Cross-Cultural Awareness and Teaching English as a Second Language in the Context of Globalization

摘要

The paper focuses on the inseparability of language and culture, highlighting the significant role of cross-culturalawareness and communicative competence in teaching English as a second language （TESL） in the context ofincreasingly internationalized global world. Cross-cultural awareness has always been important in modernlanguage studies, as preparing students for effective and competent intercultural communication requires not onlymere teaching of linguistic skills like phonology, morphology, lexicology, and syntax, but also the vital componentof cultural knowledge and awareness. Communication that lacks appropriate cultural content often results in anodd or humorous situation leading to misunderstanding and miscommunication. Therefore, the present paperclaims that in TESL it is necessary to incorporate and develop aspects of cross-cultural awareness as a part of thecourse curriculum to immerse students in effective intercultural communicative competence. It is strongly believedthat developing cross-cultural awareness through learning and practicing the patterns of the current lifestyle in thetarget culture will help the learners overcome both cultural shock and intercultural communicative barriers easier,compare the target culture with their own, and find the similarities and differences between them, thus coping withcross-cultural communication problems successfully. There are many challenges related to teaching English as alingua franka in a cross-cultural context of globalization--English, not being the native language of the learners,triggers a great number of problems connected with teaching and developing cross-cultural awareness. This paperoffers some strategies for coping with them.