How to integrate intercultural communication in Chinese language teaching: An interpretive study of the perspectives and experiences of teachers in Confucius Institutes in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study adopts a social constructionist approach to investigate Chinese teachers’ perspectives on teaching Chinese culture and intercultural communication in Confucius Institutes. It explores the teachers’ reflections on their original understandings through a 1-year intercultural teaching experience in the United Kingdom. Cultivating learners’ intercultural communicative competence as an important goal of Chinese language teaching has been theoretically recognised by many researchers; however, how to put IC teaching in Chinese teaching into practice has not been well investigated. The aim of this study is to fill this gap in the context of Confucius Institutes.
Several key findings emerge from the study. First, although the Confucius Institutes’ guides, preservice training, and training lectures mentioned the concept of intercultural communication in Chinese language education, their content focused more on cultural knowledge and cross-cultural comparison. Second, the novice teachers based their original views regarding intercultural teaching aims, content, and methods in Chinese language classes on the Confucius Institute training. Third, in practice, the teachers’ intercultural communication teaching was influenced by the teaching environment, the students' situation, and the teaching materials, which made the teachers reconsider and reflect their original views. Finally, the 1-year teaching experience in the UK played an important role in changing the teachers' perspectives. Although they did not build a systematic pedagogy, they have positive dispositions to advance towards intercultural teaching. At the same time, they also recognised and deconstructed some stereotypes of themselves and other cultures.
The findings provide valuable insights into the status quo of teaching culture and intercultural communication in Chinese language teaching and have practical implications for Chinese teachers and teacher educators who hope to apply intercultural communication theory in practice.