A Study On The Cultivation Of Cross-cultural Awareness In English Reading Teaching In Senior High School ——Take Urumqi No.XX High School As Example

In order to comply with the requirements of the New Senior High School English Curriculum Standard（2017）on students’ comprehensive language use ability,English teaching should not only focus on the accumulation of students’ language knowledge,but also on the cultivation of cross-cultural awareness and the enhancement of students’ cross-cultural communication ability.English reading teaching is one of the main ways to cultivate cross-cultural awareness.Through reading,students can acquire and understand the culture and customs of English-speaking countries,which helps to expand their cultural horizons,deepen their national cultural identity,and then enhance their cultural confidence.Therefore,this study used questionnaires and interview to investigate the current situation of cross-cultural awareness cultivation in English reading teaching in XX senior high school in Urumqi,based on cross-cultural communication theory and Sapir-Wholf theories,focusing on the following questions: What is the current situation of cross-cultural awareness cultivation in senior high school English reading teaching? What factors influence senior high school students’ cross-cultural awareness? What are the teachers’ and students’ attitude towards cultural instruction in reading teaching?In this study,330 students in the second year of senior high school in XX high school in Urumqi were used as the research subjects,with 300 valid questionnaires.The teachers’ questionnaire,on the other hand,was administered to 17 English teachers from the teachers’ perspective on the current situation of cultivating intercultural awareness,teachers’ attitudes toward culture teaching and teachers’ purposes of cultural input in reading classes.In addition,the author interviewed five teachers about the importance of cultivating cross-cultural awareness,the difficulties they need to overcome and related suggestions.The results of the study show that :1)the results of students’ questionnaires show that students are interested in cross-cultural awareness,but the overall cross-cultural awareness is weak,and they rarely combine language knowledge and cultural knowledge in the reading process.2)The results of teachers’ questionnaires and interviews show that the majority of teachers recognize the importance of cross-cultural awareness cultivation for English learning,However,in the reality of English reading teaching,due to limited classroom time,heavy tasks and performance-oriented teaching activities,English reading is taught in a single format,and the introduction of cultural knowledge is fragmented and lacks planning.3)Influencing factors include teachers’ own cultural literacy,students’ cultural learning concepts and the school’s cultural teaching design.In view of this,this study proposes corresponding suggestions and instructions to improve students’ cross-cultural awareness cultivation in terms of teachers,students,and schools.Teachers should improve their own cultural literacy and increase their cultural awareness cultivation.In the process of cross-cultural awareness cultivation,teachers should put Chinese culture in the main position,and through the comparison of Chinese and English culture,they should handle and recognize British and American culture critically to enhance students’ national cultural self-confidence.They should expand extra-curricular reading to enrich students’ cultural exposure,achieve harmonious communication between Chinese and British cultures through experience and comparison,and avoid falling into the misconception of blind imitation and westernization.Students should establish the correct motivation for cultural learning,raise their awareness of intercultural communication and strengthen their cultural confidence;schools should improve cultural teaching conditions and enrich cultural learning resources.Due to personal research level,the research tools used,and the limited research subjects,this study has some limitations,and more in-depth discussions are needed in future studies on how to further teach culture in a well-planned,systematic,and complete manner in the classroom.