Chinese-colored English And Cultural Contrast In College English Teaching

Due to the military and economic progress made by English-speaking nations, especiallythe Great Britain and the United States of America in the past 200 years, English has gainedits dominant place in the international communication. It has spread gradually all over theglobe, and has become a world language, steadily consolidating its position. One of the resultsof this spread of English across the world is the nativization of English in different countriesand regions where it is used. This leads to the fact that new varieties of English have emergedas the result of interaction between the original culture of English and the native cultures, andamong them is Chinese-colored English. The term "New Englishes" or "World Englishes" hasbeen created by some linguists to describe this objective existence, which means that theyhave become "localized" or "nativized" by interacting with the local language and culture,thus adopting some language features of these countries, such as sounds, intonation patterns,sentence structures, words and expressions and reflecting the cultural identities of differentcountries.Based on the relevant theories in sociolinguistics, this dissertation mainly focuses on thestudy of Chinese-colored English. The emphasis is laid on the analysis of the linguistic andcultural identities or the Chineseness and unique features in the English used to communicatewith the English-speaking and non-English-speaking people in the world context. TheseChinese characteristics or identities reflected at the phonological, lexical, syntactical andtextual levels reveal the interaction and integration of the Chinese language and culture withthe English language and culture in the process of creating a new variety of English whosestatus and social functions are gradually being recognized.Another highlight of this dissertation is the study of the relationship between thetarget-language culture and the home culture in college English teaching. Approaches inintercultural studies, discourse analysis, pragmatics and comparative analysis are used tojustify the necessity to teach both the target culture and the home culture in college Englishteaching. The dissertation maintains that the old view of focusing on the target cultureteaching in the language classroom should be discarded as cultural communication is two-waycommunication in which the two parties come into contact that leads to a better understanding of each other. Monocultural education has been proven insufficient for the students to becomesuccessful language learners and may often lead to the learners' deficiency in interculturalcommunication in which misunderstandings and clashes are common occurrences. Therefore,cultural contrast is recommended as an effective strategy to foster the language learners'intercultural communication competence.The most important conclusions drawn in this dissertation are: 1) Chinese-coloredEnglish is the correct or normative English reflecting Chinese identities or Chineseness atdifferent linguistic levels and different from Chinglish which is the bad English that does notconform or fully conform to the rules and conventions of the English language. It is part ofthe World Englishes and is as communicatively functional as other varieties of English; 2) Inintercultural communication context, learning the target language culture and the homeculture is equally important as the purposes of the learners of a foreign language diversified asto communicate with not only the native speakers but also the non-native speakers. Culturalcontrast may achieve the goal that the deeper understanding and appreciation of the targetculture goes hand in hand with the deeper understanding and appreciation of the native culture,resulting in the improvement of the learners' intercultural communication competence.