Development of student`s cultural awareness and self-expression in Chinese institutions of higher education

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study on the issue of the development of cultural awareness and self-expression among Chinese higher education students. In the course of scientific investigations, a theoretical analysis of the current stste of the investigated problem was carried out, with the selection of the most important aspects of this issue. The purpose of the study is to analyze the main approaches that are available to Chinese higher education students to develop cultural awareness and self-expression. The work presents a number of basic concepts of research, which were compiled on the basis of familarization with the sources of various authors of Western and Chinese scientific thought. The 1st of these is self-expression which is seen as the ability to express one`s thoughts, ideas and feelings in an effective and understandable way. This includes spoken and written language, artistic forms of expression (such as music, dance and painting) and other forms of communication. Self-expression helps students discover their talents and abilities; develop creativity, and communicative their ideas to other people. Also, an important concept that was used in our study is cultural awareness and self-expression as an important symbiotic competence that helps students develop a deeper understanding of the world and their role in it, as well as develop a more open and tolerant approach to people and cultures that are different from their own.