On Culture Infiltration in Middle School English Language Teaching 浅析中学英语教学中的文化渗透

1、浅析中学英语教学中的文化渗透on culture infiltration in middle school english language teaching摘 要语言是文化的载体，语言与文化二者相互作用。语言，作为一种符号系统在其具体应用中，因不同的情景和文化而产生不同的语言行为，具有不同的文化意义。随着英语教学研究的深入，文化对英语教学的影响越来越受到人们的关注。本文将从我国中学英语文化教学的现状入手，结合中学英语教学大纲的要求，探讨在中学英语教学中进行文化渗透的重要性、需要进行文化渗透的内容、渗透的方法策略及应遵循的原则。只有当学习者对英语文化背景知识有了很好的了解， 才能使他们不但从

2、表面上而且从本质上真正了解和掌握英语，从而减少英语交流的障碍,真正学好英语，用好英语。关键词：英语教学；文化渗透；方法策略abstractlanguage is the carrier of culture. they interact with each other. and language is a system of signs that can produce different speech action and cultural meaning because of different cultural context. with the development of resea

3、rch on english language teaching, the influence of culture on english language teaching is attracting more and more attention. according to the requirement of the english syllabus and english program for the middle school english language teaching, this thesis focuses on the current situation of cul

4、tural teaching in middle schools in our country, the importance of culture infiltration, the content of culture that should be infiltrated, the methods used to infiltrate culture and the principles teachers should follow in middle school english language teaching. only when the learners understand t

5、he english background knowledge well, can they comprehend and master english in nature, so that the obstacles exiting in their english communication will be eliminated effectively. thus the learners can learn and use english well. key words： english language teaching; culture infiltration; strategy

6、contentsintroduction.11. the reasons for the lack of culture infiltration and its influences on english language teaching and learning.31.1 the reasons31.1.1 paying more attention to language symbols.31.1.2 single teaching method 31.1.3 english teachers various abilities.31.2 the influences on engli

7、sh language teaching and learning.42. the importance of culture infiltration.52.1 the requirement of middle school english language teaching syllabus in china .52.2 the relationship between language and culture.62.3 the background knowledge that should be infiltrated.8 2.3.1 cultural differences in

8、everyday conversation.82.3.2 the culture and english vocabulary.92.3.3 idioms102.3.4 english and american literature103. the strategies of culture infiltration. .1.113.1 comparison.113.2 direct explanation.123.2.1 using textbook .123.2.2 using english songs.13 3.2.3 using english films.143.3 discuss

9、ion.153.4 other ways of culture infiltration.16 3.5 the principles that english teachers should follow.16conclusion.17notes 19bibliography.21introductionwith the development of society, we live in an age that many changes in technology, travel, economic and political systems, immigration patterns an

10、d population density have created a world that culture effects communication in subtle and profound ways. our cultural background knowledge and experiences determine how we interact with each other.with the frequent intercultural communication, more and more attention is being paid to the researches

11、 on intercultural communication. at first, the researchers mainly paid their attention to the relationship between language and culture. it is commonly accepted that language is a part of culture，and it plays a very important role in culturebrown described the two as follows：“a language is a part of

12、 a culture and a culture is a part of a language；language and culture are intricately interwoven so that one can not separate them without losing the significance of either language or culture.” in a word，culture and language are inseparablein the 1920s, american linguistics sapir said: “language ha

13、s its own environment, and it can not exist without culture.” and b.d.rubin said: “language is a set of characters or elements and rules for their use in relation to one another.” these characters or elements are language symbols that are culturally diverse, that is to say, they differ from one cult

14、ure to another. in 1982，hu wenzhong pointed out: there was a close relationship between cultural differences and foreign language teachingand there were three relations that teachers should pay attention tothe first is the relation between language and culture. the second is the relation between lin

15、guistic competence and communicative competence. the third is the relation between foreign language teaching and other school subjects.cao wen puts forward there are two levels of english cultural teaching in his article. “one is the level of cultural knowledge，and the other is cultural understandin

16、g.” so when teaching a language, a teacher should infiltrate its culture properly, so does the english language teaching.however, culture infiltration in middle school english language teaching is not ideal. an investigation shows that “only 37% students think that it is necessary to infiltrate cult

