A Systematic Way to Plan Culture Teaching and Enhance Intercultural Competence for English Majors

Culture teaching is an inseparable part of an English major program to enhance students＇ intercultural competence. Yet, in practice, culture teaching does not receive due attention. More often than not, culture is taught and intercultural competence is developed randomly by individual teachers. The practice lacks cooperation, unity and coherence at the curriculum level. This paper proposes a systematic approach to plan, organize and coordinate culture teaching and to enhance intercultural competence for English major students. The theoretical assumption is a language is inseparable from its relative culture and the foreign culture should be openly addressed in actual teaching.

Enhancing Cultural Awareness in the EFL Classroom： Theoretical Analysis and Strategies Development

As the world becomes more interconnected, learning a foreign language in the associated cultural context proves to be more efficient and effective. EFL （English as a Foreign Language） Teachers are sparing no efforts to raise students＇ awareness and understanding of the culture and to help students become interculturally competent. On the basis of thorough literature review on cultural study, this paper probes into theoretical analysis and strategic approaches of cultural learning in EFL classes. The extensive strategies are discussed and presented in the paper so as for more confidence and capabilities from practitioners incorporating sufficient cultural knowledge and understanding into successful EFL classroom.

The Importance of Parent＇s Intervention in Early Years

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of parent involvement and intervention in early childhood education. What formulates the lock and key theory in early childhood programs is parental participation versus educational achievement. Upon the parents＇ vital involvement, it is perceived that social and cognitive development, aided by educators, will be significantly achieved. Furthermore, parent＇s early intervention is an added value to classrooms and schools, for it creates a dimension of involvement in the decisions which shape the children＇s education as a whole. Moreover, and due to parent/teacher cooperation in the classroom and at home, the child＇s interest in learning will be triggered, yielding other positive outcomes. Therefore, people must emphasize the parent＇s role in order to aid children＇s complex and evolving multi-cultural and global nature.

Bridging Sociality and New Media Practice as a Lever to Intercultural Competency

This paper is based on the findings of a survey on 120 students involved in the Interdisciplinary Course on Intercultural Competences （ICIC）, a three-year EU Lifelong Intensive Program project aimed at developing intercultural competency in the education, social work and health care professions. The Program approached intercultural competency as a culturally aware ability to cope with unfamiliar situations continuously arising in the current ever-changing society, in which learning has become an ＂endemic condition＂, and the new media have created symbolic resources for actively expressing and constructing identities as an in-progress and negotiated project. Intercultural competency is therefore rethought from a holistic perspective as a part of an educational mission that particularly values one＇s communicative and social experiences as a strategic resource for facilitating learning processes and enhancing professional competency. The presented data show sociality as a clustering factor for intercultural learning and displays a factorial structure, from which a model for intercultural education is inferred, in which bridging social capital, media practice and reflective attitude become crucial for gaining and valuing competency in terms of human capital.

Cultural and Academic Meetings in the Writing Classroom： China and the West

With growing numbers of Chinese students entering Western universities, cultural understanding is of increasing importance, not least in higher education. Without a good understanding of the academic conventions of Western universities, Chinese students, and undergraduates in particular, are at a disadvantage in the multi-cultural classroom. Lack of knowledge of structural influences on higher education, including teacher-student relations, reference management practices, and assessment procedures, are likely to lead to failure and disappointment. This paper, which is based on writing workshops conducted at Beijing University and in Sweden （Kristianstad University and Linnaeus University） in 2014, focuses primarily on writing practices and conventions because written texts are the main means of assessment in higher education. Addressing four key problems encountered by Chinese undergraduate writers in Western universities, namely lack of familiarity with the structure of academic papers, lack of focus on relevant issues, copying and pasting without giving proper reference, and inadequate understanding and mastery of the conventions of academic English, this paper argues for greater awareness of cultural differences between the Chinese and Western systems of education. Not until this has been achieved can Chinese students realize their full potential at Western universities.

Teaching Literature Course in the Cultural Perspective

The course of English and American literature plays an important role in ELT （English Language Teaching）, however, English majors in class are tired of the conversationalist＇s introduction by the teacher of literary backgrounds, characters, plots, even the literary writing styles. Consequently, the course of literature goes into the bottleneck because of the null of cultural addition.The literature class seems out of moded, even CAI （Computing Aided Instruction） fails to motivate students. How to solve the problem？ This paper takes teaching methodology of literature in the cultural perspective to solve the problem. It is feasible for teachers to improve students＇ intercultural communication competence in cultural content imput in the literature course.

Analysis on chivalry and its influence

Knights appeared and flourished in the Middle Ages. Some scholars call the Middle Ages the ages of knights. Knights were cavalrymen in heavy armors and played a decisive role in the battlefield in the Middle Ages. They were also an important social class and strictly abided by the code of chivalry, which had a far reaching impact on the social culture and attitudes towards women of the Western Europe even after the decline of the knighthood.

