英语专业论文

important role in English Teaching

Abstract: This article intends to solve the problems aroused by neglecting cross-cultural background knowledge. Since students who have learned English for many years have little sense of the different cultural background knowledge, the ignorance has caused lots of disagreements, misunderstandings, and even laughingstocks in their communicating with the native speakers. Therefore, this article focuses on the importance of integrating cultural background knowledge into language teaching. Meanwhile, this article illustrates the relationship between the language and culture, the necessity of cultural education and the solutions to the problems in cross-communication in English teaching.

Key words: Cross-cultural teaching, language teaching, cultural background knowledge

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Cultural Background Knowledge Plays an important role in English Teaching

Chapter 1 Introduction:

I The background of this article

“Since the introduction of culture teaching started in the early 1980s, great achievements have been made in research during the past twenty years”①. Whether in China or western countries, language theorists and language teachers have tried a lot to integrate culture teaching into language teaching for almost a century.

“As far as we know, there are a lot of essays about cultural difference and its teaching, such as The question of culture, EFL teaching in non-speaking countries by Cem and Margeret Alptekin, English as Cultural Action by Luke Prodromom, Cultural Teaching and Foreign Language Teaching by Hu Wenzhong and American Cross-cultural Communication Research by Jia Yuxin”②. These works all show the readers that many researches have been conducting.

II The aims of this article

Many students puzzled that they have learned the linguistic forms of English, but they still have difficulties in understanding foreigners and communicating with foreigners. Why does this phenomenon exist? One important reason that can not be neglected is the cultural difference. The students who have difficulties in understanding foreigners and communicating with foreigners, perhaps, have no idea of the cross-cultural background knowledge.

This article is attempts to remind teachers and students of the importance of cross-cultural knowledge in teaching and learning. Therefore, in English teaching, awareness of cultural background knowledge should be emphasized highly and students' communicative abilities should be improved accordingly to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and conflicts in intercultural communication.

III The structure of this article

For the fist place, it is the literature review, which consists of the relation of culture and language. Then, the article focus on the problems aroused by neglecting cross-cultural knowledge. Finally, this article intends to provide with methods to solve this problems.

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Chapter2 The relationship of language and culture

I The definition of Language：

It is very difficult to give a satisfactory definition of language. Hu Zhanglin says, “ language is a tool for human communication”; “language is a set of rules” (Hu Zhanglin 1998:3). However, linguists are in broad agreement about some of the import ant characteristics of human language, and most of them would accept a tentative definition like the following: “Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication”(ibid :3).

II The definition of Culture:

Patrick R. Moran defines culture as follow: “Culture is the evolving way of life of a group of persons, consisting of a shared set of practices associated with a shared set of products, based upon a shared set of perspectives on the world, and set within specific social contexts”(Moran 2003:24). Also, culture can be defined as “life way of a population”③, meaning what characterizes the particular way of life of a population. Culture is contrasted with other cultures.

III The relationship of language and culture

Language is part of culture, and is strongly influenced and shaped by culture, reflecting many features of culture. For example, Eskimos, living in the world of snow, have as many as seven different words for snow to distinguish among different types of snow, each word referring to a certain kind of snow (heavy and wet versus light and fluffy, small and fine versus large and dense, and so on.)

“Language and culture are clearly fused; one reflects the other” (Patrick R. Moran 2003:32). Moran also cites: “One language, many cultures”, which means that some languages are used in more than one country, including French, Spanish, English, Chinese etc. therefore, there are many cultures for one language and cultures are different from one another. Each culture is unique.

These, meanwhile, draw the readers’ attention to the importance of culture background knowledge in language teaching. Learning a foreign language well means learning more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar and words. It means learning also to understand how the native speakers of that language reflect the idea, customs, and behavior of their society by means of their language.

In short, Language and culture interact and interplay.

