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摘 要：本文闡述了发展学生英语背景文化知识的途径。如何培养学生的文化意识,如何理解讲英语国家人的行为举止，如何比较东方与西方的文化差异。通过比较,我们可以深刻了解中国文化。通过英语学习,我们能更好的了解世界文化和发展我们的世界意识。
关键词：英语教学;语言;文化;背景知识
Approaches to developing students' Background Cultural Knowledge
1.Getting cultural information
It is not enough simply to be willing to teaching sociolinguistic conventions, rules and norms of different cultures. What must be understood and what has, unfortunately, not been recognized, is that in order to make such material an intrinsic part of classroom foreign language instruction, teacher and writers of textbook need specific information as to what the cultural rules, conversation and norms of different cultures are, and how to integrate such information into foreign language education to develop language learners'awareness of intercultural differences in Chinese classroom settings. These questions are related to the goals of culture teaching in foreign language instruction programs.
2.Learning Rather Than Teaching
It is clear that a language can only be learned and not be taught. A teacher can at any time be quite sure that he is teaching, but it is not at all easy for him to make sure that learning does take place. Learning will not happen when teacher insists on teaching rather than letting the learners learn from themselves.
3．Developing an Awareness of Areas
Culture should be in our foreign language program. This is specially relevant to the foreign language learning context in china, where the learner learns a nonnative language in one's own culture with few immediate and widespread opportunities to use language within the environment of one's own culture. It is also important to point out that our students are adults who are not socio-linguistically native. To achieve this, the learner must devdlop "an awareness of in which the soCio-linguistic system of his native language differs from thap of English "
3.Using Authentic Materials
It is practically necessary for the teachers to use authentic materials to teach culture.
The term authentic has been used as a reaction against the prefabricated artificial language of text book and instructional dialogues.
Mass media, such as, film, novels and especially newspapers and magazines, are also considered an insightful means for teaching culture, for they reflect people's way of life in terms of variety, contemporaneity and authenticity.
4.Solving Cultural Problems
The teacher present the students with some cultural problems or riddles to solve. Information can be provide in multiple-choice format, through assignments quizzes, group contests, to acouse interest and competition among the students.
Different nations have different conventions for answering the phone. In English countries when picking up the phone one says"Hello! This is so and so speaking ";but in china one says "whom are you looking for?"
5.Recognize the pragmatic errors
Pragmatic errors refer mainly to the inappropriate use of language. Usually it is caused by cultural differences of various regions and nations. It is necessary to recognize some pragmatic errors in order to enhance the awareness of cultural differences.
For instance, native English-speakers may feel embarrassed by the Chinese denial when they compliment the Chinese, as seen in the following example:
A native English-speaker: Your English is very good.
A Chinese English-learner: No. My English is very poor.
B. error in conflict of different value: Native English people may often resent the invasion of their privacy by English in our department. For example, the concept of "privacy"is hard for Chinese English-learners to perceive because what is regarded as"privacy"in the West is not thought of as such in our country. The Chinese tend to inquire about an individual's age, salary, job or profession, marriage state, family address. etc. to show their concern, friendship and intimacy even when they first meet one another. But some native English-speakers are easily offended by inquiring into such topics.
C. Error in communication strategies: We may think that communication strategies are systematic skills in dealing with communicative difficulties. Some hold the view that it is a kind of potential psychological strategy in overcoming communicative difficulties; others consider communication strategies as series of approaches to narrow down the cultural gap. Any way it is a kind of communicative competence or a series of approaches that the two sides of certain language competence and communicative competence and cultural competence, and the raising of cultural awareness in an integral part of the language teacher's task. The strategies are mainly avoidance, tolerance, suspense and adjustment.
Such pragmatic errors mentioned above require a great deal of research work over a period of time to reduce and correct. In other words, culturally unacceptable language and behavior are often worse that linguistic errors and tend to create uneasy feelings between English-speakers and English-learners, because the former are unlikely to be aware of socio-linguistic relativity. Here is one more example, during my stay in the UK I found that students there who are late for class may enter the classroom or lecture-room quietly, without knocking or informing, and sit down in order not to interrupt teachers'lecturing. While the Chinese culture teaches late students to knock, inform and even to explain the reason of being late, then waiting for teachers'differences. It would be understandable for the Chinese students who are late to "interrupt"teachers'lecturing, and Western students. To go straight to their seats. Otherwise, it may arouse culturally unacceptable errors. That is the behavior of western students might be seen by the Chinese students as a lack of respect to teachers and that of the Chinese students might be truly seem by Western students as an"interruption"of teacher's lecturing. In fact both are trying to show their respect and politeness to teachers according to their respective cultural differences.
