application of cultural introduction in english reading teaching英语专业.docx

application of cultural introduction in english reading teaching英语专业.docx

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applicationofculturalintroductioninenglishreadingteaching英语专业

Ⅰ.Introduction

Manystudentsbelievethat,whenEnglishlearningachievedcertainlevel,mastertheaccuratepronunciation,learnalotofvocabularyandhavecompletegrammarknowledge,eveniflearnedlanguage,thuscanaccuratelyexpresstheirthoughts,freelywithforeignerscommunication.Andtheactualsituationisnotso.Forexample:

in“readingcomprehension”,allwordsallunderstandingbutunderstandtherealmeaning;inthe“language”,thearticlestructuresoflanguageunderstandable,butreal“Chinglish”,etc.Englishreadingabilityisacomprehensiveability,althoughinthereadingprocessdidn'tcomeacrossanewword,nogrammarobstacles,butwithoutcertainculturalbackgroundknowledge,yousometimesbaffled.Theresultisthedirectreason,studentsarelackofunderstandingtowesternculturebackground,existbecauseofthelanguage,national,culturaltraditionandthinkingmodeetccausedbythedifferentcommunicationobstacles.Ifnotputsomerelevantculturalbackgroundknowledgetostudentsasitisdifficulttoexplainclearlyisintroduced,thecontentofthematerial,studentsalsodifficulttograsptheconnotationofthecontent.Ithink,Englishteachingfortherelevantculturalbackgroundknowledgeintroductionisquiteimportant.EnglishreadinginSenorMiddleSchoolhasalwaysbeenconsideredoneofthemostimportantpartsofforeignlanguagelearning.Withoutreading,nothingcanbedoneinthedevelopmentofthecompetenceinlistening,speaking,writingandtranslating.Readingcourses,orrather,intensivereadingonesfillupalargecomponentofthecurricula.Obviously,studentsandteachershouldpaygreatattentiontotheimportanceofreadingcourses.HowcanChinesestudentsachieveproficientreading?

Ⅱ.SomeproblemsinEnglishreading

A.Knowlittleabouttheculturalbackgroundknowledge

TheSenorStudents’knowledgenarrow,onlytotakethetextbookknowledgelearning,hasneglectedtheextracurricularknowledgelearning.Studentstotextvocabularybythevirtueoftheculturalbackgroundknowledgeknowverylittle.Whetherword,sentence,orunderstandingoftextualstructure,relyingonincertainsocialandculturalknowledge.Onlytoinfiltrateeachother'slanguageculturesto,canfeeleverythingbecomesvividrise,learningcanbefun,languageexpressioncanuseitfreely,wecanavoidEnglishlearningprocess,andwecanunderstandthearticledeeply,appreciateandexpressaccurately.

B.Lackofgrammarknowledge

GrammarlearningEnglishisveryimportant;somestudentsfocusonvocabularymemory,butignorethegrammarofmaster,it’salsothekeytomasterEnglishwell.

C.Lackofknowledgeintegration

Partofstudents’elementarylanguageknowledgeisnotsolid,suchasspellingwords,sentencesgrammarmistakesinclassicalthequestionnaire.

Ⅲ.Theimportanceofintroducingculturalbackgroundknowledge

A.Thedefinitionofculturalbackgroundknowledge

Culturalbackgroundisthecontextofone’slifeexperienceasshapedbymembershipingroupsbasedonethnicity,race,socioeconomicstatus,gender,exceptionalities,language,religion,sexualorientation,andgeographicalarea.Thereisanextensiveterminologytodescribedifferentkindsofknowledge.Consistencyintheuseofthesetermsisarecognizedproblem;subtleanddramaticdifferencesexistbetweendifferentpeople’sdefinitionsofthesameterm（Alexander,Schaller&Hare,1991;Duchy&Alexander,1995）.Backgroundknowledgeisallknowledge.Learnershavewhenenteringalearningenvironmentthatispotentiallyrelevantforacquiringnewknowledge（Batemans&Simons’1996）.LearningEnglishistolearnacompletelydifferentcultureandChinese,arefamiliarwithEnglishculturewayofthinking,valuesandcustoms.Acollectiveexpressionforallbehaviorpatternsacquiredandsociallytransmittedthroughsymbols.Cultureincludescustoms,traditions,andlanguage.

