Culture and English Teaching文化与英语教学.docx

Culture and English Teaching ContentsAbstract3Introduction4Chapter I Relationship between language and culture 5Chapter II The relationship between English culture and English teaching. 5Chapter III Differences between Chinese and English cultures. 63.1 Cultural differences in daily conversation63.1.1 Greetings and Farewells63.1.2Ways of addressing73.1.3 Ways of praise73.2 Cultural differences in colors83.3 Cultural differences in social contact83.4 Cultural differences between China and Western society represent differences of folk custom. 93.5 Cultural differences in allusions 93.6 Cultural differences in value10 3.7 Cultural differences in religious beliefs 11 3.8 Cultural differences in body language 11ChapterIV Difficulties in teaching English culture 124.1The direction of examination-oriented education system and its requirement124.2The circumstance of English language learning for students 12ChapterV Some Advice for teaching English language in culture 125.1 Changing English teachers teaching opinions 125.2 Optimizing the circumstance of English learning for students 13Conclusion13Bibliography13_14 AbstractEnglish plays an essential and significant role in life. How to teach and study English well has become a public concern .As culture has closely associated with language, many an educator finds that cultural knowledge has become an important part in our English learning and teaching .With the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing .Due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching. Language can never be separated from culture. It is impossible to study a language well, without learning culture. Meanwhile, it helps spread and pass down a culture. Every people have its own culture.This paper includes five parts,the first part is about Relationship between language and culture. the second part is about the relationship between English culture and English teaching .the third part is about Differences between Chinese and English cultures .Next part talk about Difficulties in teaching English culture .the final part is about Some Advice for teaching English language in culture. It is about suggesting teaching methods in cultural learning and teaching . Key words: Cultuer communication English teaching. Introduction With the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing.Due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to the people with different cultures. Because of cultural differences, a serious question may cause amusement or laughter; a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger. Because of cultural differences, jokes by a foreign speaker may be received with blank faces and stony silence. Yet the same stories in the speakers own country would leave audiences holding their sides with laughter.Professor Deng Yanchang once said “In fact, the learning of a language is inseparable from the learning of its culture.” However, after several years of English study, even college students still find it hard to communicate with English native speakers. Its not that they dont have the command of the language forms, but that they lack the knowledge of the target culture. So English teachers should help students acknowledge the culture background in teaching. teaching should focus on culture study and learn the skills of communication. Chapter I, Relationship between language and culture What is the relationship between language and culture? What role does culture play with language? In any culture or region, language is much more than semantics, much more than what the written page or the spoken word can contain. This especially becomes clear when studying a foreign language and learning the ways of a particular culture. For example, the use of introductions, salutations, everyday sayings, etc. This area in particular gives more weight to culture then to the words themselves. Anyone studying a foreign language has to be bicultural as well as bilingual to speak the new language in a way that it is not disparaging to the culture and its origin. Language does not end at the meaning or the use of words associated to a culture" words represent beliefs, history, and the culture of their origin and they must be used accordingly. As we all know, language is closely related to culture and can be said as a part of culture. From a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other. Language is the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language. We can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture.Idioms as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. They are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. Consequently, we can know much about culture through studying idioms and in turn get better understanding of idioms by learning the cultural background behind them. Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols, which is creative, double-structured and changeable. It is a means of verbal communication and distinguishes human beings from animals. Culture, one of most widely accepted definition, is the total accumulation of beliefs, customs, values, behaviors, institutions and communication patterns that are shared, learned and passed down through the generations in an identifiable group of people. According to the definitions above, language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider “Language is the keystone of culture. Without language, culture would not possible”. One the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects cultures and is the symbolic representation of a nation. It comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. J.C. Catford once said, “Meaning is property of a language.” To a certain extent, “meaning” stands for culture. Different society has different culture, and it changes with the change of the society. As cultures are diverse, languages are diverse. Therefore, language should be taught in culture, or culture should be taken into consideration in English language teaching.ChapterII The relationship between English culture and English teaching. The Chinese language is part of the Chinese culture and English is part of the English culture. There is no culture that has no language as its part. Language and culture are not separable.They are closely related,each influencing and shaping the other. Human knowledge and experience are described and stored in language. Customs, habits and behavioral patterns can be described and analyzed in language. Social institutions, value systems, beliefs, world views can be described, analyzed