Research On Current Situation Of The Integration Of Native Culture In Junior Middle School English Textbook And Teaching Countermeasures

Globalization is first manifested in economy,and then in culture.Therefore,while English is becoming an international language gradually,telling and explaining Chinese culture in English to people in other countries has become one of the most important ways for China to go global and foreigners to know about China.In the level 5 of cultural awareness in English Curriculum Standards of Compulsory Education(2011),it’s stated that students should “pay attention to the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign cultures to deepen their understanding of Chinese culture” and “be able to introduce the main festivals and typical cultural customs of their motherland in English preliminarily”,and whether sufficient and systematic Chinese culture is covered in English textbooks is the key to achieve the goals.Therefore,this paper gives analysis on the Chinese culture in Junior Middle School English Textbook Published by Hebei Education Press(henceforth JEHEP)from three aspects: the proportion of Chinese culture,the content characteristics and the presentation forms of Chinese culture,trying to answer the following two questions: 1)What is the proportion of native culture(namely Chinese culture)in the cultural content of JEHEP compared with target culture and what are the characteristics of the native culture? 2)What resources should teachers explore and what measures should be taken to improve students’ ability to express Chinese culture in English facing the current situation of insufficient Chinese cultural content?With reference to Zhang Gecheng and Zhang Hongyan’s model,the researcher divides all cultures into native culture,target culture,other countries’ culture,comparative culture and other culture.Based on the classification of culture together with other previous studies,native culture(namely Chinese culture)in JEHEP is investigated from the three aspects: the proportion,the content characteristics and the presentation forms.It has been the consensus of many scholars to incorporate anappropriate amount of native culture in foreign language teaching.Therefore,the researcher proposes some corresponding teaching strategies with relevant cases based on the research on the native culture of JEHEP to solve the current situation of insufficient Chinese cultural content in the textbook and other related problems,the aim of which is to enable students to have a clearer and more systematic understanding of the native culture in JEHEP and provide teachers some suggestions on the teaching of native culture.The main results are as follows.Firstly,in terms of the proportion of frequency of native culture(25.33%),it’s much less than that of target culture(39.20%).According to the appropriate proportion(15%-20%)of the texts that introduce native culture in English textbooks proposed by Wan Zhixiang and Luo Qijuan,it can be concluded that the texts(14.68%)that introduce native culture in JEHEP are insufficient.In terms of the percentage of each kind of native culture,native culture of HG(history and geography)has the highest share,and that of LTC(local and traditional customs)has the second highest share.The percentage of LA(literature and art)lags behind HG and LTC,and the lowest share of native culture is WLCCV(way of life as well as code of conduct and values).Secondly,with respect to the distribution of native culture in JEHEP,each book of JEHEP contains certain number of Chinese cultural elements,but the number doesn’t present an increasing trend from Book 7A to Book 9.Each lesson in JEHEP consists of two pages,with texts on the left page and various exercises entitled with Let’s Do It on the right,and native culture in texts out-weights that of exercises.Thirdly,with respect to the content characteristics of native culture in JEHEP,the content of native culture in JEHEP is rich and diverse,and meets basically the requirements of the level 5 of cultural awareness in English Curriculum Standards of Compulsory Education(2011).Due to the inherent characteristics of textbooks,some Chinese cultural contents(excluding traditional ones)lack in the flavor of the times.In addition,the regional culture of Tianshui is not covered because of the inherent characteristics of national curriculums and state-compiled textbooks.Fourthly,in regard to the presentation form of native culture in JEHEP,the contents of Chinese culture are more focused on the input partscompared with productive activities.Based on the above research results,it is suggested that teachers should add and supplement Chinese cultural content in the units lacking in Chinese culture to make sure both Chinese and foreign culture are covered within each theme.Regional cultures with different characteristics are important parts of the large system of native culture.They are also the native culture that students are most familiar with.But it’s impossible to cover regional cultures of all parts of China in state-compiled textbooks due to the inherent characteristics of state-compiled textbooks and the certain page limit of textbooks,which requires teachers to integrate regional culture into EFL teaching and learning according to the main content of units and local conditions.Although textbooks are written to reflect the latest social development,scientific and technological progress,etc,some materials are bound to be outdated as time goes by due to the stability of textbooks and their long service life.So it’s suggested that teachers should refresh the content of Chinese culture to stimulate students’ interest in learning English.The practicality and application of language learning are emphasized in English Curriculum Standards of Compulsory Education(2011).But the contents of Chinese culture in JEHEP are more focused on the input parts compared with productive activities.So teachers should design some productive activities(speaking and writing,etc.)to strengthen the output of Chinese culture.Teachers should also guide students to pay attention to the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign cultures to deepen their understanding of Chinese culture and improve their intercultural communication ability.