An Investigation On "Chinese Culture Aphasia" Of College English Majors In Ningxia

In foreign language teaching, culture teaching has drawn great attention and related research in this area has made some achievements. However, these studies mainly focus on target culture while native culture receives little attention, which leads to imbalance between target culture and native culture in foreign language teaching. In 2000, Professor Cong put forward the notion of "Chinese Culture Aphasia", namely, incapability to express Chinese culture in other languages except the native language. Then research on this issue has been carried out by scholars from different perspectives.An Introduction to Chinese Culture, recommended by the Higher Education Department of Ministry of Education, covers the examination contents of Chinese culture. Taking it as reference, the thesis aims to systematically investigate English majors’mastery of Chinese culture, finding out problems and exploring possible solutions. Based on Claire Kramsch’s theory of Cultural Interaction,190 students and 10 teachers from three universities are investigated through tests and questionnaires. The empirical study is composed of three parts:the mastery of Chinese culture by English majors; students’ effective expression of Chinese culture in English and informants’ attitude towards incorporating Chinese culture into foreign language teaching.Based on the analysis of 178 valid questionnaires, the author finds "Chinese Culture Aphasia" commonly exists among English majors in Ningxia. More than half of students do not have adequate Chinese culture knowledge and most of them cannot express Chinese Culture in English effectively. There are three reasons for this situation. Firstly, the proportion of Chinese culture is unbalanced in the syllabus. Secondly, Chinese culture is not sufficiently tested in examination. Thirdly, Chinese culture keeps a low proportion in the curriculum. Meanwhile, the survey still shows both students and teachers have high expectation and positive attitude towards integrating Chinese culture into foreign language teaching. In this case, the author tries to provide relevant teaching strategies to remit "Chinese Culture Aphasia". Firstly, ministry of education should revise Chinese cultural contents contained in syllabus. Secondly, the authority of school should increase the proportion of Chinese culture in tests. Thirdly, it is necessary to add instruction of Chinese culture in classes; Fourthly, extracurricular activities about Chinese culture should be organized actively. Fifthly, the authority of school should select appropriate teaching materials with Chinese culture. The author wishes the suggestions can remit the situation of "Chinese Culture Aphasia" and promote students’ intercultural communication competence.