文化意識與語言教學(xué)

1、文化意識與語言教學(xué)    AcknowledgmentsMany people have helped me with this graduate paper, and Id like to express my gratitude to them here.This paper could not be completed without the supports of many experts, such as Falk, J. and Hymes D.H. who provides me with theoretical supports of c

2、ultural awareness. Only by standing on the shoulders of these academic giants could I gain the rational understanding of the relationship between cultural awareness and language teaching. This paper could not be successfully completed without the guidance of Professor Yang, who put sincere passion a

3、nd great effort in this paper. Through her patient instructions, I have made great progress in improving reasoning, data analysis and academic writing.Id also like to thank those English majors of Huai Hai Institute of Technology for their participating in my interviews and questionnaire. Without th

4、eir help, I could not get the relatively direct and proper data which supports my topic firmly. 畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)（論文）外文摘要Cultural Awareness and Language TeachingAbstract: This paper mainly discusses the relationship between cultural awareness and language teaching in college English teaching. It explains the def

5、inition of culture first, then briefly analyzes the interrelationships between culture and language, cultural awareness and cross-cultural awareness, culture teaching and language teaching, and finally states the relationship between cultural awareness and language teaching. It analyzes a survey of

6、98 English majors in Huai Hai Institute of Technology, focusing on students attitudes towards cultural learning, and the causes that may have hindered the acquisition of cultural awareness of those students participating in the survey. The findings of this survey has shown that being lack of suffici

7、ent cultural input may be one of the main reasons why most participants have not obtained conscious cultural awareness in the process of language learning, and that most students hope to have a more communicative and interactive classroom learning environment to learn culture. Several suggestions ar

8、e also provided for future application of cultural awareness in language teaching. Keywords: cultural awareness; language teaching; questionnaire畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)（論文）中文摘要 文化意識與語言教學(xué)摘 要：本文重點(diǎn)闡述高校英語教學(xué)中，文化意識與語言教學(xué)的關(guān)系。論文先從定義方面闡述“文化”的內(nèi)涵，并簡要分析文化與語言、文化意識與跨文化意識、文化教學(xué)與語言教學(xué)的關(guān)系，進(jìn)而闡明文化意識與語言教學(xué)兩者之間的關(guān)系。本文通過對淮海工學(xué)院98名英語專業(yè)學(xué)生的訪談及問卷調(diào)查,

9、考察了學(xué)生對語言學(xué)習(xí)中文化學(xué)習(xí)的認(rèn)知情況,以及影響被調(diào)查者形成文化意識的原因。調(diào)查結(jié)果表明,文化輸入的不足成為受調(diào)查者在過去的語言學(xué)習(xí)中未能形成有意識地文化認(rèn)知的主要原因之一；此外，學(xué)生們也希望現(xiàn)有的課堂學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境更加開放和互動。本文還就語言教學(xué)過程中的文化認(rèn)知意識的培養(yǎng)提出了一些可行性建議。 關(guān)鍵詞：文化意識 語言教學(xué) 問卷調(diào)查Contents1 Introduction 12 Culture Review 12.1 The Definition of Culture 12.2 The Relationship between Culture and Language 12.3 Cultura

10、l and Cross-cultural Awareness 22.4 Culture Teaching and Language Teaching 23 The Study of a Survey 23.1 The Analysis of Interviews 33.2 The Analysis of a Questionnaire 3 4 5 64 The Possible Ways to Develop Cultural Awareness 74.1 The Necessary Cross-cultural Awareness Skills to Acquire 84.2 Instruc

11、tional Strategies 85 Conclusion 9Appendix 11Bibliography 121IntroductionWith the development of the communications between people from different cultural backgrounds, more and more scholars or laymen have realized the importance of cross-cultural communication. How to cultivate English language lear

12、ners cultural awareness and cross-cultural communicating competence has being warmly discussed in Chinas foreign language teaching world. Changes have been seen in the newest edition of syllabus for both English major and non-English major, for the first time, stating clearly the close relationship

13、between culture and language, and the importance to cultivate language learners cultural awareness. Unavoidably these changes would have great influence on the traditional way of language teaching. For English majors who are on the advance position of cross-cultural communication, they are supposed

14、to experience the new teaching methods and prepare themselves to be a cross-cultural communicator in the future. Though abundant essays on cultural and/or cross-cultural communication have been published, many of them focus on introducing western theory, and less of them have directed to learner-cen

15、tered topics such as what chinas foreign language learners current learning situation is, or if they have not done well with it, what the possible causes that influence their cultural learning are. This paper may have a try on the above mentioned topic.</A>>2</A>>Culture Review<

16、/A>>2.1</A>>The Definition of CultureThe word “culture” originates from German word kulture, which means bringing soil under cultivation, and later is associated with the fostering of peoples body and spirit, especially the cultivation of art, moral ability and talent. English anthrop

