The Impact of Cultural Presupposition on HSK Listening Comprehension—A Case Study of "Chinese Festivals" and "Interpersonal Relationships" Topics

Abstract

This study examines the listening comprehension of international students at Jilin Engineering Normal University, focusing specifically on two significant cultural topics within the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) listening tests: "Chinese Festivals" and "Interpersonal Relationships." It delves into the profound influence of cultural presupposition on listening comprehension and aims to identify practical countermeasures to mitigate the negative impact of cultural gaps. Through a combination of error analysis and teaching experiments, the study uncovers that international students tend to make frequent misjudgments during listening comprehension tests, primarily due to a lack of adequate cultural awareness. For instance, many students struggle to understand cultural symbols such as "ya sui qian" (lucky money) and "renqing wanglai" (human interaction), which are deeply ingrained in Chinese social practices. In response to these challenges, a series of targeted cultural supplementary teaching experiments were conducted. The findings suggest that the systematic introduction of cultural knowledge, specifically cultural presuppositions, significantly improves students' listening comprehension abilities. In particular, the accuracy rate of their responses to topics related to Chinese festivals and interpersonal relationships increased by an impressive 28.6%. These results highlight the critical role that cultural understanding plays in mastering listening comprehension, and the study underscores the importance of integrating cultural components into HSK listening instruction. By providing empirical evidence of the benefits of culturally enriched teaching, this research contributes valuable insights into how cultural factors can be effectively incorporated into language education to enhance international students' learning outcomes.