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【Abstract】Culture teaching is an inseparable part of an English major program to enhance students’ cross-cultural communication competence. From country to country, social taboos, politics, religion and values differ. Cross-cultural communication refers to communication between people of different cultures. This paper proposes a systematic approach to plan, organize and coodinate cultural teaching and to enhance intercultural competence for English majors.
【Key words】Course designCross-cultural communicationSyllabus
【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1006-9682(2010)04-0094-02
1.Introduction
It is now commonly accepted that foreign language students should focus their study not only on the form of the language, but also on its social rules-the knowledge of when, how, and to whom it is appropriate to use these forms. It is also now realized that successful communication involves cross-cultural understanding which among other things, means avoiding pragmatic failure. Language is inextricably tied to culture. Therefore, language teaching should include culture teaching. Though many universities in recent decades have integrated culturee teaching into their educational curricula and developed courses designed to enrich students’ cultural background knowledge of the target language, an insufficient intercultural competence can still be found among college students. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to culture teaching and students’ intercultural competence training.
Although culture teaching is not a new thing for many English Departments in colleges and universities, the usual practice of it goes only to the extent that English language teachers teach the target culture knowledge at random and develop the students’ awareness of culture differences separately in and outside the classroom. The practice lacks systematic planning and coodination at the curriculum level and cooperation among different teachers within the language program.
This paper presents a comprehensive, but practical approach to plan and implement culture teaching and to develop students’ intercultural competence in a sound, rational, and effective language program.
2.Framework of the culture course design
(1)Teaching subjects
The subjects we teach are the second year college students majoring in English Education in Shaozhou Normal College.
(2)Needs analysis
Needs analysis is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to satisfy the language learning requirements of the students within the context of the particular institutions involved in the learning situation. Teachers should know the skills and languages the students need, their English level and their basic needs towards the course. So the “target situation analysis, the present situation analysis and learning situation analysis”[1]should be invested Teachers should make a careful analysis of the existing situation and identify the students’ actural needs in terms of cultural knowledge and skills. We need to study our targeted students and their motivation so as to decide on the most proper strategies to enhance the culture teaching. Staff meetings, questionaires, interviews, tests, observations and discussions are common tools to gather the right information.
(3)Goals and objectives
Goals “address more general, societal, communicative, or institutional concerns, which are concerning language planning and policy. Goals are determined by carefully examining information about the patterns of language use within the various domains of the society, as well as by studying group and individual attitudes toward English and toward all other languages which are used in the setting”.[2]Objectives are specific outcomes or products of courses which are outlined in a syllabus. Based on the needs analysis, teachers can form the program goals and objectives of culture teaching/learning and develop intercultural competence. The following are four points of goals of cultural instruction.
1)To help students to develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors.
2)To help students to develop an understanding that the social variable such as age, sex, social class and place of residence influence the ways in which people speak and behave.
3)To help people to become more aware of convemtional behavior in common situation in the target culture.
4)To help students to increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of the words and phrases in the target language.
When setting goals and objectives of culture teaching, program gesigners and administrators should carefully examine the students’ needs they analyzed before and decide on different goals and objectives for different courses in the program. Regular staff meeting should be held to determine the content and the degree of culture teaching according to the nature of each course. Coodination at the program level and a consensus among teachers are crucial for achieving joint effort to teach culture and enhance intercultural competence.
(4)Material development
Materials mean any systematic description of the techniques and exercises to be used in classroom teaching. Any textbooks, handouts, packets of audiovisual aids, games to be used for the culture teaching must be carefully chosen. It is benificial for teachers to choose foreign textbooks, which contain cultural background notes or authentic dialogues or texts that reflect real setting, social interpersonal relationship,etc. Some good films, such as Brave Heart, King Arthur, ElizabethⅠ; some documentary programs; and some English teaching programs like English Superhighway, are very good authentic materials to teach culture differences and raise awareness.
(5)Teaching of the course
While teacher may be the authority on the target culture, he or she cannot possibly anticipate all of the difficulties students encounter in understanding another culture. Hence, student-centered talk and student-centered activities are particularly important. The role of the teacher in this course is constantly to remind the students that cultural concepts they are learning have practical relevance to their ultimate goal-cultural adjustment and smooth cross-cultural communication. The following are some important aspects in teaching culture.
1)Making the classroom “a culture island”
In the classroom the teacher should create as authentic an environment as possible. Since for most Chinese students, their main exposure to English is the classroom. It is crucial for the teacher to bring the outside world into the classroom and make the classroom a world of English through the use of reality, such as maps, pictures, posters, cuttings from newspapers and magazines, underground tickets, railway timetables, retaurant menus and so on to create a visual and tangible presence of the target culture.
