A Study On Chinese Culture And Foreign Culture In Junior Middle School English Textbooks Published By Hebei Education Press Based On Culture Teaching

With the development of English Curriculum Teaching Reform,the focus of teaching has gradually fallen on the students’ ability of comprehensive use of language.The teacher has begun to develop students’ cultural awareness and ability of cross-cultural communication.Culture teaching has gradually become an important part of language teaching.In the process of culture teaching,textbooks play an important role,so more and more people pay great attention to the cultural elements in English textbooks.This thesis will make a analysis of the Chinese and foreign culture in junior middle school English textbooks published by Hebei Education Press according to Byram’s Checklist.At the same time,this thesis discusses the use of Chinese and foreign culture in English classes by interview of the teachers,questionnaire of the students and classroom observation.Finally,the thesis will give some suggestions on how to use the cultural contents in the textbooks effectively in order to strengthen culture teaching and develop students’ ability of cross-cultural communication effectually.The main questions of this study are as follows: 1.What is the specific distribution of Chinese and foreign culture in this textbook? 2.What is the classroom application of Chinese and foreign culture in this textbook? 3.Can the Chinese and foreign culture in this textbook effectively cultivate students’ cross-cultural awareness?After all the data have been collected and analyzed,the findings of this research are listed as follows: firstly,according to Byram’s Checklist,there is an extreme imbalance in the distribution and composition of the Chinese and foreign culture.Second,according to the results of questionnaires and interviews,we can see that teachers think that combining culture teaching with language teaching is very important.At the same time,the teachers consciously teach Chinese and foreign culture in class.But exam-oriented education and a high-pressure school system leave teachers with less time for culture teaching.Most students also realize that culturelearning can help language learning and the improve the ability of cross-cultural communication and pay more attention to the study of cultural content.Third,according to the results of the questionnaire and interview,We can also see that the students and teachers have a positive evaluation of the Chinese and foreign culture contents in the textbook.At the same time,it is believed that cultural awareness can be cultivated through the study of cultural contents in textbooks.Fourth,according to the analysis of classroom observations,we can see the teacher’s cultural consciousness and the professional accomplishment have a great influence on culture teaching of English classes in junior middle school,which directly affects if the junior middle school English teachers can develop the students’ cultural awareness and improve the students’ ability of intercultural communication effectively by using the teaching materials about Chinese and foreign cultural contents in junior middle school English textbooks published by Hebei Education Press.We can also find that Chinese students who have a certain knowledge about Chinese culture are relatively more sensitive to Chinese cultural information in the texts,but relatively less sensitive to western cultural information.According to the research results,it is suggested that effective cultural teaching can be achieved by integrating the cultural contents in the teaching materials,widely collecting other cultural elements which are close to students’ life,enhancing teachers’ cultural consciousness and professional accomplishment and cooperative teaching.