Instruction of Culture in English Teaching in　Middle Schools.doc

中学英语教学中的文化导入instruction of culture in english teaching inmiddle schoolscontentsabstracts 1key words 1iintroduction2iithe relationship between language and culture.32.1 the definition of language.32.2 the definition of culture.42.3 the contents of culture42.4 the relationship between language and culture.4iiiwhy should we teach culture in english teaching in middle schools?.53.1 the significance of teaching culture.53.2 the demands of the new english course standard for middle schools.5ivthe obstacles of culture teaching.74.1 the problems in english teaching in middle school.74.2 the factors affecting culture teaching.84.2.1learning atmosphere84.2.2 the cultural quality of english teachers.8vthe cultural factors of english teaching.95.1 intonation.95.2 vocabulary105.3 grammar.125.4 euphemism.125.5 taboos.135.6 names.135.7 titles.135.8 greetings.14vithe principles of culture teaching.146.1 teaching students in accordance with their aptitude146.2 practicability146.3 proceeding in an orderly way and step by step.14vii. the methods of culture teaching.157.1 multimedia.157.1.1 the instruction of object teaching.157.1.2 appreciating music.157.2 the instruction of background knowledge.167.3 the instruction of role-playing.16viiiconclusion.17reference.1831摘要： 语言是文化的载体，文化是语言的内容。不能正确理解语言的文化涵义将会给日常的交际带来极大的障碍。随着语言与文化的重要性越来越为人们所关注和认识，跨文化研究已成为一门重要的学科。现代英语教学重要目的之一，就是培养学生在口头上和书面上运用英语进行交际的能力。也就是说，教师要教会学生使用语言，而不仅仅是懂点英语知识。学习语言不仅要掌握语音、语法、词汇，而且还要知道使用这种语言的人如何看待事物，如何观察世界；要了解他们如何用语言反映他们的思想、习惯、行为；要懂得他们的“心灵之语言”，即了解他们社会的文化。在教学中我们要认真引导学生去体会语言和文化的关系，利用学生对不同文化的新奇感，使我们的语言教学更加丰富多彩。本文拟对中学英语教学中文化导入及课堂教学策略做一探讨以其得到启发性的结论。关键词：语言 文化 交际 文化教学 文化知识abstracts: language is the carrier of culture, and culture is the context of language. not understanding correctly cultural connotation of language will cause many obstacles in daily communications. because people pay more attention to the importance of language culture, the study of cross-culture has been an important subject. in modern english teaching, it is one of the important aims to cultivate students communicating competence in english speaking and writing. that is to say, if teachers will teach students language, teachers should have every aspect of english language. learning a language, one not only masters pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, but also learns how those who use the language treat business and observe the world, and learns how their language reflect their minds, habits, behavior, etc, and understand “language of their minds”, namely learn their social culture. in english teaching, we should guide students to taste the relationship between language and culture; we make language teaching colorful with students curiosity.in this paper, the author talks about the following aspects: (1) introduction to the definition of language and culture and the relationship between culture and language; (2) introduction to the function of culture teaching in english teaching in middle schools; (3) the methods and principles of teaching culture; (4) the significance of teaching culture in english teaching.key words: language; culture; communication; cultural teaching; cultural knowledgeiintroductionlanguage is the carrier of culture, and culture is the context of language. just as a soviet linguist says, “no language can exist unless it is stepped in the context of culture; and no culture can exist which does not have at its corner the structure of natural language”. this shows that culture is the soul of language and language is the support of culture and no language can exist without culture. learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture (deng yanchang & liu runqing 1989). therefore, in english teaching, teachers not only make students master the language, but also make them learn its unique culture, and when teaching language, teachers should teach culture as well. if language learners ignore the difference of culture, or lack the cultural awareness in english learning, they may not understand well one another when those who have different cultural background have cross-cultural communication, even if they master english language very well. so culture teaching is an important part in english language teaching. for example, during the authors teaching practice, the author found it necessary to introduce culture in english teaching. for instance, the author asked students what the phrase “give someone a hand (帮助某人)” meant, some students answer was “give a hand to someone” (给某人一只手). and then the author told them a story. a chinese saw an american falling into a river, but the american couldnt swim. when the american saw the chinese walking around him, he called the chinese: “please, please give me a hand (帮助我)”. but the chinese thought why he would give the american a hand (给他一只手), and said to him “no, i cant give you a hand (给你一只手). if i give you a hand (给你一只手), i will die”. the chinese didnt help him. because nobody could correctly understand the american, he died at last. by such an example, we can know that teachers not only make students master the phrase well, but also make them realize the function of culture in english teaching. therefore, in english teaching, we should pay attention to the relationship between the language and the culture in which it exists and the importance of the culture teaching.iithe relationship between language and culture it is argued that an effective language learning involves two types of knowledge: systemic knowledge for structural properties