On Cross-Cultural Education In English Language Teaching

English is the most extensive and widespread language in the world. For many years, the main work of English teaching has been focused on language teaching. Chinese students'English learning strategies are primarily composed of the following features: focus on reading and writing; grammar and translation; memorization of vocabulary. However, this traditional grammar-translation method failed to develop communicative competence. Most students and graduates are puzzled by the problem of their poor oral English, which has been described as"dumb English". Therefore it is not possible to understand a language fully or to communicate efficiently without the understanding of its culture.Many educational researchers have paid great attention on culture. The culture researches help a lot to know other countries and communicate in different cultures. This paper will review the culture of the sources and phenomenon in western countries and China.The Cross-Culture education is to make the students contact and understand English-speaking country culture. Let students have the sketchy understanding to the English-speaking country culture and the similarities or differences between East and West. It helps the student to open up the field of vision and expands the student to contact the foreign land culture gradually. Meantime, it improves their sensitivity and resolution capability of the culture between East and West.The cultures between East and West are distinguished in a rather large scale. This doesn't not only mean the opinions or ways of thinking are different. Actually, how do people behave in daily life is also not in the same way, sometimes even the opposite.As it is explained in the above discussion, language is inseparably integrated with culture, so the significance of cultural education in English teaching and learning is clearly seen by all. The more knowledge students have about the English culture, the more it will promote their English learning. On the contrary, the lack of knowledge about the culture will cause great barriers to understanding and learning of English.This paper emphasizes on discussions on the aspects that have been neglected for a long time, that is the interdependence of language and cultural. In order to solve the problems mentioned above, a feasible method about cross-cultural education in class has been discussed and described theoretically and practically. In the paper, discussions are to be made to prove from different ways and angles that the cross-cultural education is feasible and applicable in teaching. For instance, when teaching English in class, the teaching can reorganize the class into small groups or several smaller class according to their English levels or learning aims. Also good and effective efforts of assistant teachers or even student teachers could be achieved in such a class for cross-education purposes.Definitely there must be some shortcomings about this new method, and of course there must be some ideas or point of views in the paper, which might not be proper or correct. Anyhow all the above discussions have revealed that language and culture are mutually dependent and that full understanding of a language comes only with a full understanding of its culture. In English language teaching and learning, enough emphases must be laid on English cultural education, practical ways of which must be taken in order to ensure more effective communication. To achieve this, however, thoughts must be further changed, measures must be further improved and turn education truly from education for tests to education for abilities and personalities.