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Chapter3 Problems aroused by neglecting cultural background knowledge

1. Misunderstandings aroused in oral communication

In most cultures, when you meet acquaintances for the first time, it is normal to greet them. Each language has a set of phrases that can be used, and cultural misunderstandings will easily come about. For example, it is inappropriate in English to greet people by asking whether they have eaten or not. Such a question in English functions as a genuine request for information rather than as a greeting. For example, when someone asks their colleagues or friends whether they have had lunch or not, the person wants to know ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If the reply is negative, the person will probably go on to suggest that they go and have lunch together. In other words, this kind of question is often a lead-in to a suggestion or invitation. It cannot be used simply to greet a person as is common in Chinese.

Another example, Once, after a student gave a lecture, he asked a foreign visitor for his advice. He said like this, “I am desirous of exploring your feeling on the lecture”—which caused the foreign visitor’s surprise. He said: “Your English is too beautiful to be true.” But the student refused to accept the comment. He said the sentence was extracted from the book. The visitor explained that phrases like “desirous of exploring your feelings” was not fit for spoken language, which should be replaced by “I’d like to hear your views on the lecture” or “May I have your views on the lecture?”

Events like these are fairly common when people of different languages and cultures communicate. Because of cultural differences, misunderstandings may arise, although the language used in communication may be faultless. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to different peoples. 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.

II. Misunderstandings aroused in listening

Always, students complain that much time has been used in listening, but little achievement has been acquired. In order to improve competence of listening comprehension, some students specially buy tape recorders for listening and spend quite a few hours every day on it, but once they meet new materials, still, they fail to understand. What is the reason? On the one hand, maybe some students’

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English is very poor and they haven’t grasped enough vocabularies, clear grammar or correct pronunciation, or maybe the material is rather difficult, etc. On the other hand, an importance reason is that they are unfamiliar with cultural background of the USA and England. Aural comprehension, which is closely related to the knowledge of American and British culture, politics and economy, in fact, is an examination of one’s comprehensive competence which includes one’s English level, range

of

knowledge,

competence

of

analysis

and

imaginative

power.

Here is a sentence from VOA: “The path to November is uphill all the way.” “November” literally means “the eleventh month of a year.” But here it refers to “the Presidential election to be held in November.” Another example is “red- letter-days”—which is a simple phrase and is easy to hear, meaning holidays such as Christmas and other special days. But students are often unable to understand them without teachers’ explanation.

III. Misunderstandings aroused in reading

English reading ability is a comprehensive ability. If one wants to read an article, find out the main idea, use the information provided by the articles for inference, judgment, reasoning, he or she must master not only English language knowledge, but also a certain degree of expertise or background knowledge. When students were reading an article, although they didn’t encounter a new word, had no grammatical obstacles and understand the literal meaning of each sentence, they cannot understand the overall effect of the article content and the main idea. Because when students were reading, they always considered English equal as their mother tongue, or affected by the traditional culture of the mother tongue, intentionally or unintentionally to treat the context and meaning of these two cultures equally, so some errors of judgments will happen.

The learner’s lack of cultural background knowledge often hinders their comprehension in reading. For example, when teach “red”, “the value of color” should be introduced. Chinese like red color, in our own culture, red symbols auspicious and jubilation. But in English, most phrases with red are pejorative, for example, in the red, red light district, red flag. Besides, red in Chinese has the meaning of revolution and justice, which doesn’t exit in English. Another example, green in Chinese means energetic, in English, it refers to lacking of experience or unhealthy, so, new comers in office are called green hands; envy is translated into green-eyed-monster; pale look for illness is described as green with illness.

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Many allusions drawn from history, religion, literature, etc., often appear in English works and have become common household terms. But without the knowledge of western culture and history, such allusions are not always easy to understand, and without understanding there can be little appreciation. For example:

David and Goliath (from Bible)—David was a shepherd boy; he killed the philistine giant Goliath with a shot from his sling and later became king of the Hebrews; in metaphorical use, David and Goliath stand for a contest between two persons, enterprises, countries, etc., in which one is much smaller or weaker, but in which the smaller or weaker one wins out.

