Culture and English Teaching.doc

毕业论文写作提纲用纸论文题目culture and english teaching论文写作提纲abstract; this paper analyzes the influence of social culture in english teaching and tries to set up a principle of teaching english culture.key word: english teaching cultural influenceintroduction：language and culture are closely linked to each other. language knowledge is a part of cultural knowledge.( paragraph1-2)next is text content.there are 4 parts in this paper.part1: the relationship between language and culture.( paragraph3)this paragraph talks about: culture is closely related with language. the specific culture of each nation is reflected in a variety of ways; however, there is no other thing that shows as much content of a nations specific life style as its language. from the perspective of language and social culture, language may be regarded as a special phenomenon of social culture.part2: english learning means cultural learning(paragraph4-7) as a result, the process of learning english not only means the training of these fundamental skills but also includes the familiarity with the social and cultural conventions of the english-speaking countriespart3 cultural input in english teaching(paragraph8-12) as a result, successful english teaching must make students know how to apply social and cultural customs practically. it is only when learners grasped the historical, traditional, conventional ideas of the target language can they use the language correctly and effectively. in english teaching, teachers should pay attention to the following several aspects in order to achieve this:1. the cultural awareness should be clarified in all the processes of english teaching which includes classroom interaction, methodological designing and testing.2. teachers should help students collect and accumulate english cultural knowledge in a variety of ways.3. teachers should train their students the special ability of observing and understanding the english culture.4. to create a genuine second language environment is also very important thing in learning the target language culture effectively and directly.part3 is body.the last paragraph is conclusion: it is as well the responsibility of english teachers to remind his or her students the in-depth understanding of english culture.指导教师意见 2010年 09 月 25 日说明：1.此表提供学生，要求填写详细的论文大纲，经指导教师签署意见后，作为论文档案资料归档保存。2.此页不足填写，可附页。 culture and english teaching contentsenglish abstractchinese abstractintroduction1. the relationship between language and culture.2.english learning means cultural learning.3. cultural input in english teaching.4. conclusion.referencesappendix a: the timetable of the projectappendix b: reading exercises designed by the teacher.appendix c: plays designed by the students after class.appendix d: the students scoreboard appendix e: the post-trial questionnaire appendix f: diariesacknowledgementbibliography abstractthere is a natural relationship between culture and language. language reflects how the people of a nation form the unique way of life and the way of thinking. therefore,english teaching necessarily involves cultural education as well. this paper analyzesthe influence of social culture in english teaching and tries to set up a principle ofteaching english culture.摘 要 在文化和语言之间存在着一种自然的关系。语言反映了一个国家的人民构成了独特的生活方式和思维方式。因此，英语教学必然涉及教育，文化。本文分析了社会文化教学的影响，并试图建立一个文化理念的英语教学。关键词：语言文化 英语教学 文化影响introduction：language is a social phenomenon and a tool of communication, which was conventionalized in the long history of social practice inasmuch as language learning is not an isolated process. every language is used by its people to express themselves in spoken and written forms in communication. meanwhile, a peoples language is always closely-related to its religion, history, culture and social background. culture and language are inseparable as language is deeply rooted in culture. language and culture are closely linked to each other. language knowledge is a part of cultural knowledge. therefore, learning a foreign language enables you to learn its culture and in turn, learning about a new culture enables you to have a deep understanding of its language. kramsch indicates that second and foreign language learners necessarily become learners of the second culture because a language cant be learned without an understanding of the second cultural context in which it is used (kramsch, 2000a). as an example, when i say lunch in the uk, my classmates who have western culture backgrounds may be referring to hamburger or pizza but my chinese classmates may be referring to streamed bread or rice. it follows that special attention should be paid to the teaching of the target languages culture. 1. the relationship between language and culture.culture is closely related with language. the specific culture of each nation is reflected in a variety of ways; however, there is no other thing that shows as much content of a nations specific life style as its language. from the perspective of language and social culture, language may be regarded as a special phenomenon of social culture. the development of language also keeps a close pace with the cultural and social advancement of a nation. for example, the social changes and progress of thinking are constantly enriching the lexicon of the language. therefore, to investigate into the social and cultural aspect and to nurture the cultural competence of language learners are two important topics of english teaching. in a sense, the learning of a second language is the understanding of a second culture. it is a process of conflicting, communicating, interacting and re-constructing. an english teacher is a bridge between the target language culture and the language learners. to the learner, the process of learning a second language is also the process of knowing the specific traditions of the people speaking that language. once an american was visiting the home of a chinese. as the visitor saw the hosts wife, he said,“ your wife is very beautiful.” the host smiled and said:“ where? where?” which caused the americans surprise, but still he answered: “ eyes, hair, nose”an answer that the host found a bit puzzling. the surprising was caused by different cultures. “where? where?” meaning “哪里！ 