英语教学中不可或缺的文化意识解析说课材料

英语教学中不可或缺的文化意识解析I.WhatisCulturalawareness?

theawareness

oftherolecultureplaysinhumaninteraction,howtounderstandandinterprettheculturalaspectsoflanguage,andthedevelopmentofskillsinbehavingandrespondinginculturallyappropriatewaysinadditiontoknowledgeofthetargetculture.--------------(K.Craves,1996).animportantfocusofmodernlanguageeducationagreaterawarenessoftheinseparabilityoflanguageandculturetheneedtopreparestudentsforinterculturalcommunicationToreemphasizethatdevelopingculturalawarenessisas

importantasacquiringlinguisticcompetencelanguageandculturearesocloselyconnectedthatonecannotsurvivewithouttheotherII.Whatisculture?“Thewayoflifeforanentiresociety.”Assuch,itincludescodesofmanners,dress,language,religion,rituals,normsofbehaviorsuchaslawandmorality,andsystemsofbeliefaswellasartandliterature.

“...cultureshouldberegardedasthesetofdistinctivespiritual,material,intellectualandemotionalfeaturesofsocietyorasocialgroup,andthatitencompasses,inadditiontoartandliterature,lifestyles,waysoflivingtogether,valuesystems,traditionsandbeliefs”.----Unesco联合国教科文组织,2002III.Whatistherelationshipbetweencultureandlanguage?

Languageisrootedinculture,andcultureisreflectedandpassedonbylanguagefromonegenerationtothenext.

(Emmitt&Byram1997)

Cultureisdeeplyingrainedpartoftheveryfibreofourbeing,butlanguage---themeansforcommunicationamongmembersofaculture---isthemostvisibleandavailableexpressionofthatculture.(H.D.Brown,1994)Cultureiscalled“afifthskillofcommunicativecompetence”.(C.Kramsch,1993)IV.Whatdoesthisrelationshipimplyforlanguageteaching?Cultureisthe“fifthdimensionoflanguageteaching”(Damen,1986).Learninganewlanguageinvolvesthelearningofanewculture(Allwright&Bailey,1991);

Teachersofalanguagearealsoteachersofculture(M.Byram,1989).A.Teachersmustinstructtheirstudentsontheculturalbackground

oflanguageusage.

Cultureissuchabroadconceptthatitisinherentlytiedtoofthelinguisticconcepts

insecondlanguageclasses.Culturemustbeincorporatedintotheprocessoflanguageteachingandlearning.Sir,madam,miss,gentleman,ladyTeachersmustinstructstudentstheculturalbackgroundoftheirusage

for

sociallyappropriate

communication.

"Sir":its

Usage

1.

Goodmorning,sir.CanIhelpyou?(apolitewayaddressingamanunknown)2.“Reporttometomorrow.”“Yes,sir!”(“是，长官！”)(toshowrespect)3.DearSir/Sirs

(Atthebeginningofaformalbusinesslettertoanunknownmanorunknownmen)4.SirIsaacNewton(牛顿爵士)(atitie,贵族头衔)5.“Please,sir,canIopenawindow?”(Br.E,usedbyschoolchildren)DearZengSir，Goodeveningandsorry,……----------------------------------（HereEnglishwordsareusedasdeadsymbols.）Everyculturehasitsowncultural

norms

（规范）forcommunicationandthesenormsdifferfromoneculturetoanother.Themoreeffectivelyweobservethenormsofothercultures,thebetterisourcommunicationwithpeopleofthetargetculture.AnalysisofInvisibleCharacterImageRebeccainButterflyDreamThesisStatement:

Daphnewithitsuniqueliterarystyleandthefeministpointofviewtogivethereadera

vividcharacters－Rebecca.

(Daphne

duMaurier)B.Teachersmustinstructtheirstudentsabouttheculturalinformationloadedinthetargetlanguage.EdgarAllenPoe

爱伦·坡

TheCaskofAmontillado

《阿芒提拉多酒》···“Heemptiedit(abottleofwine)atabreath.Hiseyesflashedwithafiercelight.HelaughedandthrewthebottleupwardswithagesticulationIdidnotunderstand.Ilookedathiminsurprise.Herepeatedthemovement----agrotesqueone.”“youdonotcomprehend?”hesaid.“Not,”Ireplied.“Thenyouarenotofthebrotherhood.”“How?”（协会、社团）“Youarenotofthemasons.”(mason:石匠）“Yes,yes,”Isaid;“yes,yes.”Mason:

Freemason

共济会

一种普布于欧美的秘密结社，有保密的接头暗语或手势，其历史悠久，成员包括如下世界名人：伏尔泰、孟德斯鸠、歌德、海顿、贝多芬、莫扎特、华盛顿、富兰克林、马克·吐温、柯南道尔、牛顿、爱因斯坦······C.Teachersmustinstructtheirstudentsabouttheculturallyappropriatewaysofusingthetargetlanguage.

