外语教学中跨文化意识的培养

1、外语教学中跨文化意识的培养Intercultural Awareness in TEFLCulture is a part of language and plays a very important role in language teaching. In recent years, the relationship between language and culture has become a key subject in Teaching English as a Foreign Language. English teachers should not only teach la

2、nguage knowledge, but also cultures which language loads. So the understanding of a new language requires the understanding of the other culture. Learning a language, as a matter of fact, is inseparable from learning its cultures. Therefore, language teaching and intercultural awareness is indispens

3、able .English teachers should input the culture of English一speaking countries gradually and appropriately in TEFL To cultivate the intercultural awareness in students is a better way for them to master and use the language.This thesis aims to expound upon the relationship between language and cultur

4、e, the necessity and principals of intercultural awareness in culture teaching, in order to probe into the methods of developing intercultural awareness, and to get to the communicative competence in English learners.students. Even though some of culture is symbolically expressed in artifacts and be

5、haviors and is formulated as rules, norms, expectations, and moral and legal codes, much of it if tacit, scarcely conscious until there is unexpected happenings. This means students, perfectly competent in the uses and interpretation of cultural behavior patterns which prevails in our communications

6、, are quite unconscious of the patterned nature of Chinese thinking and behaviors with exception of a few overtly taughtformulas, they are unaware that different norms and patterns are likely to prevail in foreign societies. Students often make culturally induced mistakes that interfere with or some

7、times even break down communications when interacting with foreigners. It is only through careful learning can students discover the underlying patterns of English culture, understand intercultural differences, and reduce miscommunication in interactions with other peoples.2.2 Intercultural Awarenes

8、s in TEFLTherefore, some linguists advanced that cultural awareness should be introduced into foreign language teaching to make learners conscious that language and culture are inseparably linked, and that the target culture and the native culture do not always have identical values and attitudes, a

9、nd that a target culture is as much of an interference for learners as is target language. A very useful definition of cultural awareness has been put forward: Cultural Awareness can be defined as the sensitivity to the impact of culturally induced behavior on language and communication, (Starosta 1

10、26). And because of the large number of non-native speakers who use it for part at least of their international contact, English has become an international language in that it is the most widespread medium of international communication. It*s the leading language of medicine and space technology, o

11、f international business and advertising, of radio, television and film.Today, more people around the world speak English as a second language than as native speakers. The truth is, as the lingua franca of today7 s world, English has become a common language representative of most groups of people i

12、n the world. Its free of the culture of a particular society, such as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc. In short, possession of English leads us to communicating with groups other than our own and enabling us to control and influence our own destiny in international situation.

13、 While English teachers strive to give students communicative competence, they find whether theylike it or not, students by the act of starting to learn English are entering one part of the English culture. That is, social-cultural knowledge is unavoidable in TEFL and culture teaching should be made

14、 one part of classroom instruction. Thus, cultural awareness began to draw more and more attention from experienced teachers. In addition, intercultural communication as a science has been promoted in China from the late 1980. Recently, a few researchers proposed that cross-cultural communicative co

15、mpetence should be named the goal of TEFL in place of communicative competence. To achieve this purpose, then intercultural awareness has to be cultivated to ensure students become successful intercultural communicators.3 Developing Intercultural Awareness in English Teaching in Middle SchoolsThe Ma

16、in Principles for Developing Intercultural Awareness in English Teaching in Middle Schools.In any foreign language program, due to the limitation of time and a lack of input from the cultural environment itself, it is impossible to cover everything about the new culture. Innon-English environment, i

17、t is impossible for the learners to acquire all the English culture in just a few years by textbooks. What s more, in the language classroom we should not teach culture for the sake of culture, and should not put the cart before the horse. We should keep it in mind that the teaching of culture is to

18、 improve the communicative competence of the learners. Based on the objectives and the particular conditions in TEFL, the author would like to put forward two basic principles.The Contrastive PrincipleComparison helps students better understand the target culture and helps students explain different

19、 cultural behavior, avoiding just explaining another7 s behavior according to our own standards. We should focus on those aspects of the target culture which are most likely to cause misunderstanding in an intercultural setting, and can be compared with the native culture. If the native culture habi

20、ts are transferred when learning a foreign culture, it is obvious that by comparing the two culture systems. Cultural awareness can be better stimulated. The contrasts can take innumerable forms: contrasts in a certain aspect of ways of life, contrasts in holidays, in institutions and etc. Such cont

21、rast can enable a focus on cultural differences and can do much to promote language awareness” (Daries 109). It is these differences that might cause problems.By comparing, can students distinguish the differences and improve the abilities of distinguishing acceptable culture and unacceptable cultur

22、e, thus preventing us from accepting the target culture uncritically. In this way, can students deepen their understanding and clear up the misunderstanding.The Practical PrincipleThe practical principle requires that cultural teaching should be closely connected with the use of language, which mean

23、s culture should be converted into teaching activities. Let students speak English as much as possible and make them realize the difference by exporting language. Thus, students7 communicative competence can be developed, and their interests in learning language and culture can be provoked.While Chi

