浅析少数民族地区的农村中学英语跨文化教学

AbstractLanguage, culture and communication are three main aspects of intercultural English teaching. The three aspects are linked together and can not separate. Language is a carrier of culture and it contains rich cultural connotations. But the language is transmitted by culture. And the communication makes the language and culture benefiting human beings. It is very important to have intercultural teaching, especially in rural middle schools of minority areas. This paper points out the problems existing in intercultural approach to English teaching in rural middle schools of minority areas, and raises some suggestions for these problems.摘 要语言、 文化与交流是跨文化英语教学的三个重要组成部分， 这三部分关系密切、 不可分割。语言是文化的载体，它含有丰富的文化内涵。但是，语言是传播的文化而且也是靠文化传播的。只有交流，才能使语言和文化造福人类。因此， 跨文化教学非常重要，特别对于少数民族地区的农村中学来说。本文分析了跨文化英语教学在少数民族地区农村中学中出现的问题，并对此提出了一些建议。Contents1. Introduction .1 2. Literature Review.22.1. What is Culture .22.2. What is Language22.3. What is Cross-cultural Communication32.4. The Relationships among Language, Culture and Communication .33. Analysis of Intercultural Approach to English Teaching in Rural Middle Schools of Minority Areas.43.1. The Importance of Intercultural Approach to English Teaching .43.2. The Contents of Intercultural Approach to Foreign Language Teaching .53.3. Some Approaches to Cultural Teaching. .63.4. The Situation of English Teaching in Rural Middle Schools of Minority Areas and the Problems of Culture Teaching.73.4.1. The situation of English teaching in rural middle schools of minority areas 73.4.2. The problems of culture teaching 94. Suggestions for Intercultural Approach to English Teaching in Rural Middle Schools of Minority Areas.105. Conclusion .13ReferencesAppendix1. IntroductionWith the wide spreading of English as an international language in the multicultural world today, it is undoubtedly necessary to modify and reorient the present English teaching practice in rural middle schools of minority areas. The development of intercultural communication studies emphasizes the language, communication and culture as well as the inner relationships among them. It is undoubtedly that the language alone is not enough for successful English teaching. Being language learners for many years, we realize that the importance of culture in English learning and teaching. Without the knowledge about target culture, we can not acquire the language accurately and precisely. So the culture teaching is a vital task for English teaching, especially in the minority areas. The only way students expose themselves to English is in the class. Their chances to get English information from internet and newspapers are slim. This is why the English level in rural middle schools of minority areas is lower than that in the developed cities.This thesis will analyze and state the importance of intercultural approach to English teaching in rural middle schools of minority areas. It contains five parts: introduction, literature review, analysis of intercultural approach to English teaching in rural middle schools of minority areas, suggestions and conclusion. At the same time, it points out the importance of mastering the cultural background knowledge to deal with problems in cross-cultural communication, and to some extent, it still makes some suggestions on improving the cultural teaching and learning levels in rural middle schools of minority areas.2. Literature Review2.1. What is Culture?“The term culture has a complex and diverse range of meanings in contemporary discourse.” (Larry, 2000: 7) The word culture has many different meanings. For some it refers to an appreciation of good literature, music, art, and food. For biologists, it is likely to be a colony of bacteria or other microorganisms growing in a nutrient medium in a laboratory. However, for anthropologists and other behavioral scientists, Edward B. Tylor (1871) thought culture is the full range of learned human behavior patterns. While D. Brown (1978) thought “A culture is a collection of beliefs, habits, living patterns and behaviors which are held more or less in common by people who occupy particular geographic areas.” (quoted in Hu Wenzhong, 1988: 4) And according to Edward T. Hall, (1959) Culture is mans medium; there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture. This means personality, how people express themselves (including shows of emotion), the way they think, how they move, how problems are solved, how their cities are planned and laid out, how transportation systems function and are organized, as well as how economic and government systems are put together and function. From the above we can see that culture is very complex, which involve ideology, socialization of ourselves. And culture is also a shared system of symbols, beliefs, attitudes, values, expectations, and norms of behavior. While we learn about a society, one of the important parts should certainly be cultural study. 2.2. What is Language? Language is one of the unique possessions of human beings. But what is language? Linguists have offered various definitions. One generally acceptable definition is: “Language is a system for arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication.”(Liu Runqing, Wen Xu, 2006：8 ) This definition includes the main features of language: systematic, arbitrary, vocal and used for communication. Language is arbitrary, that is to say the sound and the meaning are no logical connection. Language is a tool for us to communicate with people around us. We express our feelings such as happiness, dissatisfaction through language. 