A Study on Crosscultural Barriers in Reading of English.docx

A Study on Crosscultural Barriers in Reading of English.docx

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AStudyonCrossculturalBarriersinReadingofEnglish

AStudyonCross-culturalBarriersinReadingofEnglish

ProfessorWangLin

EnglishDepartmentofFoshanUniversity

Foshan,Guangdong,China

.Introduction

Decodingandcomprehensionarethetwomaintasksforreading:

InEnglishlearning,theelements,whichinfluencethereadingarelinguisticknowledge,culturalbackgroundknowledge,languageskills,andintelligentelements（theabilitiesofthoughtsuchasmotivation,purpose,emotionandcontrol）.Masteringlinguisticknowledgeofphonetics,vocabularyandgrammarishelpfultodecodethewordsymbols.However,intheprocessofreading,manyChinesestudentsalreadypossesstheaboveknowledge,buttheystillcannotcomprehendthetextscompletely,sounderstandingtheculturalcontentofwhatonereadsisacrucialfactorinreadingcomprehension.Becauselanguageisthecarrierofculture,people'swordsanddeedsreflectcertainculturalconnotationconsciouslyorunconsciously.Everysocialcommunicationpossessesitsowncertainthoughtpattern,value,custom,andwayoflife.For“Theinfluenceofbackgroundtocomprehensionislargerthanlanguageknowledge.”（Ma,1995）.Manystudiesindicatethatwithoutsufficientbackgroundknowledgeofsocialculture,thereaderscannotcomprehendthedeepmeaningoftexts.Thispaperwillexaminethecross-culturaldifficultiesintheprocessofEnglishreadinginthreeaspects:

whatthemaindifficultiesareinreading,whythesedifficultiesexistandhowtoreduceandeliminatethemtoachievetheexactcomprehension.

Thepaper,fromtheperspectiveofcross-culturalcommunication,triestoanalyzetheroleofculturalknowledgeinreadingcomprehension,generalizesthecomprehensionbarriersChinesestudentsmeetinthecomprehensionprocessofEnglishreadingandexplainstherelationshipbetweenthebarriersandlanguage.Thepaperthenanalyzestheinternalcausesofthebarriers.Andlastly,itbringsforthapproachesandmethodsforeliminatingthebarriers.

.TheRoleofCulturalKnowledgeinReadingComprehension

AlongwiththedevelopmentofAppliedLinguisticsandPsycholinguistics,theAmericanscholar,Goodman（1982）negatedthetraditionalreadingtheoryandposeda“psycholinguisticreadingmodel”,whichconsidersthatreadingisnottheprocessofpassivedecodingandreadingliterallyanymore.Ratheritistheprocessofactive“guessing–confirming”andinteractionbetweenthereadersandthereadingcontents.

Readingcomprehensionisacomplexprocessoftheinteractionbetweenthewriter’slanguageandthereaders’priorbackgroundknowledgeormemoryschemata.“Everystageofcomprehensioninvolvesreader’sbackgroundknowledgeofculture（Anderson,1997,14:

369）.”Phillips（1984）pointedout:

“asuccessfulreadingofanypassage,dependsuponacombinationoflinguisticknowledge,cognitiveskillandgeneralexperienceandknowledgeoftheworld,whetheracquiredbyexperienceorbylearning,influencegreatlythereadingcomprehensionprocess,forthemorethereaderbringstothetext,themoreistakenaway”.Indeed,inthereadingcomprehensionprocess,readers’linguisticelementisveryimportant,butsometimeswecannotreadbehindthelinesexceptbythehelpofbackgroundknowledgeofculture,becausethemeaningsofwordsareacquiredinacertaincircumstanceofculture.Therefore,ifaChinesestudentdoesnotknowabouttheEnglishculture,suchashistories,values,modeofthinking,customs,religionandlifestyle,hemayfailtounderstandtheexactmeaningofthetexts.

.TheCulturalBackgroundKnowledgeofandtheReadingComprehensionofEnglish.

Foralongtime,inChina,Englishteachinghasjustfocusedonthelanguageforms（suchasphonetics,vocabularyandgrammar）andignoredtheeffectofbackgroundknowledgeofculture.Asthecarrierofculture,theculturalbackgroundoflanguageisratherextensive.Lackingofthenecessaryculturalbackgroundmayhinderpeoplefromcomprehendinglanguage.Forinstance,whenthePresidentReagantookuphispost,anAmericantoldaChineseteacher:

“theUnitedStateshasgonefrompeanutstopopcorn.”Thesyntaxofthissentenceisverysimple.However,theChineseteacherdidnotunderstandthesentenceatthattimeuntilherfriendexplainedtoherthatformerpresidentJimmyCarterownedabigpeanutfarmwhilethepresentpresidentReaganisanactorandpeopleeatpopcornwhiletheywatchTV.Shesuddenlyrealizedtherealhumorousmeaningofthissentence.Fromthiscase,wecanseethattocomprehendthelanguage,notonlydependsonthecomprehensionofvocabularyandgrammaticalstructures,butalsodependsonthecomprehensionofrelevantbackgroundknowledgeofculture.Thedifferencesofcross-culturalbackgroundinreadingcomprehensionofEnglishcanbeclassifiedasthefollowingaspects.

