OntheEssentialIngredientsofModernCulturalSyllabus

王丹邱+劉英波

Abstract：lntegratingculturallearningwithinEnglishteachinghasgraduallybeenacceptedasacommonpracticeintheEnglishlanguageteachingclassrooms.Basedontheinseparablerelationshipbetweenlanguageandculturethisessayanalyzestheessentialingredientsofmodernculturalsyllabusandbelievesthatlanguageteachershavetofollowaculturalsyllabusspecifiedwithanintroduction，asetofteachingmaterialsandacomprehensiveglossary.

Keywords：culture；culturalstudies；syllabus

Ⅰ.Introduction

Formabout40yearsago，culturestartedtobeconsideredinseparablefromtheteachingoflanguages.Scholarsbelievethattheculturalcomponentoflanguageteachingcametobeseenasthepragmaticfunctionsandnotionsexpressedthroughlanguageineverydaywaysofspeakingandaction.Thisessaymainlydiscussesthebasicingredientsofmodernculturalstudiessyllabus.

Ⅱ.Theessentialingredientsofmodernculturalstudiessyllabus

A.Cultureandculturalstudies

Culturemeansdifferentthingstodifferentpeople.Culturehasbeendefinedas"alistoffacts"or"ahodyoffacts"associatedwithasociety.Thus，culturalstudiesisonlyanexerciseofcollectinginformationconcerningthebackgroundinformationsuchas，geography，history，industry，economy，tradition，religion，achievementlikeworksofart，literature，architecture…andmanyothersfacts.Mostofthesefactscanbefoundspecifiedclearlyinthehooksavailableinlibrariesforthelearners.

B.Theessentialingredientsofmodernculturalstudiessyllabus

Syllabusis"aspecificationofwhatistobetaughtinalanguageprogrammeandtheotherinwhichitistobefaught."Modernculturalstudiessyllabusmainlyconcernswiththestudyofthetargetculture.Culturalsyllabuscontainsthreemainingredients：aninfroduction，asetofteachingmaterials，acomprehensiveglossary.

1.Anintroduction

Objectivesoraims，theprinciplesonwhichthesyllabusisbasedandthepotentiallearnergroupareusuallydescribedexplicitly.Theaimofamodernculturalstudiessyllabusistowidenstudents'culturalhorizonsanddeveloptheirinter-culturalawareness.Theprincipleofconstructingthesyllabusisfocusedontheskills，aimingatthestudent'sacquisitionofknowledgeandwillingnesstounderstanddifferentcultures.Theskills，asDanovalistedinherculturalsyllabus，are"criticalreadingandlisteningskills；comparingandcontrastingskills，ethnographicskillsandresearchskills".

Inthispartthelevelofthepotentiallearnershouldberegulatedbecauseitconcernswiththeselectionofteachingmaterialsandthepossibilitytocarryoutsometaskandactivitiesintheclassroom.

2.Asetofteachingmaterials

Thisisthemostimportantandessentialpartinaculturalstudiessyllabus，sinceitspecifiestheselectionandprogressionoftheteachingmaterials.Oneimportantteachingmaterialisthetextbook，whichshouldcontainawiderangeoftargetculture，sourcecultureandinternationalculture.Sothatitmay"raiselearners'awarenessofinterculturalissuesandenablethemtocommunicateeffectivelyandappropriatelyinavarietyofcommunicativecontexts."Thetextbookshouldcoversomeorallofthefollowingaspects：socialidentityandsocialgroups；socialinteraction；beliefandbehaviour；socialandpoliticalinstitutions；socializationandthelife，cycle；nationalhistory；nationalgeography；stereotypesandnationalidentity".Stereotypesmaybethestarting-pointinthetextbook.Because，learnersalwaysconsiderthemselvesasexpertsinthisarea，itcreatesinterest，andthusbecomesamotivatingfactor.Andtheotheraspectsmaycomeafterit.endprint

WhileNunanarguesthatnoneofthegiventextbookisenoughtomeetthevariousneedsofthelearnerintheclassroom.Supplementarymaterialsshouldbeincluded.Somesuggeststhatpictures，photos，diagrams，forms，chartsshouldalsobeincluded，sincetheyareeasilyunderstoodandcanstimulatethelearner'sreflectiononthetargetculture.Thematerialmaybeasvariedastypesofclassesandagegroups.

3.Acomprehensiveglossary

Thevocabularyintheglossaryinthesyllabusmustbe，thenewwords，keyexpressionsandimportantphrasesappearingintheteachingmaterials.Theprincipleofselectingandgradingthesewordcouldbethefrequencyofthewordsappearinginlearners'everydaylifeortheneedsofthestudents.Theglossarypreparesteachersespeciallylearnerwithwhatwillbereadortalkedinacertaintext，andalsoprovidesadditionalwordsandphrasesrelatedtothetopic；therefore，whenstudentscommunicate，theycanhaveaccesstotherelevantwordsorphrases.Asaresult，theybuilduptheirvocabularyintheparticularfieldofculture.

Since，therearedifferentdefinitionstosyllabus，culturalstudiessyllabusmayhavesomeotheringredientssuchasteachers'role，timeschedule，evaluationeventhemethodsandprocedures.Nomatterwhatthedefinitionofasyllabusis，culturalstudiessyllabusmustbeplannedcarefullyandspecifiedexplicitlybecauseitisapublicdocumentandmustsurvivethescrutinyofteachers，studentsandrelevantauthorities.Whereas，itshouldopentorevisionrespondingtothefeedbackofallconcerningaudience.

Ⅲ.Conclusion

Raisingculturalawarenessandasenseofcross-culturalunderstandingmostlyremainsthe'hiddencurriculum'oflanguageteaching.InordertointegrateculturalstudieswiththeELTcurriculumteachersshouldcreateapositiveclassroomclimate，buildupresourcesfortheirteaching，andcarrytheresponsibilitytoacknowledgethecloserelationshipbetweenacquiringalinguisticandaculturalcompetenceintheEnglishfeachingclassroom.

[Bibliography]

[1]Danova，R.（1999）"Branchingout--aculturalstudiessyllabus."IATEFLIssues.April-May.

[2]Nunan，D.（1999）SyllabusDesign.Oxford：OUP.endprint