2.3. What is Cross-cultural Communication?Cross-cultural communication as a human activity has existed for centuries. Today, the development in science and technology, especially the development of transportation and telecommunication makes the world a “village”. According to Tang: “cross-cultural communication: face to face communication between representatives of business, government and professional groups from different culture.” (Tang Degen, 2000：23) He concluded that there are four forms of communication: diplomacy, travel and tourism, the growth of mass media and cross-border information flows by computerization.( Tang Degen，2000) People from different cultures encode and decode messages differently, increasing the dangers of misunderstanding, so the recognizing of cultural differences should be to bear in peoples mind that everyone has his own thoughts and actions. The improvements in communication and transportation technology have made it possible for different cultures to meet in the global village. 2.4. The Relationships among Language, Culture and CommunicationLanguage is a carrier of culture and it contains rich cultural connotations. And language is transmitted by culture. On one hand, without language, culture would not be conveyed. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects culture. A human being brought up in isolation does not acquire language. The wolf-child is a good example for it. Whats more, only the communication makes the language and culture benefit human beings. In contrary, if human beings have no knowledge of language and culture, they can not communicate, too. Therefore, the three aspects of the intercultural communication are linked together and inseparably. They contribute to the advancement and development of the human society. 3. Analysis of Intercultural Approach to English Teaching in Rural Middle Schools of Minority Areas3.1. The Importance of Intercultural Approach to English TeachingWe all know that the foreign language communicative competence is for the purpose of control and application of target language and culture. However, the cross-cultural communicative competence is based on the learning, communication, reflection and experience between learners language, culture and the target language and culture, and taking into account the study and understanding of the characteristics of other languages and cultures. (Zhang Hongling, 2007) Then, by the using of intercultural approach to English teaching, learners not only study and understand the target language and culture, but also reflect their mother language and culture. In this way, their level of language and cultural cultivation will be improved. Language contains rich cultural connotations. In the foreign language teaching, culture refers to the history, geography, customs, traditions, lifestyle, literature and art, behavioral norms, values of the target country. The understanding of the culture of English-speaking countries benefits the understanding and using of the language. And then the learners will have a deepening understanding of their own cultures and knowledge, and benefit to cultivate awareness of the world. In language teaching, teachers should teach based on age and cognitive styles and abilities of the students, and gradually expand the content and scope of cultural knowledge. In the start-up stages, make sure that the students have a rough understanding of the cultures of English-speaking countries. And the cultures should be closely related to the daily lives of students, which arouse their interest in learning English. In the higher stages of learning English, by expanding the scope of foreign cultures do teachers help students to broaden their vision and enable them to improve the sensitivity and capability of the similarities and differences between Chinese and Western cultures, and improve their cross-cultural communicative competence. 3.2. The Contents of Intercultural Approach to Foreign Language TeachingAll teaching needs content. The contents of intercultural approach to foreign language teaching include the knowledge, competence and attitude. Thus, teachers must consider the learners need in the three aspects. Zhang Hongling summarizes the contents of intercultural approach to foreign language teaching as followings:(a) Target language teaching: language awareness, the knowledge of language and the use of language.(b) Target culture teaching: culture awareness, the knowledge of culture, culture communication.(c) Other culture teaching.(d) The training of Cross-cultural Communicative Competence: Cross-Cultural awareness, Cross-cultural Communicative Competence, Cross-Cultural Communication Practice and Cross-Cultural Research Methods. (Zhang Hongling, 2007:197) The content of language awareness requires that learners reflect their language and know the universal law of language through the target language learning and have a better understanding of the relationship among language, society, and culture. And the training of learners cultural awareness is for better understanding of the composition of culture, the role of culture and the law of cultural development. Moreover, by the cultural communication can learners experience the target culture, reflect on their own culture, compare target culture with their own culture and increase the sensitivity to cultural differences.3.3. Some Approaches to Cultural Teaching Any method of language teaching and learning is inevitably cultural. From the first day of the English learning, culture is at the forefront. Whatever approach, method or technique is used, culture should be involved. And with the development of intercultural training and foreign language teaching, a lot of methods about the teaching of culture and the integrating language and culture emerge. The followings are some methods of intercultural teaching:First, the common methods of the teaching of culture. It includes lecture, critical incidents, culture capsules, culture cluster, and simulation games. (Zhang Hongling, 2007) For the limited conditions in the rural middle schools of minority areas, teachers can use these methods to improve the quality of culture teaching.Second, the integrating of language teaching and culture teaching. It includes: teaching culture through the analysis of literary works, integrating the teaching of vocabulary and culture, integrating the teaching of reading and culture, integrating the teaching of listening, speaking and culture, and integrating the teaching of writing and culture. (Zhang Hongling, 2007) By integrating language teaching and culture teaching, students in rural minority areas can learn and use the target language better. Thus increases their cross-cultural communicative competence. 