and evaluated in language. In short, language can represent every aspect of culture. Language is the mirror of culture. The close relationship between language and culture is readily shown by the fact that culture is transmitted from one generation to the next through language for the coming generation to learn. While children learn their native language, they also learn their native culture and are eventually accepted as members of their culture. Language learning and culture learning are not separable To teach a foreign language implies to teach the culture of English. English can never be taught in a cultural vacuum in English. Based on the research achievements home and abroad, people came to a common ground that foreign language teaching should focus on cultivating the students abilities of cross-cultural communication and their awareness of culture. In cross-cultural communication, people are required with not only the knowledge of phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, language , but also the understanding of English. If not, misunderstanding caused by cultural barriers may occur. So its important to taech cultural konwledge in English teaching. ChapterIII Differences between Chinese and English cultures Due to the differences in geography, development level, different countries and nationalities possess different cultures, histories, customs and religion, misunderstandings often occur in English teaching.With the development of modernization, the world itself is becoming a “global village”. Opportunities for Chinese to contact with westerners are growing, teaching should focus on culture study and learn the skills of communication. Otherwise, there will be “culture shock” during the cross-cultural communication.The followings are the details of cultural differences.3.1 Cultural differences in daily conversation3.1.1 Greetings and Farewells Having been influenced by international greetings, Chinese intellectuals are accustomed to say “您好!” “您早!” “早上好!” “晚安!” With the more and more frequent communication, greetings have been diversified dramatically since the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China. You may greeting one of your acquaintances by asking, “上街买菜了?” even it is obvious that he is going out for shopping because he is carrying a basket; asking about whatever you see; by asking “上班啦?” if seeing somebody taking a handbag; by asking “旅游啦?” if seeing somebody taking luggage. Western people, however, will be amazed at your words, since you have seen that he is obviously going out for shopping, for office or for travelling. Why do you still ask question like “Are you going out for shopping” and so on? And the ultimate comment is “What a stupid question! In China, people would said to a visitor from afar, “你一路辛苦了。” But if he is an English native speaker, Chinese usually put the sentence into English like this, “ I am afraid you must have had a tiring journey.” It will make him/her uncomfortable, for it does not meet the culture background of English speaking countries. The right expression is “Did you have a good trip?/ Did you enjoy your journey?” Or “How was the trip?”When Chinese meet, they often say “上哪里去？” which if translated literally, would be “Where are you going?”. The natural reaction of most English-speaking people would most likely to be “Its none of your business” to thins greeting. Another expression is “你吃了吗?” which is a common greeting around meal time. It means nothing more than “Hello” or “Hi”. But to westerners, it could indicate an invitation to a meal. When Chinese part, the hosts see the visitor to the door or gateway. It is customary for the guest to say to the hosts 请留步. The final words of the hosts are usually 慢走，走好，慢点儿开. None of these should be interpreted directly. Stay here would sound strange; Go slowly, Walk slowly or Drive slowly would be equally so. Native speakers usually say Good-bye, Bye-bye.3.1.2Ways of addressingIt is easy for us to find that our Chinese addressing are much more complicated than that of westerners. For westerners, it is quite common for them to call each other by given name without worrying about the generation differences. But in China, we rarely come across those situations. So English teachers should inform his or her students of the right way of addressing in front of the foreigners.In English, we have grandparents, grandfather, grandmother, while in Chinese, we have祖父，爷爷，奶奶，外婆，外公.In English, we have uncle and aunt for those people who are the peers of our parents, while in Chinese, we have 伯伯，叔叔，舅舅等，姑妈，姨妈，婶子等.Furthermore, in English the lower generation like nephew and niece have no clear distinction of which part he or she belongs to, the same is true with the word cousinOur Chinese people attach great importance to family, and think that the blood is thicker than water. In order to show politeness, we should call those strangers in the way of addressing families. For example, 大爷，大娘，大叔，大婶，大哥，大姐，等等。The Chinese language has many precise terms for describing family and other relationships. People in China address relatives or close neighbors as二哥，三姐，四婶，周大伯, which should not be carried over into English. English-speaking people address others by using the first nameTom, Michael, Linda, Jane, etc.rather than calling the person Mr. Summers, Mrs. Howard or Miss Jones. This applies not only to people of roughly the same age, but also of different ages. It is not a sign of disrespect. It is command to hear a child calling a much older personJoe, Ben, May, Helen, etc.Another common Chinese form of address is the use of a persons title, office, or occupation, such as 黄局长，林经理，马校长. But English native speakers seldom address others in this way.3.1.3 Ways of praise Chinese people like to be modest about their own achievement, possessions and so on. This is considered a sign of modesty, but it may seem dishonest to Westerners. Here is a example. A young Chinese lady in the USA was complimented for her beautiful dress, “Thats a lovely dress you have on.” She was quite happy but replied in negative way as most Chinese people do, “No, no, it just a very ordinary dress.” The American felt somewhat embarrassed. This implies that the Americans taste in clothing was questionable. Such situation may cause misunderstanding. Westerners may think it impolite. There is anther example, A foreigner at his Chinese friends wedding, he said, “Your wife is very beautiful.” But his friend replied, “No, no, she is ugly.” At hearing this, the foreigner felt angry and left. The Chinese wanted to show this modesty, but in such a situation,