从文化迁移的角度探讨中国初中英语口语教学.doc

本 科 毕 业 论 文Undergraduate Thesisof Shaanxi University of TCM题目:从文化迁移的角度探讨中国初中英语口语教学Title: A Study of Oral English Teaching in Chinese Junior Middle Schools from the Perspective of Cultural TransferAcknowledgments This thesis couldnt have been completed without assistance and encouragement provided by many people. First of all, I would like to extend my cordial gratitude to my academic advisor Ms. Xue Junmei, for her valuable suggestions and sincere guidance at every stage of the preparation of this product. Without her constant and generous support, this thesis could not have been fulfilled. My sincere appreciations also go to all the teachers in the English Department of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, who are professional, dedicated, and hardworking, have taught me a lot during these five years and gave me considerable emotional support. Last but not most, heartfelt thanks I would like to give to my family. It is with the love and support from them that I could continue with my learning all the way. Without their help, the thesis would not have come into being. Guo Qingyan Abstract The world is developing by leaps and bounds in the 21st centuries; and with the depth and breadth of Sino-western communication, it draws great attention to study oral English from the cultural transfer perspective. As we all know, learning a language is mainly learning its culture. If we want to master the real connotations of language only based on the cultural differences to learn a language. Language is used to communicate with others, especially oral English, which is more important in daily life. Nine-year compulsory education in china, oral English teaching exists many problems in junior middle school in our country, especially ignores the culture teaching during oral English teaching, which leads the low teaching efficiency. In China, the stages of English teaching can be divided into three stages: primary school, junior middle schools and senior middle schools. The stage of junior middle school is a transition stage for students oral English learning in Nine-year compulsory education. So the teachers should pay more attention to culture teaching during oral English teaching. This thesis mainly studies oral English teaching in Chinese junior middle schools through the problems existing in oral English teaching, the factors restricting students oral communication and provides some effective strategies for improving the level of oral English teaching in Chinese junior middle schools from the perspective of cultural transfer.Key words: oral English teaching；cultural transfer；teaching strategy；teaching methods; Chinese Junior middle school摘要21世纪的世界飞速发展，随着中西交流的日益频繁和深广，从文化的角度来学习英语及其翻译倍受人们的关注。学好一门语言首先了解它的文化，只有在此基础上，我们才可以更好的掌握语言的内涵。但在我国的九年义务教育中，初中英语口语教学却存在很多问题，其中最为严重的问题就是在教学过程中忽略了文化教学，从而导致我国英语口语教学效率低下。在我国，英语口语教学大致可以分为三个阶段：小学、初中和高中。初中是学生英语口语习得的一个重要的过渡阶段。因此在教学中，教师应该给予文化教学足够的重视。本文试图从文化迁移的角度通过对我国初中英语口语教学中存在的问题，制约学生口语交际的因素以及有效的口语教学策略的分析,旨在为有效提高初中阶段的英语口语教学提出良好建议。关键词:英语口语教学;文化转移;教学策略;教学方法;中国初中ContentsAcknowledgmentsIIAbstractIIIChapter one Introduction11.1 The Research Background11.2 The Objective and Significance of the Thesis11.3 The Organization of the Thesis2Chapter Two Literature Review42.1 The Relationship of Culture and Language42.2 The Definition of Cultural Transfer and Its Classification52.3 The Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Junior Middle Schools72.3.1 The definition of strategies of oral English teaching72.3.2 The classification and characteristics of strategies of oral English teaching8Chapter Three Discussion103.1 The Cultural Transfer Appearing in Junior Middle School Students Oral English Expressions103.1.1 Mother tongues thinking mode103.1.2 The cultural transfer of native cultural tradition and speech habits113.2 The Problems Existing in the Oral English Teaching of Chinese Junior Middle Schools123.2.1 Following English class teaching by teachers explaining123.2.2 Misunderstanding oral English teaching goals133.2.3 Ignoring the appropriateness of language in oral English teaching133.2.4 Limiting of oral English teachers professional level133.3 The Factors Restricting Chinese Junior Middle School Students Oral Communication143.3.1 Subjective factors143.3.2 The objective factors153.4 The Effective Strategies Improving the Level of Oral English Teaching in Chinese Junior Middle School163.4.1 Clearing oral English teaching goal163.4.2 Improving the students participation in oral English teaching173.4.3 Improving students ability of autonomous learning173.4.4 Attaching great importance to teachers feedback183.4.5 Encouraging evaluation timely183.4.6 Introducing the cultural background of learning materials19Chapter Four Conclusion204.1 Summary of the Thesis204.2 Suggestions for Oral English Teaching of Chinese Junior Middle School Based on Culture204.2.1 Changing the traditional teaching perception204.2.2 Emphasizing the importance of foreign cultural awareness214.3 Limitations of the Research 22BibliographyVIIVIChapter one Introduction1.1 The Research Background As an international language, English becomes more and more important. Chinese junior middle school students realize the significance of English as a tool in their studying aboard and in their future work, so they devote themselves to practice oral English. However, they are always affected by the similarities and differences between the two cultures during learning a second language.This phenomenon is called cultural transfer. Positive culture transfer fosters foreign language learning. Negative culture transfer is a barrier for English teachers and Chinese junior middle school students during foreign language teaching and learning. The students, even the teachers, dont realize the importance of the culture and ignore influence of culture transfer during teaching and studying. For example, such idioms like"every bullet has its billet", "sit on the fence", the students may not understand them, even know each word. So language teaching is a teaching about culture. However, in our country, the stages of English teaching can be divided into three stages: primary school, junior middle school and senior middle school. The stage of junior middle school is a transition stage for students oral English learning in Nine-year compulsory education. So the teachers must highlight the oral English teaching of Chinese junior middle school. In order to improve the level of oral English teaching in Chinese junior middle school, we must highlight culture teaching during the oral English teaching to decrease culture transfer phenomenon, even eliminate it, meanwhile emphasize grammar and vocabulary. 