B.Theimportanceofculturalbackgroundknowledge

CulturalbackgroundknowledgeinEnglishteachingaroseineightiesofthetwentiethcentury.IthasbeencloselylinkedwiththereformationandopeninChina.CulturalbackgroundknowledgeisarrangedinvariouskindsofEnglishtextbooks.Theymakeeveryefforttoteachculturalknowledgeduringlanguageteaching.InordertohavestudentsexperiencetheculturalatmosphereoftheEnglish-spokencountriesunconsciously.However,atpresentinEnglishteachinginChina,teacherspaymoreattentiontoteachinglanguageknowledgewhileignorethecultureofthetargetlanguagecountries.Thebreakdownarisenfromthecross-culturalcommunicationbecauseofthelackofsocialcustoms,values,idea,clothing,food,shelterandtransportationandsoon.InEnglish-spokencountries,Nounderstandingtheculturalbackgroundknowledgeofthetargetlanguagecountriescanaffectthepracticeoflanguageknowledgeonthesignificance,goalandapproachesoftheculturalbackgroundknowledge.Howtodeveloptheculturalconsciousness,howtoknowthebehaviorandmannersofthepeopleinEnglish-Spokencountries,howtomakecomparisonwitheasternandwesterncultures.Throughthecomparison,wecanunderstandChineseculturaldeeply.ThroughEnglishstudywecanknowworldculturebetteranddevelopourworldconsciousness.Englishteachersrequiredtoteachstudentsbasiclanguageskills,totheneglectofEnglish-speakingcountriestoteachculturalbackgroundknowledge;studentslearnifknowledgeofthelanguagesimplydoesnotunderstandthelanguageandculturalsurvivaltodifficulttoaccuratelygrasp,understandanduselanguage.Someexperimentalresultsshowthatthereader'sexperiencecanmakereadersarefamiliarwiththearticlecontent,helpreadingcomprehension（Johnson1982）;Hudson（1982）useschematheorystudyreadingandforeignlanguageskillsbackgroundknowledge,therelationshipbetweentheresultsofhisexperimentshowsthatforeignlanguagereaders'backgroundknowledgeinreading,onceinspiredthanforeignlanguageabilityproducebiggerrole.

ItiswellknownthatreadingisofdecisiveimportanceinEnglishlearning.Englishsyllabusforseniorhighschooltakesreadingabilityasthefirstpriorityinfourbasicskills:

listening,speaking,readingandwriting.HowtoimprovereadingabilityisagoalforSenorStudents.Itisagreedthatimprovementofreadingabilitydependsonlinguisticcompetence,readingstrategy,affectivefactor,priorknowledge,positivetransferofmothertongueonforeignlanguageandsoon,whileculturalbackgroundknowledgeplaysavitalparttosomeextent.Culturalbackgroundknowledgeisdefinedaspropertiesofgeography,history,economy,education,politicalinstitution,custom,art,religion,wayoflife,socialtradition,etiquette,etc,inagivencountryfromabroadviewpoint.Whenwedosomereading,culturalbackgroundknowledgerelatedcanfacilitatereadingdifficulty.StudentsmakecomprehensionmistakeswhenreadingEnglishtexts.ThiskindofunderstandingerrororcomprehensionbarriersiscloselyrelatedtotheculturaldifferencesreflectedbyChineseandEnglishlanguages.Foreignlanguagereadingcomprehensionis,infact,across-culturalcommunicationevent,andstudents’familiaritywiththetargetcultureisthepremiseofsuccessfulreadingcomprehension.IntheprocessofforeignLanguagereadingcomprehension,readers’taskisnotjusttoacquireknowledge,butmoreimportantly,tocommunicatecross-culturallywiththewriterandcriticallyabsorbtheculturalheritageinthetargetlanguage.（Byram22）Inrecentyears,moreandmoreEnglishteachersandlearnershaverealizedtheimportanceofcultureinthelearningandteachingofforeignLanguages;howevertherearestillquiteanumberofteacherswho,intheprocessofteachingreading,emphasizeonlylanguageitselfandneglecttheculturalknowledgeofthetext.Obviouslythismethodofteachingisnotveryhelpfulinimprovingstudents’abilitytocomprehendthetext.Actually,manyEnglishlearnersmightnotunderstandwhatasentencemeansorwhataparagraphisabouteventhoughtheyunderstandeverysinglewordandallthegrammaticalstructuresinthesentenceortheparagraph.ThisphenomenoncanbeexplainedasaresultofEnglishlearners’ignoranceofthesocialculturalbackgroundsoftheEnglishlanguage.

InEnglish,somesimplevocabularyandphrasebecauseoftheuniquehistoricalandculturalbackgroundandbecomeaspecificmeaningofnouns.Waterloo（滑铁卢）originallyreferstocentralBelgiumananonymoustownin1815napoleonrate,becauseinthisbattlearmiesworldfamous.ThebattleendedinnapoleondefeatofWaterloo,soawordwillbecome“fiasco”and“destruction”ofsuchtragicoutcomeofthenouns.Ifyoudon'tunderstandtheculturalhistorybackground,studentswouldnotunderstand“meetone’sWaterloo”therealmeaningthisidiom.Thiswordhasbecomeafamousmovietitle,namely“WaterlooBridge”,thetitleofthefilmdirectlyrevealsthetheme,butthetranslatorandtragedydidn'ttakeitfor《滑铁卢大桥》,butsmartuseoftraditionalChineseculturalknowledgeinChinesehistory,borrowanotherscene,thefamouslovetragedy,translateitfor《魂断蓝桥》,andthefilm'sclassicsubjectcomplementeachother,beChineseaudiencebeloved.IfthetranslatorofEnglishculturebackgroundwithouttheunderstanding,isunabletotranslatesuchclassicoflovers.TheuniquehistoricalandculturalbackgroundsareimportantinEnglishreading.

Lackofculturalbackgroundknowledge,understandingwillproducedeviation;usingjudgmentmayalsobeaffected.Forthepurposeofimprovingtheteachingofreadingcomprehensionandstudents"readingability,andmakingstudentsawarethatculturalknowledgep