background knowledge teaching in english in middle schools中學(xué)英語背景知識教學(xué)

1、<p>　　Background Knowledge Teaching in English in Middle Schools</p><p>　　Abstract：As we all know, middle school phase is an important phase for the Chinese students to learn English, so it has become v

2、ery important to improve the English communicating ability of middle school students. English, here, as a main course of students, plays a more and more important role in middle school in china. In recent years, the cul

3、tural background knowledge in English teaching has attracted great attention. The investigation shows that cultural knowledge learning is helpful for im</p><p>　　Key words: background knowledge language En

4、glish teaching</p><p><b>　　論文摘要</b></p><p>　　眾所周知，中學(xué)階段是學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)英語的重要時(shí)期，因此，增強(qiáng)中學(xué)生的英語交際能力變得尤為重要。英語，作為中國中學(xué)生的主要課程之一，變得越來越關(guān)鍵。近些年來，英語教學(xué)中的文化背景知識教學(xué)引起了人們的注意。研究表明，文化背景的學(xué)習(xí)能有效提高學(xué)生的語言水平和能力。而且，成功的跨文化交際

5、離不開學(xué)生豐富的文化背景知識。因此，對文化背景知識的學(xué)習(xí)在中學(xué)英語課堂中變得越來越重要。</p><p>　　本文首先介紹了語言和文化的不可分割性來幫助讀者進(jìn)一步了解語言和文化的關(guān)系，然后分析了文化背景學(xué)習(xí)的目的和重要性。最后給出了文化背景學(xué)習(xí)的方法和途徑。實(shí)際上，豐富的文化背景知識包涵了對語言結(jié)構(gòu)和詞匯的掌握，同時(shí)在很大程度上，語言的理解又依賴對文化傳統(tǒng)，風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣，歷史思想等的掌握。因此，語言學(xué)習(xí)和文化學(xué)習(xí)是不

6、可分割的。語言就像是流動的水，無時(shí)無刻不在變化，文化業(yè)如此。如果語言是鮮花，那么文化則是培育鮮花的土壤。作為老師，我們應(yīng)該教授學(xué)生全面的知識，也就是說，我們既要教給他們語言，又要教授他們文化背景知識。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞： 文化背景；語言； 英語教學(xué)</p><p><b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　I. Int

7、roduction ………………………………………………………………...1</p><p>　　A. The definition of language………………………………………………..1</p><p>　　B. The definition of culture………………………………………………….2</p><p>　　C. the relatio

8、nship between language and culture…………………………...3</p><p>　　II. The goals of culture background knowledge………………………………5</p><p>　　A. Getting familiar with different situation………………………………….6</p>

9、;<p>　　B. Understanding social variables…………………………………………...6</p><p>　　C. Evaluating foreign culture………………………………………………..7</p><p>　　D. Developing cultural creativity……………………………………………7</p

10、><p>　　III. The importance of culture background knowledge in language teaching...8</p><p>　　A. necessity of background knowledge in listening and speaking…………..8</p><p>　　B. necessity

11、 of background knowledge in reading…………………………..9</p><p>　　C. necessity of background knowledge in writing and translating…………10</p><p>　　IV. Approaches to culture background knowledge………………………….

12、11</p><p>　　A. Providing cultural background information in class……………………12</p><p>　　B. Providing authentic materials…………………………………………...13</p><p>　　C. culture lecture………………………………………

13、…………………...15</p><p>　　D. Projected media…………………………………………………………16</p><p>　　V. Conclusion………………………………………………………………..17</p><p>　　Notes…………………………………………………………………………19</p><p>

14、　　Bibliography…………………………………………………………………20</p><p>　　I. Introduction</p><p>　　Language and culture are inseparable, learning a foreign language means learning a foreign civilization and culture. W

15、hat's more, cultural awareness is the assurance of using language appropriately.</p><p>　　Mistakes have frequently been made when we use English, owing to our lack of the culture background knowledge. Th

16、e new English Course Standards (2002) for middle schools has added cultural teaching as one of its main parts; much research has been done about it. But what and how to teach it in middle schools still needs systematic s

17、tudy.</p><p>　　A. The definition of language</p><p>　　Language is the social production and the symbolic system carried on from generation to generation by People who live in this society. And i

18、n particular language speech may reflect the social relations between the speaker and addressee, which manifest the interrelationship between people. Language is a vehicle of transmitting thought and information, languag