17、ologist Tylor explains “culture” in his book Primitive Culture, “Culture is inevasible and complicated, including knowledge, belief, art, moral, law, custom, ability, and habit learned in society” (Tylor. 1981: 35). Later, American anthropologist Bais points out that each society has unique culture

18、that is different from other society. At present, people generally understand the concept according to “capitalized letter Culture” and “small letter culture” (Byram. 1994). The former includes art, literature, politic and so on, while the latter includes behavioral patterns and lifestyles of common

19、 people. Once a person is born in a culture, he would possibly die into the culture since he is living there. But for the first time, historically, the 20th century regards identity as something people create for themselves, and people have, in fact, a choice of culture to live in. Young people in 2

20、1th century are not only aware of this, but also are frequent users of the opportunity to choose between different cultures.2.2The Relationship between Culture and LanguageLanguage ability is a kind of special skill gained during the human being evolution. Of course it also needs language environmen

21、t. Social linguistics Goodenough, W.H. believes that language is a kind of social cultural phenomenon, and the relevant researches should be done from the perspective of the relationship between culture and language in his book. He argues that language in a society is one aspect of the societys cult

22、ure, and the particularity of language shows that it is a main tool of learning culture during the process of learning and using. Without knowing its culture, a foreign language can not be comprehended and used correctly (Goodenough, W.H. 1981).2.3Cultural and Cross-cultural AwarenessCultural awaren

23、ess in language learning is the ability to be aware of cultural relativity following reading, writing, listening and speaking. As Claire kramsch points out Iflanguage is seen as social practice, culture becomes the very core of language teaching, cultural awareness must then be viewed as enabling la

24、nguage proficiency (Claire kramsch. 1993: 23).Language itself is defined by culture. Language competent cannot be achieved without a good understanding of culture that shapes it, especially in foreign language learning. It is not only therefore essential to have cultural awareness, but also have cro

25、ss-cultural awareness, such as the understanding of the relationship between target culture and native culture.2.4Culture Teaching and Language TeachingThe interrelationship between culture teaching and language teaching has been explored in depth by Michael Byram. The basis of Byrams position is th

26、at it views language as a cultural phenomenon, embodying the values and meanings particular to a specific society, referring to the traditions and artifacts of that society and signaling its peoples sense of themselvestheir cultural identity: “to teach foreign culture is to introduce learners to new

27、 competences and to allow them to reflect upon their own culture and cultural competence (Michael Byram. 1989: 143).” It is assumed by others that language could somehow stand alone and be taught as a value-free symbolic system. But the social nature of language works oppositely when separating it f

28、rom its original culture, especially when appearing in overseas contexts, where the learners contact with the culture is largely confined to the foreign language classroom.Traditional foreign language teaching does not pay much attention to cultural factor. It focuses mainly on the vocabulary and st

29、ructure of the language. But plenty of facts prove that language is not only a symbol, a system, which put forward by pure linguistic theory scholar, but also a social practice. Therefore successful foreign language teaching must help the student master the knowledge of culture rules, in addition to

30、 use them in particular situation. Every nation has its unique culture pattern and language is the carrier of culture. For instance, Asians emphasize the importance of orderly society whereas Americans emphasize the importance of personal freedom and individual rights. For effective and appropriate

31、communication, learners must be familiar with the differences in the foreign culture which they are learning and take according language behaviors.3The Study of a SurveySurvey date: 25/04/2006Survey instrument: interview and questionnaire.Subjects: English majors of Huai Hai Institute of Technology,

32、 including freshmen, juniors, and seniors. 30 students are interviewed, 98 students (30 interviewed students and another 68 English majors) participate in questionnaire. All the 98 copies of questionnaire are valid.The objective of this survey is to investigate:1) Students attitudes towards cultural

33、 learning 2) Current situation of students information input.3.1The Analysis of InterviewsThirty English majors are interviewed and are invited to answer only one question: what is a competent language learner like in your eyes? The responses tend to fall into three categories:    

34、60;               Twenty five interviewees think that he or she is good at English listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities, especially at speaking and listening;          

35、60;          Ten of them think he or she is familiar with foreign culture and is a successful cross-cultural communicator.                     Five of them thin

36、k a good command of native language is necessary.In order to describe more directly, the results of interviews are put into a table (Table.1).Table1. Results of the Interview Positive attitudes Percentage Language proficiency learning(reading, writing, speaking and listening)83.33 (25/30)Accumulatio

37、n of culture33.33 (10/30)Mother tongue proficiency16.67 ( 5/30)These students responses reveal the following information: Firstly, these students still see the four basic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) as their main study objective. Secondly, cultural competence has already been r

38、ealized by language learners, but this group is small compared to the whole. Thirdly, the importance of mother tongue competence has only been seen by a few interviewees.According to this interview, most interviewees have realized the importance of language proficiency in language learning, but the

