Background Knowledge Teaching in English in Middle Schools 英语专业毕业论文.doc

Background Knowledge Teaching in English in Middle SchoolsAbstract：As we all know, middle school phase is an important phase for the Chinese students to learn English, so it has become very 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 cultural background knowledge in English teaching has attracted great attention. The investigation shows that cultural knowledge learning is helpful for improving language level and competence. Also, successful cross-cultural communication requires students acquaintance with the differences between the two cultures. Therefore, the teaching of cultural background knowledge in English class should occupy an important place in middle school. This paper first expounds the inseparability of language and culture to help readers know more about the relationship between them. Then, it analyses the goal and importance of cultural background knowledge in language teaching in middle school. Next，it introduces the approaches to the culture background. In fact, rich cultural knowledge is contained in language structure and vocabulary. To great extent, language comprehension relies on being familiar with cultural tradition, customs, history, thoughts and so on. Language learning and culture learning can not be separated. Language is just like the running water. It changes in every moment, for culture background changes from time to time. If language is a flower, culture will be the soil for this flower. As a teacher, we should give students the living language: both flowers and soil. That is to say, we should teach them both the language and the culture background knowledge.Key words: background knowledge language English teaching论文摘要众所周知，中学阶段是学生学习英语的重要时期，因此，增强中学生的英语交际能力变得尤为重要。英语，作为中国中学生的主要课程之一，变得越来越关键。近些年来，英语教学中的文化背景知识教学引起了人们的注意。研究表明，文化背景的学习能有效提高学生的语言水平和能力。而且，成功的跨文化交际离不开学生丰富的文化背景知识。因此，对文化背景知识的学习在中学英语课堂中变得越来越重要。本文首先介绍了语言和文化的不可分割性来帮助读者进一步了解语言和文化的关系，然后分析了文化背景学习的目的和重要性。最后给出了文化背景学习的方法和途径。实际上，丰富的文化背景知识包涵了对语言结构和词汇的掌握，同时在很大程度上，语言的理解又依赖对文化传统，风俗习惯，历史思想等的掌握。因此，语言学习和文化学习是不可分割的。语言就像是流动的水，无时无刻不在变化，文化业如此。如果语言是鲜花，那么文化则是培育鲜花的土壤。作为老师，我们应该教授学生全面的知识，也就是说，我们既要教给他们语言，又要教授他们文化背景知识。关键词： 文化背景；语言； 英语教学ContentsI. Introduction .1 A. The definition of language.1 B. The definition of culture.2 C. the relationship between language and culture.3II. The goals of culture background knowledge5 A. Getting familiar with different situation.6B. Understanding social variables.6 C. Evaluating foreign culture.7 D. Developing cultural creativity7III. The importance of culture background knowledge in language teaching.8 A. necessity of background knowledge in listening and speaking.8 B. necessity of background knowledge in reading.9 C. necessity of background knowledge in writing and translating10IV. Approaches to culture background knowledge.11 A. Providing cultural background information in class12 B. Providing authentic materials.13 C. culture lecture.15 D. Projected media16V. Conclusion.17Notes19Bibliography204I. IntroductionLanguage and culture are inseparable, learning a foreign language means learning a foreign civilization and culture. What's more, cultural awareness is the assurance of using language appropriately.Mistakes have frequently been made when we use English, owing to our lack of the culture background knowledge. The 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 study.A. The definition of languageLanguage is the social production and the symbolic system carried on from generation to generation by People who live in this society. And in 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, language distinguishes human from animals，and is very essential to mankind. A broad accepted and tentative definition of language is: language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for communication. So language has features of duality, arbitrariness, productivity, displacement inter-changeability transmission, (Li Shiqiang, 2003).B. The definition of culture Culture 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, hierarchies, 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 According to New Encyclopedia Britannica defines cultures as peculiar to mankind together with material objects that are part of this behavior and consists of languages, ideas, beliefs, customs, codes, institutions, tools, techniques, works of arts, rituals, ceremonies and so on. The concept of culture was first defined in print by E.B. Taylor, who provided the first profound scientific understanding of the nature of the term. According to him, culture is “that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as member of society”². For anthropologists, culture has long meant the way of life of people, the sum of its learned behavior patterns, attitudes, and material things. “Culture” in the contemporary teaching of languages may be understood in broad and narrow senses. It may refer to the “intellectual refinement” and artistic endeavor, or the appreciation of music, literature, the art and so on.this is in the sense of “high culture”, or culture in its broad sense, omen referred to ns culture with a big C. “Culture with a big C” focuses on “the sum total of a peoples achievement and contribution: art, music, literature, architecture, technology, scientific discoveries and philosophy”. On the other hand, culture may also refer to whatever to a person must know in order to function in a particular. 