Cultural Awareness in English Instruction

1、cultural awareness in english instructionthesis statement: cultural awareness is a very import in reading instruction; more attention should be paid to improve the students cultural awareness.outline i. introductionii. cultural differencesa. chinese and western cultural differences in customs b. chi

2、nese and western cultural differences in value orientationc. chinese and western cultural differences in religiond. chinese and western cultural differences in hierarchye. chinese and western cultural differences in traditions and ethicsf. chinese and western cultural differences in courtesyg. chine

3、se and western cultural differences in social relation 1. equality concept vs class concept 2. nucleus family vs extended familyh. chinese and western cultural differences in historical backgroundiii. the methods to raise cultural awareness in reading instructiona. comparison methodb. drama methodc.

4、 cultural aside . conclusioni. introduction with the development of the world, english has become an important information carrier. in order to open the door to the global village, we should try our best to find the key and it has become a necessity for chinese students to study english well. howeve

5、r, it is never an easy thing to learn english, and during the process of studying english, students inevitably come across a number of difficulties. in general, english study can be divided into four parts, which are listening, writing, speaking and reading. and in the course of learning how to read

6、, students usually are not in a position to get the key point and as a consequence, they can not acquire any useful information in spite of the innumerous efforts that they have made.some reading, although has not bumped into a new word in the reading process, and does not have the grammar barrier,

7、but it is difficult for the students to know the meaning of the whole reading passage, especially when the students lack certain knowledge of the cultural context （谢珏 2000:15）. however, taking the present condition of cultural education in senior english teaching into consideration, we are puzzled b

8、y the phenomena that so many students who have begun their english study since they were children still feel difficult to understand the authors thoughts, and they are still elusive when they communicate with foreigners. from the perspective of neec (national entrance examination for colleges), engl

9、ish is considered to be important to all senior school students. for most students, the motivation of learning english is just treating it as a means to pass the exams and get high scores in english proficiency tests. and the teachers of english are just the facilitators of realizing this goal. teac

10、hers greatest concern is given to the mastery of linguistic knowledge and skills. students spend most of the time on learning vocabulary, structures and grammar through lots of drills, practice and consolidation so as to memorize those linguistic elements and reproduce them. but cultural knowledge i

11、s ignored. in this case, culture is often separated from its carrierlanguage. both teachers and students cultural awareness are poor. english reading ability is one kind of comprehensive ability. there are so many english article literature styles, including the certain background knowledge. some re

12、ader, although has not bumped into a new word in reading process, and encounters no grammar barrier, it is difficult to know the meaning of the whole reading passage, especially when the students lack the certain knowledge of the cultural context, which leads to the failure in communication and unde

13、rstanding. english learning is not learning a language, and students should learn english on the basis of its special cultural background. thus cultural awareness in reading instruction becomes absolutely necessary. it plays an important role in english learning.ii. cultural differences there is not

14、 one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture (samovar& porter 2004:28). different countries have different customs. there are huge differences between china and the western countries. therefore, to understand the literatures written by the west authors, one should know about

15、the cultural background of the western nation as exactly as possible, especially the difference between the chinese and western culture. language learning and cultural learning are not separable, so the cultural differences should be involved in english learning (胡斌 2003:4).a. chinese and western cu

16、ltural differences in customsmanners and customs are rooted in peoples own lives and social structure. different social structure will inevitably form different customs, which involve a wide range of aspects, such as economy, politics, religion and so on. for example, a young chinese tourist sat in

17、a london caf and ordered tea. twice he asked for more hot water to top it up while putting the saucer on the cup to keep the tea warm, as he would have done at home. the waiter grew impatient. “this chinese is too stingy to pay for more tea. and doesnt he know the saucer goes under the cup to catch

18、the drips?” the chinese man noticed the displeasure on the waiters face and lost patience himself. “this western waiter is really stingy and silly! why is he so reluctant to serve me hot water? why does he put the lid under the cup?” he got angry, and left the caf steaming with resentment.another ex

19、ample in china, our chinese people regarded ourselves as the descendants of chinese dragon (long), and the dragon is the symbol of the chinese nation, while dragon means to most westerners a symbol of evil, an evil monster that destroys and therefore must be destroyed(deng 2003:55). so when students

20、 describe a person energetic, they should say “he/she is full of vim and vigor.” instead of “he/she is as lively as a dragon and tiger.” still like in english lion is the king of beasts, and stands for courage and majesty. one dictionary definition about lion is “a famous and important person.” what