19、e distinguishes human from animals，and is very essential to mankind. A broad accepted and tentative definition of language is: language is a</p><p>　　B. The definition of culture</p><p>　　Cultur

20、e is an ambiguous and intriguing concept. There are many kinds of definitions. Richard E. Porter and Larry A. Samovar define culture as the deposit of knowledge, experiences, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarc

21、hies, religion, timing, rules, spatial relations, concepts of universe and material objects and expressions acquired by a large group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving.¹

22、; According to New Encyclopedia Britannica defines cultures</p><p>　　C. The relationship between language and culture</p><p>　　At present, more and more scholars come to an agreement that cultur

23、e and language influence each other deeply and greatly. For example, the religious culture that reigned human society for several thousands of years help to develop different national consciousness, different cultural co

24、ntent and different understanding to language. People with different cultural background express themselves in different ways. </p><p>　　On the one hand, language, as a part of culture, largely influences th

25、e forming and developing of culture, and it is a mirror that reflects the culture of a certain community. For example, in Britain, the number “13”is regarded as an unlucky symbol, which means unfortunate. So people in we

26、stern countries always try to avoid holding any ceremonies, parties on 13th, or inviting 13 persons together.</p><p>　　On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. People with different b

27、ackground express themselves in different ways. In western, acquaintances always greet each other with “How are you?” while in China; people say, “Have you eaten yet?” That is because in old China, lots of people suffere

28、d from hunger. Greeting with “Have you eaten?” could show their warm heart and deep concern to others. </p><p>　　Each culture is unique. Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the

29、pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms. It also means seeing the world as native speakers of that language see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, l

30、earning to understand their “l(fā)anguage of the mind”. In a word, culture and language are inseparable. Some people describe their relationship with following formula: language (flesh) + cu</p><p>　　II. The goa

31、ls of culture background knowledge</p><p>　　Since the native speaker of any language has built into his language repertoire his unique cultural assumptions and values, foreign culture acquisition should be d

32、uly and dexterously incorporated into the English teaching. The above mentioned goals can be considered as references in teaching Chinese students. But we must especially take the following into consideration (Hu Wenzhon

33、g, 1994).</p><p>　　The first is the English language context, the Chinese context and the English speaking cultural context. Furthermore, the unity of English acquisition and culture acquisition is achieved

34、in an ideal manner. There may be some English teachers who are still haunted with the fear that foreign culture acquisition might constitute a threat to the Chinese national identity. This is an understandable fear, for

35、it certainly would be a tragedy if the learners should acquire bilingualism at the cost of l</p><p>　　Does foreign acquisition pose a threat to our national identity? Will it jeopardize our cultural norms an

36、d values? These questions cannot be answered with certainty because the answer depends on how we handle the problem. We can find numerous people who are bilingual or even bicultural and, yet, who remain as devoted as eve

37、r to their native culture.</p><p>　　The crux of the matter lies in the goals of foreign culture acquisition. In China, cultural goals should at least encompass the following.</p><p>　　A. Getting

38、 familiar with different situation</p><p>　　Foreign culture acquisition should aim at familiarizing students with the mundane situations of the English-speaking countries--their customs and habits, life-styl

39、e, generally-accepted world outlook, etc. Culture is often viewed as "a way of life", or as `a blueprint that guides the behavior of people in a community and the most obvious cultural differences. It is believ

40、ed, that Americans tend to be dominated by a "psychomotor" view of time and space and they readily and sincerely accept such co</p><p>　　Some cultural stereotypes can surely help students to unders

41、tand some aspects of the English culture even thought they are, of course, overgeneralizations. Students should be reminded frequently that foreign culture acquisition inherently involves overgeneralization

42、.</p><p>　　B. Understanding social variables</p><p>　　Foreign culture acquisition should aim at enabling students to understand the interaction between language and such social variables as age,

43、 sex, race, social classes, and occupation, for these social variables affect the way people speak and behave. English programs for English majors can adopt the functional approach, laying emphasis on how English is used

44、 in different socio-cultural situations and seeking to explain how the form of language has been determined by the functions it has evolved </p><p>　　C. Evaluating foreign culture background knowledge</p&

45、gt;<p>　　Foreign culture acquisition should be aimed at cultivating the students' ability to evaluate the culture of the target country in an objective manner. To familiarize oneself with the life-styles and t

46、he cultural values and norms of the target country does not mean "to accept them indiscriminately". Here a critical eye is essential. A strong critical sense that does not smack of bias or prejudice will enable

