On Cultural Factors Of Elementary Reading Textbook In Teaching Chinese As A Foreign Language

Language and culture are closely intertwined and connected,which is a view widely accepted in the field of second language teaching.The main aims of teaching Chinese as a foreign language,a type of second language teaching,are to make learners to accumulate knowledge of language and culture,and cultivate their abilities of cross-culture communication flexibly.Teaching reading is a crucial part of teaching Chinese as a foreign language,as it incorporates rich cultural factors.If culture is excluded in the teaching of reading,it may not be conducive to the smooth development of the reading course.However,how to introduce culture effectively in the teaching of reading to help learners understand Chinese culture remains the important and difficult point in the current research of teaching Chinese as a foreign language.Practical teaching shows that the choice of textbooks and the ways of introducing culture are two key elements governing the effects of teaching.This papers aims to discuss how to teach elementary reading by incorporating cultural knowledge based on an analysis of the cultural factors in text books(mainly cultural vocabulary),relevant questionnaires and interviews,as well as reflections on practical reading teaching.This paper consists of five chapters as follows.Chapter One is an introduction to the significance of the paper,literature review,research methods and contents.Chapter Two is a case study of two textbooks: Developing Chinese: Elementary Reading and Writing Course II and Joy in China: Elementary Reading,followed by an analysis of the cultural factors(communication culture as the main content,invisible culture as the secondary)in the textbooks.This chapter will cover the relationship of language and culture,the definition and classification of cultural factors,and the cultural factors in the textbooks.Chapter Three is a discussion of questionnaires and interviews so as to understand learners' levels of interest in and knowledge of related cultural factors,and find out the difficulties of teaching elementary reading and learners' interests in Chinese culture.Chapter Four are some suggestions on the compilation and use of the textbooks of teaching elementary reading,and the ways of teaching cultural factors in reading on the basis of the previous discussions,together with the experience of practical teaching and classroom observations.