Dialogue And Understanding

Based on dialogue theory, philosophical hermeneutics, socio-linguistics, educational psychology, this paper from the perspective of cultural-linguistic concept, has adopted such research methods as literature analysis, intertextual dialogue analysis, logic thinking, investigation, case study, into the exploration on four aspects:the ideal of foreign language teaching(FLT), the reality of FLT, the causes for FLT problems, and the strategies of bringing the ideal back to FLT, aiming at breaking down the constraints of viewing language as only a tool and teaching it only for examinations, trying to find a philosophical way for FLT, which is the ideology of "dialogue and understanding", the essence of FLT.The Inquiring Chapter dates back the ideal of FLT, which includes the relation between FLT and foreign language and its culture, the relation between FLT and mother tongue and its culture, the essence of FLT that facilitates cross-cultural dialogues and their understandings.The Pondering Chapter analyzes the reality of FLT:FLT is considered as the method of various kinds of examinations; FLT is carried out like teaching linguistics; FLT has too much emphasis on training language skills; the "dialogue and understanding" of FLT is just on the surface; there exists a long distance between reality of FLT and its goals.The Exploring Chapter tries to find the causes for existing FLT problems, which involve:the weak perception of "dialogue and understanding" between teachers and students; the lost context of "dialogue and understanding" between teachers'subject and students' subject; the lack of methods for "dialogue and understanding" between foreign language and mother tongue; the simple process of "dialogue and understanding" between foreign culture and domestic culture; the single form of "dialogue and understanding" between persons and texts.The Guiding Chapter discusses the strategies for bringing FLT back to its essence, which consists of:improving the ideology of FLT, renewing the teaching goals, constructing a teacher-student relation of "dialogue and understanding", finding the value of "dialogue and understanding" from the text, the rational construction of the "dialogue and understanding" FLT mode.Foreign language teaching requires teachers should not only teach language as a tool, but also teach notions such as culture and other things. Not only the foreign language and its related culture are needed, but also the mother language and its culture are needed as well. The teachers should not only impart the culture of the target language, but also avoid underestimating their own culture. FLT should interact and communicate between Chinese culture and western culture on the basis of equality and mutual respect, cultivating foreign language talents with a strong cross-cultural "dialogue and understanding" ability and relatively high comprehensive qualities. FLT promotes joint understanding towards the same thing through "dialogue and understanding" between different languages and cultures; this is the pursuit for bringing FLT to its essence. Therefore, as a teaching thought, "dialogue and understanding" teaching refers to the teaching to realize the intellect and knowledge sharing, bidirectional integration and the meanings'creation between different languages and cultures, with the help of language and nonverbal signs. The definition has three elements:subjects, conditions and results. "Subjects" is multiple which includes various relations:between the teacher and students; the teacher, students and the text; the text and another text (foreign language and mother language, foreign culture and domestic culture); intra-subjects; subjects and environment, etc.. "Conditions" is mutual respect and integration of different languages and cultures. "Results" is the ideal and authentic situation of FLT.The FLT ideology "dialogue and understanding" should be put into every section and element of FLT, which is not just the method for the teachers and students to learn about the world, but itself is the sense of FLT and the soul of FLT. It makes the teachers and students jump out of their original narrow vision, acquire multiaspect, multilevel and creative understanding of the world, curriculum meanings and affections, so as to have integrated development, total liberation and spiritual generation.The FLT ideology "dialogue and understanding" is a new way for FLT research in China consistent with the demands of the era and is a new starting point for the development of FLT research.