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1、文化教学的意义与策略The Significance and Strategies on Culture Teaching and LearningAbstract: We learn language to communicate. However, it is not so easy for non-native speakers to get a successful communication without any necessary cultural background. In other words, language has close connection with it.
2、 Nowadays, most English teachers still follow the traditional methods, which focus only on grammar teaching, but neglect the culture learning. As a result, the learners can hardly reach the true essence of language learning and lack the communicative competence. In respect of this, some suggestions
3、are put forward here, and especially some opinions on what to teach and how to teach. The aim is to improve the learners ability of communication and achieve the true essence of English learning. Key Words: cultural and language teaching; communication; strategies摘要：语言学习以交流为终极目的，然而缺少文化内容的语言学习却是单调的。
4、因此， 学习语言是无法与学习文化相分离的， 语言与文化有着密切的联系。本文从目前传统英语教学的问题入手， 揭示了其原因及后果， 并提出了文化教学在语言学习中的必要性和改进的建议及原则。关键词： 文化与语言教学；交际；策略IntroductionLanguage, as the keystone of culture, is closely connected with it. Learning a language cannot be separated from learning its culture. When learning a foreign language, we should
5、 not only learn the pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar and idioms, but also learn to see the world as the native speakers do. That is to say, we should try to understand the ways in which the foreign language reflects the values, ideas and behaviors, furthermore, to learn their language in mind. The
6、refore, we need to know the cultural background as much as possible so that we can get a successful communication in a target language. Otherwise, the ignorance of cultural difference may create barriers, even some unnecessary misunderstanding and confusions.In China, we have been adopting the teach
7、ing methods based on the structuralism, of which language for language s sake 1:3-4 is the soul. It means that these methods only focus on the analysis of internal structure of language, the grammar teaching and training, but neglect the ability of language using. The students can only achieve sever
8、al linguistic points without logic connection, dull grammar rules and testing skills. As a result, most of them are lacking in the sense of language, poor in the ideas about context and the pragmatic competence. What s more, after several years English learning, they still cannot reach the ideal ste
9、pfree and proper communication in English.Because of the problems above, there have been many approaches appearing in our country, such as the audio-lingual method and the communicative method, both of which have been very popular in west countries. However, when the experts from abroad brought thes
10、e ways to Chinese classes, it proved that it was not as satisfied as they had expected, from which the experts got two reasons: firstly, because of the involvement of their mother tongue, the students would always like to use it, when they have difficulties in English. Meanwhile, the great different
11、 cultural gap between text books and their daily life is so hard for them to put what they have learnt into the real practice; Secondly, it results from both the influence of traditional teaching ways and the pressure of many kinds of tests and examinations. Thus the studentscentered class, which sh
12、ould pay attention to language practice, becomes teacher-centered class that only focuses on grammar infusing. And then we can hardly achieve the purpose of language learning: communication. In all, we conclude that the cultural teaching is becoming more and more necessary and important in China. Fu
13、rthermore, we particularly should take the emphasis on what to teach and how to teach.Analysis and strategies of improvement. The concepts and relationship of language and cultureWhen we learn a new word, usually, we tend to get its meaning by itself. While, figurative meanings in different language
14、 may have different associations. In cross-cultural communication, we must see what images of them can be brought about, and what context should be considered to grasp the meaning of words and expressions from one language to another 8:59-62. Let s take the word dog for example: a dog is “mans best
15、friend” in the eyes of the westerners. However, Chinese do not give such honor to the dog, for the animal in China is generally associated with unpleasantness sometimes. We often use 狗东西， 狗娘养的， 狗改不了吃屎as name-calling expressions. It is true that the animal may also be associated with such positive qu
16、alities as loyalty, dependability, courage, and intelligence, because Chinese usually keep watchdogs. Westerners like to keep pets, and that is why they think dogs to be their good companions. Generally, in Chinese eyes, dogs can be tolerated, but not loved. 7:220-221A. The concepts of language and
