The application of general education and intercultural communication in a ‘news-listening’ class

Abstract

General education (GE) is a new fashion in Chinese university courses, as can be seen by the fact that a GE curriculum has been set in several high-ranking universities in China recently. These courses include knowledge of history, arts, science, society, law and medicine, etc., and require English as the bridge between Chinese cultures and English cultures. English departments (or schools) are responsible for introducing foreign civilization within the framework of GE, resulting in the increasingly crucial role of English teachers in China in helping students to develop their intercultural knowledge, skills and awareness. In this new curriculum, teachers and students must acquire the skills for English reading, news listening, academic writing, and conference presenting. This changing scenario means that intercultural competence will need to be a new goal for all English teachers and students in China. In this paper, the development of GE in China is discussed, along with the setting of core courses for GE, and the relationship of GE and Intercultural Communication based on a ‘news-listening’ class analysis.