47、 EFL learners to understand and appreciate cultural diversity without losing sight of thei</p><p>　　D. Developing cultural creativity</p><p>　　Foreign cultural teaching should be aimed at develo

48、ping students' cultural creativity. Here cultural creativity can be defined as a creative power to be obtained through learning language and culture in foreign language education in China. Through learning and compar

49、ison, the learners turn externally available knowledge into their own internal knowledge and therefore get a power for creating new things and a motivation to make progress. In respect of this consideration, to study ind

50、ependently on</p><p>　　III. The importance of culture background knowledge in language teaching</p><p>　　According to American linguist Charles Carpenter, cultural background knowledge is the kn

51、owledge about culture, which is connected with people’s daily life. It includes the national traditional culture, customs, history, geography, and so on. Each culture has its own cultural background. With the development

52、 of cross-cultural communication, cultural background knowledge plays an important role in English teaching. </p><p>　　A. the necessity of cultural background knowledge in speaking and listening</p>&

53、lt;p>　　To many students, listening comprehension is a difficult part in English learning. Although they have spent much time on it, little achievement has been acquired. To some easy materials, they know only the lite

54、ral meaning, but can not understand the connotation. An important reason is that they are not familiar with cultural background of the English speaking countries.</p><p>　　There are two jokes often talked ab

55、out by American:</p><p>　　A: where are you from?</p><p>　　B: I will ask her. (Alaska)</p><p>　　A: where are you from?</p><p>　　B: how are you? (Hawaii)</p><p

56、>　　A may think B has given an irrelevant answer. But if A knew something about geographical knowledge of the USA, and the names of two states of the USA—Alaska and Hawaii, he would not be surprised at “I will ask her”

57、, or “How are you”. In view of this, the introduction of cultural background is necessary in the teaching of English listening.</p><p>　　Likewise, speaking is not merely concerned pronunciation and intonatio

58、n. The successful communication with native English speakers requires acquaintance of western culture. For example, in English, there are many euphemisms for listeners hard to know the speaker’s actual mood. For example,

59、 when one asks: “What do you think of my coat?” and the other answers: “I think the pocket is very nice”, it shows his dislike. When one asks: “Do you kike our teacher?” the answer maybe, “Well, I don’t know hi</p>

60、<p>　　Therefore, in oral English training, teachers should pay much attention to factuality of language and adopt some material approaching to daily life, which will help the students to speak English appropriatel

61、y to the occasion, to understand western way of life and customs etc.</p><p>　　B. The necessity of culture background knowledge in reading</p><p>　　Reading can be thought of as a way to draw inf

62、ormation from a text and to from an interpretation of that information. However, this `definition' does not really tell us much about what happens when we read and how we comprehend a text. Actually, reading comprehe

63、nsion is remarkably complex, involving many processing skills that are coordinated in very efficient combinations. Because we also read for different purposes, there are many ways to read a text, further complicating any

64、 definition. Seen </p><p>　　Reading is also a complex skill in English learning. It requires more than a certain language basis, the competence of reading comprehension and one’s language level, knowledge of

65、 cultural background is also important. For example, in English, there are many allusions drawn from history, religion, literature etc., they often appear in English works and have become common household terms. “A Catch

66、-22 situation”, it is an impossible situation, one in which the solution or success depends on mutual</p><p>　　C. The necessity of culture background knowledge in writing and translating </p><p>

67、;　　Writing, as an output of information, attaches much importance to the awareness of culture background, which concerns about one’s thinking style. What one writes must accord with their own styles, and the sense of val

68、ue of western people. Chinese and English writing styles reflect cultural differences. Generally speaking, in persuasive writing, Chinese people tend to give their reasons before making a conclusion, while the westerners

69、 present their views directly before giving any reasons. Narrat</p><p>　　Here are some examples of translation containing different images of animals in Chinese and English. “落湯雞”— a drowned rat, “膽小如鼠” — ch

70、icken-hearted, “吹?！?— talk horse, “牛飲”— drink like a fish, “害群之馬” — a black sheep; “as merry as a cricket” — 非?？旎? “as cunning as a dead pig” — 十分狡猾, “as dumb as an oyster” — 守口如瓶.</p><p>　　Because of differ

71、ent history and culture, the connotations of animal words in one language do not necessarily coincide with those in another. So the cultural background knowledge in translation can not be ignored.</p><p>　　I