24、na7 s current practice of TEFL is fraught with problems, Newspapers have reported that many enterprises display great dissatisfaction about college graduate1 s comprehensive ability in using English, especially about their oral and writing ability.The statistics shows that ”only 5% of the enterprise

25、s are satisfied with the graduates7 English speaking ability, and as many as 37% certify it as poor or extremely poor”（梅德明 27）. With respect to their writing ability, 14%of the enterprises think that the graduates are competent, while 24% decide that they are poor or extremely poor. These graduates

26、were normally top students at college, and could generally achieve high scores in examinations, but this does not necessarily mean that they are equally competent in actual social and occupational situations.In short, the current practice of TEFL in China is good at producing graduates that can cope

27、 with grammar-based examinations, or language comprehension, but the graduates are poor in language production. This teaching outcome can7 t satisfy the needs of society, so it is imperative that solutions be found to improve the situation.The Main Approaches for Developing Intercultural Awareness i

28、n English Teaching in Middle SchoolsDeveloping the Intercultural Awareness through Teaching Culturally- loaded Words and PhrasesLanguage can t exist separately from culture. Vocabulary or lexicon is the basic store or foundation to the language building.Naturally, it is influenced and conditioned by

29、 cultural factors, like the society, religion beliefs, customs, ways of life, value systems, conceptions of beauty, literary, etc., of a given people. Therefore, vocabulary or lexicon is the mirror or an index to a culture. It is well-known that some educators have pointed out that L2 learners, to r

30、einforce the empathy for a second culture, should pay more attention to the cultural connotations of words and phrases. Xueliang Xiong proposes that L2 learners assess culturally-loaded words relevance in English language learning” (160).Vocabulary is a very sensitive index of the culture of people

31、and Liu Yunqing says, “vocabulary is the best evidence of the reality of “culture” , in the sense of a historically transmitted system of conceptions and attitudes7 .Q84) The teaching of vocabulary involves the teaching of culture. Under the guideline of contrastive linguistics approach, according t

32、o the different functions in intercultural communication, we will regroup these loaded words and phrases into three types. They are:(l) words identical in designative meaning, but different in associations; (2) words identical or similar in associations, but different indesignative meanings; (3) wor

33、ds with designative meanings and associative meanings available in only one of the two languages.Among these three categories, the first type, which are regarded as the most important in cultural teaching? As we all know, animal terms and color terms are different in Chinese and English. In the foll

34、owing, I would take some examples to present how the two kinds of special word are as cultural vehicles in TEFL Firstly, Animal terms might be the best choice to describe things or qualities, which has been showed clearly from the above. Interestingly, sometimes, different animal terms can carry the

35、 same or similar association. Take the tiger and the lion for example. In Chinese culture, the tiger is generally regarded as king in the beast kingdom. It is powerful, energetic, and full of majesty.Thus phrases with tiger in Chinese are always used in positive sense, as in 虎背熊腰(a man of stocky and

36、 imposing build; a strongly built man),虎虎有生 (vigorous and energetic; full of vigor), etc. The tiger is so powerful in strength that if one dares to pull a tooth from its mouth, he is daring the greatest danger. That s just what 虎口拔牙 means. If he can escape the danger from doing this, people would sa

37、y he is really 虎口余生(lifesaved from the mouth of a tiger, having a narrow escape). The one who has the gut to challenge a tiger is considered as having 虎月旦(as brave as a tiger). When he luckily wins the fight, people would respectfully address him 虎月旦英雄.As to the animal, the lion, the Chinese commonl

38、y regard it as a fierce and powerful animal, with few associations. However, in Western culture, it is the lion that is regarded as king of the beasts. It is also considered as powerful, energetic and majestic, just like 虎 in our culture. Collins Could English Dictionary offers its connotation as: a

39、 person or a country that is considered to be strong and powerful, and which other people respect or fear.Actually, with animal terms as vehicles, many other examples can be found. The following are usually considered an acceptable equivalent to each other.E.g.(l)胆小如鼠 as timid as a rabbit/pigeon hea

40、rted/chicken-hearted蠢得如猪 as stupid as a goose像落汤鸡 like a drowned rat晕得像头水牛as stubborn as a mule老狐狸 as cunning as a dead pig像蜜蜂般勤劳 as industrious as an ant非驴非马 neither fish nor flesh老黄牛 work like a horse害群之马black sheep过着牛马一样的生活lead a dog s life一丘之貉 birds of a feather牛饮 drink like a fish宁当鸡首，勿作凤尾 bett

41、er be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion狼吞虎咽 eat like a horse快乐得像只百灵鸟as happy as a cow （邓炎昌，刘润清103-104）Secondly,the following are examples about the colour terms. 文化是语言的一部分，而且在语言教学中有着很重要的作用，近年来, 语言与文化的关系已成为英语教学中的一个重要课题，英语语言教学不 仅是语言知识的传授，而且更应包括文化知识的传播。理解一种新的语 言就是要理解另一种文化。事实上，学习一种语言也就是学习另一种文 化。

