The Infiltration Of Idiom Culture In English Teaching

With the development of science and technology, cross-cultural communication is getting more and more important. However, our students still find it difficult to communicate with English speakers in face of cultural differences. The present study takes upon itself to probe into the possibility of teaching English culture through familiarizing students with idiom culture. This thesis starts with the relation between language and culture and for that matter, language and idiom culture. It is reemphasized that language is at once part of culture and the carrier of culture and that the major goal of learning a language is to communicate in that language. As a culture carrier, a culture-specific language is best manifested in its idiom. As the quintessence and epitome of a language, idiom forms a major part of the culture embodied in that specific language. Out of question now is the integration of language teaching and culture teaching in our English instruction, which is in correspondence with the quality education as an educational trend upheld throughout China. Thus intercultural awareness is a must in our English teaching. Since culture in its broad sense is almost all-inclusive, this thesis adopts the strategy of "overcoming one block after another", taking English idiom as our first focus for the reasons mentioned above. Throughout our treatment of idiom culture, a comparison of English and Chinese stands out, an attempt we shall make to test its feasibility for future improvement.