From the perspective of second language education, this book studies cross-cultural communication and systematically explores how second language teachers and students study and use the cross-cultural communication theory. This book is composed of seven chapters, respectively discussing the following aspects: the orientation of cultural factors in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL), the nature and purposes of second language education, the differences and comparisons of cultures, the eradication of the Euro-American centered theory in cross-cultural communication studies.

 

Proceeding from the purposes and needs of cross-cultural communication and second language education, this book integrates theory into practice and puts forward the effective ways to improve teachers and students’ consciousness and ability in cross-cultural communication. Besides these, it theoretically shows the defects in cross-cultural communication studies in China’s second language education, advocates further investigation on cultural diversity based on the study of Western theories, recognizes the universality and limitations of Western theories, and explores the diversity of cross-cultural communication theory. 

Bi Jiwan, born in Xishui, Hubei Province, was graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies Institute (present-day Beijing Foreign Studies University). He is the professor of Beijing Language and Culture University and was the Standing Director of China Cross-Cultural Communication Institute. Prof. Bi has always been studying and teaching cross-cultural communication theory since 1984. His monographs include Non-Verbal Means in Cross-Cultural Communication (1999) and Cross-Cultural Communication and Second Language Education (2009). He also translated Chinese and English Gestures: Contrastive Nonverbal Communication and wrote World Culture Stories: the United Kingdom. Besides these, he published scores of articles on cross-cultural communication, and comparisons between language and culture.