References:
[1]Kramsch, C. 1993.Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford and New York: OUP
[2]Kramsch, C. 1993.Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press
作者簡介:孙晓华,女,咸宁职业技术学院中专部，籍贯:山西太原，1981年10月出生，学历:英语本科。
关键词：英语教学;语言;文化;背景知识
Approaches to developing students' Background Cultural Knowledge
1.Getting cultural information
It is not enough simply to be willing to teaching sociolinguistic conventions, rules and norms of different cultures. What must be understood and what has, unfortunately, not been recognized, is that in order to make such material an intrinsic part of classroom foreign language instruction, teacher and writers of textbook need specific information as to what the cultural rules, conversation and norms of different cultures are, and how to integrate such information into foreign language education to develop language learners'awareness of intercultural differences in Chinese classroom settings. These questions are related to the goals of culture teaching in foreign language instruction programs.
2.Learning Rather Than Teaching
It is clear that a language can only be learned and not be taught. A teacher can at any time be quite sure that he is teaching, but it is not at all easy for him to make sure that learning does take place. Learning will not happen when teacher insists on teaching rather than letting the learners learn from themselves.
3．Developing an Awareness of Areas
Culture should be in our foreign language program. This is specially relevant to the foreign language learning context in china, where the learner learns a nonnative language in one's own culture with few immediate and widespread opportunities to use language within the environment of one's own culture. It is also important to point out that our students are adults who are not socio-linguistically native. To achieve this, the learner must devdlop "an awareness of in which the soCio-linguistic system of his native language differs from thap of English "
3.Using Authentic Materials
It is practically necessary for the teachers to use authentic materials to teach culture.
The term authentic has been used as a reaction against the prefabricated artificial language of text book and instructional dialogues.
Mass media, such as, film, novels and especially newspapers and magazines, are also considered an insightful means for teaching culture, for they reflect people's way of life in terms of variety, contemporaneity and authenticity.
4.Solving Cultural Problems
The teacher present the students with some cultural problems or riddles to solve. Information can be provide in multiple-choice format, through assignments quizzes, group contests, to acouse interest and competition among the students.
Different nations have different conventions for answering the phone. In English countries when picking up the phone one says"Hello! This is so and so speaking ";but in china one says "whom are you looking for?"
5.Recognize the pragmatic errors
Pragmatic errors refer mainly to the inappropriate use of language. Usually it is caused by cultural differences of various regions and nations. It is necessary to recognize some pragmatic errors in order to enhance the awareness of cultural differences.
For instance, native English-speakers may feel embarrassed by the Chinese denial when they compliment the Chinese, as seen in the following example:
A native English-speaker: Your English is very good.
A Chinese English-learner: No. My English is very poor.
B. error in conflict of different value: Native English people may often resent the invasion of their privacy by English in our department. For example, the concept of "privacy"is hard for Chinese English-learners to perceive because what is regarded as"privacy"in the West is not thought of as such in our country. The Chinese tend to inquire about an individual's age, salary, job or profession, marriage state, family address. etc. to show their concern, friendship and intimacy even when they first meet one another. But some native English-speakers are easily offended by inquiring into such topics.
C. Error in communication strategies: We may think that communication strategies are systematic skills in dealing with communicative difficulties. Some hold the view that it is a kind of potential psychological strategy in overcoming communicative difficulties; others consider communication strategies as series of approaches to narrow down the cultural gap. Any way it is a kind of communicative competence or a series of approaches that the two sides of certain language competence and communicative competence and cultural competence, and the raising of cultural awareness in an integral part of the language teacher's task. The strategies are mainly avoidance, tolerance, suspense and adjustment.
Such pragmatic errors mentioned above require a great deal of research work over a period of time to reduce and correct. In other words, culturally unacceptable language and behavior are often worse that linguistic errors and tend to create uneasy feelings between English-speakers and English-learners, because the former are unlikely to be aware of socio-linguistic relativity. Here is one more example, during my stay in the UK I found that students there who are late for class may enter the classroom or lecture-room quietly, without knocking or informing, and sit down in order not to interrupt teachers'lecturing. While the Chinese culture teaches late students to knock, inform and even to explain the reason of being late, then waiting for teachers'differences. It would be understandable for the Chinese students who are late to "interrupt"teachers'lecturing, and Western students. To go straight to their seats. Otherwise, it may arouse culturally unacceptable errors. That is the behavior of western students might be seen by the Chinese students as a lack of respect to teachers and that of the Chinese students might be truly seem by Western students as an"interruption"of teacher's lecturing. In fact both are trying to show their respect and politeness to teachers according to their respective cultural differences.
References:
[1]Kramsch, C. 1993.Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford and New York: OUP
[2]Kramsch, C. 1993.Context and Culture in Language Teaching Oxford: Oxford University Press
作者簡介:孙晓华,女,咸宁职业技术学院中专部，籍贯:山西太原，1981年10月出生，学历:英语本科。