When some brands appear in advertising, misunderstandings always emerge, which can also puzzle the readers a lot. For example, white elephant, in English, is often used metaphorically to refer to something “useless, seldom used, or too costly to be worth maintaining.” While in Chinese white elephant is the symbol of auspiciousness and prosperity.

IV. Misunderstandings aroused in writing 4.1 Difference in Chinese and English writing style

Similarly, writing cannot be separated from cultural background knowledge. Why is that one can fairly easily tell whether an article was written by a Chinese or by a native speaker of English? On the one hand, it is probably because most Chinese students have not yet mastered the language; On the other hand, it is probably because of differences in Chinese and English writing styles that reflect cultural differences.

For example, western writers like to put the main sentence in each paragraph, and the article layout always obeys the principle of “from general to specific”, “from summarize to exemplify”, and “from whole to respective”. Take the following passage as an example:

Soccer is a difficult sport. (1) A player must be able to run steadily without rest. (2) Sometimes a player must hit the ball with his or her head. (3) Players must be willing to bang into and be banged into by others. (4) They must put up with aching feet and sore muscles.

In the above short passage, the main idea sentence is the first sentence, (1) (2) (3) (4) are used to

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illustrate. But in China, we are accustomed to “from result to reason”, “from specific to genneral”. if we want to express the same meaning, we need to put (1) behind (2) (3) (4).

Another example: July 6, 2002 Dear Tom,

I am sorry to inform you that I won't be able to go to dance with you this weekend. My mother is suddenly taken ill. In order not to disappoint you, I have asked Shi Dai to take my place. She is a better dancer, I think. My regrets. Joe

From the note, readers can see that in English the “result: I won't be able to go to dance with you this weekend” is put into the beginning, followed by the “reason: my mother is suddenly taken ill”.

Generally speaking, in English writing, the first sentence is the main idea, the topic sentence. But in Chinese writing, the major point and information is placed in the end.

4.2 Importance of knowing the differences

Besides the two points of differences mentioned above, there are others. If we couldn’t be acquainted with these differences, we would not write a standard English composition. From what had been said, it is clear that cultural background knowledge is necessary in language teaching. Teachers should help students to solve the difficulties in language as well as in culture.

V. Misunderstandings aroused in translation

It’s widely believed that translating is greatly influenced by culture. In translating, we should have enough knowledge about both the target and the source language. The difficulty in translation mainly lies in the understanding of cultural background knowledge. The cultural background knowledge includes many aspects, such as art, history, geography, philosophy, science, etc.

For example: I was not Pygmalion, I was Frankenstein. There are two points that may puzzle us: one is “Pygmalion”, and the other is “Frankenstein”. We can see that they are the names of two persons, but who are they? In fact, Pygmalion is the King of Cyprus in Greek fairy tales. Once he carved a statue of a very beautiful young lady, and he fell in love with “her”. Because of his pious

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love, Aphrodite, the Goddess of Love gave the statue life, and at last, Pygmalion got married with her. Frankenstein was a character in M.W. Shelly’s “Frankenstein”, who was a young medical college student. Once he invented a monster, but that monster ate him. From the above background knowledge, we can see that “Pygmalion” means, “to enjoy one’s own creation”, while “Frankenstein” means “to suffer from one’s own actions”. So the success in translating this sentence does not solely depend on understanding its structure but is determined by the knowledge of the cultural load the two terms carry respectively.

Chapter3 methods to solve cross-cultural misunderstandings

According to Straub (1999:3), what educators should always have in mind when teaching culture is the need to raise their students’ awareness of their own culture, to provide them with some kind of metalanguage in order to talk about culture, and ‘to cultivate a degree of intellectual objectivity essential in cross-cultural analyses’ (ibid.: 3). What is more, another objective permeating the teaching of culture is ‘to foster…understanding of the target culture from an insider’s perspective—an empathetic view that permits the student to accurately interpret foreign cultural behaviors’ (ibid:3).