39、point is why only one third of the interviewees have realized the importance and necessity of cultural and communicative competence since which are discussed so warmly in present language teaching world? Do they hold a negative view on it or do they just have not yet obtained the awareness conscious

40、ly?3.2The Analysis of a QuestionnaireThe English learning questionnaire consists of nine closed-ended questions (see Appendix), For instance, “you have the interest and passion in English and language learning”, and the answers falls into four types: 1. Strongly Agree (SA)2. Agree (A)3. Disagree (D)

41、4. Strongly Disagree (SD) According to the research content, the analysis of questionnaire is divided into two parts. The first five are put in Table 2 and the rest four questions are put in Table 4. This part of analysis involves data analysis on questions 1-5 in the questionnaire and a comparison

42、between the responds of the interviews and the questionnaire.Table2. Results of Questions 1-5 in Questionnaire SAADSD1) The cultivation of English skills(reading, writing, speaking and listening) is the foundation of the language learning60.2931.652.046.022) Reading English novels everyday is necess

43、ary17.3569.3913.260.003) It is important to acquire a good knowledge of native language in foreign learning44.9053.062.040.004) The accumulation of language and culture of Chinese and English are of equal importance50.0048.981.020.005) It is necessary to read materials regularly about politics, econ

44、omy, culture, and so on39.8060.200.000.00 Questions 1-5 (see appendix) indicate a clear picture of students attitudes towards language proficiency learning, native language learning, and accumulation on culture, literature, and politics and so on. On the importance of the cultivation of reading, spe

45、aking, listening and writing in language learning, 91.94% (60.29% SA+31.65% A) of English majors agree and of which 64.29% strongly agree. On daily English novels reading, a total of 86.74% (17.35% SA+69.39% A) consider it necessary. On the necessity a good command of native language, 97.96% (44.90%

46、 SA+53.06% A) of English majors agree. On the relation of native language learning and foreign language learning, 98.98% (50.0% SA+48.98% A) believe that these two are of equal importance. Finally, on a regularly reading of politics, economy, and culture, all (39.80% SA+60.20% A) the students hold a

47、 supportive attitude.With regards to the similarities of the contents examined, it seems necessary to have a comparison between the responds of the interviews and the questionnaire.Table3. Comparison between the Interviews and the QuestionnairePositive attitudes (SA+A)Interview(open-ended)Questionna

48、ire(close-ended)Foreign Language proficiency learning(reading, writing, speaking and listening)83.88 91.94Accumulation of culture33.3398.98Mother tongue proficiency16.6797.96From the table above, the comparison is very clear that, towards the same research content, interviewees responds vary when th

49、ey are faced with different types of questions. The gap is especially seen on the accumulation of culture and native language proficiency. Compared with open-ended question in the interview, interviewees tend to hold a more supportive view on closed-ended questions in the questionnaire. In other wor

50、d, most English major learners subjectively admit the importance of the accumulation of culture and native language proficiency, but the point is, not all of them have already obtained the awareness. However, two questions have been proposed from the comparison: Why English majors have not obtained

51、the cultural awareness which should be tied up with language learning? Is that because they subjectively lack learning motivation or objectively, they lack timely and efficiently teachers cultural guidance?This part of questionnaire (table4 in next page) mainly focuses on students attitudes towards

52、learning motivation as well as classroom learning. Before the analysis is taken, a brief introduction on motivation can help to have a better understanding on the analysis.1) Integrative motivationMotivation has been identified as the learners orientation with regards to the goal of learning foreign

53、 language (Crookes and Schmidt. 1991). It is thought that students who are most successful in learning a target language are those who like the native language speakers, admire its culture and have a desire to become familiar with or even become integrated into the society in which the language is u

54、sed (Falk. 1978). This form of motivation is known as integrative motivation. 2)Instrumental MotivationIn contrast to integrative motivation is the form of motivation which is known as instrumental motivation. This is generally characterized by the desire to obtain something practical from the study

55、 of foreign language (Hudson. 2000). With instrumental motivation, the purpose of study is more practical, such as meeting the requirements for college graduation, applying for a job and achieving higher social status. Table4. Results of Questions 6-9 in Questionnaire SAA D SD6) Your have the intere

56、st and passion in English and language learning14.2961.2221.433.067) You would prefer to get an English-related job after the graduation21.4366.3311.221.028) The present classroom teaching can cultivate your learning abilities and improve your cross-cultural skills 2.047.1471.4319.399) You hope to h

57、ave English class in various forms such as discussion, presentation, debate, performance and so on.25.5163.279.182.04As is shown in the table (results of questions 6 and 7), 75.51% (14.29%SA+61.22%A) of English majors have the interest and passion in language learning, and 87.76% (21.43%SA+66.33%A) of them would like to get an English related job in the future. According to the introduction of motivation, the answers to those two questions (questions 6 and 7) can be taken as the representation of integ