哪里！”in chinese is a kind of humble saying. but the american understood it as “which parts of the body are beautiful?” so, the reason for both sides misunderstandings was differences in customs and habits. each was expressing and understanding what the other said according to his or her culture. events like these are fairly common when people of different languages and cultures communicate. because of cultural differences, misunderstandings may arise, although the language used in communication may be faultless. the same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to different peoples. because of cultural differences, a serious question may cause amusement or laughter；a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger. because of cultural differences, jokes by a foreign speaker maybe received with blank faces and stony silence. yet the same stories in the speakers own country would leave audiences holding their sides with laughter. language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. on the one hand, without language, culture would not be possible. on the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects culture. in the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. language and culture interact and understanding of one requires understanding of the other. cultures differ from one another. each culture is unique. learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms. it means learning also to see the world as native speakers of that language see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, learning to understand their “language of the mind”. learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture. however , it has been given not enough care to in our teaching for a long time. although many students have acquired four skillslistening, speaking, reading and writing according to the demand of our traditional syllabus, they often make mistakes in application of language to real life, because our teaching and teaching materials attach importance to language forms but ignore the social meanings of language forms and language application in reality. we can see the following dialogues in many textbooks: 1. a: whats your name? b: my name is li hong. a: how old are you? b: im twenty. a: where do you come from? b: i come from nanjing. 2. a: where are you going? b: im going to the library. 3. a: are you writing a letter to your parents? b: yes, i am. a: how often do you write to your parents? b: about once a week. all the above dialogues are roughly the combination of chinese thinking and english form. although such forms are correct, they are not appropriate. except for hospitals, immigration offices and such places, its unimaginable for someone to ask a string of questions like: “ whats your name?” “ how old are you?” “ where do you come from?” the natural reaction of english-speaking people to the greetings like: “ where are you going?” would mostly likely be “why do you ask?” or “its none of your business.” questions like “ are you writing to your parents?” would be though to intrude on ones privacy. our teaching material seldom pays attention to differences between cultures, so our students are usually ignorant of the factor of culture and they can only mechanically copy what they have learned.2.english learning means cultural learning.whenever talking about english learning, many people may recall the training of the four basic skills of listening, speaking reading and writing. in their teaching practices, the activities of many teachers are also limited by this methodology. sure, teaching these basic skills is necessary because the purpose of learning a language is to use it. however, the problem is that although a lot of students have learned the fundamentals of these skills according to these traditional methods, they are still showing an obvious tendency of making mistakes of various kinds. as a result, the process of learning english not only means the training of these fundamental skills but also includes the familiarity with the social and cultural conventions of the english-speaking countries. only in this way can learners have a good command of the english language, otherwise errors may easily arise. the violation of cultural traditions often results in misunderstandings, which is shown by a great deal of examples. for instance, an american visitor may be quite at a loss when they are asked such questions as how old are you? and how much do you earn each week? in china. for many chinese, they do not know the concept of personal privacy such as ones age, income, political tendency and religious belief. they communicate with the foreigners in their specific way that has been nurtured in the chinese environment. this is the very reason why they cannot command the english communication effectively in many circumstances. another very interesting example is concerned with daily greetings. many chinese are accustomed with such greetings as have you had your meal?. we chinese people all know this sentence does not contain much serious meaning because it is only a way of greeting somebody. however, when a foreign visitor is opposed to this greeting, they do not consider this as a greeting; instead, they take it as a serious invitation. this cultural difference in many cases may lead to embarrassment and