of a given language and schematic knowledge for social and cultural input of a certain culture (widdowson 1990). from the argument, we may say that while the former means studying pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary of a given language, the latter means learning about the society and culture of the native language. for instance as early as in the 1980s, the european cultural foundation and the international council for educational development stress the view that “for effective international co-operation, knowledge of other countries and their cultures is as important as proficiency in their languages” (van els 1982 quoted in byram 1986:324).2.1 the definition of languagewe should know the definition of language. to give a concise definition of language has always been difficult for linguists and philologists. although there has been an enormous amount of research in language in the past half century, no authoritative answer has been given to “what is language?” here are sample definitions of “language” proposed by some linguists: language is a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (websters third new international dictionary of the english language 1961).language is a system of arbitrary, vocal symbols which permit all people in a given culture, or other people who have learned the system of that culture, to communicate or to interact (finocchiaro 1964).in the book intercultural communication in english (yu lisheng 2004), there are the following definitions:1) language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, emotions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols (sapir 1921).2) from now on i will consider language to be a set (finite or infinite) of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements (chomsky 1957). the definitions mentioned above all have their own special emphasis. and the generally accepted definition is that language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication (wardhaugh 1972). in another word, its main function is to communicate. and different nations have different languages, and at the same time these languages exist with their cultures.2.2 the definition of culturethere are more than 250 definitions concerning culture. there are various ways of its classification. the first definition of culture: culture refers to the total sum of the material wealth and the intellectual wealth that have been created in the whole process of human social and historical development, or to the way of life or life- style.there is also a way of classification of culture at two levels. that is culture with a big c and culture with a small c. culture with a big c refers to art and literature, music, architecture, philosophy, and scientific and technological achievements, which reflect various aspects of human civilization. and culture with a small c refers to habits and customs, way of life, code of conduct, social organization, and human interrelation, which are a series of characteristics (wang fengxin 2004).any country has their unique culture. in a country, to everybody, the small c culture is more influencing than the big c in daily life; and then in our english learning, the small c culture is also more influencing, especially for learning vocabulary.2.3 the contents of cultureprofessor hu wenzhong integrates the language culture results that have been researched and divides culture into five aspects:1) verbal communication: vocabulary, idiom, grammar and text2) non-verbal communication: countenance, expressions in ones eyes, gesture, posture, body distance and sublanguage3) communicative customs and etiquette: greeting, praise, titles, call on friends, be a guest and give somebody a present4) social structure and human relationships: family relationships, relative relationships, friend relationships, company relationships and social relations5) valuesculture is divided into knowledge culture and communicative culture. and then in english teaching in middle schools, as language teachers, we not only teach students pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and text, but also teach them the interrelated knowledge culture and communicative culture. as language teachers, if we give them comprehensive knowledge, we will foster excellent language learners.2.4 the relationship between language and culturelanguage expresses cultural reality, and language symbolizes cultural reality; it is language that has played a major role in socializing the people and in perpetuating culture, especially in print form; in addition, culture also affects its peoples imagination or common dreams which are mediated through the language and reflected in their life. they serve a metaphor for its cultural reality (dai weidong & he zhaoxiong 2002). again, language does not exist without culture, that is, from the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determine the texture of our lives (sapir 1921), namely, “who speaks (or writes) what language (or what language variety) to whom and when and to what end” (fishman 1972). therefore, language is not only intrinsically related to what the culture is and what it was, but also related to the culture of daily life such as addressing, greetings, actions, and so on. to sum up, language as an integral part of human being，permeates his thinking and way of viewing the world, and expresses and embodies cultural reality; language, as a product of culture, can not be without culture, and the changes in language uses reflect the cultural changes in return.iiiwhy