2)Making use of the Videos or films
For most students and even teachers, radio broadcastings, English songs, videos and films can be helpful ways to begin to learn culture. Films are most attractive ways to students. I suggest using films to stimulate discussion on aspects of the target culture. They should be employed as language and culture learning tool, not just for fun.
3)Making a comparative sudy of the target culture and our home culture
Most students tend to transfer cultural patterns of their source language to the target language, which is the area where misunderstanding and even helplessness in interpretation occur. We should make our students aware that the target culture and the home culture do not always have identical values and attitudes. We do not expect them either to adopt a new set of value or reject them all. The correct attitude towards the target culture should be tolerance and respect. Therefore, students should understand the foreign system of values and come to respect it.
4)Using various aids for teaching culture
Culture acquisition cannot be achieved merely through classroom teaching. Students should have things relevant to culture to listen to, to talk about, to read, to watch and have personal contact with native speakers. We can encourage students to develop interpersonal contacts with native speakers or correspond with penpals in English speaking countries. We should recommend to students books on culture or assign them to read short stories or plays in English.
(6)Assessment and evaluation
The main focus in the course is the culture awareness and intercultural competence the students need to achieve in the target culture and the teachers’ task is to control the teaching-learning process by assessing and measuring. Feedbacks, assignments, examinations and tests are tools for the teachers to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the students. Teachers should especially pay attention to the reliability, validity and practicality of their course evaluation. We should be flexible in designing their tests. Role-play, individual or group presentations, performance shows, etc. should be on the testing list.
3.Conclusion
Cultures are always changing, especially in such an age of rapid change where everything is in a constant state of fluxion. Culture move, flow, and change through time. This is a natural outcome of globalization. On this point, the study of cross-cultural communication is of vital importance. The approach proposed in this paper to improve culture teaching and enhance intercultural competence for English majors is far from perfect. Areas such as how to test students’ ability still need further exploration. Yet, I still hope that the approach discussed here will help the teachers of culture course maintain and improve a sound curriculum in terms of culture teaching and intercultural competence development.
References
1 Dudlley-Evans, T. 2001. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2 Dubin, F. & E. Olshtain. 2002. Course Design. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
3 Kramsch, Claire. 1999. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
4 Samovar, L.A. & Porter, R. E. 1981. Intercultural Communication: A Reader(4th edition). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company
5 陈 申.外语教育中的文化教学.北京:北京语言文化大学出版社,1999
6 胡文仲.文化与交际.北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1990
【Key words】Course designCross-cultural communicationSyllabus
【中图分类号】G642【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1006-9682(2010)04-0094-02
1.Introduction
It is now commonly accepted that foreign language students should focus their study not only on the form of the language, but also on its social rules-the knowledge of when, how, and to whom it is appropriate to use these forms. It is also now realized that successful communication involves cross-cultural understanding which among other things, means avoiding pragmatic failure. Language is inextricably tied to culture. Therefore, language teaching should include culture teaching. Though many universities in recent decades have integrated culturee teaching into their educational curricula and developed courses designed to enrich students’ cultural background knowledge of the target language, an insufficient intercultural competence can still be found among college students. Therefore, more attention has to be paid to culture teaching and students’ intercultural competence training.
Although culture teaching is not a new thing for many English Departments in colleges and universities, the usual practice of it goes only to the extent that English language teachers teach the target culture knowledge at random and develop the students’ awareness of culture differences separately in and outside the classroom. The practice lacks systematic planning and coodination at the curriculum level and cooperation among different teachers within the language program.
This paper presents a comprehensive, but practical approach to plan and implement culture teaching and to develop students’ intercultural competence in a sound, rational, and effective language program.
2.Framework of the culture course design
(1)Teaching subjects
The subjects we teach are the second year college students majoring in English Education in Shaozhou Normal College.
(2)Needs analysis
Needs analysis is the systematic collection and analysis of all relevant information necessary to satisfy the language learning requirements of the students within the context of the particular institutions involved in the learning situation. Teachers should know the skills and languages the students need, their English level and their basic needs towards the course. So the “target situation analysis, the present situation analysis and learning situation analysis”[1]should be invested Teachers should make a careful analysis of the existing situation and identify the students’ actural needs in terms of cultural knowledge and skills. We need to study our targeted students and their motivation so as to decide on the most proper strategies to enhance the culture teaching. Staff meetings, questionaires, interviews, tests, observations and discussions are common tools to gather the right information.
(3)Goals and objectives
Goals “address more general, societal, communicative, or institutional concerns, which are concerning language planning and policy. Goals are determined by carefully examining information about the patterns of language use within the various domains of the society, as well as by studying group and individual attitudes toward English and toward all other languages which are used in the setting”.[2]Objectives are specific outcomes or products of courses which are outlined in a syllabus. Based on the needs analysis, teachers can form the program goals and objectives of culture teaching/learning and develop intercultural competence. The following are four points of goals of cultural instruction.