misunderstanding. for example, many foreigners think that the chinese people are impolite in answering phone calls. they think that chinese people are two abrupt when ending the phone conversation by addressing okay, so much for that rather than saying good-bye or see you. in this way, they often feel the impatience at the other end of the line. all these examples directly or indirectly results from the cultural conflict between the english countries and china. culture embraces too much content. to learn a language well always means to grasp the essence of the culture, otherwise, one will not be able to learn a language effectively.so in language teaching, we should not only pass on knowledge of language and train learners competence of utilizing language, but also enhance teaching of relative cultural background knowledge. in teaching of aural comprehension, we find many students complain that much time has been used in listening, but little achievement has been acquired. in order to improve competence of listening comprehension, some students specially buy tape recorders for listening and spend quite a few hours every day on it, but once they meet new materials, still, they fail to understand. what is the reason? on the one hand, maybe some students english is very poor and they havent grasped enough vocabularies, clear grammar or correct pronunciation, or maybe the material is rather difficult, etc. on the other hand, an important reason is that they are unfamiliar with cultural background of the usa and england. aural comprehension, which is closely related to the knowledge of american and british culture, politics and economy, in fact, is an examination of ones comprehensive competence which includes ones english level, range of knowledge, competence of analysis and imaginative power. maybe we have this experience: when we are listening to something familiar to us, no matter what is concerned, usually we are easy to understand. even if there are some new words in the material, we are able to guess their meanings according to its context. however , when we encounter some unfamiliar material or something closely related to cultural background, we may feel rather difficult. even if the material is easy, we only know the literal meaning, but cant understand the connotation, because we lack knowledge of cultural background. here is a sentence from a report: “ the path to november is uphill all the way.” “november” literally means “the eleventh month of year”. but here refers to “ the presidential election to be held in november”. another example is “redletter days” which is a simple phrase and is easy to hear, meaning holidays such as christmas and other special days. but students are often unable to understand them without teachers explanation. below are two jokes often talked about by americans: 1. a: where are you from? b: ill ask her. (alaska) a: why do you ask her? 2. a: where are you from? b: how are you. (hawaii) a may think b has given an irrelevant answer. but if a knew something about geographical knowledge of the usa, and the names of two states of the usaalaska and hawaii, he would not regard “alaska” as “ill ask her”, or “hawaii” as “how are you”. in view of this, the introduction of cultural background is necessary in the teaching of english listening. likewise, speaking is not merely concerned with pronunciation and intonation. students can only improve their oral english and reach the aim of communication by means of enormous reading, mastering rich language material and acquaintance of western culture. therefore, in oral training, teachers should lay stress on factuality of language and adopt some material approaching to daily life, such as daily dialogues with tape, magazines, newspapers and report etc., because the material is from real life, and it helps students to be well acquainted with standard pronunciation and intonation, to speak english appropriate to the occasion, to understand western way of life and customs etc. otherwise, misunderstanding and displeasure are inevitably aroused. lets look at some examples. many fixed english ways of expression cannot be changed randomly. for example, the answer to “how do you do?” is “how do you do?” when asking price, people usually say, “how much, please?” instead of: “how much do you charge me? or “how much do i owe you”; when paying bill, “waiter, bill please.” instead of “excuse me, sir. were finished eating. how much is it, please?” when asking the other ones name on the telephone, “whos speaking, please?” or “who is it, please?” instead of “who are you?” “where are you?” “whats your surname?” or “what is your unit?” in english, there are so many euphemisms that sometimes its hard to know the other ones actual mood. so we should pay attention to our answer. for example, when one ask: “how do you like the film?” and the other answer: “i think its very interesting”, it shows he doesnt like it very much instead of the literal meaning “very interesting”. when one asks: “what do you think of my new coat?” and the other answers: “i think the pocket is very nice”, it also shows his dislike. in america and england, usually people dont say unpleasant words to ones face, they always say pleasant words to the full or evade direct answering, saying “i dont know.” for example, when one asks, “do you like our teacher”, you may answer: “well, i dont know him very well.” sometimes out of his politeness, when meeting unfamiliar people, he may conceal his true feelings. for example, a asked b: “how are you?” although b had got a bad cold, his answer was “fine, thank you”, but not “not very well, im afraid ”, or other similar answers.3. cultural input in english teaching.in china, cultural teaching has long been neglected in english classroom interactions. tr