3.1HistoricalCulture

Historicalculturereferstotheculturethatisformedbythedevelopingprocessofcertainhistoryandsocialheritagewhichvariesbetweennationsatoftentimes.Intheprocessofcross-culturalreading,weoftenmeetthecomprehensionbarriersthatarecausedbysuchdifferencesofhistoricalcultures.Forexample:

Atasciencemuseumyoucanfeelyourhairstandonendasharmlesselectricitypassesthroughyourbody.Thephraseone’shairstandsonendisanidiom,fromacriminal’sexpression.In1825,anEnglishmannamedProbertwassentencedtodeathbyhangingforstealinghorses.Whilewaitingforhisexecutionatthegallows,Probertwasextremelyscared,theresultofwhichmadehishairstandstraightup.Therefore,inEnglish,one’shairstandsonendmeansfear.Thewriterusesthisidiomtoemphasizethatthemuseumisveryweirdandstrange.However,ifChinesestudentsdonotknowthisidiom,theymayfailtounderstanditsidiomaticmeaningoverandabovethedirectmeaning..

3.2RegionalCulture

Regionalculture,here,referstotheculturethatcanbeshapedbynaturalconditionsandgeographicalenvironmentofanarea.TheseeffectsonculturemaylendthemselvestocreatingcomprehensionbarrierstoChinesestudentsofEnglishreading.Forexample,

（1）ShallIcomparetheetoasummer’sday?

Thouartlovelierandmoretemperate.ThispoemisapartofShakespeare’ssonnet18.Hecomparedthelovertoasummer’sday,whichisdifficultforChinesestudentstounderstand.Onlyknowingsomerelevantgeographicalknowledge,cantheygetrealunderstandingofthissonnet.AsBritainisahighlatitudecountry,theaveragesummertemperatureisabout20degreesandthedaytimeisverylong,fromabout4o’clockinthemorningtoabout10o’clockatnight.Therefore,thesummerinBritainispleasantlycoolanddelightful.ItisobviouslydifferentfromthehotsummerofmostregionsinChina,especially,insouthChina,wherethehotsummerisveryhardtoendureandcausespeopletofeelunhappy.

（2）BritishpoetShelley’spoem“OdetotheWestWind”comparesthewestwindtothewarmanddelightfulwindthatbringsforthspring.However,toChinesepeople,thewestwindnotonlymeanscoldbutalsomeansdeclininganddepressed.

3.3SocialCulture

Languageisanimportantcomponentofculture,theexistenceanddevelopmentoflanguageareinfluencedbysociety,andthesocialphenomenonandvocabularyofacertainhistoricalperiodsreflecttheobjectivehistoryofsociety.Suchvocabularymayconfuseforeignreaders.Forinstance,whenAmericanPresidentNixonwasinhissecondtermofoffice,Watergatebecameawell-establishedandcommonterm.ItstandsforapoliticalscandalintheNixoneraassociatedwithburglarizinganofficeoftheDemocratPartylocatedattheWatergateHotel.inWashington.ElementswithintheNixonadministrationcreatedalargenumberofeuphemismstohidethescandal.Forexample,intelligencegatheringreplaceseavesdropping,plumberforeavesdropper.Chinesestudentsmayhavedifficultyinunderstandingthesewords.

3.4ReligiousCulture

Religiouscultureisanimportantcomponentinthelivesofmanyhumanbeings.Itreferstotheculturethatisformedbyreligiousbeliefofnationandcanbeembodiedintheculturaldifferencesoftabooofdifferentnations.Confucianism,TaoismandBuddhismarethreemainreligionsofChina,whichdeeplyinfluenceChinesepeople.Onthecontrary,manypeoplelivinginEuropeanbasedand/orfoundedculturesbelieveinChristianity–orhavebeenseriouslyinfluencedbyChristianvalues.TheybelievethatasingleGodcreatedandorganizedtheworld.Becauseofdifferencesofreligiousculture,ChinesestudentscanmisunderstandEnglishreading.,attimes.Forexample,asentenceinthearticle“WhyMeasureLifeinHeartbeats”isthatIbelieve,becauseofmyreligiousfaith,thatIshall“returntofather”inanafterlifethatisbeyonddescription.ManyChinesereaderscomprehendanafterlifeinthesentencesasthenextlife.Thereasonofthismisunderstandingisthedifferencesofthetworeligiouscultures.ThenextlifeisthetermoforientalBuddhism,whichreferstothesamsara.Onthecontrary,Christianitydoesnothavethisconcept,consideringthatafterthedeathofhumanbeing,hissoulwillstayinHeavenorHellandwillnotdisappear.Therefore,theydonothavethesayingofthenextlife.Soaccordingtoitsreligiousbackground,anafterlifereferstothetimeafterpeople’sdeath.

Again,thereisaneedtoemphasizeculturaldifferencesasbeingpotentiallyextensiveandcomplex.IntheprocessofEnglishreading,attimes,weshouldfocusontheunderstandingofculturalbackgroundtogetadeeperunderstandingofthewholetext

.CulturalBarriersinRelationtothelanguage

InEnglishreading,culturalbarriersandlanguagecannotbeseparated.Languageisacarrier,whichnotonlyc