1.2 The Objective and Significance of the Thesis In spite of the growing of researches on cultural transfer, there is an area left unattended. That is, how to deal with culture transfer in oral English teaching in Chinese junior middle school? How to further improve oral English learning and teaching in junior middle school? Language is a carrier of culture. Culture is the connotations of language. Language reflects the thinking patterns of a nation, psychological characteristics and social customs, historical transition as well as other important cultural symbols. Without language, the human cannot describe any kind of culture. Of course, language itself is also one of the important parts of culture. When we learn the second language, we cannot ignore the relationship between culture and language. When learning a national language, we should grasp the opportunity to contact with the national traditional culture. However, oral English absolutely is the most important part in English teaching of junior middle school. So we have to learn English culture well when we are learning oral English. Lado (1957) said that "the teacher who has made a comparison of the foreign language with the native language of the students will know better what the real problems are and can provide for teaching them."1 And it shows the necessity of culture input during foreign language teaching. The present thesis aims at studying the cultural transfer in oral English learning for Chinese junior middle school students, having a general view on the manifestations of transfer as well as providing enlightenment for the teachers to help students overcome negative transfer and make full use of positive transfer.1.3 The Organization of the Thesis The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter one is the introduction, which informs the background, the objective and significance as well as the organization of the thesis. Chapter two is the literature review, representing the definition of culture and culture transfer, the definition of oral English teaching strategies and skills in junior middle schools, the classification and characteristics of oral English teaching strategies, as well as previous study of cultural transfer in oral English teaching of Chinese junior middle schools done by other scholars both home and abroad. Chapter three is the core of the thesis, which describes the problems existing in the oral English teaching of junior middle school, represents the main elements that restrict the students oral English learning and the effective strategies for improving the level of oral English teaching as well as offers suggestions for improving oral English teaching in junior middle schools of the text conducted by writer. The last Chapter discusses the significance of the study and provides some suggestions for oral English teaching of junior middle schools.Chapter Two Literature Review2.1 The Relationship of Culture and Language What is culture? Someone will say that culture is for the economy, politics and all mental activities and products of human. Others have different ideas. In fact, about the definition of culture, there is no unified one. Therefore, the study of cultural definition is quite necessary. At present, academia as opinion, known as the father of the anthropology of British anthropologists e. b. Taylor, the first scholar made a significant impact on the culture definition. He firstly gives a classic definition of culture in 1871 in his "primitive culture" in "the science of culture" chapter, he said: "the culture or civilization, in its broad sense of ethnology, is a compound as a whole, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and which are as a member of society all other capabilities and habits acquired by."2 Obviously, it defined culture as the floorboard of the social development in the process of human creation, including the material technique, social norm and the spiritual concept. From then on, Taylors definition about culture is regarded as the origin of cultural definition, future generations give this definition mixed views, and continuously put forward new ideas. What is culture? So far, there are many kinds of cultural definitions. Culture itself is an interesting, academic argumentative phenomenon. Cultural definition has a typical case that is a variety of disciplines for different definitions of culture. As a matter of fact, about cultural distinction, it is generally believed that "culture" is divided into broad sense and narrow sense two kinds, some people also call it "big culture" and "small culture". In its broad sense, culture refers to the floorboard of material and spiritual wealth that human beings have created and accumulated in the course of social development, which includes three layers altogether. The surface level refers to all the essential material things for the living of human beings, namely the material culture, including food, drink, costume, building, and so on. It marks a certain social area of the development of material civilization and spiritual civilization level, peoples values and behavior norms, specific organizational structure and way of life. The deep level refers to the spiritual culture, which includes social values, religious beliefs, mode of thought and so on. It is the central part of culture. The intermediate level is the conventional culture, which refers to all kinds of organizations, institutions, behavior customs, and life styles that are formed through humans social life. In its narrow sense, culture refers to the social ideology (the politics, laws, knowledge, belief, art, etc.) and various social systems and corresponding organization structures (government, party, club, court and schools, etc.). It has great influence on the other two cultural levels, and it is the core of the whole culture.3 Language is not only a kind of cultural phenomenon, but also the most important communication tool for thinking and communicating. Language has its stability and nationality. Language is the medium that people communicate with each other, which will be inevitably influenced on the politics, economy, society, science as well as technology, even the culture itself. Language as a communication tool, does not exist independently, but exists with the culture. Language and culture rely on each other and influence each other. Language is an important carrier of culture. In turn, culture has a restrictive effect on language. So when learning a foreign language, we must first understand the nations culture, only in this way can we really understand and master the language well. