关键词: 世界英语; 跨文化教学; 教师信念; 英语教育; 高校英语教师

Abstract: With the development of world Englishes, English teaching experienced a paradigm shift and accordingly, intercultural teaching, as one of the major objectives of English language education, is facing new problems and challenges. Mastering only the knowledge of communicating with English native speakers will not meet the needs of intercultural communication in the globalized world. How teachers perceive intercultural teaching is an important factor leading to successful implementation of intercultural teaching in practice. With the mixed method of a questionnaire survey and qualitative focus-group interviews, this study aims to explore English teachers’ beliefs towards intercultural teaching in Chinese tertiary institutions in the perspective of world Englishes. We find that the English teachers are fully aware of the significance of intercultural teaching and challenges with the development of world Englishes, and they have also increased their awareness of the significance of learning and understanding the Chinese culture in learning a foreign language. However, most of the teachers still believe that language is the focus of foreign language education, and knowledge is the most important element in intercultural teaching. Being able to communicating with the so-called native-speakers is still the target of the students’ intercultural competence development. Moreover, how to implement the intercultural teaching in practice in the globalized world needs further in-depth exploration in the future.

Keywords: World Englishes; intercultural teaching; teachers’ beliefs; English education; English teachers of Chinese tertiary institutions