第五节美国跨文化交际研究综述
一、学科产生的历史背景
The United States, once called a melting pot, is a country of immigrants from almost all parts of the world. The late 1950s and the early 1960s found Americans more aware of new and different cultures, subcultures, and groups in conflict with mainstream America: Blacks, Chicanos, women, the elderly, homosexuals, the poor, hippies, and countless other groups became highly visible and vocal. Many of these groups were no longer willing to wait passively for admission into the dominant culture. They were more aggressive, demanding, and at times more violent than subcultures of the past. The need to comprehend and to interact with these groups became a major stimulus for the study of intercultural communication.
On the other hand, a combination of increased mobility, modern communication technology, and an awareness of common worldwide problems, caused the world to shrink, making it a global village. People of different countries came into contact more frequently than ever before. Expanding international business and industrial networks, increasing international exchange programs and mushrooming tourism brought more and more foreigners into U.S.A., and more and more Americans to the other parts of the world. English, as an international language, became more and more important. However, it was soon realized that mastery of the language alone would not
make people effective cross-cultural communicators. When the natural barrier
of language was overcome, people might still fail to understand or to be understood due to ignorance of cultural differences in verbal and/or nonverbal behaviors. All this dictated the need for more cross-cultural studies and gave rise to the marriage of culture and communication.
It is generally acknowledged that the publication of The Silent Language
in 1959 by the American cultural anthropologist, Edward Hall, marked the beginning of intercultural communication studies as an independent discipline
in the United States.
Following Hall were many other cultural anthropologists, sociologists, social psychologists, communication experts, educators, trainers, consultants, foreign student advisors and business managers who became involved in the area of intercultural communication. Since then, quite a number of books and articles have been published on the subject.
二、学科课程设置与教学研究
1．开设跨文化交际学这门课是基于几点共识：（参见课本第34至35页）
2．跨文化交际学课程所包含的重点内容：（参见课本第35至36页）
三、学科研究学会、学术会议与刊物
In 1970 the International Communication Association recognized intercultural communication as an independent area of study and established a division under the association. The Speech Communication Association also founded its Commission on International and Intercultural Communication. And that year was set as the intercultural-International Speech Communication Year). In 1972, the first international conference on intercultural communication was held in Japan.
四、学科理论建构
美国跨文化交际学从诞生之日起，就是为了解决实际问题而不着重理论探讨，但这并不意味这它一点理论都没有。普通交际学的理论建树仍可作为跨文化交际学的理论基础。从研究的具体内容看，美国跨文化交际研究主要涉及四方面：言语交际方面的文化差异、非言语交际方面的文化差异、社会组织与价值观念方面的文化差异以及跨文化交际的培训方法。
欧洲的研究内容和方法偏重交际法教学、词语文化内涵研究、语用学和社会语言学的会话含义学说以及言语行为理论等。
《跨文化交际》参考书目
1）《Language and Culture》Claire Kramsch, 上海外语教育出版社，2000
2）《Aspects of Intercultural Communication》胡文仲，外语教学与研究出版社，1999
3）《Communication Across Cultures》Basil Hatim，上海外语教育出版社，2001
4）《文化与交际》胡文仲，外语教学与研究出版社，1998
5）《跨文化交际学》关世杰，北京大学出版社，1999