17、ure in middle school english teaching, and 58% students think it is a little help for their studies”. whats worse, in 2008, li lijie made an investigation on whether the english teachers infiltrate culture or not in senior high middle school english language teaching. a table about the situation whe

18、ther the english teachers infiltrate culture in senior high school frequency (%) contentsalwaysoftensometimesoccasionallyneveroften used idioms14.235.223.626.80.2code of conduct0.414.127.847.80.9social etiquette0.30.414.055.729.6mode of thinking0.10.48.814.276.5values0.21.79.853.235.1nonverbal commu

19、nications0.21.79.853.235.1 from the table, we can learn that the situation of culture infiltration in middle school english language teaching is not optimistic. the english teachers in middle schools ignore the importance of culture infiltration, and pay more attention to the meanings of language sy

20、mbols. and what the students gain is series of language symbols.researches about this topic are various; some researchers worked out that what kind of culture should be infiltrated in english language teaching, and some tell us how to infiltrate culture in english language teaching, and others do no

21、t only tell us what should be done but also how. however, they do not tell us what we should do as what they suggest in primary school, middle school or college english language teaching. and what they suggested is not comprehensive and some of the suggestions are obsolete. whats more, they neglecte

22、d chinese culture infiltration.based on their researches, this thesis will study further more, and try to find out something better and useful for middle school english teachers. the middle school english teachers are expected to be aware of the importance of culture infiltration in english language

23、 teaching so that they could work efficiently, and the students would possess the cross cultural communicative competence and the linguistic competence at the same time.1. the reasons for the lack of culture infiltration and its influences on english language teaching and learning1.1 the reasons1.1.

24、1 paying more attention to language symbols influenced by the examination-oriented education, english teachers in middle schools mainly pay their attention to the pronunciations, vocabulary and grammar, but ignore that language is the carrier of culture for that they wish their students to get highe

25、r marks in examinations. they are not aware that it is necessary to infiltrate culture in english language teaching. so, english language teaching should strengthen culture infiltration, or the students who can speak english with well pronounce, right grammar, and get high marks in examinations woul

26、d be always making mistakes in cross cultural communication just for the lack of knowledge of culture.1.1.2 single teaching method the pattern of english language teaching in our country is mainly explicit conduct. english teachers deliver language knowledge to students unidirectionally and most stu

27、dents receive the knowledge passively. in classes, there are not mutual activities. although there is something about culture that should be infiltrated in english language teaching, yet some teachers just make it a casual remark in passing with explanation, and they do not talk with their students

28、about the connotation of culture, so that it can not satisfy the students thirst for knowledge of culture.1.1.3 english teachers various abilities “the role of the teacher changes following the aims of the class, the teacher may function more as a controller if he is mainly doing presentation of new

29、 language points, whereas he is more of a resource or prompter or a participant in communicative activities” as a controller, a resource or a prompter in classroom teaching, an english teacher should provide students information about the differences between two cultureschinese and english and expla

30、in them. however, the english teachers have various interests and study habits, different understanding about culture and various ability to explain, so that the culture knowledge they have owned and the ways in which they infiltrate culture are various. that is to say, one who is good at culture in

31、filtration can lead the cultural background knowledge in her/his teaching naturally. and the one who is not good at it may neglect or even skip the culture infiltration. there is no doubt that doing like that should badly influence their students understanding of culture.1.2 the influences on englis

32、h language teaching and learningin our country, some counties are very poor and remote, there is no electricity, and they can not watch tv and have no access to internet. whats worse, the bookshops are very small, the students can not find enough books to satisfy their needs. so, the students have t

33、o rely on their teachers culture infiltration in classes. however, the english teachers also can not find enough materials to develop their cultural knowledge. when the classes need to infiltrate english culture, what they can do is to teach their students what they have gained long before. but it i

34、s a pity that their knowledge is obsolete, and it can not stand for the characteristics of english culture any longer. as a result, what the students gain from their teachers is also out-of-date knowledge.students cognition about the developing cross culture will be inflexible just for the lack of c

35、ulture infiltration. consequently, they always think that everyone in a cultural community has the same characteristics, but can not find their differences. then, they pay so much attention to the similarities in one cultural community that they ignore the complexity and variety between different cu

36、ltures.it will violate the reform of educational system. the shortfall in culture infiltration will result in the failure of english language teaching. the guiding policy for education in our country is to gear education to the needs of modernization, the world and the future. and the educational in

