文化意識到跨文化意識的轉變：對英語文化教學的啟示

胡宇寧

摘 要 近幾十年，文化教學在國內外英語教學中的地位已經確立。然而在有關文化教學內容方面，爭議尚存。總的說來，文化教學的發展可以分為三個階段：第一階段，文化教學首次引入語言教學；第二階段，目標文化與本土文化的結合；第三階段，文化內容的國際化。本文根據Byram和Baker分別對“文化意識”與“跨文化意識”的提出，進而指出英語文化教學發展趨勢。

關鍵詞 文化教學 目標文化 本土文化

中圖分類號：G424 文獻標識碼：A DOI：10.16400/j.cnki.kjdkx.2016.11.034

Abstract The role of Culture teaching in English language teaching has been established for several decades at home and abroad， while questions regard to what cultural contents should be taught and learned still remain to be discussed among scholars. Generally speaking， culture teaching has gone through three stages： in the first stage， culture teaching is firstly introduced to language teaching； the second stage， an integration of target culture and native culture； the third stage， the internationality of culture contents. Based on “culture awareness” and “intercultural awareness” proposed by Byram and Baker respectively， this article aims to present the trend of English culture teaching.

Keywords culture teaching； target culture； native culture

1 Introduction

Given the closely intertwined nature of theory and practice， it is not difficult to realize that theory can bring new lights on current practice， in turn， practice can also innovate or even eliminate the out-dated theory. It is the case in teaching field where teaching practices are， to great extent， guided and influenced by ever-changing pedagogical theories. Over the last few decades， there has been an increased recognition of the close relationship between language and culture among scholars and teachers. That is， learning a language is more than its linguistic knowledge， namely， phonology， grammar and lexis， but its corresponding sociocultural context in which communication takes place is also worth paying much attention. Though the role of culture has been established in language teaching， however， what cultural knowledge should be taught and learned still remains to be discussed.

2 The Role of Culture

2.1 Integrate Language with Culture

It is believed that the study of intercultural communication was firstly introduced by Hall in his book The Silent Language in the 1950s. Later， Dell Hymes （1972）， an American sociolinguist， coined the term “communicative competence” with highlighting the importance of sociocultural knowledge. According to him， it is a competence “when to speak， when not， and as to talk about with whom， when， where， in what manner” （Hymes， 1972：277）. The appearance of this theory exerted a great influence upon foreign language education and raised numerous scholars attention on the significant role of culture， such as Hammerly （1982）， Seelye （1984） and Damen （1987） focused on the close relationship between target culture and second language teaching. It has been emphasized that second language study is meaningless if learners know nothing about the people or country of that language.

2.2 Cultural Awareness

Cultural awareness （CA）， according to Will Baker （2011）， can be defined as a conscious understanding of the role culture plays in language learning and communication in both first and foreign language. As an essential part of communication， it helps language users understand L2 communication as a cultural process and to be aware of their own culturally based communicative behavior and that of others. Based on this concept， Byram （1997， 8） further proposed that norms and social practices of the target culture， which should not be the aims and objectives of foreign language teaching and learning. He extends the role of culture with the notion of critical cultural awareness （CA） in successfully preparing language learner for intercultural communication， that is， Intercultural Communicative Competence （ICC）.

2.3 Intercultural Awareness

Given that English is now used as a global lingua franca， Baker， from the fluid and dynamic relationship between culture and language， proposed Intercultural Awareness （ICA） as an alternative to account how to deal with culture in ELT. It should be seen as emergent， negotiated resource in communication which moves between and across local， national， and global context （Baker， 2012）. As Bakers has pointed out， ICA is best conceived as an extension of the earlier conceptions of CA that is more relevant to needs of intercultural communication in expanding circle and global lingua franca contexts， in which cultural influences are likely to be varied， dynamic， and emergent.

3 Enlightenment on English Culture Teaching

3.1 The first stage

It is regarded that the role of culture teaching in the foreign language classroom has been the concern of many teachers and scholars since 1960s in US. Due to the influence of the notion that language learning cannot be separated from the culture it relies for existence， foreign language learning along with target culture is highly welcomed in teaching pedagogy （Bennett， 1997）. Many foreign language educators have used the categories developed by Hall （1959） and Brooks （1968） as prototypes in analyzing the cultural contents of foreign language textbooks. In other words， learning English is inevitable to learn its culture.

3.2 The second stage

Cultural awareness， proposed by Byram， has raised another concern among scholars about the role of native culture and target culture in language teaching. According to Byram， it is misleading to ask foreign language learners to model themselves on first language speakers， ignoring the significance of the social identities and cultural competence of the learner in any intercultural interaction （1997：8）. Cortazzi and Jin （1999： 204-205） believed that three kinds of culture should be included in English foreign language textbooks： a） the learners own culture； b） the target culture； c） the third culture （refers to international cultures）.

3.3 The Third Stage

Given that English is more likely to be used in more varied， dynamic and emergent global contexts， English learners are supposed to meet the challenge of communicating with people from ‘expanding circles such as India， Nigeria etc. those use English as their second language.Therefore， a more critical approach should be employed to select those cultural contents in terms of local， regional， national， and transnational. To conclude， cultural content appropriate to the variety of intercultural interactions a learner may encounter in their environment can be selected.

Conclusion

Culture teaching in ELT has evolved great changes in past several decades， that is， from the original purely target culture learning to take native culture into account， and further discuss the cultural contents in ELT on the basis of an intercultural view. Until now， the question concerned with culture teaching is still unceasingly discussed， which provide us with fruitful and insightful ideas on culture teaching. Needless to say， English as an international language， the ultimate objective of learning it is to use the language to communicate with people from various countries and to negotiate meaning based on mutual understanding rather than give up ones own culture to completely embrace the target culture. From this regard， ICA has shed new light on culture teaching， because it particularly focus on the dynamic and flexible relationships between language and culture. There is no doubt that ICA will better meet the challenge of globalization， more importantly， learners practical needs. Finally， we may safely come to the conclusion that theory take a pioneering role in improving teaching pedagogy. Hence， it is required that both scholars and teachers should make every effort to keep pace with the changing needs of English teaching and learning.

Reference

[1] Byram，M.Teaching and Assessing Intercultural Communicative Competence[M]. Clevedon：Multilingual Matters，1997.

[2] Hall，E.T.The Silent Language[M].Garden City， New York：Doubleday and company， 1959.

[3] 束定芳.語言與文化的關系以及外語基礎階段教學中的文化導入問題[J].外語界，1996（1）：1-8.