The Survey and Analysis of Cultural Teaching in College English Teaching

【Abstract】Culture plays a critical role in cultivating qualified international talents. However， quite a few graduates are incapable of communicating with foreigners successfully for their weak cultural awareness. Based on questionnaires and interviews， this research discovers that many English teachers and learners fail to pay enough attention to cultural teaching as a result of influences from society and themselves.

【Key words】Cultural Teaching； College English Teaching

1. Research Background

In China College English teaching plays a critical role in cultivating international talents. It is true that thousands of graduates have difficulty in communicating with the westerners even if they have passed the CET4 and CET6. Quite a few of them concentrate their efforts on language， ignoring the relevant culture appreciation in college English. To dig the actual materials and find the problems， questionnaires and interviews are designed to reveal cultural education in college English teaching.

2. Literature review

Culture plays an important role in shaping the style of communication. Hall （1959） argued that “culture is communication and communication is culture”. In linguistics， the widely known Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis suggests that our language helps mould our way of thinking and consequently different languages may probably express speakers unique ways of understanding the world （Hu Zhuanglin， 2006）. Hu Wenzhong （1990） holds that one cannot master a foreign language if he pays no attention to the connotation of a language but its form.

Moran （2001） mentioned that cross-cultural teaching was not simply to teach another cultural knowledge， but to cultivate students comprehensive ability to appreciate some particular and common features of some culture by stressing certain history， literature， customs and so on. Therefore， Liddicoat （2004） put forward cross-cultural teaching should cover four parts： culture learning， culture contrast， culture exploration and the identification of “third identity” between cultures.

Zhao Zhongjian （1999） first defined the cultural education， and pointed out it covers the acknowledgment of esteem of various cultures， cultural heritage and intercultural education. The purposes of these questionnaires and interviews is to learn about the cultural situations in present college English teaching， including the current involvement in cultural background， the problems existing in college English teaching and learning.endprint

3. Design of the Questionnaires and Interviews

1） Objects

The objects are 600 freshmen in Sanda University. To have an objective and convincing statistics， they are from 10 different departments， covering both the Sciences and the Arts. In the meantime both boys and girls are chosen. The former is 290 and the latter is 310. Teachers are English teachers for at least 5 years. Also half of them are men teachers and the other are women teachers.

2） Questionnaire and Interview

This research covers a questionnaire of 18 questions among 600 students and an interview of 30 college English teachers. Question 1 to 7 are about the students present cultural attachment and cultural problems they encounter in college English learning. Question 8 to 13 touch on the objective aspects concerning cultural acquisition in English learning， like the teaching materials and influences from teachers. Question 14 to 18 is centered on individual efforts to acquire cultural knowledge. College English teachers， they talk about the cultural instillation and problems they encounter in English teaching and state the frustrations they encounter while transmitting the cultural knowledge.

4. Findings From the Questionnaires and Interviews

1） The Students Weak Awareness of Cultural Learning

Question 1 and 2 show more than half of college students have a vague knowledge of west customs and face cultural conflicts in daily English teaching. Question 4 to 6 reflect few of them pay much attention to the cultural information in films and literature books. Question 8 to 13 indicate over half of the students respond that the college teaching involves enough west customs and cultures but they seldom make any comparisons between the Chinese culture and the west culture. Most English teachers say that students tend to be impatient in learning about its background information. Question 14 to 18 show two third of the students admit that they seldom search for cultural information concerning teaching texts， nor do they join in communicative activities like English corner.

2） College Teachers Insufficient Involvement in Cultural Teaching

By comparison， the majority of the English teachers steer their key teaching points to vocabulary， grammar， reading skills and so on. In addition， some English teachers complain that they stop their cultural instillation halfway for the consideration of the students uncooperative responses. Besides， the girl students are more attentive to the west culture in literature books and cooperative in English classes than the boys. What they share is their common ignorance of the effective acquisition of cultural knowledge in college English teaching.endprint

5. The Analysis of the Reasons for the Findings Above

According to the findings of the questionnaires and interviews， the college students are generally insensitive to the cultural information. Their English lessons are still exam-oriented. Now we will look for the further reasons behind this present situation.

1） The Influences From the Society

Accordingly English teaching has been centered on knowledge teaching， words explaining， grammar analyzing and sentence practicing， which ignores its context and the English classes turn out to be filled with vocabularies and grammar. Nowadays， the marks are still considered to outweigh anything else in English teaching. Since the exams like CET4 and CET6 never test much about cultural knowledge， they are accordingly ignoring the culture.

Whats more， graduates they are attentive to knowledge concerning the exams， which in turn influences the teaching environment in English classes. College students flood into the competitions for winning various qualifications. Moreover， the campus life is comparatively free without the supervision of head teachers.

2） The Influences on the Part of College Teachers

Nowadays， the English lessons are usually arranged in multi-media classrooms. The teachers make their PPT after class. The teachers may mention some cultural knowledge between the classes， yet they tend to teach the students what it is in a rush way rather than teach the students why it is and how to view the different cultures. Consequently， they feed on the students with language knowledge， which takes up a majority of the English class.

In addition， many English teachers express their misgivings about teaching methods. It is common to notice that most of the college students retain their studying habit of senior middle school. They have been accustomed to listening to the explanations of key language points in class quietly and taking notes when necessary. The teachers make concessions for the limitation of teaching speed and content. Consequently the college English classes continue to focus on teaching language points.

3） The Influential Factors of College Students

Nowadays， the majority of college students consider English as a tool， and they learn English with the purpose of passing various tests. As a result， they are in a state of passive reception， following their English teachers. Though the college students are not burdened with mountains of study tasks， they spend little time on searching for related knowledge about west culture. While reading foreign literature or seeing English films， they care more about the plot than the cultural annotation inside. Though they all agree that the cultural instillation is more desirable and fascinating in English class， they make little contributions themselves to promote their cultural sensitivity.endprint

6. Conclusion

As what have been stated above， cultural education in college English teaching is not satisfactory at present. On the one hand， college students have a weak awareness of culture learning； on the other hand， teachers fail to touch much on culture teaching. To meet the requirement of college English teaching and the needs of international talents， it is highly crucial to strength cultural teaching in the following English teaching.

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作者简介：赵高月（1986-），女，汉族， 河南南阳人，助教。研究方向： 语料库语言学与外语教学。endprint