37、novation suggests that the target of middle school english language teaching should help the students to foster their competence of intercultural communication. it is difficult to realize the target of middle school english language teaching without the culture infiltration or for the shortage of cu

38、lture infiltration.2. the importance of culture infiltration as china joined the wto, the development of economy of our country has made us open to the outside and reinforce cooperation with other countries in various areas，which leads to a new structure of culture globalization and english is commo

39、nly and frequently used in our society. this developing tendency has influenced the traditional english language teaching. some teachers and students have realized that a good command of english vocabulary and grammar does not necessarily satisfy the need of the society.2.1 the requirement of middle

40、 school english language teaching syllabus in china culture is inseparably linked to education. people brought up in diverse cultures are educated in accordance with the apprehended needs of their cultures. though people may be biologically alike, they grow up to be socially various just for their c

41、ultural experiences. however, schools represent one of the most important of those experiences. chinese philosopher tehyi hsieh said: “the schools of the country are its future in miniature.” so schools have profound impact on intercultural interaction.in order to meet the needs of socialist moderni

42、zation and the world, the english syllabus of middle school suggests: “culture should be something about the english-speaking countries history, geography, local conditions and customs, traditional customs, life styles, literature, value and so on.” and it also suggests that the middle school englis

43、h teachers should extend the content of culture knowledge gradually in accordance with students ages and cognition. at the beginning of english language teaching, english teachers should help students to comprehend the facial differences and similarities of cultures between chinese and english speak

44、ing countries. when related to the culture of english- speaking countries in teaching progress, teachers should combine it with students daily life so that it can arouse students interests to study english. and in later english language teaching, teachers should help students to wide their ken by en

45、riching their cultural knowledge, so that the students can be sensible to the differences between chinese culture and english one and can obtain the ability to differentiate those. and in this way, it will help the students to improve their capability of cross cultural communication. the new english

46、 course standards point out:the general goal of an english course at the middle school education stage is to cultivate students manifold abilities of applying languageit is built upon the students language skills，language knowledge, affective education learning tactics and culture awareness. culture

47、 awareness is the premise of using language appropriatelygiving students more exposure to the culture of english-speaking countries is very necessary for them to understand and use english well. and english teachers should help students to deepen the comprehension and cognition of our domestic cultu

48、re and develop their world consciousness.2.2 the relationship between language and culture language and culture, intrinsically dependent on each other, have evolved together though history. we can find the proof of their mutual interdependence in civilization, the development of the communication be

49、tween people. however, what is language? according to hall and sapir, “language is the institution whereby humans communicate and interact with each other by means of habitually used oral-auditory arbitrary symbols” . “language is a purely human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas emot

50、ions and desires by means of voluntarily produced symbols”. from the sayings, we learn that the function of a language is used for communication.what is culture? according to linell davis, “culture is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patte

51、rns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people.” from a new concise course on linguistics for students of english, “culture means the total way of life of a people, including the patterns of belief, customs, objects, institutions, techniques,

52、and language that characterizes the life of human community.” what is the relationship between them? when we were children, we probably asked our parents quite frequently: “what does the word mean?” this question indicates that our parents tend to look for its meaning in the word itself. but it is f

53、ar more acute to say that meanings are internal and that word only brings the meanings to awareness as required. and a word can elicit many different meanings depending on our background and the context in which the word is used. take the word “cool” as an example, to one person, it may mean somethi

54、ng related to weather, to another people, it may mean something that is very nice and trendy. for another example, to americans, the word dog in most instances refers to a fuzzy domestic pet, but in hong kong, dogs are considered to be a culinary amenity and often are eaten or even it refers to a pe

55、rson who is despicable. both the examples suggest that a word has many more ideas, feelings and things to represent in different culture, and language can not be separated from culture and the essential distinction of languages is culture. as the english poet tennyson said, “words, like nature, half

56、 reveal and half conceal the soul within.” but what is “half concealed” may often be more important than “what is revealed”. and “the half concealed” will deliver different meanings to the readers who are in different culture.as we know, english language teaching is the teaching of language. and the

57、 main goal of english language teaching is to help students to eliminate their language obstacles, know the english culture，enhance their communicative competence and become sensitive to the similarities with and differences between chinese and english. that is, english language teaching mainly helps students to develop the ability to use eng