浅论中学英语教学中的跨文化意识培养.docx
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浅论中学英语教学中的跨文化意识培养
浅论中学英语教学中的跨文化意识培养
[Abstract]Withthedevelopmentofglobalization,China’sentryintoWTOandthecomingOlympicGamesin2008,internationalcontactshavebecomemoreandmorefrequent.Thesocietyisingreatneedofpersonnelwhohaveagoodcommandofknowledgeandareabletocommunicatewithpeoplefromdifferentcountries.HowtomakeEnglishteachingmeettheneedsofsocialandeconomicdevelopmenthasbecomeanurgenttasktoEnglishteachers.Therefore,developingstudents’interculturalcommunicativecompetencehasbeenpaidmoreattentiontoinEnglishteaching.Nowadays,ithasbeenprescribedintotheNewEnglishCurriculumStandards.Obviously,MiddleSchoolEnglishteachersarefacingthechallengeofexploringappropriatemeansofcultureinstructionintheirteachingcontents.However,becauseofthetestingsystem,teachers’academicproficiency,students’attitudeandsoon,cultureintroductionhasbeenignoredinmiddleschoolandstudents’interculturalcompetenceispoorlydeveloped.Sincelanguageandcultureareinseparable,onecannotmasterthespiritofaforeignlanguagewithoutknowingitsculture.CultureteachingshouldbegivenprioritytoinEnglishteaching.InthehopeofimprovingcultureteachinginmiddleschoolEnglishclasses,practicalprinciplesandeffectivetechniquesaresuggested.Thisarticleproceedswiththeunderstandingofculture,analysesthedifferencesbetweenChineseandWesterncultures,discusseshowtohelpstudentstolearnculturedifferencesatthebeginningofEnglishlearningandhowtorelateChineseandWesternculturedifferenceswithlanguagedifferencessoastodevelopstudents’culturalsensitivityandtheirabilitiestousevariouswaysofcommunicationflexibly,soastoenablestudentstocarryoutinterculturalcommunicationwithEnglish.
[KeyWords]middleschoolEnglishteaching;interculturalawareness;interculturalcommunication;differencesinlanguagesandcultures
【摘 要】随着全球化的发展,中国进入WTO,2008年北京奥运会的临近,国际间的交流越来越频繁。
社会迫切需要具有跨文化交际能力的全面外交人才。
如何使英语教学迎合社会经济发展的需求,如何提高学生的跨文化交际能力是对英语教师和目前英语教学的提出的新要求。
中学作为英语教学的基础阶段,由于注重学生跨文化意识的培养,新课程标准已经把这部分作为重要内容。
中学英语教师面临着文化与英语语言知识教学的新挑战,然而由于我们的测试系统,教师的学术水平及学生的学习方式等问题,中学的文化教学依然很薄弱,学生的跨文化交际能力低下。
语言与文化密不可分,不了解英语文化也就不能真正掌握这门语言。
文化教学必须在中学英语教学中上升到一定高度。
本文从文化的认识入手,分析了中西文化差异,探讨在初中英语教学中如何帮助学生学会透过文化差异现象看本质,如何把中西文化差异和语言差异有机结合起来。
培养学生的跨文化意识,增强学生的文化敏感性和灵活运用各种交际手段的能力,从而使学生成功地用英语进行跨文化交际。
【关键词】 中学英语教学;跨文化意识;跨文化交际;文化语言差异
1.Introduction
ProfessorDengYanchangoncesaid,“LearningaforeignLanguagewelldoesnotsimplymeanmasteringitspronunciation,grammarandvocabulary.Infact,thelearningofaLanguageisinseparablefromthelearningofitsculture.”〔1〕Thefundamentalfunctionoflanguageistocommunicate.AsuccessfulEnglishteachingistohelplanguagelearnerscultivateagoodcommunicativeability.ButnowadayswealsocanseethataftermanyyearsofEnglishstudy,studentsstillfinditdifficulttocommunicatewithnativeEnglishspeakers.Thereasonisthattheylacktheknowledgeofwesternculture.Therefore,Englishteachersarefacingoneproblem:
furnishingstudentswiththeknowledgeofculturebackgroundandimprovingtheirinterculturalcommunicativecompetenceinEnglishteaching.Thenculturalawarenessindicatesthatforeignlanguagelearnershaveagoodcommandofculturalknowledgeofthetargetlanguage,astrongcompetenceofadjustmentandcommunication.Inaddition,theycanthinkandreactinthewaysasnativespeakersofthatdimensionsofculture.Itisdifficulttocultivateandenhancelearners’culturalawarenessalthoughtheyhavewellrealizedtheexistingdifferencesbecausetheyoftenunconsciouslyattempttosuperimposetheirnativecultureontothetargetlanguage,whichgreatlyhindersaneffectiveinterculturalcommunication.[2]
2.ThenecessityofinterculturalawarenesscultivationinmiddleschoolEnglishteaching
requirementofsyllabus
“Languageissystemofarbitrary,vocalsymbolsbymeansofwhichthemembersofaspeechcommunitycommunicate,interact,andtransmittheirculture.”[3]Thisdefinitionisgiventoemphasizethatthefunctionoflanguageisnotonlyatoolofcommunicationbutalsoanimportantvehicleofculture.Solearningaforeignlanguageisaprocessofacquiringthelanguageanditscultureforcommunicatingpurpose.EnglishsyllabuscurrentlypointsoutthattheultimategoalofEnglishteachingistofosterstudents’interculturalcommunicativecompetence.Cultureisthecontentoflanguage;everylanguagereflectsitsownculture.People’slanguageshouldadapttothecontext.Whattosay,howtosayit,whentosayit,andtowhomtosayitarealldeterminedbytheunderlyingbeliefsandvalues.[4]AsWolfson(1983)noted,“Incommunicatingwithforeigners,nativespeakerstendtoberathertolerantoferrorsinpronunciationorsyntax.Incontrast,violationsofrulesofspeaking(pragmaticfailure)areofteninterpretedasbadmannerssincethenativespeakerisunlikelytobeawareofsociolinguisticrelativities.”[5]InthenewsyllabusforSeniorMiddleSchoolEnglish,itshowsthatstudentsofFull-timeSeniorMiddleSchoolEnglishnotonlyshouldgraspvocabularies,grammar,andpronunciation,butalsoproperlygrasptherelationshipbetweenlanguageteachingandcultureunderstanding.[6]Hence,weshouldcarryoutculturalteachinginmiddleschoolandimprovestudents’interculturalawareness.
