CulturalAwarenessinEnglishTeaching

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1、Cultural Awareness in English Teaching Abstract: Language is the carrier of culture. Unless understanding the culture of the target language can learners use the language in an accurate and appropriate way. This thesis discusses the cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries,

2、aiming at evoking English educators and learners attention to culture teaching and learning. Key words: English teaching; cultural differences; culture teaching 英语教学中的文化教学 摘要：语言是文化的载体，只有了解所属的文化才能准确恰当地运用语言。本文通过论述在英语学习中遇到的一些中西文化差异现象，旨在引起英语教育者与学习者对文化学习的重视，进而提出几个文化教学的方法。 关键词: 英语教学 文化差异 文化教学 Cultural Awa

3、reness in English Teaching I. Introduction In the 20s-30s of the 20th century, the study of cross-cultural communication has drawn interest in the USA. It focuses on the problems arising from communication between people of different cultural backgrounds and seeks solution to these problems. The aim

4、s of English teaching, in the same way, are to enable students to master the pure language and to communicate with the people from the English-speaking countries. However, because of the differences in all aspects of custom, way of thinking, norm, value and etc., English learners often make mistakes

5、 by applying their own culture to the foreign one. It is the greatest obstacle for the failure in successful communication. It also demonstrates the defect of our English teaching-lack of cultural awareness. English teaching in China, especially in middle and high school, follows a stereotyped model

6、, that is wordphrasesentence pattern, with less concern of culture. Overemphasis on grammar and the ignorance of cultural differences frequently result in misunderstanding even conflict in intercultural communication. Thus, culture learning, both home and foreign culture learning appears to be cruci

7、ally significant. This paper, from aspects of daily communication, vocabulary, nonverbal behavior and values, discusses the ways of teaching of culture. II. Relations between language and culture 2.1. Conceptions of language and cultureTo start with the discussion of culture teaching, two conception

8、s are indispensable to be mentioned, namely language and culture. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication. Language is a social phenomenon, and each stands for one culture. Broadly speaking, communication refers to the communication between any of two persons of

9、the same or different cultures. In this thesis, we discuss the one which accruing between native-speakers and nonnative-speakers. Culture, in a broad sense, means the total way of life of a people, including the patters f belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques, and language that characte

10、rize the life of the human community. In a narrow sense, culture can be mostly found in folk culture, enterprise culture or food culture. In these senses, culture is the common ground of the people of a given community, where they share the same material culture and spiritual culture as well. Conver

11、sely, neither peoples way of thinking nor behavior is not influenced by their culture. Language, too, as an important element of culture, is permeated with the characteristic of its original culture.Culture and language intrinsically depend on each other. On the one hand, language, as the crystal of

12、 a culture, plays an important role in transmitting its own culture. When a child acquires his mother tongue, or a person moves to another country and learns the local language, the transmission of culture takes place. In these two cases, the difference is just the extent of acquisition of the cultu

13、re. The function of language to culture shows that language is the surface form of the culture. What people say directly reflects their attitude, belief, values and etc., -that is culture. The reason embedded in this phenomenon that there are various languages in the world is that cultures are diver

14、se. So, in a deep sense, the nature of the linguistic differences lies in the differences between cultures.On the other hand, culture conditions the form of its language. And continuously, culture put its essence into the language, which then becomes the connotation of culture and the content of the

15、 language. No language can be separated from its culture. The following examples bellow will show how the Chinese and western philosophy exercise influence on their languages respectively. Traditionally, the Chinese people put more emphasis on unity, which takes heaven and human as a whole. Reflecti

16、ng to language, Chinese language is parataxis, which contains less or no conjunction, e.g. “枯藤老树昏鸦, 小桥流水人家, 古道西风瘦马, 夕阳西下, 断肠人在天涯”. Among the twenty-eight characters of this poet, there are fourteen nouns without a verb and conjunction, but the wretched context is vividly exposed. It is comprehensibl

