A Narrative Inquiry Into The Teaching Of Cultures Of An American English Teacher

With the coming of globalization,cultural diversity and information network,people gradually attach great importance and necessity to the teaching of cultures,which is a necessary part of foreign language education.To highlight the significance of the teaching of cultures and specify its implementational procedures,this study explores an American English teacher's teaching of cultures by means of narrative inquiry with the hope that it will provide insight into the domestic teaching of cultures.Benjamin Horn,Director of foreign teachers in Guangxi Normal University,was chosen as the participant.The instruments of interview,observation,and text analysis were adopted in the research,which lasted for three semesters.Quite a few stories happening to Mr.Horn were narrated and interpreted,from which Mr.Horn's teaching belief and specific characteristics of his teaching of cultures were exhibited.It is found that Mr.Horn who himself represents a different culture develops his unique teaching styles after a couple of years of teaching.He stresses the necessity and importance of carrying out the teaching of cultures,pointing out that language learning and the teaching of cultures should be combined in all language classes,where multicultural contents should be presented.He also sticks to the learner-centered teaching belief.As for the characteristics of his teaching of cultures,integration,creativity,uniqueness and communicativeness are reflected in his classes,of which his IESE teaching model is remarkable and applicable.The implications to domestic teaching of cultures are as follows:first of all,teachers should enrich their attainment of cultural knowledge and experiences.They should improve their teaching belief and skills.Secondly,students should update their ways of learning and thinking.Autonomous learning and critical thinking are vital.Besides,more activities related to various cultures should be held by different schools.Multiple ways of assessments should be adopted.Lastly,the education administrative departments should organize more training programs for teachers and provide some chances of cultural exchange activities.