Cultural Introduction in English Vocabulary Teaching in China

Every language possesses three cardinal elements： phonetic element, lexical element, and grammatical structure, of which lexis is the fundamental pillar that supports the huge system of a language. The close relationship between language and culture is most readily seen in words. In fact, being the most active and elastic element of a language, vocabulary has the greatest culture-loading capacity. Vocabulary teaching is an integral part of foreign language teaching. Its efficiency has a direct relation with the development of the learners＇ communicative competence. Vocabulary is culture-bound, so it is self-evident that culture introduction is indispensable in teaching. The author attempts to make a comparison between English and Chinese cultures, to make clear how cultural disparities exist in English and Chinese vocabulary, and to put forward some constructive suggestions on how to integrate culture into vocabulary teaching in Chinese schools, so as to promote the efficiency of vocabulary teaching and improve learners＇ competence in intercultural communication.