A Study On Cultural Introduction Approach In Senior English Reading Instruction

With the development of globalization,international contacts and intercultural communication have become more and more frequent,and people have realized that linguistic form in foreign language teaching cannot meet the demands of social development.Many scholars have a wide range of discussion on the importance of culture introduction and its specific implementation of the principles and methods.But the study of culture introduction in high school English classroom is fewer.This makes the position of culture introduction highlighted in the high school English teaching.Many English teachers in senior high schools and learners have realized the importance of culture introduction,but there are still problems.It is because that the language and culture cannot be separated,so it requires teachers to strengthen cultural introduction.This thesis introduces the research of cultural introduction abroad and in China.It also introduces the relationship between language and culture,refers contents and principles of cultural introduction.The principles are adaptability,practicability,moderation and contrast.And makes a comparison of different culture in China and the west in the aspects of social norms,values and ways of thinking.Here are the two research questions of this thesis:(1)What is the current situation of cultural introduction in the procedure of English reading instruction in senior high school?(2)What are the approaches of cultural introduction in the procedure of English reading instruction?(3)What are the problems of cultural introduction in the procedure of English reading instruction?This thesis uses the research methods of case study and questionnaire.The subjects for case study are two English classes in Grade One.The two classes are from a senior high school in Yining.Subjects for the questionnaire are 40 students and 30 English teachers.In this thesis,the questionnaire was taken among 40 students who were selected at random and they all come from the two classes that took part in the case study.The 30 teachers are from different senior high schools in Xinjiang.They are different in age and length of working.The questionnaires aim to know the students' interest in the cultural knowledge and the way of obtaining the cultural background knowledge in learning English.Meanwhile,it also aims to know the teachers' attitude towards cultural introduction and the the current situation of English cultural introduction in senior high school.The case study analyses their advantages and disadvantages in the procedure of reading instruction.It aims to discover the problems in teaching and to give the implications.According to the study,the thesis draws the conclusion as following:Both the teachers and students realize the importance of culture in learning a language.But the students lack of cultural awareness in using language and the teachers spend less time and energy on cultural introduction in teaching.And the main problemsinclude that the concept of education needs to be changed,limitation of teaching materials and the teaching method is simplex,without creating cultural atmosphere.The study gives some implications that the teachers should use varies of teaching methods for students and create a cultural atmosphere.Extra-curricular activities should be organized for students and provide students with more opportunities to practice.Teachers should choose abundant extracurricular reading materials for students.