Linguisticcompetencealoneisnotenoughforlearnersofalanguagetobecompetentinthatlanguage(Krasner,1999).Languagelearnersneedtobeawareoftheculturallyappropriatewaystoaddresspeople,expressgratitude,makerequests,andagreeordisagreewithsomeone.MakingaRequest

“Heyyou,comehere.”Beinglinguistically

correctisnotnecessarilyculturallyappropriate.Studentswillmasteralanguagewhentheylearnbothitslinguisticandculturalnorms.

“Iwant”“I’dlike”'Languagelearnerscannottrulymasterthelanguageuntiltheyhavealsomasteredthe

culturalcontextsinwhichthelanguageoccurs.V.WhatarethebasicStrategiesfor

learninglanguageandculture?

A.Usingauthenticsourcesfromthenativespeechcommunity:

films,newsbroadcasts,andtelevisionshowsWebsites;andphotographs,magazines,newspapers,andotherprintedmaterials.

Films(orVCD/DVD)areespeciallyeffectiveasoneofthemorecurrentandcomprehensivewaystoenclosethelook,feel,andrhythmofaculture.B.StudyingEnglishIdioms(习语/成语)andproverbs（谚语）HelpingstudentstonoticehowEnglishidiomsandproverbsaredifferentfromorsimilartothoseinChineseandhowdifferencesmightunderscorehistoricalandculturalbackground.“asstrongasahorse”

体壮如牛，力大如牛“talkhorse”

吹牛

“putthecartbeforethehorse”

本末倒置“cuttheGordianknot”

快刀斩乱麻C.ExposuretotheEnglishenvironment:Contactwiththenativespeakers(visits,conversation,celebrations,etc.)willexposeStudentsinanauthenticEnglishenvironmentinwhichtheycanexploreandaccumulatetheirknowledgeofEnglishculture.D.Literature:

Literarytextsareoftenfullofculturalinformationandevokememorablereactionsforreaders.Theyareimportantforstudentstolearnbothlanguageandculture.

Fromliteraryworksonecangetavividimpressionaboutalmosteveryaspectofthecultureofthatsociety.Thenamesofsometypicalcharactersinclassicliteraryworksoftenappearindailyspeechorwritings.Hamlet(inHamlet,thePrinceofDenmarkbyShakespeare),Lear(in

KingLear

byShakespeare),IchabodCrane(inTheLegendofSleepyHollowbyWashingtonIrving),RipVanWinkle(

RipVanWinkle

byWashingtonIrving).“HeisaHamletinpolitics.”(hesitantorindecisive)“ThatguyisaRipVanWrinkleinourneighborhood.”(ahen-peckedhusband)E.Religionandbeliefsystems:

Asapartofwesternculture,EnglishcultureisstronglyinfluencedbyancientGreece,ancientRomeandChristianity.NamesofRomangodsandgoddess:

Mercury,Venus,Mars,etc.(Solarsystem)NamesofGeekgodsandgoddess:

Apollo11Mission阿波罗11号航天飞行

Muses

缪斯女神

Narcissus

美貌自恋的青年，水仙（植物）

（narcissism自恋，narcissist自我陶醉者)《希腊罗马神话故事》《古代的希腊和罗马》（吴于廑：生活·读书·新知三联书店）

VI.Whatisthedifferencebetweenculturalknowledgeandculturalawareness?Thisinformationistypically:external（外来的）:itisgiventousbysomeoneelse（akindofindirectknowledge）static（静态的）:wedonotmodifyitfromexperience

articulated（明确表达的）:itisreducedtowhatwordscanexpressstereotypical(模式化观念的):itreferstogeneralnormsratherthanspecificinstances.

reduced（浓缩过的）:ithasbeenselectedfromalltheinformationavailableandittypicallyomitsinformationaboutvariationandexceptions.Culturalknowledge

Itconsistsofinformationaboutthecharacteristicsofourownandotherpeople’scultures.Theinformationisnormallygiventousintheformof:

(a)facts,

(b)statistics,

(c)generalizations,

(d)

examples.Culturalknowledgecanalsobemisleadingbecauseit:

(a)isdependentonotherpeople’sexpertise,objectivityandintegrity;(b)isfixedintime(oftenoutofdate);(c)isinevitablysimplified;(d)oftenconcealsasmuchasitreveals.CulturalawarenessAccordingtoTomlinsonandMasuhara(2004),culturalawarenessconsistsofperceptionsofourownandotherpeople’scultures.

Theseperception