A Study of the Intercultural Competence and Intercultural Identity Construction of Volunteer Chinese Language Teachers

Abstract

Volunteer Chinese language teachers are a main force of overseas Chinese language education, carrying out the mission of teaching Chinese language and promoting Chinese culture overseas, and make important contributions to meet the needs of Chinese language learning around the world and deepen the mutual understanding between China and the world. Their intercultural communication competence has an important impact on their work and life abroad, which in turn, is directly related to whether they can adapt to life overseas and carry out Chinese teaching successfully. Based on the study and summary about intercultural communication and intercultural communicative competence and their respective connotations, this paper explores the definition of intercultural communicative competence of volunteer Chinese language teachers. Based on an interview and with 20 volunteer Chinese language teacher teaching in the United States, the United Kingdom, Thailand and South Korea, and the real cases obtained, the identity construction of volunteer Chinese language teachers in the intercultural communication domain is put forward, they are the instructors of language knowledge, the disseminators of Chinese culture and the bridge builders of intercultural communication. The paper also analyzes the problems existing in the intercultural communicative competence and the identity construction of volunteer Chinese language teachers, and puts forward solutions, expecting to be of significance to the improvement of the intercultural competence of volunteer Chinese language teachers and the intercultural communication training of relevant departments.