Level: ; Adults
From the perspective of second language education, this bookstudies cross-cultural communication and systematically explores how secondlanguage teachers and students study and use the cross-cultural communicationtheory. This book is composed of seven chapters, respectively discussing thefollowing aspects: the orientation of cultural factors in Teaching Chinese as aForeign Language (TCFL), the nature and purposes of second language education, thedifferences and comparisons of cultures, the eradication of the Euro-Americancentered theory in cross-cultural communication studies.Proceeding from the purposes and needs of cross-cultural communicationand second language education, this book integrates theory into practice andputs forward the effective ways to improve teachers and students’ consciousnessand ability in cross-cultural communication. Besides these, it theoretically showsthe defects in cross-cultural communication studies in China’s second languageeducation, advocates further investigation on cultural diversity based on thestudy of Western theories, recognizes the universality and limitations ofWestern theories, and explores the diversity of cross-cultural communicationtheory.
About the Author
Bi Jiwan, born in Xishui, Hubei Province, was graduatedfrom Beijing Foreign Studies Institute (present-day Beijing Foreign StudiesUniversity). He is the professor of Beijing Language and Culture University andwas the Standing Director of China Cross-Cultural Communication Institute.Prof. Bi has always been studying and teaching cross-cultural communication theorysince 1984. His monographs include Non-VerbalMeans in Cross-Cultural Communication (1999) and Cross-Cultural Communication and Second Language Education (2009).He also translated Chinese and EnglishGestures: Contrastive Nonverbal Communication and wrote World Culture Stories: the United Kingdom.Besides these, he published scores of articles on cross-cultural communication,and comparisons between language and culture.