42、因此，语言教学与文化意识是息息相关的，英语教师应当适当的在 语言课堂上渗透英语国家的文化知识，注重培养跨文化意识有助于学生 更好的掌握和运用语言。本文从阐述语言和文化的关系出发，分析英语教学中跨文化意识培养的 重要性和原则，并试图探索在英语教学中培养英语学习者跨文化意识的 方法和途径，从而使其达到宏观的跨文化交际语言能力的目的。Contents TOC o 1-5 h z Introduction11 Language and Culture22 Intercultural awareness3The Importance of Cultivation of Intercultural Awa

43、reness.3Intercultural awareness in TEFL5E.g.(2) RED Celebrations and joyful occasions红双喜，大红灯笼高 高挂，红盖头;Good fortune:开门红；Embarrassment:脸红耳热；Revolution;红卫兵，红色4良子军 Celebrations and joyful occasions: red-letter days, to paint the town red; Embarrassment: red-faced; Anger: to see red,waving a red flag;Be

44、in the red: running a business at loss, not making profit.WHITE Purity, innocence:清白,清白无辜Funeral:葬礼时穿白色孝 Purity, innocence; Marriage: traditional color forbrides;White lie: harmless lie BLACK Negative qualities:黑名单,黑市，黑帮; Negative qualities: black market,black-heart;Be in the black: running in a bus

45、iness profitably; Black sheep: prodigal son. BLUE Tranquil and fineness:宁静,美好 Unhappy feelings: in a blue mood; High social position; blue blood; Bawdy: blue film.GREEN Youth and vigor:青春和活力 Vital and hope:生机和希望; Jealous: green with envy,green-eyed;Unhealthy:脸发绿 Lack of experience: green hand.(邓炎昌，刘

46、润清 104-107)3.2.2 Developing the Intercultural Awareness through Writing and TranslatingThe teachers should have the students to write or translate some article on a certain topic in order to find out the difference of thinking patterns and discourse patterns through comparing similar articles in Eng

47、lish. After two semesters training, the students can be aware of and grasp gradually the characteristic of them. At the same time, their writing competence and reading competence have been improved rapidly. We have found westerner s thinking and discourse patterns are different from Chinese7 s.Diffe

48、rent Discourse Patterns“The characteristic of Westerners thinking mode is direct one. But Chinese one is indirect. When Westerners talk about something or write something, they can express themselves directly instead of indirectly77 (In English, the topic sentence most often occurs at or near the be

49、ginning of each paragraph. Every native reader of English knows this; it s why, when they cram for a quiz on material they haven7 t read, they skim the first sentence of every paragraph, hoping to put together the gist of the argument. Moreover, Discourse reflects culture and the ways of thinking. D

50、u Deming thinks that discourse culture includes the following three elements: the choice of topics, such as talking about weather, health, age, income, privacy, etc, which has different meaning between Chinese and English; the choice of code, that is a kind of dialect, or style we choose to talk abo

51、ut a certain subject; the organization of a conversation, such as turn-taking, coherence, the manner of expression, the order of the expression.(95)Chinese and native English writers usually use different principles of discourse to organize their presentation because of their different culture and d

52、ifferent ways of thinking. We can see the difference in the following two elements.a.The choice of topicsTopic selection is of great significance because it directly affects the result of the readers and the writers communication. The writer should have to be cautious and serious about what he or sh

53、e is about to talk about. The choice of topics, such as talking about weather, health, age, income, privacy, etc, which has different meaning between Chinese and English .Due to cultural diversities, some topics are safe in one culture while dangerous in another culture, such as the sensitive topics

54、 in terms of privacy, animal images, compliments, and etc. Privacy is valued in allcountries, but it is much more highly regarded in the English-speaking culture than in the Chinese culture.（邓炎昌，刘润 清 58） And, what is considered as privacy in one culture may not be considered as privacy in another cu

55、lture. For example: In the west, you should not ask the westerner such questions as How old are you? , Are you married? ”People in different cultures have different attitudes toward the same kind of animals, such as dog in China and in the western countries. In the west, it is perfectly acceptable f

56、or one to offer or accept compliments, but most Chinese people take pride in modesty“ which means /self-denigration.,zb. The organization of a conversation.The English presentation attaches importance to the form of it, and lays stress on coherence. It also requires the collocation of the words, the

57、 repetition of synonyms. While the Chinese presentation stresses the spiral development of the discourse. It attaches importance to the conformity of meaning, but grammatically signal words are seldom used in a Chinese discourse. These are the differences between English and Chinese in discourse. We

58、 teachers should tell the students these differences so as to help the students to know the culturaldifferences and be cultural awareness in discourse betweenEnglish and Chinese, and hence improve their communicative competence.3.2.3 Developing the Intercultural Awareness through Literature, Newspap

59、er, Magazines and JournalsLiterature is unabridged fiction, drama, poetry, or essay written for an educated audience of native speaker of the language in which it s written purporting to represent life as it really is. Hall concludes that In many cultures, particularly those whose language are widel

60、y taught, literature performs an important role in society, particularly if we include folk tales, nursery rhymes, children, s literature, and other widely read books which constitute a common heritage of literacy. nLiterary works sometimes epitomize the thoughts, feelings, and values of the target