ABSTRACT

With economic globalization, cultural globalization has become an irreversible trend. People from different countries communicate from time to time in situations like business, tour, or further study abroad. There inevitably exist some problems in intercultural communication, which are called intercultural communication barriers. English majors have many more chances to have intercultural communication, so they have more potential to encounter the barriers. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the barriers English major students are confronted with while communicating with foreigners, and to find out what side effects those problems bring about. By investigating 100 English major students in a university of Jiangsu, this paper finds the barrier that influences their cross-cultural communication most is language barrier, and other barriers include cultural differences and psychological barrier. The paper finally puts forward some corresponding countermeasures so as to improve English majors’ intercultural communicative competence.   

Key words: intercultural communication barriers; English major students; side effects; countermeasures

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

摘要

Chapter One INTRODUCTION-1

Chapter Two LITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Definition of Intercultural Communication Barrier-3

2.2 Previous Studies of Intercultural Communication Barriers-4

Chapter Three RESEARCH DESIGN-6

3.1 Research Objectives-6

3.2 Research Method-6

3.2.1 Questionnaire-7

3.2.2 Interviews-7

3.3 Data Collection-8

3.4 Result Analysis and Discussion-9

3.4.1 Language Barrier-11

3.4.1.1 Expression-12

3.4.1.2 Comprehension-12

3.4.2 Psychological Barrier-12

3.4.2.1 Prejudice-13

3.4.2.2 High Anxiety-14

3.4.3 Cultural Differences-14

3.4.3.1 Manners and Customs-15

3.4.3.2 Thinking Modes-15

3.4.4 Other Factors-16

Chapter Four STRATEGIES TO REDUCE INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION BARRIERS-17

4.1 Improving Language Ability from All Aspects-17

4.2 Learning More about Other Cultures-17

4.3 School Teaching about Intercultural Communication Barriers-18

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-19

REFERENCES-20

APPENDIX-22