Thepresentteachingmaterials
Nowadays,interculturalawarenessandinterculturalcommunicativecompetencehavebeenprescribedintotheNewEnglishCurriculumStandards.Thenewlyorganizedteachingmaterialsofjuniorandseniormiddleschoolinvolvesomewesternculture,forexample,greeting,westernfestivals,literature,music,bodylanguageandsoon.ThenculturebecomesanimportantpartofEnglishteaching.Itisunwise,inordertosavetime,onlytoteachEnglishwiththeneglectofculturalintroduction.BarriersinEnglishlearningsometimescomefromthelackofculturalknowledge.
Someteachershaveattributedtheirstudents’poorreadingandlisteningcomprehensiontolinguisticdeficiencies.Theybelievethatsolongastheirstudentsgraspthemeaningofeveryword,everysentence,andeverytextpassage,theywillhavenodifficultyincomprehendingthewholetext.Thisideaisnotcorrect.Englishreadingmaterialsinevitablyconveywesternculture.WhenweteachChristmasDayandThanksgivingDay,someculturalbackgroundknowledgeofthesefestivalscanhelpstudentsovercomeobstaclesinthetextandgrasplanguageknowledgebetter.Inaddition,manywords,inthetextbookofmiddleschool,haverelationswithculturalcontexts,suchas,old,name,dog,pork,beef,lookout,breakfast,andsomewordstoexpresscolors.Forexample,inthetextbook“blue”and“green”arenotonlythemeaningofcolors,eachhasitsimpliedmeanings.“Blue”inEnglishoftenassociateswithunhappyfeelings,“inabluemood”or“havingtheblues”expressesasad,gloomyordepressedmood.“AblueMonday”(thefirstdayofweek-workorschoolafterapleasant,happyweekend)hasthesimilarmeaning.Also,inEnglish,“green”isalsousedtoindicateapersonwholacksexperience,oranewcomerwhoisnotfamiliarwithlocalcustoms.Languageandcultureevolvetogetherandinteractwitheachother.AccordingtotheNewEnglishCurriculumStandards,inmiddleschool,teachersshouldnotneglecttheculturalfactorsexistinginEnglishteaching.Definitelytheinterculturalawarenesscan’tbeneglectedinEnglishteachingatmiddleschool.
3.ThecurrentsituationofinterculturalawarenesscultivationinmiddleschoolEnglishteaching
ChinahasnowbecomeaformalmemberofWTO,BeijingwillhosttheOlympicGamesin2008.What’smore,ourcountryhasbeentakingeffectivemeasurestofurthertheopeningupandreformpolicies.Consequently,moreandmorecooperativeandexchangeprogramswillbeheldbetweenChinaandforeigncountries.Thereshouldbemorestudentswithinterculturalcompetencetomeetthisneed.It’snecessarytocommunicatewithpeoplefromdifferentculturalbackgrounds.ButwhatistheresultofEnglishteachinginourmiddleschools?
Despitethegreatamountoftime,energy,andmoneyspentonEnglishteaching,itisraretofindaChinesemiddleschoolstudentwhoisabletocommunicatewithwesternerssuccessfullyaftersixyearsofEnglishlearning.Infact,learningaforeignlanguagewellmeansmorethanmerelymasteringthepronunciation,grammar,wordsandidioms.Italsomeanslearningtoseetheworldasthenativespeakersdo.[7]Therefore,languageandcultureshouldbetaughtatthesometime.However,therearemanyproblemsininterculturalawarenesscultivationinmiddleschool.
Teachers’attitude
Nowadays,mostmiddleschoolEnglishteachersstillfollowthetraditionalgrammar-translationmethod;theyneglectculturalteachinginEnglishteaching.TheNewCurriculumStandardsemphasizesthenecessityofdevelopingstudents’interculturalcompetence.However,atpresent,intheseniormiddleschoolthecollegeentranceexaminationstillseriouslyaffectteachers’teachingidea.It’smostvaluedbystudents,teachersaswellastheauthorities.Inordertohelpstudentsscorehighonlinguisticproficiency,teacherspayalotoftimetoexplainvocabularyandgrammarknowledgeintheclass.Inthiscase,studentshaveimprovedtheirlanguageknowledge,buttheirinterculturalcommunicativecompetencehasnotenhanced.Infact,ithasviolatedEnglishteachinggoalandtheeducationforall-arounddevelopmentprinciple.Mr.WinstonBareback,theforeignlanguageteachingexpertoftheUSAindicated,teachinglanguagewithoutcultureisthebestwaytocultivateafoolwithfluentspokenlanguage.[8]Obviously,itsconsequenceisserious.What’smore,someteacher