72、V. Approaches to culture background knowledge </p><p>　　Professor Dong Yafeng points out: "Each national tongue is an important part and carrier, in the language materials, writings, sentences and even

73、every word all contain national cultural information." At present, the teacher can make full use of the materials in the text book. These materials can be used not only in language teaching, but also in</p>

74、<p>　　English-speaker's cultural acquainting. If the teacher keeps conception of cultural acquainting persistently, the aim not only to impart the language knowledge, but also cultural conscious and the intercul

75、tural communication can be realized. Therefore, for the teacher, to master some approaches that help the students acquaint cultural knowledge become necessary and important in the teaching. According to the characters of

76、 secondary school English teaching, the materials and the students, the tea</p><p>　　A. Providing cultural background information in class</p><p>　　Teachers can inform the language class of some

77、 cultural facts or draw their attention to cultural comparisons in compact interesting and readily accessible ways without taking too much time away from the "regular" language business. For example, teachers c

78、an make good use of the beginning several minutes in the class to introduce some relevant cultural information to students. When teaching texts involving manners, teachers can explain the differences of manners between C

79、hinese and western peopl</p><p>　　B. Providing authentic materials</p><p>　　For students, reading is the most important skill in English learning. Getting information from written materials is t

80、he main reason why large students learn the language. And since language is a major medium of culture, the quantities of written materials, such as literary works, newspapers, magazines, etc, which have recorded the cult

81、ural features of the target societies, are extremely worth reading by language learners.</p><p>　　Making the students learn through use of the target language naturally implies that the target language they

82、come into contact with should be real and authentic. As Little and Singleton (1988:21) point out, "an authentic text is a text that was created to fulfill some social purpose in the language community in which it wa

83、s produced". Authentic materials entail appropriacy and they enable students to study "real" English instead of the English contrived by teachers, and they are thought "to moti</p><p>　　I

84、n view of classroom language teaching, "authentic language" means that is actually used in real communicative situations, as opposed to language that is artificially made up for purposes other than communicatio

85、n. Chinese students rarely have chances to communicate with native speakers; they cannot learn the target language by means of communicating with foreigners. So it is teachers' task to provide plausible language mate

86、rials to students so as to provide more opportunities for them to come in</p><p>　　The teachers should encourage the learners to read more literary works. And the types of literary works should be properly s

87、elected, so that they can be the most appropriate to elicit cultural patters or indicators. What's more, the teachers should not teach texts for its own sake.</p><p>　　That is to say, they ought to make

88、a detailed analysis of what cultural information the readers can abstract from the literary sources. </p><p>　　In a certain sense, authentic materials give students a taste of "real" language in us

89、e, and provide them with valid linguistic data for their natural acquisition process to work on. Once they get into contact with plenty of authentic materials, they can imitate native manners of English-speaking people,

90、and use the language in the way of English-speaking people, gradually; their sense of appropriacy will be formed. Authentic materials are needed for learning activities.</p><p>　　C. Culture lecture</p>

91、<p>　　Culture lecture, in which the language teacher systematically introduces the target culture such as its history, geography，politics, etc. is a useful and practical teaching method. This method helps the stud

92、ents gain a general view of the target culture, and form the preliminary correct attitude towards this culture. The lecture method is often favored by many teachers, for it is convenient for them to have everything under

93、 control: what to learn, when to learn and how to learn, and it requires </p><p>　　“However, it has its place and can be especially useful if the lecture is brief, concise, and followed by or interspersed wi

94、th other methods that actively involve participants and reinforce the lecture's message”(Althen, 1994:125). Whether lectures are used depends on the content, the desired outcome, and the learners’ attitudes and aptit

95、udes. On the other hand, lectures must be prepared and presented to suit these considerations. In culture teaching, the teacher can lecture on a variety of topi</p><p>　　A successful culture lecture is chara

96、cterized by two-way interaction. Language teachers should, while delivering the lecture, keep a close eye on students’ response. They may raise several questions concerning the present culture topic before the lecture to

97、 draw students' interests and provoke their thinking during the lecture given. During the lecture, various pedagogical techniques, such as videotapes, cassettes, slides, can be employed to make what is said vivid to

98、students. Students' questio</p><p>　　D. Projected media</p><p>　　As a product of hi-tech industry, the computer has been used as a powerful tool in various fields. It has helped human beings

99、 step into a new era of information. The application of multi-media in education has started a revolution in concepts and methodology of teaching and it has also brought great changes in language learning. The major conv