Culture Teaching In English Language Teaching At College Level In China

AbstffictA good coInInan of a foreign lanMe not onIy means maSterin thelMe itself, but also involves the cultiVation of cultural coInPeWe Which is anboortan ingrdien of coIIUnwhcative competence as well as the cOntent ofmodem lallgUag edUcaion. ms thesis attemPs tO work oot some solations to twoProblems of cultw teaChin in Engish lM teWg (ELD at college level,namly the conten of cultUre teacbing and the way ofcultUI teaching.To suppOrt my vieWPoint, the relationship bbeen langUag and cultUI isdisctissed first. LangUae is a pat of cultUre and shaped by culfor; it is also thecAner of culfore and reflects cultural featUrs of a cOInInwi in Which thelangUage is spoken. LangUage and cultUI are closely related. From the angle oflM tCaching and leaming, tO beh a langUage is tO teach another culture, toleam a langUage is also to leam anothe ctilW.The Wose of learning a langUage is tO cotnmtalcate with it. WAn the rapedevelopment of economy, intereultural coIIUnwhcation is becoIning more and moreimportan. Howevr, intercultural coInInwhcation is more than verbal exchane. Itinvolves CUW traits. CUtw differences are always bebin the commtalcationand reedy to spoil it. Ih orde to expound clearly the increasing --e ofcMe teaching in English LangUage Teaching (ELT), thes thesis looks back theWon M in China. Because of the influence of StrUtalism and POliticalsihations, ELT in China then was absolutely divorced with cultofal context,lWe was taugh in a "pure" form. Such a ldnd of teaching brough obviousnegative consequenctw culed gaP betWen leamers and natire sPeakerS,Which is geW Wd by wtc failures. A foreign leamer's compeenceincludes linghstic cMetence and mpatic cOInpeence. PMc coInPetwe isthe comPetence of using the langUae aPProPriately in a given social conteat.Foreign lMe teaching should develop learners' pragInatic comPetence.The driPOrtance of cultUre teaching is widely recoghzed and accePted. InChina, some linghstic scholars and English teachers have been dealing with cultuIalintefference in intercultural conunwhcation and have made some sighficanprogresses. Even though, some problems still remain and deserve further stUdy. Farless attention is 8hached to cultUre featUrs in teaching practice, courses andmaterials of forget cultUre are very limited and usualy considered as secondny;teaching method is generally to introduce background knowledge. What and how toteach are still the tWo problems faced by fOreign langUae teachers. They are morethan problems of teaching method because they are also influenced by politicalsitUaions. CultUre is all pervasive and complex, it is reflected in every aspect of life.It is impossible to give overall consideration in classroom. This thesis explores thecontent of culture teaching from four aspects f(a) Verbal communication (including vocabuleq and sentence strUctUres);Vocabulary is the most active element in a language and most cultUrally-loaded.CultUral features are first reflected in vocabulary. Sentence structures are rest fainedby thinking patterns and thinking pattems reveal the value system of a nation.(b) Commtalcative customs f Customs refer to the habits and rules conunonlyobserved in cornmunication by the members in a certain cultUre. Customs areinfluenced and shaPed by the beliefs and value of people in the cultUre. Customs arean important part of culfore.(c) Value system f It is the core of cultUre and the gUiding principle in teachingand leaming culfore.(d) Nonverbal comxnunication: People conununicate not only by verbalexchange but also nonverbal behaviors. Nonverbal behaviors are different betWeendifferent culfores.LangUage is a part of cultUre and cAner of cultUre. Cultufe is reflected atdifferent levels of langUage. Therefore, culbe teaching shOuld not be concentratedin one course, it should penetrate tIirough different courses such as vocabulmpteaching, oral course, litertae course, extensive reading and tTans...