A Reflection of Teaching Methods on Chinese Cultural Values

【Abstract】Intercultural communication has played an important role in many aspects in our life. It is also reflected in our daily teaching. In this paper， the author mainly analyzes some of the reflections on the teaching methods used in the classroom， and links them to Chinese cultural values， as well as to the specific demographics that a Chinese classroom presents.

【Key words】teaching methods； cross culture； cultural values

【作者簡介】溫燕，西安外國語大學附屬西安外國語學校。

The author has been teaching English in a senior high school for years， and now， there are 40 students in the class， including 23 girls and 17 boys. Referring to the two kinds of genders， girls always have gifts in learning languages， while boys always have gifts in learning science subjects. Though the number of the girls is more than that of the boys， it does not reveal any feature of what it should be in the feminine culture almost at all. Girls prefer to behave like boys， per contra， boys somewhat behave like girls. This class is a traditional Chinese one that is high in power distance. Students sit row by row， facing towards the teacher as most of the traditional Chinese classes do.

According to the teaching syllabus， each teaching unit should be divided into four parts， that is， “Period 1.Warming up and Reading”， “Period 2. Language points”， “Period 3. Grammar”， and “Period 4. Using language （Listening， Speaking and Writing）”. For each part， the relative teaching methods vary somewhat differently. While handling the textbooks， the author always uses such teaching methods as Direct Method， Task-based Approach， Grammar Translation Method， and Audio-Visual Approach.

First， culture values reflected by using Direct Method will be illustrated.

At the beginning of Period 1， the author usually prepares some questions for leading them into the topic of a new unit， and during this period， only target language—English is allowed to speak， which reflects the high uncertainty avoidance. Question and answer exercises are designed to have the new unit fully understood by students， which is in the direct way of communication， and the author asks the individual student to answer questions in turn.

Besides asking questions， the most common tool the author uses in class is PowerPoint slides， which makes the class more interesting and effective. The way of showing PPT is in a high power distance because the students should pay more attention to the instruction. It is also in a low context that the background information has to be provided because of the newly-introduced topic.

In most of the schools in China， there is a period about 30 minutes for the students to read English or Chinese aloud in every early morning， usually ended before 8 a.m.. The author often gives them a dictation to check their English words during this period. Dictation， which typically represents individualism and the high power distance， as well as the direct way of communication， is an exercise frequently used in consolidation with written work in Direct Method.

Second， Task-Based Approach will be linked to cultural values.

After three to five minutes warming up in Period 1， the author will ask them to go on to the reading passage consisting of 4 to 6 paragraphs. While learning the reading material， the learning process reflects the high power distance. The author will design some types of exercises， such as filling the blanks， matching the main idea of each paragraph， true or false questions， and multiple choice questions， all of which need to be finished individually. When doing these exercises， the high context that emphasizes all the students understanding of the passage is referred.

All the exercises that the author designs after the comprehension is to help the students think more about the deep meaning of the passage， so the author will give them some other tasks to finish in their own groups， such as a role-play and pair-works that stand for collectivism in low power distance done by a group of students， while interviews and surveys representing the individualism. These are all student-centered tasks in high context. Students representing their own groups compete with each other in class， which reflects culture in the masculine societies.

Third， Grammar Translation Method will be shown.

It is mostly used in Period 2 and 3， and it is the teacher-centered education that represents the high power distance and the high uncertainty avoidance as well as the masculine culture. It is also in the low context that the author often teaches the students the usage of a word or a phrase， and what they can do is only to listen to the author carefully and take notes constantly. Sometimes the author may ask some of them to make sentences by using the new words to reinforce the usage. Thus， it also shows the direct way of communication. In the process of teaching grammar， students learn grammatical rules by rote and then apply those rules by doing some exercises. In these two periods， the way they learn could be regarded as what it should be in the individualism as well.

Fourth， Audio-Visual Approach will also reflect some cultural values.

In Period 4， there is always a short reading passage， a listening task， an oral practice and a writing task. While listening， they sometimes listen to a MP3， and sometimes， watch a video without the subtitle， and after listening， they should finish the tasks designed before. Exercises for the listening part will be finished by individuals， which represents the direct way of communication and the low context. During oral practice， students perform the task in small groups in the collectivist cultures and the feminine culture in the small power distance. After these， there will be a writing task that is usually related to the unit topic for the students to practice， and in which， students as individualism express their own opinions independently and directly， as well as in the high context.

Some teaching methods are always used in the polychronic way. It is necessary to use different methods alternately in one class according to the concrete teaching materials. Each teaching method will reflect one or more cultural values that are not contradictory but acceptable. What people should do is to make better use of them.

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