外国语将文化融入外语学习学士学位论文.docx
《外国语将文化融入外语学习学士学位论文.docx》由会员分享,可在线阅读,更多相关《外国语将文化融入外语学习学士学位论文.docx(22页珍藏版)》请在冰豆网上搜索。
外国语将文化融入外语学习学士学位论文
将文化融入外语学习
IncorporatingCultureintoForeignLanguageLearning
QiuXue
UndertheSupervisionof
ZhangChun
SchoolofForeignLanguagesandCultures
PanzhihuaUniversity
May2006
Contents
Abstract.........................................................................................................................I
KeyWords......................................................................................................................I
摘要.............................................................................................II
关键词..............................................................................................II
Introduction…………………………………………………………………….……...1
I.LanguageandCulture.................................................................................................3
A.Language……….…………...……….……..............................................……....3
B.Culture…………………………………………………………..……………….3
C.TheRelationshipBetweenLanguageandCulture…………..…………………..4
II.IncorporatingCultureintoForeignLanguageLearning……………………………6
(1)PayingAttentiontotheCulturalDifferencesreflectedinLanguages…………..6
A.Vocabulary…………………………………………………………………7
B.PhaticCommunion……………………………………………………….9
C.ThanksandCompliments………………………………………………...10
D.PrivacyandTaboos………………………………………………………11
E.Idioms,ProverbsandSayings……………………………………………13
(2)PayingAttentiontotheDifferencesinNon-verbalCommunication………….15
A.TheMovementofOurBodies……………………………………………16
B.OurUseofSpace…………………………………………………………17
C.OurConceptofTime…………………………………………………….18
Conclusion……………………………………………………………….……….…..20
Bibliography………………………………………………….…………………21
Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………….22
Abstract
Withtheprogressinthefieldofscienceandtechnology,nowadays,wecantalkeasilywithpeoplefromallovertheworld.Wearelearningforeignlanguagesandwebecomemoreandmorefamiliarwithcross-culturalcommunication.Anincreasingnumberofpeoplehavefoundthatcultureisofgreatimportanceintheprocessoflearningaforeignlanguage;withoutculturelearningwecouldnotachieveourpurpose.Wemustincorporatecultureintoourforeignlanguagelearning.Thisthesisisdevotedtoadiscussiononthisissuefromtwoparts.Thefirstpartfocusesonthequestionofwhyweneedtolearncultureinourforeignlanguageacquisition,mainlydealingwiththerelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,andintroducingyouthefamousSapir-Whorfhypothesis.Thesecondpartdiscusseshowtoincorporatecultureintoforeignlanguagelearning,holdingthatinourlearningprocess,wemustalwayspayattentiontotheculturaldifferencesreflectedinbothverbalandnon-verbalcommunication,andthisisaveryusefulwayforustodevelopourculturalsensitivityandcanenableustouseaforeignlanguagebothgrammaticallyandpragmatically.Thuswecancommunicatewithnative-speakersinasmoothway.
KeyWords
language;culture;interdependence;culturaldifferences
摘要
随着科技的进步,如今我们已经能够很容易地与世界各地的人交流。
外语学习已经成为时代的需求。
随着我们对跨文化交际的不断熟悉,越来越多的人发现在外语学习中起着很重要的作用。
没有对文化的学习我们就不能达到外语学习的目的。
我们必须将对文化的学习融入到外语学习的过程中。
本文将从两个部分对该问题做一讨论。
第一部分讨论为什么要将文化学习融入外语学习之中。
该部分主要介绍文化与语言之间的相互关系,并将介绍萨丕尔-沃夫假说;第二部分介绍如何将文化融入外语学习。
在我们的学习过程中,我们必须时时注意反映在语言和非语言交际中的文化差异。
这是一个培养文化敏感性的有方法,并能使我们不仅能在语法上而且能在语用上正确地使用外语。
由此,我们能更好地与世界各民族的人们交流。
关键词
语言;文化;相互依存;文化差异
Introduction
Asoursocietydevelops,foreignlanguagelearningbecomesmoreandmorepopular.And,nowadays,Englishisgenerallyregardedastheinternationalorgloballanguage.InChina,foreignlanguagelearninghasgainedgreatimpetusespeciallyinrecentyears,whichcanbeillustratedbythefactthatmoreandmoreprimaryschoolshaveopenedEnglishclasses.
ThoughourtheoriesandpracticeforEnglishteachingandlearningdevelopquicklyinrecentyears,thereisoneaspectwhichseemstobeneglectedbymosteducators,thatis,thelearningofcultureinvolvedinthelearningaforeignlanguage.Inmostsecondaryschools,whatmostteachersconcernisgrammar.Afteryearsofhardstudyunderthisguidance,somelearnerscanuseEnglishcorrectly,(Hereby“correctly”,Imean“withoutgrammarorspellingmistakes”),butnotappropriately.Whentheyareconversingwithanative-speaker,theirwordsmaycausemisunderstanding,sometimesevenleaveabadimpressionontheircounterpart,althoughthelanguagetheyuseincommunicationmaybefaultless.
Oneday,whenIwasinanEnglishcornerheldbyaforeignteacher,theteachersneezedviolently.Thenaboysaid,“Someoneismissingyou.”Andthismadetheteacherconfusedforquiteamoment.Thenwhat’sthereasonforthiskindofbarrierincommunication?
