英語教學中應注重文化教學Ｃｕｌｔｕｒｅ Ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ ｉｎ Ｅｎｇｌｉｓｈ Ｔｅａｃｈｉｎｇ

[摘要]語言是文化的一個重要組成部分，同時它也反映了文化。本文分析語言和文化的關系，討論文化教學的重要性和內容以及文化教學的實施方法。Language is an important part of culture， and in the meanwhile， it reflects culture. The article analyzes the relation between language and culture， discusses the importance of culture teaching and deals with the content and implementation of culture teaching.

[關鍵詞]文化教學 語言和文化 實施方法culture teaching language and culture implementation

Introduction

Karl Marx once said that when people use the foreign language， they should try to forget all about their own. If they can't do so， it shows they have not mastered the language. But as a matter of fact， many students are used to learning foreign languages with the help of their native language. Sometimes they can't escape making jokes or even mistakes. As college English teachers， we should teach our students not only the English language knowledge， but also the English cultural background knowledge. I think English teaching should involve culture.

The Importance of Culture Teaching

Language is a part of culture. Language is the main carrier of culture， and people learn the whole culture during the process of studying and using it. Culture knowledge is important in communication and it is important to achieve the teaching target. So when teaching a foreign language， we should make out the culture of the nation and strengthen culture teaching in the course of teaching English.

To master meaning of some words in a correct way Language has been deeply affected by culture and on the other hand it has reflected unique features of a certain culture. There is no language without any background knowledge. For example， in the U.S.A， \"public school\" is run by the government and they are free of charge， and \"private school\" is run by some individuals. However in England， \"public school\" refers to kind of private boarding， which is set up to train the students who want to go into politics. This kind of school is not run by the state or the government， for example \"Eton Public School\".

To improve the students' ability of expression and communication Different nations have different culture and the people's mode of thinking and expressing is different accordingly. For example， in China， when we meet a person for the first time， we often ask about how old he is， but in England， it is forbidden because it is a secret.

To improve students' reading ability While reading， the students often find it hard to understand the contents and some details not because their English language knowledge is poor but because they know nothing about the relative background knowledge. Therefore， if you want to improve the students' reading ability， you should make the students know the background knowledge in English-speaking countries as much as possible.

The Content of Culture Teaching

Knowledge culture Knowledge culture include economy， politics， history， geography， literature and art， science and technology， folk custom， sports and the current situations of society.

Culture factors that affect communicationCultural factors that affect communication include social norms (the rules， the customs， and habits that must be obeyed in communications such as the form of greetings， requests， making apologies and so on)， social knowledge (the relationship between family members， colleagues and friends， the higher and lower levels)， views of value (the relations between man and religious belief， moral concepts， views of life， world outlook and so on)， modes of thinking.

Knowledge about non-verbal communication feature Knowledge about non-verbal communication features includes gestures， body movements， dress and personal adornment， tone， smiles， silence and different ideas about time and so on.

The Implementation of Culture Teaching

Comparing the two different culturesWe can compare two different cultures from different aspects， such as greeting， saying farewells， being a guest， apologies， praise， showing concern， conversation subject， views of value and so on. The teacher should compare them， and then the students can have a better understanding of the differences， so as to avoid culture shocks and reduce inter-language errors.

Establishing cultural circumstancesIn class， the teacher should create a necessary culture atmosphere to make communication more effective. A successful lesson offers not only the necessary language knowledge but also more life scenes in class by using more teaching methods such as role play， group discussion， pair work and so on.

Conclusion

Language teaching，culture teaching and moral teaching should be integrated in the English teaching. While our English teaching aims to train the students' four linguistic skills， to expand the students' knowledge， we should lay emphasis on enlarging the students' cultural angle of view， strengthening the sensitivity and adaptability about cultural differences and improving their cross-cultural communication ability. Meanwhile， our English teachers should continuously enlarge our own range of knowledge， improve our own ability of social culture， vastly absorb the latest culture information of English-speaking countries and merge this information with our own teaching practice.

參考文獻：

[1]Karmsch C. 1994. Context and Culture in Language Learning. Oxford University Press.

[2]曹文. 《英語文化教學的兩層次》.外語教學與研究.1998(3)

[3]胡文仲. 跨文化交際學選讀.湖南教育出版社.1990

[4]潘美英. 《英語課不應忽視背景知識的教學》.中小學英語教學與研究.1997(3)

作者單位：鹽城紡織職業技術學院經貿管理系江蘇鹽城