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【Abstract】The importance of cultural awareness in college English teaching has been noted by the author because it can help the students bridge the cultural differences between mother tongue and target language. Cultural essence of China and English-speaking countries is analyzed and some methods of developing college students’ cultural awareness are introduced in this paper.
【Key words】cultural awareness; English teaching
【中图分类号】G633.41【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128(2011)02-0068-02
作者简介：李娜（1979-），女，河南平顶山人，四川师范大学成都学院外语系，英语教师，本科，研究方向：英语教学理论与实践研究。卜小伟，男，（1971-），西安外事学院外国语学院专任教师，硕士，副教授，主要研究方向为英语语言学及应用语言学。
Ⅰ Introduction
A. The relationship between languages and cultures
Globalization makes the world smaller and smaller. And the intercultural communication is getting more and more frequent. Therefore knowledge and understanding of different cultures are of vital significance to deepen the mutual understanding and promote a constructive development in the relationship between different countries.
To be bilingual, one must be bicultural. It is generally acknowledged that languages and cultures are closely intertwined with each other. Studies show that in many cases communication failures are caused by a lack of cross-cultural understanding, rather than the absence of linguistic competences. One can not hope to have a good command of a target language without adequate knowledge of the culture related to it, because the process of learning a foreign language means the process of knowing and mastering cultural background knowledge of that country. It is hard to imagine that one who lacks cultural knowledge about the target country can communicate with people normally in that country. In this sense, acquisition of knowledge about foreign culture is as important as language learning itself.
B. The importance of developing students’ cultural awareness in college English teaching
Cultural studies provide learners with insights into the target culture; offer opportunities to understand other countries, people and life styles without direct experience. Thus, people may become more tolerant of other cultures and less narrow-minded. Cultural studies may broaden people’s horizons and develop their personality. It may also bring students to a greater understanding of people across national barriers, by giving them a sympathetic insight into the ways of life and ways of thinking of the people who speak the language they are learning.
Ⅱ Brief introduction to culture essence of China and English-speaking countries
When cultural differences are mentioned, it is necessary to know the cultural essence in China and English-speaking countries. The Chinese and English have been living in different environment, so different cultures are formed.
A. Brief introduction to Chinese culture
Chinese lived in a semi-closed and vast hinterland, which enabled the development of farming. Thus the spirit of moderation with the stable development of agriculture has been shaped in their minds. There were few conflicts between human beings and nature. Because of the natural environment and self-sufficient resources, mankind felt no pressure from the nature. Under this kind of life condition, introverted subjective spirit is formed. Then Chinese people are inclined to consider the universe as a whole and they make judgment by following their experience and subjective feelings.
The mode of thinking of Chinese people has the feature of being experienced and comprehended, and Chinese people like to recognize the world from the whole.
Influenced by inland culture, the discrepancies of mode of thinking, in essence, are the reflection of cultural differences.
B. Brief introduction to English-speaking countries
English people lived in a turbulent marine environment. When they faced the vast sea, they felt the weakness of subjective mood in adverse circumstance. Therefore they divide the universe into two conflicting worlds——subjective and objective world. They believe that conflicts exist in all things of the universe. So they need recognize the universe objectively and rationally. Though they pray for the blessing of God, rational cognition makes them believe that mankind is more powerful. What’s more, in English culture, the properties of precise, analytical and logical are formed with the development of trade and navigation.
These cultural differences influence the English and Chinese daily-life activities. The social activities in China and English-speaking countries show different cultural features. Namely, the features of the daily-life activities would certainly reflect the essence of its own culture. Ⅲ.Methods of developing college students’ cultural awareness
Various methods may be used in cultivating college students’ awareness in their English learning. The main task that teachers should do is to use different ways to give the students cultural teaching, to cultivate their sensitivity of cultural differences, to raise their cultural awareness and to make them absorb new cultural knowledge.
A. Comparing the differences between Chinese culture and English culture
In class, teachers can guide the students make comparison between Chinese culture and English culture in various aspects. The following is the dialogue made by 2 students in my class:
A: Hello, you look tired today.
B: Yes, I went to bed too late last night.
A: You’d better go to bed earlier tonight if you can.
Obviously Student A showed his loving care to Student B in Chinese people’s eyes, and A’s suggestion is commonly used in China. But according to English culture, however, A should say “ I do hope you’ll be feeling better soon.” or “ Take good care of yourself.” to show his care to B.
