An Analysis Of English Culture And English Language Teaching In High School In China

Language is a phenomenon of society. Language is a system of arbitrary symbols agreed and used in a certain society. It is the language that people in the same cultural community or other people who have learned the culture can communicate each other. Every language exists in a special social culture. In a high degree, language is affected by its national culture. Different languages reflect different national cultures in the world. Language is a part of culture. This is an agreement by nearly all the linguists. This paper penetrates language from a culture angle, analyzes the cultural phenomenon of English and its effects on English language teaching in high school.First of all, we must understand: What is culture? The definition of culture is various. Actually, culture involves so many aspects of human society that it is difficult to give a single definition. According to different definitions, we can come to this conclusion that culture is a complex whole which includes all the material product and spirit Teated by human. In fact, the concept of culture includes three levels: material culture, institution culture and spiritual culture. The range of this paper is limited in the spiritual culture.It is quite important for the student to learn the way of life, the way of thought and the concept of value in English countries. The students will feel that the aim of learning a foreign language is not only those dull symbols, but also the people and the culture. We must consider the difference between the two cultures. So we can communicate with people from the other culture in an effective way.The relationship between language and culture is so closed that they can't be separated from each other. However, it is quite a long time that the English language teaching in high school in China departed from the culture it belong to. We teach English in isolation. We neglected the actual use of English in its own countries, neglected that the motive of people who learns a foreign language is to communicate with other people in other countries. As a result, the majority ofstudents in high school can pass the written examinations, but a few can communicate with foreigners.Cultural conflict is the major factor affect students' English language learning. As Chinese and English are two languages belong to different culture systems, Chinese students' culture will conflict with English culture when they learn the language. Cultural difference also affect teachers' behavior. Teachers from different cultural backgrounds have different thoughts and ways of teaching. Teachers of English in China must learn and absorb the cream of their teaching methods from foreign teachersBased on the points above, this paper has made six suggestions below:(1) Reform the objectives of English language teaching and put emphasis on culture.(2) Increase the cultural content of teaching material.(3) Reform the teaching methods and adopt cross-cultural teaching.(4) Reform the testing and emphasize the understanding of the culture.(5) Strengthen international co-operation and the exchange of cultures.