21、 lion to british is what long (dragon) to our chinese. however, our chinese do not have a good impression of the lion, such as “狮子大开口”, often making derogatory sense.b. chinese and western cultural differences in value orientation every culture has its unique value system of good and evil, of beauty

22、 and ugliness. the criteria are also different, in this culture that is good, but in another culture maybe that is bad. they exist reasonably within the system of their own culture, and by no means can we interpret a value standard as being advanced while the other being backward. values in english

23、and chinese culture are different, and the most prominent one is the collectivism and individualism. for example, the word “individualism” in chinese has strong derogatory sense, because in chinese culture, we are pursuing collectivism, that is, the realization of personal value is his contribution

24、to society, and thus no “individualism” and “personal struggle.” but in english culture. the greatness of the value of a man lies in the strength of his personal struggle. thus “individualism” is a complimentary word in britain and the u.s. in short, due to the different social backgrounds of cultur

25、al development of china and the western countries, there is a huge cultural difference among various countries and regions. to some extent, these differences are distinct characteristics of the country and nation, but at the same time, these cultural differences also bring about a certain amount of

26、inconvenience when the groups communicate with each other. so it is very important to be familiar with these differences and avoid misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication.c. chinese and western cultural differences in religion as an indispensable part of culture, religious culture influence

27、s widely and profoundly our language communication in our social life. the differences between the chinese and western cultures surely influence the verbal behavior and language notions of the people of these two countries. as many western people are christians, churches are very common in britain.

28、usually there is no food stored in church as a holy place, so mice living in churches are often staving, which resulted in the idiom: “as poor as church mouse”. besides, british people have a firm belief in the existence of god, heaven, hell and demon and so on due to the influence of the bible, so

29、many british idioms involve religious terms. take the word “god” for instance: “my god!”, “god bless me!”, “thank god!”, “god forbid!”, “play god.”, “god helps those who help themselves.”, “god damn you!” another example from the bible is “there is a bit of old adam in us all.” the “old adam” is a p

30、ersonage from the bible, which has been entitled with certain cultural connotation, meaning: “the first ancestor of human beings, adam betrayed the will of god out of the selfish and evil nature of human beings”. in china, buddhism is prevalent since it was introduced into china more than 1,000 year

31、s ago. chinese people believe in buddha, it is very common to see the buildings of temples in which people worship the buddha by burning incense. therefore many chinese idioms contain such religious terms as buddha, temple and monk. for example, “借花献佛”，“放下屠刀立地成佛”，“僧多粥少”，“菩萨心肠”，“临时抱佛脚”，“跑得了和尚跑不了庙”，et

32、c. chinese people will pray“菩萨保佑”or“上天保佑”when they want to gain success.d. chinese and western cultural differences in hierarchy in china, a long history of culture and tradition of respect to ancestors give birth to numerous title taboos. the modern society has established a democratic and equal so

33、cial institution, but in interpersonal interactions, there is still the situation of “title bamboo”, that is, people of low official level can not directly call the names of their superiors, unequally, people of higher official level have such privilege, and the younger generation can not address th

34、e name of their elders. for example, the secretary, “zhang jun”, the higher level can address him directly by name, while the lower should avoid calling surname directly. this is different from western culture. in anglo-american culture, there is no obvious hierarchy, people whether high or low stat

35、us could be addressed by name. but names of the god and devil should be avoided which has been mentioned above.e. chinese and western cultural differences in traditions and ethics the western culture takes individualism as the center, not superstition or traditional privileges and pays attention to

36、independence, enterprising and innovation. in addition, in western society, the family structure is loose after children becoming adult; they tend to live separately from their parents, which is a tradition and custom in western societies. besides, social old-age mechanism can not completely take th

37、e responsibility, therefore, the elder live alone, and the word “old” has become a taboo, which means rigid thinking, aging knowledge, nagging, headstrong, and other quirks. so in english, there are a particularly large number of euphemisms concerning the word “old”, such as a senior citizen; golden

38、 years; past ones prime; the longer living; distinguished gentleman. “nursing home” is called as “nursing home, home for adults, rest home, adult communities” and so on. expert niemann engaged in the study of english euphemisms has humorously pointed out that in the united states today there is no “

39、old”, only “seasoned or well-maintained (well-preserved)”. chinese culture takes family as the centre, focuses on the aged and promotes ethics, then in chinese culture, “old” is not taboo word .on the contrary, “old” represents experience, knowledge, maturity, reliability, qualifications and status

40、of the elder. “red sunset”, “twilight love”, and a small amount of euphemism are also full of respect.f. chinese and western cultural differences in courtesy china has always been a more traditional country of the world. china also has been modest in communication with peoples, emphasizing “belcher