There are four words that English people avoid to touch in their speaking. The four words are “I, WARM, where and meal”. “I” means income; “W” in the second word represents weight; “A” means age; “R” is believed as religion and “M” expresses marriage. So Chinese people can clearly understand they should seldom to ask the following 7 questions:
1. Do not ask people’s income in English-speaking countries.
2. Do not ask the weight of English people.
3. Do not ask the age of English people.
4. Do not ask the religion of English people.
5. Do not ask the marriage of English people.
6. Do not ask where English people go.
7. Do not ask English people eat or not.
With these 7 rules in minds, the students would do better in communication in English.
B. Exchanging ideas or introducing special topic in class Exchanging ideas or introducing special topic in English class plays an important role in cultural teaching. The students can gather some materials like newspaper, magazines and photographs concerning cultural knowledge about English-speaking countries. Form those materials, they can directly understand different cultural background, different customs and habits and different styles of life. They can also know about the art, carve, style of architecture and local conditions and customs. The students are guided to observe social activities about English-speaking countries through movies and television. They can observe what the English people eat and wear; how English people treat others; what festival they have and how they spend their holidays; in what facial expression they speak to different people; their gestures and body language. The students can discuss and exchange their ideas, and form their own attitude to English culture.
Sometimes, the teacher may invite some people who have been to English-speaking countries to give students series of lectures on some special topics, like “how do English people spend their Christmas Day”. Lacking knowledge of this aspect, the students may show their great interests in these special topics, and they will get further understanding of English culture and English language itself.
Ⅲ Conclusion
Developing students’ cultural awareness plays an important role in English language teaching. The author believes the teacher should emphasis the importance of imparting language knowledge and handling language ability, as well as emphasis the importance of cultivating students’ communicative competences. Developing students’ communicative competences is an important step in English language teaching, and it does not exist without knowing the cultural background knowledge about English-speaking countries.
Because of cultural differences, dissimilarities obviously exist in Chinese and English daily-life activities. It is helpful for the students to get acquainted with some cultural knowledge. That would help them eliminate the interference of the mother tongue and overcome the blindness in English, thereby, improve their language competences and communicative competences. Thus, it is really beneficial permeating cultural knowledge in college English teaching in China.
参考文献
[1] Claire Kramsch.Language and Culture [M], Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000
[2] Brian Tonlison & Hitomi Masuhar. Developing Cultural Awareness-Integrating Culture into a Language Course [M], Modern English Teacher, Volume No.13, 2004.1
[3] 杜广才.外语教学中对学生跨文化意识的培养[J].孝感学院学报，2005（3)：111-112
[4] 胡文忠，平洪.英语习语与英美文化[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000
【Key words】cultural awareness; English teaching
【中图分类号】G633.41【文献标识码】A【文章编号】1001-4128(2011)02-0068-02
作者简介：李娜（1979-），女，河南平顶山人，四川师范大学成都学院外语系，英语教师，本科，研究方向：英语教学理论与实践研究。卜小伟，男，（1971-），西安外事学院外国语学院专任教师，硕士，副教授，主要研究方向为英语语言学及应用语言学。
Ⅰ Introduction
A. The relationship between languages and cultures
Globalization makes the world smaller and smaller. And the intercultural communication is getting more and more frequent. Therefore knowledge and understanding of different cultures are of vital significance to deepen the mutual understanding and promote a constructive development in the relationship between different countries.
To be bilingual, one must be bicultural. It is generally acknowledged that languages and cultures are closely intertwined with each other. Studies show that in many cases communication failures are caused by a lack of cross-cultural understanding, rather than the absence of linguistic competences. One can not hope to have a good command of a target language without adequate knowledge of the culture related to it, because the process of learning a foreign language means the process of knowing and mastering cultural background knowledge of that country. It is hard to imagine that one who lacks cultural knowledge about the target country can communicate with people normally in that country. In this sense, acquisition of knowledge about foreign culture is as important as language learning itself.
B. The importance of developing students’ cultural awareness in college English teaching
Cultural studies provide learners with insights into the target culture; offer opportunities to understand other countries, people and life styles without direct experience. Thus, people may become more tolerant of other cultures and less narrow-minded. Cultural studies may broaden people’s horizons and develop their personality. It may also bring students to a greater understanding of people across national barriers, by giving them a sympathetic insight into the ways of life and ways of thinking of the people who speak the language they are learning.
Ⅱ Brief introduction to culture essence of China and English-speaking countries
When cultural differences are mentioned, it is necessary to know the cultural essence in China and English-speaking countries. The Chinese and English have been living in different environment, so different cultures are formed.
A. Brief introduction to Chinese culture
Chinese lived in a semi-closed and vast hinterland, which enabled the development of farming. Thus the spirit of moderation with the stable development of agriculture has been shaped in their minds. There were few conflicts between human beings and nature. Because of the natural environment and self-sufficient resources, mankind felt no pressure from the nature. Under this kind of life condition, introverted subjective spirit is formed. Then Chinese people are inclined to consider the universe as a whole and they make judgment by following their experience and subjective feelings.