Firstly, teachers should make students aware that there are no superior or inferior cultures and that there are differences among people within culture of English-speaking countries, as well. “Teachers are not in the classroom to confirm the prejudices of their students nor to attack their deeply held convictions” (ibid: 271). Their task is to stimulate students’ interest in the English culture, and help establish English classroom “not so much as a place the language is taught, but as one opportunities for learning are provided through the interactions that take place between the participants” (Ellis, 1992: 171, cited in Kramsch, 1993: 245).

Secondly, the teaching of background knowledge must be commensurate with the dynamic aspects of culture. As Lessard-Clouston (1997:26) notes:

Students will indeed to develop knowledge of and about the L2 or FL culture, but this receptive aspect of culture competence is not sufficient. Learners will also need to master some skills in culturally appropriate communication and behavior for the target culture…Cultural awareness is necessary if students are to develop an understanding of the dynamic nature of the target culture, as well as their own culture.

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Thirdly, students should be given the opportunity to enjoy certain information and activities that are part of Chinese tradition, such as national spots, social festivities, or songs, before teachers help them explore those of the English culture. Here, this paper will provide with five accessible methods.

1 Selecting proper teaching material

A proportion of English material should be used. From the first day, teachers are expected to bring in the class posters, pictures, maps, and other realia in order to help students develop a mental image of the western culture. A proportion of foreign material and authentic material should be used, especially dialogues, because it’s more authentic and reflects cultural behavior concerning social factors. Next, teachers should explain cultural factors involved in the material with purpose. Below is a dialogue between two English persons: Helen: Hello, Susan.

Susan: Hello. I’ m going to get a magazine and some chocolate. Would you like to go with me? Helen: Ok. Let’s go to that newsagent in the corner. I want some cigarettes.

Susan: I want to go the one down the road. I’ve got to send off this parcel and there is a post-office in that one.

This dialogue tells us in England some newsagent’s shops not only sell sweets and cigarettes, but also install post office where people can send off letters and parcels. But in China, there are not such shops. If teachers don’t give the explanations, students may feel puzzled.

2 Using the method of comparison

Through exposure to the western civilization, students inescapably draw some comparisons between the home and English culture. Teachers should use comparison, with a view to identifying common ground or even lacunae within or between Chinese and English cultures, present students with isolated items about the English cultural background knowledge, while using books and other visual aids and provide cultural information such as a narrative on the etiquette during a family meal. With this narrative as a springboard for discussion and experimentation, students can practice how, and to what extent, the members of the English culture appreciate a meal with friends, and so on. At the same time, in the classroom, teachers should pay attention to proper language forms, as well as suitable use of language. One way of classroom teaching is to ask students to make similar dialogues to the English culture. Singhal (1998:1) sets the scene: students are in a restaurant and are expected to order a meal. In this way, students are given the opportunity to step into the shoes of a member of the English culture.

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3 Encouraging wide reading

Encourage students to read extensively, including novels, magazines, and newspapers and so on. To most Chinese students, acquisition of knowledge of western cultural background knowledge mainly depends on reading material, and literal works is the best way to know certain cultural background knowledge about a people’s psychology, cultural characters, customs, habits and the like. Through enormous reading and teachers’ guidance, students’ understanding of English cultural background will become ripe and complete. Here are two specific ways of introducing cultural background knowledge into reading

Firstly, from the aspect of scenario communication

Some students who have solid grammar and abundant vocabularies often make mistakes or misunderstandings. Take the following dialogue as an example: -it’s getting late. I’m afraid I must be going now. -OK. ____________.

A. Take it easy B. Go slowly C. Stay longer D. See you

Four given answers, in grammar, are all right, so students who are unfamiliar with English social customs are difficult to pick up the right answer. Teachers need to help students to analysis: the former three belong to pidgin English, disobeying the principle of “non-interference”, to the last one is the best answer. Scenario communication is to inspect the language function which fully reflects students’ understanding for English countries, without cultural background knowledge, students would be reduced in misunderstanding.