41、own statue,” which is a rich chinese cultural heritage, courtesy phenomenon. we commend the people; we tend to a self-criticism to show modesty and politeness. this is particularly prominent in the name, such as when they introduce their wife to others: “this is jianna!” my son will be “quanzi” and

42、said that he is “i” on the contrary, the western countries have no such cultural practices, when they are praised; the association is pleased to say “thank you” as an acceptance of other peoples praise. initial contact with the chinese people may also think that this is narcissism. when we travel ar

43、ound the united state, its common to see a little boy call his fathers name directly instead of call him “dad”. they think its a good way to narrow the gap between them. while in the eyes of chinese people, it is seems very disrespectful. g. chinese and western cultural differences in social relatio

44、n1. equality concept vs class concept westerners are strong in consciousness of equality, regardless of being rich or poor. everybody is respecting oneself, not allowing others to violate their own rights. at the same time, everybody respects each other. in usa, few people take prize of their promin

45、ent family background, also few people feel shameful of their poor family background, because they all know, through their diligence, they would certainly obtain success. just like the popular proverb says: “if working hard, even cowboy can be president.” west uses law to restrict people and deal wi

46、th peoples relationship. you can never find law well-established in china. for 2000 years, china is a land thats based on human relationship rather than law. its the typical chinese “tradition” where the master (the old teacher) will teach the young (newbie) his skills (how to serve). the young newb

47、ie has to respect the teacher. in chinese society, “age” does matter, and chances are if you encounter someone older than you, youre expected to respect him/her, even though you may be better than him/her. humbleness is a personal ethic highly priced in the chinese world. and if youre very knowledge

48、able or talented, youre expected to be humble, and not arrogant.2. nucleus family vs extended family unlike the chinese four generation family, usas like nucleus family structure is relatively simple. the family with parents and the underage child are called nuclear family. once the children get mar

49、ried, they must move out, be independent in economy. their parents no longer have the duty to subsidize their children. this way provides the maximum freedom for the young people, especially in cultivating their ability in self-supporting. however it estranges their relative relations.h. chinese and

50、 british cultural differences in social and historical background there are huge differences between china and britain in their social and historical background. china is a country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization, and its culture bears strong feudalist color of imperial reign. the idio

51、ms exposing the ugliness of the feudal system and the darkness of bureaucratic governance were created due to the longhistory feudal governance of chinese society, such as“打官腔”，“官官相护”， “只许州官放火，不许百姓点灯”，etc. in the history of the western countries, it was frequently invaded by other countries, and it

52、is obvious to perceive the influence of other cultures, such as many idioms deriving from latin and french: “fortune favors the bold.”, “art is long, life is short.”, “two dogs over one bone seldom agree.”, “after dinner mustard.”, etc. in addition, some idioms and allusions come from greek mytholog

53、y, for example: “achilles heel”, “penelopes web” and “pandoras box”, etc. again, in english, some person and place names contain certain historical or national meanings, such as: uncle sam, romeo, and munich. some proverbs carry unique ethnic and local colors, such as: “carry coal to newcastle”, “ca

54、rry owls to athens” and “carry salt to dysart and puddings to tranent”. all three proverbs contain the meaning of “unnecessary action”. similarly, many places and person names are entitled with unique history and cultural connotations in china. as the first of the five famous chinese mountains, moun

55、t tai, has its profound cultural connotation in the eyes of chinese people. mount tai, lies in shangdong province, and is regarded as the king of all mountains by ancient chinese people, and it was compared to those respectable personage and the big events of great importance and value. many idioms

56、containing the meaning of nobility, solemnity and holiness are associated with mount tai, such as“重如泰山”，“泰山压顶”，“有眼不识泰山”etc.iii. the methods to increase cultural awareness in reading instruction from the above analysis, we can conclude that knowing language forms only is inadequate for the needs of r

57、eading and communication. english learning has rich culture meaning. its not only the process of mastering, but also that of touching and recognizing cultural thought patterns of the english people. but, for an english teacher, how to improve the students cultural awareness?a. comparison method sinc

58、e culture and language cannot be separated from each other , when teachers are introducing a cultural item in reading instruction, english learning should be focused on language and culture. when students have learned a sentence, the teacher should tell them the cultural connotation in it and compar

59、e the cultural difference. for example, when teaching “good morning, mr. wang”, a teacher has to do two things. first, he has to help his students command the language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. second, he has to explore the cultural value in the sentence. “good morning” is a greeting in an english way. he cannot just tell his students that it mea