TheanswerliesintheculturedifferencesbetweenChinaandtheWesterncountries.InChina,ifsomeonesneezes,wegenerallyregarditasasignofsomeone’smissingorcursinghim.ButinEnglish-speakingcountries,nosuchanassociationisattachedtothis.Andinsuchkindofsituation,usually,theywouldsay,“Godblessyou”toshowtheircareforthepeopleconcerned.
Asallofusknow,languageisatoolforcommunication.But,evenasentenceisgrammaticallycorrect,ifusedinaninappropriatesituationorbreakthecustomofaparticularpeople,thissentencecan’tachievethepurposeofcommunication,andsometimesitcanevenleadtosomeunexpectedresults.AsstatedinDengYanchangandLiuRunqing’sLanguageandCulture(1991:
2),“Becauseofculturaldifferences,misunderstandingmayarise;Becauseofculturaldifferences,aseriousquestionmaycauseamusementorlaughter;aharmlessstatementmaycausedispleasureoranger.Becauseofculturaldifferences,jokesbyaforeignspeakermaybereceivedwithblankfacesandstonysilence.Yetthesamestoriesinthespeaker’sowncountrywouldleaveaudiencesholdingtheirsideswithlaugher.”
So,incorporatingcultureintotheprocessofforeignlanguagelearningis,infact,averyimportantaspect.Thefollowingwilldealwiththisissuefromtwoaspects,thatis,whydoweneedtolearncultureinourforeignlanguageacquisition,andhowcanweincorporatecultureinourlearning?
I.LanguageandCulture
A.Language
Aboutwhatislanguage,therearevariousdefinitionsfromdifferentrespects.Forexample,Sapir(1921)defineditas,”apurelyhumanandnon-instinctivemethodofcommunicatingideas,emotionsanddesiresbymeansofvoluntarilyproducedsymbols.”Hall(1968)defineditas“theinstitutionwherebyhumanscommunicateandinteractwitheachotherbymeansofhabituallyusedoral-auditoryarbitrarysymbol.”However,thereis,nowadays,agenerallyaccepteddefinition,”Languageisasystemofarbitraryvocalsymbolsusedforhumancommunication.”(HuZhuanglinetal,1998)
Languageisthemostimportantmeansofhumancommunication.Humanbeingsgetknownoftheworldthroughtheirlanguages.Theytakelanguageasthemediumfortheirsociallife,usingittoconductdailycommunication,organizeproducingactivities,orexpresstheirideasandemotions.
B.Culture
Culture,inabroadsense,includesLiterature,Art,Music,Architecture,ScienceandTechnology,Philosophy,Language(whichcharacterizesthelifeofthehumancommunity)andsomemeansofnon-verbalcommunication(forexample,themovementofourbodies,ouruseofspaceandouruseoftime).Usually,peoplecallit‘culturewithabigC’.Initsnarrowsense,culturereferstopeople’swayoflivingandcustoms,includingthemaytheylive,thewaytheyorganizetheirsociety,therelationshipbetweenfamilyorsocialmembers,customs,food,tablemanners,allkindsoftaboos,etc.Thisiswhatsomepeoplecall‘culturewithasmallc’.Toputitanotherway,‘cultureconsistsofallthesharedproductsofhumansociety.’(Robertson,1981)
C.TheRelationshipBetweenLanguageandCulture
Fromtheabovedefinitionsoflanguageandculture,wecanseethattherelationshipbetweenthemisveryclose.
Therearebasicallytwodifferentopinionsonlanguage.Sometakelanguageasasignsystemandthinkitisthetotalsetofsound,grammarandvocabulary.Othersholdthatlanguageandculturerelatewitheachotherclosely,andtheuseofalanguagecannotbeseparatedfromitssocialsettings.Foralongtime,whatlinguisticresearchfocusesonwaslanguageitself,suchasthesoundsystem,thesentencestructure,orthehistoryanddevelopmentofhumanlanguage.Thatis,thesubjectoftheseresearcheswaswhatSaussuredefinedaslangue,butnotparole.
Anthropologistswerethefirsttoresearchintotherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture.Asearlyasthe19thcentury,theGermanethnologistW.V.Humboldtfirstresearchedintothisfield.Atthebeginningofthe20thcentury,ananthropologicalorientationinthestudyoflanguagewasdevelopedbothinEnglandandinNorthAmerica.Thisnewtraditionwascharacterizedbyitsstudyoflanguageinasocioculturalcontext.Anthropologists,likeBronislawMalinowski,JohnP.Firth,FranzBoas,EwardSapir,andBenjaminLeeWhorf,havedonealotofimportantandcreativeworkinthisfieldandexpressedtheirownunderstandings.Lateron,sociologiststookinterestinthisissue.Inthemiddleofthe60’s,sociolinguisticsroseandsociolinguistshavecontributedalotinthisfield.Peopleofpedagogyhavesteppedupinresearchofthisfield.InChina,thoughtherearesomearticlesdevotedtothediscussionofitinsomeacademicpublications,inall,thereisnoresearchinawiderange.
Intheresearchoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,thereisaveryinfluentialbutalsoextremelycontroversialtheory,thatis,Sapir-WhorfHypothesis.
Sapir(1926)acknowledgedthecloserelationshipbetweenlanguageandculture,maintainingthattheywere