1)To help students to develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors.
2)To help students to develop an understanding that the social variable such as age, sex, social class and place of residence influence the ways in which people speak and behave.
3)To help people to become more aware of convemtional behavior in common situation in the target culture.
4)To help students to increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of the words and phrases in the target language.
When setting goals and objectives of culture teaching, program gesigners and administrators should carefully examine the students’ needs they analyzed before and decide on different goals and objectives for different courses in the program. Regular staff meeting should be held to determine the content and the degree of culture teaching according to the nature of each course. Coodination at the program level and a consensus among teachers are crucial for achieving joint effort to teach culture and enhance intercultural competence.
(4)Material development
Materials mean any systematic description of the techniques and exercises to be used in classroom teaching. Any textbooks, handouts, packets of audiovisual aids, games to be used for the culture teaching must be carefully chosen. It is benificial for teachers to choose foreign textbooks, which contain cultural background notes or authentic dialogues or texts that reflect real setting, social interpersonal relationship,etc. Some good films, such as Brave Heart, King Arthur, ElizabethⅠ; some documentary programs; and some English teaching programs like English Superhighway, are very good authentic materials to teach culture differences and raise awareness.
(5)Teaching of the course
While teacher may be the authority on the target culture, he or she cannot possibly anticipate all of the difficulties students encounter in understanding another culture. Hence, student-centered talk and student-centered activities are particularly important. The role of the teacher in this course is constantly to remind the students that cultural concepts they are learning have practical relevance to their ultimate goal-cultural adjustment and smooth cross-cultural communication. The following are some important aspects in teaching culture.
1)Making the classroom “a culture island”
In the classroom the teacher should create as authentic an environment as possible. Since for most Chinese students, their main exposure to English is the classroom. It is crucial for the teacher to bring the outside world into the classroom and make the classroom a world of English through the use of reality, such as maps, pictures, posters, cuttings from newspapers and magazines, underground tickets, railway timetables, retaurant menus and so on to create a visual and tangible presence of the target culture.
2)Making use of the Videos or films
For most students and even teachers, radio broadcastings, English songs, videos and films can be helpful ways to begin to learn culture. Films are most attractive ways to students. I suggest using films to stimulate discussion on aspects of the target culture. They should be employed as language and culture learning tool, not just for fun.
3)Making a comparative sudy of the target culture and our home culture
Most students tend to transfer cultural patterns of their source language to the target language, which is the area where misunderstanding and even helplessness in interpretation occur. We should make our students aware that the target culture and the home culture do not always have identical values and attitudes. We do not expect them either to adopt a new set of value or reject them all. The correct attitude towards the target culture should be tolerance and respect. Therefore, students should understand the foreign system of values and come to respect it.
4)Using various aids for teaching culture
Culture acquisition cannot be achieved merely through classroom teaching. Students should have things relevant to culture to listen to, to talk about, to read, to watch and have personal contact with native speakers. We can encourage students to develop interpersonal contacts with native speakers or correspond with penpals in English speaking countries. We should recommend to students books on culture or assign them to read short stories or plays in English.
(6)Assessment and evaluation
The main focus in the course is the culture awareness and intercultural competence the students need to achieve in the target culture and the teachers’ task is to control the teaching-learning process by assessing and measuring. Feedbacks, assignments, examinations and tests are tools for the teachers to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the students. Teachers should especially pay attention to the reliability, validity and practicality of their course evaluation. We should be flexible in designing their tests. Role-play, individual or group presentations, performance shows, etc. should be on the testing list.
3.Conclusion
Cultures are always changing, especially in such an age of rapid change where everything is in a constant state of fluxion. Culture move, flow, and change through time. This is a natural outcome of globalization. On this point, the study of cross-cultural communication is of vital importance. The approach proposed in this paper to improve culture teaching and enhance intercultural competence for English majors is far from perfect. Areas such as how to test students’ ability still need further exploration. Yet, I still hope that the approach discussed here will help the teachers of culture course maintain and improve a sound curriculum in terms of culture teaching and intercultural competence development.
References
1 Dudlley-Evans, T. 2001. English for Specific Purposes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2 Dubin, F. & E. Olshtain. 2002. Course Design. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
3 Kramsch, Claire. 1999. Context and Culture in Language Teaching. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press
4 Samovar, L.A. & Porter, R. E. 1981. Intercultural Communication: A Reader(4th edition). Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company
5 陈 申.外语教育中的文化教学.北京:北京语言文化大学出版社,1999
6 胡文仲.文化与交际.北京:外语教学与研究出版社,1990