17、cultureFrom above, we can infer that a language not only possesses its structural features, which is a symbolic system, containing phones, phonemes, vocabularies, sentences and discourse; but also reflects its functional features, which can be the access to mind and communication, carrying a differe
18、nt culture. Well, what is the meaning of culture? Generally, we can consider it from two sides. Broadly speaking, according to The World Book Dictionary, it is the civilization of a given people or nation at a given time or over all time; its customs, its arts and its conveniences. Yet narrowly spea
19、king, it is a system of the society, reflecting people s values and way of thinking.In this paper, culture refers to the latter. It has two aspects: first one indicates a pattern of mind, that is to say, a language inside our consciousness. For example, we sometimes view the culture from two sides,
20、the high context and the low context, which describe how people from different countries and background communicate with each other 9:22-23. In the low context, what information you get is what you hear. It proves that people from such countries convey their ideas directly without hiding anything, l
21、ike the United States, Canada, Colombia, and Mexico.However, in high context, the listeners must be careful of the speakers. Sometimes they must think over what the speakers say, and then they can get the true information the speakers really want to express. So in high context people communicate wit
22、h each other not only by language, but also by their intonation, gesture and eye contact, which, moreover, will carry more speakers intention, such countries as China, Japan, Brazil and South Korea.The second one indicates cultural facts in our life, including the background knowledge, such as histo
23、rical events, religion, customs, etc. and the communicative knowledge, which refers to how people use language properly in daily life. Actually, they are not listed clearly in the textbooks or reading materials, only if we read them between lines, can we find and feel them. So the teachers should in
24、troduce the knowledge in daily learning in time and in various manners in order to help their students to possess the pragmatic ability consciously. In addition, language in this paper refers to, firstly, the linguistic points, which appear in the text materials, exercise books which are the main ac
25、cess to language input. Secondly, the pragmatic knowledge, as explained by the Speech Act Theory that was originated by British philosopher John Austin in the late 50s at the 20th century put forward. He thought that a speaker might be performing three acts simultaneously when speaking: locutionary
26、act, illocutionary act and perlocutionary act, which indicate that there must be some other intentions beyond the utterance of the speakers in their communication.B. The relationship of language and culture1. As the carrier of culture, language reflects and originates from it.Generally, the structur
27、e of a language should have some cultural features and obey some rules of language usage. Nida, a famous translator, said that the role of language within a culture and influence of the culture on the meanings of words and idioms are so pervasive that scarcely any text can be adequately understood w
28、ithout careful consideration of its cultural background. Prof. Chen Guanglei also said that when teaching and learning a language, we should take the culture features into consideration. 2:50 As we know, some words are called culturally loaded words, which carry the deep cultural message. Such as “c
29、astle”, a typical culturally loaded word carries the cultural and historical message. Castle is a particular kind of architecture in ancient Europe, especially in Britain, which was invaded by others frequently at that time. Therefore, the meaning of castle has been far beyond the building itself, i
30、t loaded the history of invasion, and can reflect the character of Englishmen as well, for there is a saying that “An Englishmans house is his castle”. Actually, the military base in the past, or the house now, no matter what the castle refers to, they have something in common that it is principally
31、 the private residence of its owner and no one can enter without permission. 2. Culture is the base of language. The American humanist Spair conveyed his opinions in On Culture that language owns its base. 1:145 That is to say, groups of people coming from one or several ethnic groups speak the same
32、 language. Thus this language can pass down from generation to generation. And meanwhile, it is also the reflection of the total culture of their life and customs.Nowadays, the Chinese situation of English teaching is that the culture and language are badly unbalanced. We can see them in the aspects
33、 below. Teachers always emphasize the input of grammar, but neglect the culture background learning. As a result, after a great amount of grammar exercises, the students still cannot apply lively language into real communication and they are weak in pragmatic competence. On this phenomenon, there ar
