Culture Education In Adult English Language Teaching

With the development of globalization, cross-cultural communication is claiming a more and more salient position. Researches reveal that foreign language learning is also a process of intercultural communication, and successful intercultural communication includes not only linguistic competence, which is conventionally taken as of capital importance in communicating with the target language-speaking people, but also other important components in intercultural communicative competence. The instances of this kind are not unfamiliar to us when an English learner, having a good command of English phonetics, grammar and vocabulary though, fails to achieve the expected communicative goal when encountering a native English speaker. This is the initial incentive to the writing of this thesis.Culture refers to the entire way of life in a society, "the ways of a people". It consists of all shared products of human society. Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider it the keystone of culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture; it reflects culture. Language is born of society and develops with society. In a way language can be viewed as a mirror reflecting society. Language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and culturalbackgrounds as well as their approaches to life and their ways of living and thinking.The real mastery of the target language would not take place without adequate access to and acquaintance with the target culture. The new linguistic and cultural competence will enable the learner to develop new perceptions. Foreign language teaching is thus seen as a pedagogical process aiming at improving the learner's cultural repertoire in the whole educational experience. The success in foreign language teaching depends upon the extent to which students integrate themselves with the "native environment" of the language.By revealing the importance and inevitability of culture education in foreign language teaching, this paper attempts to enhance people's awareness and sensitivity to cultural elements in the use of language. It also aims to propose some possible ways to implement and evaluate culture education in English language teaching. The thesis consists of five chapters.Chapter One begins with the argument that cultural phenomena are universal in language teaching context, and thus culture becomes an inseparable part in it. It describes the relationship between language and culture with reference to intercultural communication and points out the possibility and significance of integrating culture education into foreign language teaching for the improvement of communicative competence.Chapter Two, with an analysis on communicative approach, demonstrates the insufficiency of cultural input so far as the status quo is concerned and concludes that culture education is actually an aid to effective communication, and due emphasis should be laid upon culture acquisition rather than trivial treatment. Only when language acquisition and culture acquisition are synchronized, will students be able to obtain what Hymes called "communicative competence".Chapter Three continues with the further pedagogical exploration. It focuses on the different aspects involved in teaching a foreign culture, including orientation, teachers' roles and use of textbooks, and analyzes some instances of culture teaching when dealing with text and vocabulary.Chapter Four proposes some possible ways to implement and evaluate cultureeducation in English language teaching. As a best way to investigate intercultural foreign language teaching, much more complete testing of cultural understanding is expecting to be carried out.In the light of the above arguments, the last chapter deals with the general policy on culture education and strategies in foreign language teaching. Through the operation of the policy and strategies, cross-fertilization of...