Integration Of Culture Into Primary School English Teaching

The importance of understanding foreign culture and developing cross-cultural skills is an increasingly acknowledged aspect in the teaching of foreign language. It is now increasingly recognized that foreign language teaching and foreign culture teaching cannot realistically be separated. This thesis is concerned with the contribution and integration of culture into China's primary school English classes. More specifically, some considerations will be given to the reasons and the methods for the integration of culture into primary school English teaching. It will be demonstrated that teaching a foreign language is not equal to giving instructions on syntactic structures or teaching new vocabulary and expressions, but incorporates, or should incorporate, some cultural elements, which are intertwined with language itself. Furthermore, an attempt will be made to incorporate culture into the classroom by means of considering some techniques and methods currently used.The main premise of the paper is that effective intercultural communication is more than a matter of language proficiency and that, apart from enhancing and enriching communicative competence, socio-cultural competence can also lead to empathy and respect toward different cultures as well as promote objectivity, cultural perspicacity and the students' personal growth.There are five chapters in this thesis: Chapter one deals with the necessity of the integration of culture into the English classes of primary schools in China. Firstly it points out the significance of the integration of culture into the English classes of China today, then it briefly reviews the history, current situation and problems of the integration of culture into English classes of China, especially in primary schools. Chapter two covers the theoretical basis of the integration of culture into the English classes of primary schools in China. Since the integration of culture into primary school English teaching involves some interdisciplinary research, in order to show the importance of the integration of culture into primary...