The mode of thinking of Chinese people has the feature of being experienced and comprehended, and Chinese people like to recognize the world from the whole.
Influenced by inland culture, the discrepancies of mode of thinking, in essence, are the reflection of cultural differences.
B. Brief introduction to English-speaking countries
English people lived in a turbulent marine environment. When they faced the vast sea, they felt the weakness of subjective mood in adverse circumstance. Therefore they divide the universe into two conflicting worlds——subjective and objective world. They believe that conflicts exist in all things of the universe. So they need recognize the universe objectively and rationally. Though they pray for the blessing of God, rational cognition makes them believe that mankind is more powerful. What’s more, in English culture, the properties of precise, analytical and logical are formed with the development of trade and navigation.
These cultural differences influence the English and Chinese daily-life activities. The social activities in China and English-speaking countries show different cultural features. Namely, the features of the daily-life activities would certainly reflect the essence of its own culture. Ⅲ.Methods of developing college students’ cultural awareness
Various methods may be used in cultivating college students’ awareness in their English learning. The main task that teachers should do is to use different ways to give the students cultural teaching, to cultivate their sensitivity of cultural differences, to raise their cultural awareness and to make them absorb new cultural knowledge.
A. Comparing the differences between Chinese culture and English culture
In class, teachers can guide the students make comparison between Chinese culture and English culture in various aspects. The following is the dialogue made by 2 students in my class:
A: Hello, you look tired today.
B: Yes, I went to bed too late last night.
A: You’d better go to bed earlier tonight if you can.
Obviously Student A showed his loving care to Student B in Chinese people’s eyes, and A’s suggestion is commonly used in China. But according to English culture, however, A should say “ I do hope you’ll be feeling better soon.” or “ Take good care of yourself.” to show his care to B.
There are four words that English people avoid to touch in their speaking. The four words are “I, WARM, where and meal”. “I” means income; “W” in the second word represents weight; “A” means age; “R” is believed as religion and “M” expresses marriage. So Chinese people can clearly understand they should seldom to ask the following 7 questions:
1. Do not ask people’s income in English-speaking countries.
2. Do not ask the weight of English people.
3. Do not ask the age of English people.
4. Do not ask the religion of English people.
5. Do not ask the marriage of English people.
6. Do not ask where English people go.
7. Do not ask English people eat or not.
With these 7 rules in minds, the students would do better in communication in English.
B. Exchanging ideas or introducing special topic in class Exchanging ideas or introducing special topic in English class plays an important role in cultural teaching. The students can gather some materials like newspaper, magazines and photographs concerning cultural knowledge about English-speaking countries. Form those materials, they can directly understand different cultural background, different customs and habits and different styles of life. They can also know about the art, carve, style of architecture and local conditions and customs. The students are guided to observe social activities about English-speaking countries through movies and television. They can observe what the English people eat and wear; how English people treat others; what festival they have and how they spend their holidays; in what facial expression they speak to different people; their gestures and body language. The students can discuss and exchange their ideas, and form their own attitude to English culture.
Sometimes, the teacher may invite some people who have been to English-speaking countries to give students series of lectures on some special topics, like “how do English people spend their Christmas Day”. Lacking knowledge of this aspect, the students may show their great interests in these special topics, and they will get further understanding of English culture and English language itself.
Ⅲ Conclusion
Developing students’ cultural awareness plays an important role in English language teaching. The author believes the teacher should emphasis the importance of imparting language knowledge and handling language ability, as well as emphasis the importance of cultivating students’ communicative competences. Developing students’ communicative competences is an important step in English language teaching, and it does not exist without knowing the cultural background knowledge about English-speaking countries.
Because of cultural differences, dissimilarities obviously exist in Chinese and English daily-life activities. It is helpful for the students to get acquainted with some cultural knowledge. That would help them eliminate the interference of the mother tongue and overcome the blindness in English, thereby, improve their language competences and communicative competences. Thus, it is really beneficial permeating cultural knowledge in college English teaching in China.
参考文献
[1] Claire Kramsch.Language and Culture [M], Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2000
[2] Brian Tonlison & Hitomi Masuhar. Developing Cultural Awareness-Integrating Culture into a Language Course [M], Modern English Teacher, Volume No.13, 2004.1
[3] 杜广才.外语教学中对学生跨文化意识的培养[J].孝感学院学报，2005（3)：111-112
[4] 胡文忠，平洪.英语习语与英美文化[M].北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2000