Secondly, from the aspect of after-school exercises

Some notes and exercises after the text usually tell the cultural background knowledge. Take the sentence “I want you to account for every cent you spent” from English book as an example, here “cent” means “美分”, so teachers can take the chance to supply students with the knowledge of English currency. The table will give a favor:

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Table world currency

franc gulden mark peseta pound rouble won yen yuan 法郎 盾 马克 比塞塔 镑 卢布 元 元 元 France\\Belgium Dutch Germany Spanish British Russia Korea Japan China 4 Using native English video tapes and films

Use good native English videotapes, songs and films in teaching, and then organize discussions. When watching videotapes or seeing a film, students and teachers should pay much attention to the scene of daily life, such as conversations between shopkeepers and clients, dialogues on the telephone, chat in the street and so on. After that, teachers and students may exchange views and replenish each other.

5 Encouraging communication with native speakers of English

Encourage students to communicate with native English speakers. But so far, we haven’t carried out such activities enough. In contact with native speakers, students can be deeply impressed by the differences between two cultures at first hand. Moreover, in such relaxed conversations, students can learn much knowledge, which cannot be learned in the classroom.

In teaching, teachers should attach importance to cultural differences and study these differences. As English teachers, we should not only help students to learn a foreign language, but also to learn social and cultural background knowledge. Only so, students can widen their knowledge and thus further learn English well.

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Chapter4.Conclusion

In the literature review, language is a part of culture, also language and culture interact and interplay. The misunderstandings and conflicts aroused in listening, oral communication, translation, reading and writing should be paid a close attention to. Five accessible ways, such as, selecting proper teaching material, using the method of comparison, encouraging wide reading, encouraging communication with native speakers of English, using native English video tapes and films are presented to solve such misunderstandings and conflicts in this article..

“Recently, language educators have attempted to coin new words to reflect the fusion between language and culture: linguaculture, languaculture, or language-and culture” (cited in Moran 2003:32). The reason why they combined the two words is that culture indeed plays an important role in language teaching. Therefore, introducing cultural background knowledge when teaching not only can arouse students’ interests, but also is the key to understand and apply English accurately. Learning more culture background knowledge of English-speaking countries in daily life, learning more knowledge about superstitions and euphemism, and learning more popular expressions, idioms and slang, are some of the good ways to acquire a language.

One point that I must stress is the shortcoming of this article. Because of the inadequate reading source, some points are still need to be confirmed. Due to the insufficient investigations, the method of after-school exercise raising students’ interest in learning foreign cultural knowledge still need to be illustrated further.

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References:

Hu Zhuanglin, Liu Runqing & Li Yanfu: Linguistics: a course book. Beijing: Beijing University Press. 1998

Kramsch.C. Language and culture. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.1993 Lessard-Clouston, M. Towards an Understanding of Culture in L2/FL Education. In Ronko, K.G. Studies in English, 25, 131-150 Japan: Kwansei Gakuin University Press. 1997. Moran, P.R. Teaching Culture. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.2003

Straub, H. Designing a Cross-Cultural Course. English Forum, vol. 37: 3, July-September, 1999. Singhal, M.. Teaching Culture in the Foreign Language Classroom. Thai TESOL Bulletin, Vol. 11 No. 1, February 1998.

①邵霞. Towards a Macro-mode of cultural teaching in Foreign Language Education. 硕士学位论文. 上海师范大学, 2003:15

②黄华玲. Cultural Teaching Trough English Teaching: Scope and Approach. 硕士论文. 福州师范大学.2003:17

③孙利民. Language & Culture. 吉林科学技术出版社. 2005:7

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Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to show my deepest gratitude to my supervisor, Mr.Zhang Jianjun, a respectable, responsible and resourceful associate professor, who has provided me with valuable guidance in every stage of the writing of this thesis. Without his enlightening instruction, impressive kindness and patience, I could not have completed my thesis. His keen and vigorous academic observation enlightens me not only in this thesis but also in my future study. I shall extend my thanks to Mr. Zhang for all his kindness and help.

Last but not least, I' d like to thank all my friends, especially my three lovely roommates, for their encouragement and support.

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