34、e several suggestions to it. The content of culture teachingEvery nation has its own cultural treasure. To the aspect of English teaching, it is still a question that what should be taught, what is unnecessary and even what is forbidden. The experts have not got a clear conclusion on it and they sti
35、ll keep it as a hot topic for discussion. Once there were a group of scholars, represented by Zhao Xianzhou and Wu Guohua, classified the cultural teaching content into two parts: culture of knowledge and culture of communication. Although there was no adequate evidence to prove it, and it lacked in
36、ternal connection, it still has the great significance in selecting what to teach.Besides, Prof. Chen Guanglei has stated his classification of cultural teaching from three respects. They are culture in language structure, in semantics and in pragmatics, which not only reflect the language layer rel
37、ation, but also show the cognitive process of human beings. lets see it in details.A. Culture in language structureThe culture in language structure refers to the cultural traits in linguistic points, which are from words, phrases, syntax and discourse. In other words, different culture background r
38、esults in different ways of expressions. To some extent, we can say that the difference of language structures reflects the difference in mind among various races. We also can find evidence in Spair-Whorf Hypothesis, which indicates the interdependence of language and mind. The language people are u
39、sed to applying influences their ways of thinking. 1. Take the English-speaking people as an example, they would like to tell the address from small areas to larger ones, and also, to express time, they tend to from hour, day, month till year. While, in China, we have a completely opposite way. Ther
40、efore, teachers should help students to know some special expressions, which are different from Chinese. 2. Lets see another example.A: Wont you come? (你不来吗?)B: Yes, I will. (不, 我去。)No, I wont. （对， 我不去。）5:200The inconsistence confused lots of English learners. In fact, it is just the reflection of d
41、ifferent ways of thinking. Obviously, English speaking people tend to apply the content-centered way, which means they would like to give response to the topic directly, regardless the forms of the questions. Instead, the Chinese show the social relation-centered mode of thinking, for which they are
42、 used to considering how to response the askers, according to different asking ways.3. There are also structural differences in sentence making. We know that long sentences are always applied in English, especially in formal style, which seem complicated, but actually have the clear main idea and lo
43、gical structure. Like this one, “Each of the broadcasting companies is linked to approximately 200 affiliated stations to which it provides major entertainment programs which they could not produce if they were obliged to depend local resources.”(每个广播公司下面都联系有大约200个附属广播站, 由公司向这些广播站提供主要文艺节目, 这些节目主要靠各站
44、就地取材是难以编排出来的。)5:201 On the contrary, Chinese sentence structure is relatively casual and loose.If teachers can point out these differences and make them from the consciousless level to the conscious level, the students can have a better understanding in English and their grammar learning will become
45、 easy and happy rather than memorizing mechanically.B. Culture in semanticsThe culture in semantics refers to the cultural connotation, which is reflected by language loaded in the semantic system. 1. A word, in different kinds of language, shares the same literal meanings, but it will be different
46、in cultural connotation. For example, wheel, in Chinese, only means lnzi(轮子)， but in “He is a big wheel.” it means that he is an important figure in one group or some field. Also, potato, in Chinese, is a kind of common vegetable tdu(土豆), but in the sentence “Im a potato.” It means Im not famous, or
47、 I dont play a significant role. These two examples show the special connotations adding to the cultural background. In contrast, we Chinese dont have the same expressions. As we know, color words always have many connotations. Lets take “red” as an example. Usually, “red” is a symbol of celebration
48、 and happiness in China as well as in the western countries on some occasions. Such as “paint the town red” means to go out and have an extremely good time, usually celebrate something, and “red carpet” is a special ceremonial welcome to an important guest. While, in Chinese, it give people another
49、image of revolution and socialism, such active things. In English, it has the meanings different from Chinese. Such as “red flag” is used to referring a dangerous signal and “in the red” means to have a debit side of an account.2. The inequality of cultural connotation exists. Lets take the word wine as an example. In English, it only refers to some drinks made from grapes or some other fruits. On the contrary,“酒” in Chi