On the importances of cultivating cross—cultural awareness of pre—service English teachers of primary schools

聶冬霞

【Abstract】Cross-cultural communication becomes more important in English education in primary schools and one of the main tasks of English learning in primary schools is to improve students cross-cultural awareness. For pre-service English teachers they should pay more attention on the importances of cultivating their cross-cultural awareness in English learning.

【Key words】Cross-cultural communication； cross-cultural awareness； pre-service English teachers

Cross-cultural communication is a field of study that observes how people from different cultural backgrounds communicate and how they endeavor to communicate across cultures. Its core is to establish and understand how people from different cultures communicate with each other. William Gudykunst and Young Yun Kim （1995） believed cross-cultural communication can be regarded as a kind of process used to describe other forms of communication which occurs between people who have varying degree of familiarity with each other. Many researchers and scholars emphasized that the second language learning has strong connections with culture learning. H. D. Brown （2001） mentioned second language learning is just second culture learning. The second language as the main means to communicate is the most important and available expression of the culture. Yvonne Pratt-Johnson thought teachers should know how important role culture plays in English teaching to become effective cross-cultural communicators. R. Michael Paige， Helen Jorstad， Laura Siaya， Francine Klein， Jeanette Colby did detailed research about the role of culture in foreign language learning and they totally believe teachers knowledge， attitudes and beliefs can influence their teaching so much.

Primary school English curriculum standard （2011） put forward English education should develop students comprehensive language competence and make English learning be the process of forming positive attitudes， active thinking and practicing， improving the cross-cultural awareness and learning independently. It especially emphasized one of the main tasks of English learning is to help students understand the cultural differences between China and western countries. It shows the significance of cross-cultural awareness in language teaching and as future teachers students of English education major at colleges are required to cultivate their cross-cultural awareness to strengthen culture learning. These pre-service teachers have to get involved a lot into cultural difference learning and cultural awareness cultivation has become an integral part of English leaning. The importances of cultivating their cross-cultural awareness for the pre-service teachers are as follows：

1. Cultivating cross-cultural awareness can contribute to English learning. As we know clearly， culture is the context in which people live， think and connect with others， Larson and Smalley stated that culture makes people living in the same community develop themselves as individuals but burden some responsibilities of the group. Culture contains the ideas， customs， skills and even the way of living characterized of the certain group of people. Thus， as a part of the culture， the language can not be separated from the culture since the culture is also a part of the language. We even can say learning the language is just learning the culture， so does English. In such a case， cultivating cross-cultural awareness of students can contribute to English learning without any doubt.

2. Cultivating cross-cultural awareness of pre-service English teachers helps children establish positive attitudes towards English and English learning in their earlier period of English learning. Childrens cognition and understanding of the world are influenced by the people who relate to and ways of living and thinking of the group in the same background， that is to say they are easier to be affected by their family members and their peers under the same condition to form their own attitudes towards the world. The experience of connecting with people in their own group and those coming from “different” community makes children establish attitudes which form a part of ones perception of self， of others and of the culture in which one is living. So cultivating cross-cultural awareness can help children establish positive attitudes towards English and English learning， as pre-service teachers it is more important for them to cultivate cross-cultural awareness to help children hold the desire to understand English and become interested in learning English.

3. Cultivating cross-cultural awareness expands students horizon of knowing the world. As what we have mentioned above， learning the language is just learning the culture. Learning the culture of different countries make students know more about the outside world， they are not restricted to think only from their own culture， they can also think and feel from the aspect of other cultures which build a bridge between the two and bring themselves closer to the different world. Thus their thoughts are expanded to help them understand the people of different countries， the different ways of living and the world better. As pre-service teachers it is not only good for themselves but for their future students to cultivate cross-cultural awareness.

All in all， cultivating cross-cultural awareness is the premise of cultivating students cross-cultural communicative competence. Pre-service teachers have to improve their own cross-cultural awareness to prepare for their future careers to help children to learn English better and establish positive attitudes towards different language， different people and different culture. In the process of understanding culture better students cross-cultural communicative competence must be enhanced and the goal of learning English should not be the language itself. Its still a long way to go for teachers to explore more ways to cultivate students cross-cultural awareness and their cross-cultural communicative competence.

References：

[1]Brown，H.D.（2001）.Principles of language Learning and Teaching.Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[2]Gudykunst，W.& Kim，Y.Y.（1995）.Communicating with strangers：An approach to Inter-cultural Communication.Retrieved from http：//www.coloorado.edu/conflict/peace/example/gudy6816.htm.

[3]Larson，D.N.and Smalley，W.A.（1972）.Becoming Bilingual：A Guide to Language Learning.New Canaan，CN：Practical Anthropology.

[4]Paige，R.M.，Jorstad，H.，Siaya，L.，Klein，F(xiàn).，& Colby，J.Culture Learning in Language Education：A Review of the Literature.

[5]Pratt-Johnson，Y.（2006）.Communicating Cross-Culturally：What Teachers Should Know.Retrieved from http：//iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html.