17、e to Chinese people. Whereas, being a language featured by analysis, English is hypotaxis with strong sense of logic, such conjunctions as and, if, although, but, considering are often used in sentences. e.g. “if winter comes, will spring be far away”, the use of “if” compacts the structure of the s

18、entence and present the hypothetical relation of the two clauses. 2.2. Importance Of Culture TeachingIn modern society, with the globalization of the world, contacts in all sorts of fields, such as economy, science and technology become more and more frequent. It is inevitable for people around the

19、world to communicate with those from another culture. To avoid unexpected misunderstanding, which is caused by ignorance of cultural differences, it is important to carry on culture teaching. Since language is inseparable from culture, culture teaching is indivisible from English language teaching.

20、Although educators have been aware of the necessity of culture teaching, it is not popularized in education. In terms of learners, language competences do not only refer to the ability to speak in a language, but also to use the language in an effective way. Among Chinese English-learner, it is comm

21、on that they create “Chinglish”, which is a structure combined Chinese way of thinking and English linguistic form. Although there is no need to create Chinglish”, Chinese foreign language educators should consider how to use English to express their own culture as well in cross-cultural communicati

22、on. This should base on the accurate understanding of both home and foreign culture. In this way, students language competence can be fully acquired. Therefore, sufficient exposure of the foreign culture sees essential in a long run. In addition, the advantages of culture teaching are easily found i

23、n the whole English teaching program. Firstly, culture teaching does great good to language acquisition in learning language itself. As we discuss above, the English structure and expression are related to culture, thus, culture teaching will certainly a beneficial subsidiary to English language tea

24、ching. The procedure of culture learning is at the same time of the developing of language ability. Secondarily, culture teaching satisfies students curiosity about the totally different environment of the other country. What English learners want to learn about is not just the sign of the language,

25、 but the people and the nation in which the language is used. Increasing learners sensibility to cultural factor, educators can make use of their curiosity and motive to achieve the goal of language teaching.Thirdly, the learning of a new language involves in not only meaning between words, sentence

26、s and text but also an interaction between knowledge and experience and new things. From this point of view, language learning, including culture learning provides a good opportunity to widen students horizon of knowledge. III. Aspects of the teaching of culture 3.1. Daily conversationTo whatever ki

27、nd of successful communication, being polite in conversation is the basic principle; otherwise, efficient communication is impossible. In different social context, the ways of conveying politeness are distinct. Without sufficient knowledge of the target countrys customs, people of different cultures

28、 will probably understand politeness in a converse way. The following are some illustrations of cultural differences in language use, which we may often come across in our daily life. 3.1.1. GreetingWhen Chinese people meet, they often greet each other with“你吃了吗”or“上哪去啊”, which shows ones concern ab

29、out the other one. While the westerners always talk about the weather, e.g. “It is a nice day, isnt it?” If we start a conversation with them with “have you eaten yet”, which is directly translated from the Chinese, they will feel very confused, because according to western culture, such a sentence

30、suggest an invitation to meal. As western people highly respect for privacy, it is impolite to ask them “where are you going”. In most circumstances, they must be angry, because “it is none of your business”. These phenomenons often happen among the students with less knowledge of western culture. I

31、n this case, culture differs from nation to nation because of geographic location and other social reality. As we know that, England is an island nation with frequency of rain so that people may even encounter four seasons in a single day. It is a country of rain and moisture. So weather becomes an

32、instant topic among the people, while China is an agricultural country with great population working on. Adding times of starvation in history, diet is greatly concerned about by the Chinese. According to the English native speakers, they are accustomed to greet others with “hello”, ”how are you”, “

33、good morning/ afternoon/evening ”. 3.1.2 FarewellCultural differences in farewell are evident. In western countries, when guest is about to leave, he will indicate their leave in 15-20 minutes in advance. On this accessions, people are used to say “I should go now” or “Id better be going now”, rathe

34、r than “Ill go first” or “Ill go back”, because the latter sounds like “its time for the guest to leave, Ill go first and set an example, so the other people should follow me ”. in order to thank the hospitality of the host, the guest often says “thank you for a lovely afternoon/evening/meal”. Simil

