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he way one tells a story differs from that he tells a joke. The rules for talking to somebody at funeral are different from those for talking to someone at wedding. One has to modify his language when talking to someone of higher or lower status. Such rules, both linguistic and social, together determine how a language is used in any social context. Just as Hudson (qtd in Li Li&Chen Zhi'an, 1997: 145) said, "People with different sociolinguistic backgrounds will be led to conduct correspondingly different model relevant to language and society" (1978: 13). This phenomenon suggests that situational differences exist in the use of language and language use is determined by the situation in which it is used. According to Wallwork (qtd in Li Li&Chen Zhi'an, 1997: 146), a situation consists of two levels. One is concerned with physical, relatively easily identifiable factors. Firstly, it is associated with who the speaker and listener are and what the relations吻between them is. Secondly, it involves where the language happens. Thirdly, the topic affects the language, too. The other level of situation is more abstract. It involves the effect that the speaker wishes to make on the audience, that is, to impress, inform, flatter, condescend, threaten the listener and so on. This is much similar to Hymes' (1972) knowing what it is appropriate to do, where and when, and how it is appropriate to. do. Thus communicative context is fatal in language teaching. Helping students to observe different language norms in different context is one of the teacher's most important responsibilities. 2.3.4 Intercultural Communication Intercultural communication refers to the communicative behavior of people from different cultures. Porter and Samovar say that intercultural communication occurs when a Chapter 7ivo The Objectives of Zanguage Teaching in Oral Class message sender is a member of one culture and a message receiver is of another (1972). A major area of intercultural communication lies in the belief and value systems and worldviews, which are the source of many of the apparent cultural differences. In verbal communication, the cultural differences may be found on a phonemic, lexical, syntactic拟 and discoursal level. The purpose to study intercultural comanunication is to help increase learners' cross-cultural awareness so that few problems arise in the interaction with people of another culture. "Whatever the specific objectives of L2 teaching may be, one of its fundamental goals must be to impart an ability to comprehend fully and with satisfaction what the target community means in speaking and writing" (Loveday, 1982: 53). 2.3.5 Techniques for Training Students' Cultural Awareness Culture plays a significant part in communication, it is therefore necessary for teachers to train students' cultural awareness in language teaching. The following ways might be helpful.! 1. Comparison method. The teacher begins each discussion period with a presentation of one or more items in the target culture that are distinctly different from the students' culture. The discussion then centers on why these differences might cause problems. 2. Newspapers. Many aspects of culture that are not usually found in a textbook are present in the newspaper. The teacher asks students to compare a certain item in the foreign newspaper with its equivalent in their newspapers. Good cultural insights can readily be found in he