Intercultural Communication in An Undergraduate English Coursebook in Mainland China: A Discourse Analysis Perspective

Abstract

In recent years, intercultural communication education is occurring frequently in Chinese English textbooks. However, there is a lack of study on how these textbooks present the knowledge of intercultural communication and competence. To fill this gap, this article proposes to conduct a qualitative analysis of one English textbook (College English Intercultural Communication Course) published in mainland China. With Derrida’s deconstructive thinking, the topics, characters, contents, exercises and point of view provided by the textbook are evaluated via discourse analysis. Based on the deconstructive reading of the textbook, two cultural problems are found: (1) western-centric ideas; (2) essentialism and othering. There is an internal conflict between the deconstructive method of presenting intercultural communication and competence claimed by the textbook and an inner-circle unitary cultural center it actually constructs.