should we teach culture in english teaching in middle schools?3.1 the significance of teaching culturelanguage as the keystone of culture is tightly intertwined with culture (dai weidong & he zhaoxiong 2002). to learn a language is not to separate from learning its culture. when learning a foreign language, we should not only learn the mere imitation of the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms, but also learn to see theicultural background and the modes of thinking of the native speakers, that is to say, learn the ways in which the foreign language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of that society, learn to understand their “language of the mind”. that means we should learn well about the languages culture in order to communicate in the target language properly and achieve not only the linguistic competence but also the communicative competence, which is of great significance in learning a foreign or second language. in other words, if language learners ignore the cultural differences, they will create barriers in learning the target language and in communication with the native speakers, and whats more, they will make some unnecessary misunderstandings and confusions. 3.2 the demands of the new english course standard for middle schoolsthe rich cultural contents in language determine that in foreign language teaching, teachers should make students learn history, geography, religion, traditional customs, lifestyle, behavior, etc, in the countries of the target language. the new english course standards for middle schools establish the aim of cultivating culture awareness including grade 2, grade 5 and grade 8.grade 2 is:1. to comprehend simple titles, greetings in english;2. to response correctly to praise, request, etc;3. to comprehend the important arts and music, and sports in the world; 4. to comprehend the common drinking and food in english countries; 5. to comprehend the capitals and flags of main english countries; 6. to comprehend the important symbols of main countries in the world;7. to comprehend the important festivals in english countries;grade 5 is:1. to comprehend the body languages in english communication, like gesture, appearance, etc;2. to use correctly different titles, greetings;3. to comprehend and distinguish names and titles in different sexes;4. to comprehend addressing customs of family members in english countries;5. to comprehend the dress on the formal and informal occasions in english countries;6. to comprehend cuisine customs in english countries; 7. to response correctly to praise, request, etc other people give;8. to express proper praise, request, etc9. to comprehend preliminarily the geography, climate, history, etc;10. to comprehend culture meaning of animals and plants in english countries;11. to comprehend possible culture meaning of nature phenomenon in english countries;12. to comprehend the traditional arts and music, and sports in english countries; 13. to comprehend the important festivals and how to celebrate them in english countries 14. to understand deeply chinese culture;grade 8 is:1. to understand idioms and proverbs, and their culture meaning in english;2. to understand allusions and rumors in english communication;3. to comprehend the experiences, achievement and contribution of the main artists, scientists;4. to comprehend preliminarily the politics and economics in main english countries;5. to comprehend the main massive spreading media;6. to comprehend the differences of life styles between china and english countries;7. to comprehend the differences of behaviors and the way one gets along with people between china and english countries;8. to comprehend the main religion traditions in english countries;9. to comprehend the world culture and to cultivate the world awareness by studying english;10. to understand deeply chinese culture by comparing chinese culture with foreign culture; by anglicizing, we can get the conclusion: in junior schools, teachers should introduce the culture knowledge of english countries which are related to students lives and stimulate students interest and guide students to learn about the differences of culture at home and abroad; and in senior schools, teachers should broaden students eyes and minds, help students to touch foreign culture, improve students sensibility and connoisseurship on different culture, and foster students cross-culture awareness and promote students cross-culture communication.ivthe obstacles of culture teachingthe essence of language is the difference of culture. the process of learning a language is the process of learning its culture. just as a linguist says, “if we dont master the knowledge of cultural background, it is impossible for us to teach language well”. language is a part of culture. if one doesnt know modes and rules of a culture, one cannot learn a language well. as we know, chinese students grammar is pretty good, but their pragmatic competence is not complimented in communication. it demands teachers to exert a subtle influence on teaching cultural knowledge, let students taste cultural atmosphere of english countries, and cultivate students cross-cultural awareness and competence.4.1 the problems in english teaching in middle schoolsduring the authors teaching practice, the author discovered that in english teaching teachers didnt pay more attention to the importance of the relationship between language and culture. they seemed to train students listening, speaking, reading and writing only and to make students master pronuncia