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly understand the relationship between language and culture.2.2 The Definition of Cultural Transfer and Its Classification To know the phenomenon of cultural transfer and its influence, first you must know the real connotations of cultural transfer. The concept of cultural transfer comes from the earliest language acquisition, and is often confused with "interference". In fact, this confusion arises from the first language knowledge in different understandings of the role of the second language acquisition. Based on the theory of behaviorism, linguists think that language acquisition is a kind of habit, learning a foreign language is actually to use target language to replace the first language in the form, so the knowledge of first language is regarded as an interference of second language acquisition. However, with the development of psycho-linguistics, there is a new understanding about the relationship between first language knowledge and second language acquisition. Psychological linguists Anderson believed that language learning is a process, including comprehension process and production process. Comprehension process includes three components: perception, parsing and utilization. In these three steps, utilization is the key, because the usage is stored in long-term memory of knowledge just like the activation of the first language knowledge, and then combined with the new information to help learners understand the target language. Production process also includes three steps: construction, transformation and execution. Transformation is the use of the language rules, for example, the first language rules will transform the intent of construction by the form of information.This step is essential and crucial. Thus, in the whole process of language learning, the first language knowledge is not always the interference. Odin (1989) offers the definition of transfer as a basis for his own thoughtful treatment: "Transfer is the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other languages that have been previously acquired."4 This effect may be positive, also may be negative. If the first language and target language obey the same rules of language, then the influence is positive, which is called positive transfer of culture. If the two languages have great differences, which is called negative transfer. Can be inferred from the above, the so-called transformation is the mutual influence between the two things. In terms of language, positive transfer is more beneficial to study target language than the negative transfer, because according to Chomsky, all human specific languages adhere to the same universal grammar. 5 According to behaviorists, the process of learning a language is the formation of a kind of habits, thus the biggest obstacle of second language acquisition comes from previous knowledge, because language learners have formed certain kinds of habits when they learn a second language. They would naturally transfer the skills learned in the L1 to the L2. In the case of similarities between the L1 and L2, language transfer functions positively, which would facilitate the L2 acquisition; while in the case of differences, it functions negatively, which makes it difficult to learn L2, even causes errors.6 From the above, the present writer can know that the culture transfer can be divided into two kinds: one kind is positive culture transfer with positive influence on second language acquisition, another kind is negative culture transfer which is a barrier of second language acquisition.2.3 The Strategies of Oral English Teaching in Junior Middle Schools As we all know, the language system of English teaching includes sixth parts: vocabulary teaching, grammar teaching, reading teaching, listening teaching, speaking teaching and writing. Each part is interlocking, and constantly deepening step by step.7 But during the language teaching, the most failed link is oral English teaching. Language is used for communication, in meaning expression, the usage of oral English is more frequent and more direct than words, so in the process of communication, it has an irreplaceable effect, which is enough to emphasize the importance of oral English in the whole links. Next, the present writer will focus on the strategies of oral English teaching in junior middle school.2.3.1 The definition of strategies of oral English teaching Learning to speak is a complicated task. Coursebook writers often use the term "frequency" to describe the aim of the speaking activities they provide. For example, Brian Abbs and Ingrid Freebrain write: to help improve the frequency of students oral, the class contains a variety of activities aiming at encouraging free expression. In the introduction, they pointed out: "Learners need to develop knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, functional language and communicative skills. The foreign teachers should pay attention to the systems of language crucial, they should always realize that frequency and contextual appropriacy are the equally important goals."8 Fluency means responding coherently within the turns of the conversation, linking words and phrases, using intelligible pronunciation and appropriate intonation and doing all of these without undue hesitation. It implies that speakers can interpret and assess the meaning of what they hear and formulate appropriate responses.2.3.2 The classification and characteristics of strategies of oral English teaching What is involved in oral English competently? In order to help Chinese junior middle school students develop their ability in oral English, we need a descriptive framework for speaking discourse and a way of categorizing speaking situations and the demands they make participants. Then we will be able to find an appropriate classroom methodology. The first one is to distinguish types of speaking situation. Different types of situation can be distinguished by applying the concept of genre. Cooks set of characte