35、arly, the Chinese people convey their gratitude, but in a different way, they tend to use negative sentences, e.g. “真不好意思, 打扰您那么长时间”(Im so sorry to have interrupted you such a long time), or “给您添麻烦了” (sorry for troubling you). Except for “再见” (good-bye), as the westerners utter when parting, the Chi

36、nese host most likely accompany the guest to the door way or yard and say “好走” or “慢走”. As there is no equivalent in English, if these sentences are literally translated into “stay here”, “go slowly” and “walk slowly”, it will be inapprehensible to westerners. Understanding the differences, we can s

37、imply smile and say, “ good-bye” or “bye-bye”. As it shows that unlike western custom, which is in a straight way, that of the Chinese may appear to be more circuitous. 3.1.3. Compliment When hearing the compliment, such as “Your English is very good“, some English learners become somewhat reserved.

38、 In China when people receive a compliment, we are used to response with “过奖过奖” (You are flattering me), “惭愧惭愧” (Im so ashamed ), or “哪里哪里” (Its not deserved you to say so). Literally, it looks like a rejection but in fact it is a kind of euphemistic acceptation. These kinds of sayings show our mode

39、sty, which is considered as a great virtue of a noble man. In contrast, the westerners accept a compliment in a frank and sincere way. So in responding to “your dress is so beautiful”, the Chinese may answer, “no, no, it is just an ordinary dress”, while westerners will say “thank you, I think so”.

40、Usually, to westerners, a negative “no” brings along a feeling that the speaker has a poor judgment, which may probably displease them. As we discussed above, evidence of cultural differences between China and western countries can be obviously perceived in the most commonly-happened daily conversat

41、ion. O account of these differences, the Chinese enthusiasm may turn to be intrusive to some extent; hospitable to be overlaborate; humility to be pretended modesty. Such subtle misinterpretation may easily lead to embarrassment even breakdown of communication. Thus, rite of different culture should

42、 be given priority in culture teaching. 3.2. VocabularyVocabulary is the fundamental element of a language. Apart from the pattern of expression, the differences between languages lie in the vocabulary people use. For a same concept, people will produce distinctive associations conforming to their c

43、ultural characteristic. Such associations, however, have nothing to do with the lexical meanings but stir up special feelings in a certain context. In English learning, the acceptation the total messages, which the vocabulary contains, are on the premise of accurate understanding of the cultural con

44、notation of both sides.Some words are commendatory terms in Chinese culture, whereas contain derogatory sense in western culture. For example, “peasant” in English, does not just refer to the people who do farming work for maintenance. Except for a sign of simplicity and diligence, peasant in Chines

45、e history constituted a strong force in the course of revolution and in social constitution. According to the Websters Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary, “peasant” has another meaning. It is defined as a rude, unsophisticated, usually uneducated person of little financial means, esp. one from the c

46、ountry; rustic. In this sense, 农民in Chinese and peasant in English is conversely different.Here is another category: a terms in one language that does not have a counterpart in another one. Due to its unique culture, an ordinary word may contain abundant associations in its language. This kind of wo

47、rds often causes barriers in understanding. Bamboo, for instance, has a profound relation with Chinese traditional culture. Chinese people usually compare noble man to bamboo, suggesting their virtues of honest and. The deep connotation of bamboo promotes poets and artists to extol, for example, “竹死

48、不变节,花落有余香”, “胸有成竹” and “势如破竹”, whereas, bamboo in English contains no association. On most occasions, bamboo is simply a name of a plant. Hippie is a unique term for some young American of 1960s. it associates with an unusual people and lifestyle. In Chinese it is translated into 嬉皮士，which might sim

49、ply stir up a impression of strange appearance and hair to Chinese people.Blue in English suggests a mood of melancholy and depression, as the lyrics goes “blue, blue, my heart is blue. Blue is my heart, for Im without you”. In Chinese, there is no such association. In addition, there are some other

