Investigation On The Present Situation Of Culture Teaching In English Instruction In China's Rural Junior High Schools

Since the reform and opening-up and the rapid development of economy,English teaching in rural junior high schools has been greatly improved.However,there is still a significant distance between the present situation of English teaching in rural junior high schools and the objectives of talent cultivation;especially,the relationship between language and culture teaching in the rural junior high schools has not got sufficient attention.Most of teachers pay attention only to the training of listening,speaking,reading and writing.They think if students master pronunciation,vocabulary and grammar rules,they will be able to understand English and communicate in English.But In fact,cultural knowledge is more important in language learning.If we want to teach English well and learn English well,we must pay attention to the English cultural knowledge.The main purpose of this study is to investigate the present situation of English culture teaching in rural junior high schools,to find the existing problems,to analyze their reasons and give possible solutions,so as to improve the quality of English Teaching in rural junior high school.In this study,an investigation was conducted among 42 English teachers and 420 junior high school students from 14 rural junior high schools in Xi'an Baqiao District.Firstly,by using the instruments of questionnaire and interview,and analyzing the results,we found the major problems in English teaching in rural junior high schools.Neither teachers nor students pay enough attention to the knowledge of English culture.There are not enough materials for English teachers to teach English culture.Less English cultural knowledge is examined in English tests.Secondly,the reasons for the problems are analyzed from four aspects:teachers,students,schools and teaching materials.Finally,feasible solutions to the problems in the teaching of English culture knowledge are presented based on the culture teaching theories and the investigation results.In summary,English learning cannot be separated from English culture in English teaching.This paper is expected to enrich English culture teaching and to provide a reference for future study.