'This is in the same as in Good enoughs definition of the term. It reads that a societys culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or to believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to its members, and to do so in any role that they accept for any one of themselves. Good enoughs definition is culture in its narrow sense, often referred to as culture with a small c. “Culture with a small c” includes “the behavior patterns of the life style of people: when and what they eat, how they make a living, the way they organize their society, the attitudes they express towards friends and members of their families, how they act in different situations, which expressions they use to show approval and disapproval, the traditions they must observe, and so on”³.C. The relationship between language and cultureAt present, more and more scholars come to an agreement that culture 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 content and different understanding to language. People with different cultural background express themselves in different ways. On the one hand, language, as a part of culture, largely influences the 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 western countries always try to avoid holding any ceremonies, parties on 13th, or inviting 13 persons together.On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. People with different background 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 suffered from hunger. Greeting with “Have you eaten?” could show their warm heart and deep concern to others. Each culture is unique. Learning a foreign language well means more than merely mastering the 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, learning to understand their “language of the mind”. In a word, culture and language are inseparable. Some people describe their relationship with following formula: language (flesh) + culture (blood) = a living organism. It is vivid. Language plus culture equal a living organism: language is flesh and culture is blood, without culture, language would be dead; without language, culture would have no shape.II. The goals of culture background knowledge Since the native speaker of any language has built into his language repertoire his unique cultural assumptions and values, foreign culture acquisition should be duly 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 Wenzhong, 1994). 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 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 it certainly would be a tragedy if the learners should acquire bilingualism at the cost of losing their national identity (Qin Xiubai, 1988). Does foreign acquisition pose a threat to our national identity? Will it jeopardize our cultural norms and 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 ever to their native culture.The crux of the matter lies in the goals of foreign culture acquisition. In China, cultural goals should at least encompass the following.A. Getting familiar with different situationForeign culture acquisition should aim at familiarizing students with the mundane situations of the English-speaking countries-their customs and habits, life-style, 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 believed, that Americans tend to be dominated by a "psychomotor" view of time and space and they readily and sincerely accept such concepts as time is money and procrastination is the thief of time; Frenchmen's concept of time and space is more "cognitive" with a static, centralized and universalistic view. Americans think of distance in relatively broad categories and believe that 60 miles is but an easy jaunt; Frenchmen view distance in narrow categories and consider that 60 miles or 100 kilometers is a considerable travel distance. Here, national character studies carried out by anthropologists deserve our particular attention, for these studies often provide us with cultural stereotypes based on reasonably accurate descriptions and generalizations.Some cultural stereotypes can surely help students to understand 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.B. Understanding social variablesForeign culture acquisition should aim at enabling students to understand the interaction between language and such social variables as age, 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 in different socio-cultural situations and seeking to explain how the form of language has been determined by the functions it has evolved to serve. In the real social life, thus combining the English language learning and foreign culture acquisition.C. Evaluating foreign culture background knowledgeForeign 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 the 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 EFL learners to understand and appreciate cultural diversity without losing sight of their national identity or their native cultural norms and values (Qin Xiubai, 1988).D. Developing cultural creativityForeign cultural teaching should be aimed at developing 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 comparison, 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 independently on the part of students is very important.III. The importance of culture background knowledge in language teaching According to American linguist Charles Carpenter, cultural background knowledge is the knowledge about culture, which is connected with peoples daily life. It includes the national traditional culture, customs, history, geography, and so on. Each culture has its own cultural background. With the development of cross-cultural communication, cultural background knowledge plays an important role in English teaching. A. the necessity of cultural background knowledge in speaking and listeningTo many students, listening comprehension is a difficult part in English learning. Although they have spent much time on it, littl