50、 terms without no counterpart in anther language, such as “as poor as a church mouse”, “a white lie”; “老油条” (wily old bird), “班门弄斧” (display ones slight skill before an expert), “跑龙套” (play a walk-on part). These kinds of terms are difficult to be understood without sufficient knowledge of its histo

51、ry, religion and etc. All in all, according to cultural reality, a word may elicit different meaning in a particular way so that in vocabulary explaining, educators should pay more attention to the distinctive connotation rather than the word itself. 3.3. Nonverbal behaviorAlthough we may not note i

52、t, we do not converse with others by words only. Our gesture, and other body movement at the same time send message to those around us. Nonverbal communication, composed of dresses, eye contact, signals, gesture and so on, is as important as verbal communication. Nonverbal behavior functions largely

53、 to express emotion, mood and attitude in conversation. The following part explore into some aspects of nonverbal communication from Chinese and western culture. 3.3.1. Body contact Both Americans and Englishmen like keeping a certain distance to show their respect for privacy. According to study, t

54、here are four distances in American social and business relations: intimate, personal, social, and public. Intimate distance ranges from direct physical contact to a distance of about 45 centimeters. This is for peoples most private relations and activities between man and wife. Personal distance is

55、 about 45-80 centimeters and is most common when friends, acquaintances and relative converse. Social distance may be anywhere from about 1.30 meters to 3 meters. People who work together, or people doing business, as well as most of those in conversation at social gatherings tend to keep a distance

56、 of about 1.30-2 meters. Public distance is rather than any of the above and is generally for speakers in public and for teachers in classroom.The important thing to keep in mind is that most English-speaking people do not like to be too close. But it is not the case in China. With no such taboo, th

57、e Chinese tend to be far more tolerant of private space. In contrast to the westerners, Chinese people have less sense of it; so that people do less care the touch of strangers in a packed bus or in a train. 3.3.2. Eye contactEye is often described as the window of peoples heart, for it will unconsc

58、iously reveal the true feeling of the inner world. Direct eye contact is a signal that each has the others attention, and some further form of interaction can follow. Direct eye contact shows closeness and intimacy. By direct eye contact, boys and girls, men and women exchange their love. In most si

59、tuations, it is polite to look at the speakers eyes and face in conversation. For either speaker or listener not to look at the other person, could imply a number of things, among which are fear, contempt, guilt, and indifference. However, it must be pointed out that some kinds of eye contact should

60、 be noted. In American culture, eye contact seems to be much more welcomed, which just demonstrates the general characteristic of the American- audaciousness and self-confidence. But a persistent stare at others eyes between two men should be avoided, because it is regarded to be a signal of homosex

61、ual. In England, people want to mind their own business, they do not have time to interact with everyone they pass, and they communicate this fact by refusing to look at other peoples face and eyes. Nevertheless, educated Englishmen believe direct look at speakers eyes is of gentle demeanor. And the

62、 restrained Chinese people consider constant glare as a signal of aggressive challenge. 3.3.3. SmileSmile and laugher usually convey friendliness, approval, satisfaction or pleasure. This is generally true in China as well as in most of the English-speaking countries. However, there are situations w

63、hen some Chinese will laugh that will cause negative reactions by westerners. Laughter at a misfortune, fall down for example, in China can convey such feeling as “does not take it serious”, “laugh it off”, “it is nothing”. However, such laughter may generate a feeling of unpleasant to westerners. N

64、onverbal communication can be complex, for a slight difference can mean something different from that intended.Some other gestures like the shrug; up-pointed finger and down-pointed finger are American style, which have their unique meaning. In short, although body language itself does not really co

65、mmunicate, it accompanies a particular language. People act it unconsciously, but it consists of substitute for the verbal meaning. 3.4. ValuesPeople in every culture have a set of values by which they live. Some people can easily express these values, which is tie to religious belief or ethical principles. For those who from another culture it may be difficult to accept. Traditional concept of value is the center