Author(s)

Ying Hua, Jianchao Hong

Corresponding Author

Ying Hua

Abstract

Under the background of “cross-cultural thinking education”, one of the innovative development of foreign language education theories proposed by Professor Sun Youzhong, this paper further confirmed the foundation and significance of cross-cultural competence in the education of foreign language majors, as well as the vital role of cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity to intercultural competence training. This paper used the questionnaire survey method to investigate the current situation of the cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity of English majors in a certain ethnic university in Northwest China, and analyzed the correlation between the two dimensions. The research results show that: 1. The overall level of the cross-cultural pragmatic competence of English majors in this ethnic university is not optimistic, while the overall level of cross-cultural sensitivity is medium to high compared to other ordinary universities. 2. There are significant differences in the levels of cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity of subjects in different grades. The level of significant differences in cross-cultural pragmatic competence is significantly higher than that of cross-cultural sensitivity. There is a significant and strong correlation between the level of cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity and the grade at the P value of 0.01, and the significance is both 0.04. 3. There is no correlation between the overall level of cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity, while the cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity levels of subjects in different grades have a P value of 0.05. There is a significant correlation between cross-cultural pragmatic competence and sensitivity level only in junior year (R=.285*, P=.045). (R=.285*, P=.045). Among them, there is a significant and strong correlation between the three factors (interaction engagement, confidence and respect for cultural difference) and cross-cultural sensitivity. The three factors are also the three main decisive factors affecting intercultural pragmatic competence.

Keywords

“cross-cultural thinking education”, Intercultural competence, Intercultural pragmatic competence, Intercultural sensitivity, Correlation