Multicultural Communication Competence and Education in Ethnic Minority Areas of Yunnan

Abstract

Abstract-Cultural diversity is evident throughout schools in border provinces of China, especially in Yunnan, which has the largest number of ethnic minorities. To what extent do teachers in Yunnan prepare their teaching to cater for the needs of culturally and linguistically diverse students? Findings revealed that cultural and communicative barriers exist in Yunnan's schools, resulting in the academic underachievement of minority students. This paper integrates some external issues, such as the insufficient family education and a lack of support and understanding from schools, with internal problems, such as students' and teachers' scant knowledge in multicultural communication and the stress from psychological and behavioural adjustment during the acculturation process, into a summary as multicultural communicative and educational problems. To solve these problems, theories and practice of multicultural communication competence are introduced to meet the varied needs of students in the multicultural environment, and integrate teachers with theoretical approaches for multicultural communication education. School courses need to be updated to address the needs of students from different cultural backgrounds, and this paper also provides practical ways to begin with. Index Terms-multicultural communication competence, ethnic minorities, multicultural education, teaching practice I. BACKGROUNDYunnan is a multinational border province in China, and it has the largest number of ethnic minorities in China. Many students are ethnic minorities from mountain tribes, such as Yi, Dai and Mosuo tribes. According to the data distribution in the sixth national census in 2010, the country has 56 ethnic groups while Yunnan has 52, accounting for 33.37% of the total population. Ethnic distribution was inhabited by characteristics of large and small settlements. Different nationalities with geographical differences and ethnic characteristics enjoy rich and varied ethnic cultures and life styles. China has always been a country of cultural and linguistic diversity. From the earliest of times when the ancestors of Chinese first expanded its territory to the shores, China has incorporated people from various ethnic backgrounds. The Chinese government support for the view of multiculturalism has encouraged changes to the school curriculum which promotes greater respect for, and understanding of cultural diversity.Ethnic culture embraces the beliefs, values, ideals, customs, languages, discourses, artistic products and symbols of a group with particular reference to ethnic minority groups in a China-as-a-whole context. According to Spencer-Oatey (2008, p.3), culture is "a fuzzy set of attitudes, beliefs, behavioural conventions and basic assumptions and values that are shared by a group of people, and that influence each member's behaviour and each member's interpretations of the 'meaning' of other people's behaviour". The cultural expression of a minority group can be found in their customs, group memories, important tools and art...

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