On Lexical Teaching In Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

TCFL (Teaching Chinese as a foreign Language) has developed rapidly as a specialized subject. In the field of TCFL, more than 400 textbooks of various kinds and levels have been compiled, and several hundred scientific research programs completed, while seldom researches in a cross-cultural communication context, have been carried out in TCFL, especially in its vocabulary teaching.Language and culture are closely interrelated. The glamour of Chinese culture or any other national culture most preponderantly comes to our awareness through the medium of its language. The body of lexical items accruing to a language is the fundamental and mainstay of that language and is also the most active factor of that language, as it can most sensitively reflect the changes in social life and social ideology of the people using that language. Therefore, cultural distinction is most conspicuously reflected on the lexical item plane. Culture is nationally based, so is lexical item. Lexical item or vocabulary is the essential factor of both language and culture. It plays a central role in TCFL. A good knowledge of the cultural difference of the lexical items between the Chinese language and learners'native language can reduce the misunderstanding of a certain language or pragmatic mistakes to a minimum.This paper focuses on a comparative study of the lexical connotation of Chinese and foreign language in order to explore effective modes of lexical teaching for TCFL through analyzing the similarities and dissimilarities of the Chinese and foreign language vocabulary and its implication for the vocabulary teaching. Distinctive cultural connotation of different languages is particular dealt with in this paper. On the basis of the comparative study, several suggestions are made for the pattern of cultural infiltration in lexical teaching of TCFL.Under a circumstance of globalization and ever-increasing exchanges among different cultures, introducing cross-cultural elements into lexical teaching should be the general trend, and be propitious to the effectiveness of Chinese lexical teaching to foreigners.