A Study On Cultural Cognition In English Teaching With Non-English Majors

In modern foreign language teaching, culture has become one important element that influences language learning. College English Curriculum (revised version) issued in 1999 clearly stated that language is closely related to culture, and possession of some cultural background knowledge will facilitate the improvement of language performance. In the course of College English Teaching, students should be guided to the learning of such cultural knowledge of major English-speaking countries as geography, history, politics, society, economy, education etc, especially the fundamental cultural facts, cultural phenomena, development state, cultural tradition, customs of these countries, so as to broaden students' range of knowledge, strengthen their ability of appreciation, ability of understanding to the culture of English-speaking countries, cultivate and improve students' ability of observation, analysis and problem-solving. By doing so, students will learn to understand culture of English-speaking countries in their course of English learning, further to learn English well, leading to successful and effective cross-cultural communication.However, in the present-day college English teaching, the majority of college English teachers have not been aware of the issue of cultural cognition of target language. In classroom teaching, priority is being given to accuracy of language forms and the formation of students' ability, rather to the cultural elements that are hidden behind the language and neglected deliberately or unconsciously. As for EFL (English as a foreign language) learners, the issue of cultural cognition directly relates to the success or failure of cross-cultural communication, to appropriateness and accuracy of language performance. Target language culture is not necessarily the goal of language learning, but the indispensable factor in the course of English learning.The test on English cultural knowledge and oral communicative test on cultural awareness conducted among non-English majors in Tianshui Normal University reveal that the biggest obstacle for the non-English majors in the course of English learning is not language form proper, such as vocabulary, grammar, sentence structure etc. but the absenceof cultural knowledge to target language. The cognition of English cultural knowledge not only influences the formation of comprehensive English ability, but also the important component of English competence. Therefore, English teaching should take into account the reform of foreign language teaching from the perspective of cross-cultural communication, as well as facilitate students with target language forms such as phonetics, grammar, vocabulary, phrases and sentences etc. Foreign language teaching should switch to foreign language education. Besides their foreign language quality, students' cultural quality should be developed, and finally their comprehensive quality, so that students can perform the task of cross-cultural communication successfully by the use of foreign language as a tool after their graduation.This paper demonstrates the issue of English cultural cognition in college English teaching and proposes some counter measures and solutions for the introduction of cultural knowledge in college English teaching, so as to facilitate the all-round improvement of students' comprehensive abilities in English.