A Study On The Acculturation Of Foreign Language Learning In The Context Of The New Curriculum Reform

Culture of learning foreign language in this research is defined as a system of cognition,value and behavior patterns shared among a certain group of people.Acculturation takes place when one culture encounters another heterogeneous culture in the history of growth and development,which means that one culture model,or both,change with the influence of the other in their structures,mechanisms and content.Research on the culture of learning in the learning society has been gaining increasing attention,and after the idea was introduced into the field of foreign language learning,the “Chinese learner paradox” was understood successfully to some extent.With the new concept “culture of learning”,a new perspective was provided to study foreign language learning,and some research achievements were made such as synergy theory by Cortazzi(1993).At present,research in this field mainly focuses on the relationship between learning traditions and foreign language learning with undergraduates and graduates as their subjects.Studies on students in the field of basic education from the point of acculturation theory are relatively rare.Acculturation of the foreign language learning in the field of basic education has been taking place owing to the new curriculum reform.Both the task-based teaching approach advocated by the New Curriculum Standards in 2001 and the communicative approach before 2001,brought from the West were put into practice in foreign language teaching and learning.In contrast with the English language teaching tradition in China,these teaching concepts and teaching approaches are foreign in their nature of culture of learning.In the process of implementing the New Curriculum Reform under the guidance of the New Curriculum Standards,two different cultures of foreign language learning met with each other,leading to acculturation in every aspect of the culture of learning English as the main foreignlanguage in China,and showing a tendency of “westernization” in teaching philosophy,course book design and pedagogy.Research on acculturation is of great significance in presenting and interpreting the existing problems and reform as well.Compared with second language acquisition of the Chinese learner,acculturation studies boast an advantage over the cultural model in understanding the way Chinese teachers and students behave in the context of foreign language learning instead of second language learning.This paper hypothesizes that acculturation between two cultures of learning English has happened,and the major research question is in what way the acculturation takes place,i.e.: assimilation,crystal cast,or synergy.To answer the questions and prove the hypothesis,a compound paradigm is employed combining critical thinking on literature review and the mixed method of qualitative and quantitative research.Narrative study,interview,field study,classroom observation,questionnaires and prototype research are used.Language ideologies,synergy theory,and Chinese culture psychology are integrated to form the theoretical framework for this research.Major findings of the research show that,although acculturation appears to be assimilation on the level of research and publication,class learning falls into a state of crystal cast in two different forms: for the part of language training,question chains in English are employed by teachers for ideal classroom interaction in the way of questions and answers;for the test-oriented exercise,translanguaging is used.For students' individual learning,a combination of the traditional way of learning,plus class learning with teachers,some done with cellphone apps or on the computer.A tentative acculturation model is established and psychological culture analysis is performed.In the context of foreign language learning in China,acculturation has a double system of dynamic,interacting with each other in the way of learning and changing.The integration acculturation strategy is naturally taken,with its features of merging,creation and diversity.This study draws the following three conclusions: First,there is widespread acculturation in the culture of foreign language learning.Second,assimilation,crystal cast and fusion are the acculturation strategies adopted by Chinese teachers and students in a specific foreign language learning environment.Third,the acculturation of the culture of foreign language learning reveals the cultural characteristics of Chinese learners whose mother tongue is Chinese.Multidisciplinary theories and methodologies have provided a creative perspective for this research,and acculturation of foreign language learning has been applied in foreign language learning to basic education,which has ensured creativity in the use of subjects.The dimension of the culture of foreign language learning and the acculturation model are theoretically original in this field.