developed on the basis of LC1 and LC2.
LOGO
To attain ICC, the foreign language
learner will have to develop
communicative competence in LC2
(CC2), built up through its interaction
with learner‟s already fairly developed
communicative competence in his/her
LC1 (CC1). The two communicative
competences influence each other, with
CC1 as the basis and frame of reference
for CC2, which in turn counteracts upon
the learner‟s established ways of using
his/her first language.
LOGO
Originally, the concept of ICC was
probably introduced by American
researchers interested in overseas
technical assistants and Peace Corps
volunteers half a century ago. Studies
on ICC in the United States have been
chiefly driven by practical needs such
as sending personnel abroad to perform
various tasks.
LOGO
Many researchers in the U.S.A. tend to define the interculturally and communicatively competent individual as having a particular set of personal characteristics (McCroskey, 1982; Pavitt & Haight, 1985; Spitzberg, 1983). This person is said to be able to establish an interpersonal relationship with a foreigner through an effective exchange of both verbal and nonverbal behaviors.
There has been a growing consensus on the conceptualization of ICC within the United States that ICC involves the knowledge, motivation, and skills to interact effectively and appropriately with members of different cultures.
LOGO
Instead of presenting ICC as a number of personal traits and characteristics, Jia (1997) holds a systemic view of ICC.
According to Jia, ICC consists of four systems of competence:
1. the system of basic communication competence, which includes verbal and nonverbal competence, cultural competence, interactional competence, and cognitive competence (description, interpretation, and evaluation);
2. the system of affective and relational competences, which includes affective competence (empathy) and relational competence;
LOGO
3. the episodic competence system (the
ability to comply with or deviate from the
norms of conventional communication
sequence for achieving specific goals in
particular context) ;
4. the strategic competence system ( the
ability to employ various communication
strategies to compensate for breakdowns in
communication due to limiting conditions in
actual situations or to insufficient verbal
competence to enhance the effectiveness of
communication).
LOGO
Jia‟s model can be seen as an effort to
integrate different approaches to ICC. This is
mainly based on those American views and
looks somewhat similar to the model for ICC
established by Spitzberg (2000), but Jia‟s
scope seems to be wider, for he also borrows
very much from the theories of
sociolinguitics, pragmatics, and applied
linguistics in his conceptualization of ICC.
LOGO
Gao (1999) finds that the American
approach to ICC has largely been
effectiveness-centered and such an
approach suffers from a number of
problems including a lack of integrated
system, overstress on outcome, and
priority of utilitarian values.
So she proposes a Tao-qi distinction
of ICC, drawing on Chinese
philosophical traditions.
LOGO
The Tao of ICC refers to the personal and
relational orientation of the communicating
subject; the qi of ICC refers to knowledge,
skills and effects of communication.
The literal meaning of Tao is “road” or
“way”. As the road or way has a direction,
the meaning of Tao is extended to “guiding
principle.” The literal meaning of qi is
“container”…. The extended meaning is
“tool” or “instrument” (Meaning of Words
and Characters).
LOGO
The Tao of interpersonal communication, including intercultural communication, is the communication subject‟s orientation of realizing his or her own potential through the understanding of other human beings. At this level of Tao, or the final state, various cultures demonstrate great consistency. What differs is the qi that manifests Tao, or that is used as means to reach Dao.
LOGO
Current researches view ICC as describable, dividable, and measurable entities.
The Tao of ICC is essentially beyond accurate linguistic description. In intercultural communication, those that can be accurately described by language reside at the level of qi.
Tao is more essential than qi, so for pedagogical purposes, the development of Tao has priority over that of qi. Focus should be put on basic personality orientation, rather than specific information, strategies and skills. Different ways of shaping ICC at qi level have been widely adopted in the West, yet cultivation of the Tao of ICC does not seem to have attained enough attention.
LOGO
Later, Gao (2002) goes further to call for
“going beyond cultures” which she considers
as more important than “going across
cultures” in ICC development.
“Going across” cultures and “going beyond”
cultures are taken as two levels of ICC, with
the former focusing on the increase of target
culture proficiency and the latter on the
gaining of cultural awareness and reflective,
tolerant attitudes. While “going across” has
been the major concern of FLT, “going
beyond” cultures should be considered more
important in pedagogical objective.
LOGO
The researchers in this field are mostly
foreign language teachers. However, the
study of ICC should be an
interdisciplinary effort involving people
of various disciplinary backgrounds,
which would hopefully extend our
current understanding of what it means
to be interculturally communicatively
competent.
LOGO
Although there has been some positive
development in conceptualizing ICC,
so far its measurement seems to have
made little progress. The researches
have generally focused on what ICC is,
with very few on how to assess the ICC
level of a person.
LOGO
The term ICC may sound very popular
in China today, but the number of
scholars whose research focus is
chiefly on ICC is surprisingly small.
The domain of ICC is in dire need of
more research attention.
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