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1 Introduction
1.1 Background Information
Research on intercultural communication dated from the United States after World War II. As globalization develops rapidly, the world has become a global village and exchanges in various fields between China and other countries are on the increase. Thus, intercultural communication competence has become indispensable for many people (Chen Guoming, 2009: 5). Scholars at home and abroad have all paid much attention to it. However, compared with international studies on intercultural communication, domestic studies in this field began relatively late. Therefore, more research needs to be done in order to keep pace with international studies on intercultural communication.
Research indicates that intercultural communication competence is made up of three dimensions, namely, behavior, cognition and affection, and intercultural sensitivity belongs to affective dimension. What’s more, intercultural sensitivity is a basic element in intercultural communication (Hernandez & Kose, 2012). Intercultural sensitivity is also the premise of successful intercultural communication. Without intercultural sensitivity, intercultural awareness can never be formed and at the same time intercultural communicators are not able to make full use of the intercultural communication skills that they have learned.
1.2 Purpose of the Study
Facing current world trend, one of universities’ and colleges’ priorities is to cultivate students to become qualified intercultural communicators. To provide some information and reference for universities and colleges to establish a more effective and student-oriented syllabus, this study focuses on intercultural sensitivity of both Chinese students and international students.
Meanwhile, although researchers both at home and abroad have already conducted a lot of studies on intercultural sensitivity, not much attention has been paid to comparing intercultural sensitivity of Chinese students and international students. Therefore, this study aims to shed light on the similarities and differences of the two groups of subjects and how the five dimensions in the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale are correlated.
1.3 Research Questions
(a) What levels of the intercultural sensitivity have international students and English juniors from two key universities in Nanjing achieved as shown by the results of the investigation?
(b) Are there any differences or similarities between intercultural sensitivity of English juniors and international students?
(c) How are the five dimensions in the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale correlated?
(d) How do English juniors and international students learn foreign culture?
1.4 Organization of the Study
This paper is composed of five sections.
The first section is an introduction to the background information, purpose of the study and research questions.