3.4 The Situation of English Teaching in Rural Middle Schools of Minority Areas and the Problems of Culture Teaching3.4.1. The situation of English teaching in rural middle schools of minority areasWith the development of English teaching in China and the wide spread of English as an international language, English teaching attracts more and more peoples attention. The purpose of English teaching, not only enables students to master English knowledge and language skills, but also enables them to understand the English culture. At present, the acquisition of various types of cross-cultural communicative competence will inevitably become the main task of the current foreign language teaching. In some areas of China such as shanghai, the level of English teaching is very high for economic situation and social condition. However, there are still many problems in English teaching and learning in the distance rural minority areas.First, in the big rural minority areas, the quality of English teaching is poor as the table 1 shows. Only 25.0% percentage of teacher is undergraduate. And even some English teachers are not professional (about20.5%) and graduated from Non-normal University (11.4%). The lack of professional teachers and information makes the English teaching and learning more difficult. At present, how to improve the quality of teachers in rural middle schools of minority areas is a very tough task.Table 1 The situations of English teachers in rural middle school of minority areas Schools 1 2 3 4 5 7 Total NumberPercen- tageNumbers of English teachers 7 7 8 7 8 7 44 100%Undergraduate 1 2 2 2 3 1 11 25.0%Education Specialist 6 5 6 5 5 6 33 75.0%English 5 5 6 6 7 6 35 79.5%ProfessionalOthers 2 2 2 1 1 1 9 20.5%Normal University 6 6 7 7 7 6 39 88.6%Types of graduated schoolNon-normal University1 1 1 0 1 1 5 11.4%(1.Pingshan Middle School 2.Mengyang Middle School 3.Mangdong Middle School 4.Hexi Middle School 5. Nangsong Middle School 6. Dachang Middle School)Second, a very obvious problem is that most students from the rural minority areas are not interested in English. Their motivations are not high, and some even do not want to learn English, being afraid of learning English. For the poor economic and social conditions, the language level of the students in the rural minority areas is very low. Many students even can not speak Chinese fluently, let alone English. These influence English teaching greatly in rural middle schools of minority areas. Third, it is more difficult for students in minority areas to learn English for they need to integrate their own language and culture, Chinese and Chinese culture, and English and English culture. The integrating the language difference and culture difference is a tough task in language learning. It is difficult for students in urban cities to integrate mother language and culture and target language and culture, let alone the rural minority students, they have to integrate three of them. This makes their learning more complex than Han people.3.4.2. The problems of culture teachingWith the development of technologies, the ways and resources for teaching culture have been increasing in the recent years. For instance, the internet resources enable teacher to integrate relevant materials into their courses. Even the New National English Curriculum is undoubtedly paying more attention to the cultural content. There are still many problems in integrating language and culture teaching. “First, the study of culture involves time that many teachers do not feel they can spare in an already overcrowded curriculum.”(Alice Omaggio Hadley, 2003:346) For many teachers the first thing of teaching language is to teach grammar, vocabulary of the language. Then they spend much time teaching grammar and vocabulary. And they neglect the importance of the teaching of culture. Especially in rural middle schools of minority areas, the language level of students is low, and then teachers should spend much time on basic language knowledge teaching and have no enough time to teach culture.“Second, many teachers are afraid to teach culture because they fear that they do not know enough about it.” (Alice Omaggio Hadley, 2003:347) This may be true that some teachers do not master adequate cultural knowledge. Especially in rural middle schools of minority areas, some teachers are not graduated from normal university and some even not English professional. In fact, the teachers role is to guide students to learn, so that students discover their own laws. In the teaching of cultural knowledge, what teachers just need to do is do a rough introduction for students. And then encourage students to learn the specific knowledge of the target culture.“Third, some teachers neglect the teaching of culture is that it involves dealing with student attitudesa somewhat threatening, hazy, and unquantifiable area.” (Alice Omaggio Hadley, 2003:347) Different students have different attitude to culture learning. The teaching of culture involves the knowledge of culture and language and dealing with the learner differences in language acquisition. Especially the learner differences, it is hard to control.4. Suggestions for Intercultural Approach to English Teaching in Rural Middle