A Study On The Cultivation Of Cultural Consciousness For Primary School English Reading Class Based On English Core Competencies

Currently,as a heated topic,core competencies have played an increasingly positive role in promoting basic education reform in China.English core competencies have four dimensions: language ability,cultural awareness,thinking quality and learning capacity,among which cultural awareness is an important dimension.The teaching of English reading is a key component in primary school English teaching,which requires the primary school students not only to acquire knowledge from reading classes,but also to understand the cultural meanings behind texts to realize the objective of cultivating students' cultural awareness.Currently,there are few studies on the cultivation of core competencies in primary school English reading class.Under this background,taking Constructivism and Humanism as the theoretical underpinnings,this study adopts the research inquires of questionnaire,experiment and interview,and selects two classes in Grade 5 from a certain primary school in Danyang City to solve three problems: What is the understanding of cultural awareness of the primary school students and their English teachers? What is the current status quo on the cultivation of cultural awareness in reading classes and what are the causes for the formation of such status quo in primary school English reading class? Can students' cultural awareness be enhanced if it is cultivated in English reading classes in the primary school?Conclusions can be drawn from the study.Most students are interested in cultural knowledge,expecting teachers to introduce cultural knowledge in their teaching,and they acknowledge the importance of cultural knowledge in their English learning.Teachers also believe that the cultivation of cultural awareness is indispensable for students' development.This study on the reading classes from three periods of pre-class,in-class and post-class reading has revealed that all teachers have inadequately cultivated students' cultural awareness.Their teaching mainly focuses on new words,grammar,and texts.The objective causes of this current status quo are thepressure from examinations,the lack of support from relevant education departments and schools.The subjective cause is that teachers themselves have inadequate cultural competencies.Cultivation of students' cultural awareness in English reading classes can help enhance their cultural awareness.Finally,suggestions on the teaching of English reading are as follows: Teachers should study the texts and their related cultural knowledge;they should study students and students' initiative should be given full play;they should constantly study and enhance their own cultural literacy;they should skillfully guide students to study Chinese and western cultures with comparison and contrast;they should use more formative evaluation to arouse students' interest in learning different cultures;and they should also build bridges by adding relevant cultural texts tactfully in students' extracurricular reading activities.