Acquisition of pronunciation of consonant clusters by Arabic speakers of English as a second language

The study is based on an observation of the pronunciation of a group of undergraduate students of English as a Second Language （ESL） whose mother tongue is Arabic and who have no formal training in the spoken variety of English other than that received in the classroom. The study of acquisition of pronunciation of consonant clusters at morphological, particularly at the morphophonological levels indicates that the learners are sensitive to the syllabic structure viz., cccv type and cccvcc type, at the word-initial, medial and final positions. Samples of words with different consonant clusters were tested with a homogeneous group of students. Words of identical morphological categories were used as the data to test the students＇ level of perception. These were analyzed using Speech Analyzer Version 2.5. The data includes consonant clusters like plosive-fricative, plosive-plosive, fricative-fricative and plosive-fricative-trill/liquid combinations. The results varied according to the perceptual and articulatory abilities of the learners. It was observed that the plosive perception and acquisition of three-consonant clusters of plosive-plosive word initially, plosive-plosive combinations word finally and plosive-fricative type, posed more difficulty for the learners. The tendency to drop one of the consonants of the cluster was more pronounced with syllables ending in plural morphemes and those ending in -mp, -pt, -kt, -nt, -bt, etc. Difficulty was also noticed with the initial plosive＋/r/, plosive＋/1/combinations, especially in word initial positions. Across the syllable boundaries, these clusters are almost inaudible with some speakers. The difficulty in the articulation of these consonant clusters can be accounted for the mother tongue influence, as in the case of many other features. The results of the analysis have a pedagogical implication in the use of such words with consonant clusters, to teach reading skills to the students of undergraduate level in the present setting and promote self-learning through the use of speech tools.

Chinese Teachers＇ Understanding of Culture Teaching in ELT

In China, the teaching of culture was stipulated to be very important at the government level in the form of a curriculum in early 2000s. Now although the teachers seem to be fully aware of the significance of culture teaching, there are misunderstandings about it. A survey was conducted to find out how the teachers understand and meet the requirements of the curriculums. The results show even the teachers do not understand the objectives of ELT （English Language Teaching） stipulated in the curriculums. They need training and the requirements need clarification, so that the gap between what is expected and what is performed can be bridged.

The Strategy of Integrating Enterprise Culture into College English Teaching Under the New Curriculum Reform

With the overall promotion of the new curriculum reform, teachers’ teaching ideas have greatly changed. Under this background, how to apply the concept of new curriculum reform guide the reform of college English teaching is an important task. Therefore, it is very important to study the teaching strategies of college English teaching. Culture and language are complementary and inseparable, which requires us to carry out cultural teaching during English teaching process. In this paper, we focus on the strategy of integrating enterprise cultures into college English teaching, and discuss several cultural teaching problems in college English class. As a language required course, English not only strengthen the learners’ language skills, but also enhance humanistic quality of students. However, current college English teaching takes the examination as the goal, which cannot meet the needs of the learner’s professional stuff. We propose the strategy of integrating the professional background into English teaching, in order to improve the students’ ability of comprehensive application of English and the professional quality.

Current Situation of Cultural Conflict Between Teachers and Students in English Classes Provided by Colleges and Universities and Effective Solutions

At present, quality education is proceeding in full swing in China. English education provided by colleges and universities of China has gone through a series of reform and gained relatively rapid development to a certain degree. English has become an international language, and most companies have listed English proficiency as an important requirement for hiring employees, which indicates that English teaching in classrooms of colleges and universities is of great importance. However, cultural conflict between teachers and students in English classes provided by colleges and universities has been gradually drawing people＇s attention and has an impact on quality of English teaching provided by colleges and universities. In this paper, the current situation of cultural conflict is introduced and several solutions for solving such cultural conflicts are put forward, which may be viewed as a reflection.

Study of Culture Teaching in English Teaching of Senior Middle Schools

Language is a part of culture and the carrier of the culture. Foreign language study is not only the process of learning a language but also the process of taking the language as a means of information transmission to comprehend culture. With the implementation of the New Curriculum Standard （2017） in senior English, the notions of cultural awareness and culture instruction are being accepted and carried out in EFL （English as Foreign Language） classroom by English teachers. This paper tries to analyze the relationship between language and culture, the contents and goals in teaching foreign language and culture, the significance of teaching culture in foreign language education. This paper concludes with recommendations for improving culture teaching： Learning a foreign language is inseparable from learning its culture; The knowledge of culture differences may help students to make less pragmatic errors and become proficient in cross-cultural communication; Great efforts should also be paid to the development of the student’s cross-cultural awareness, and then the quality of English teaching could be really improved.

College English Curriculum Reform and Practice Based on Culture Cognitive Analysis From the New Media Prospective

With the increase of international cultural exchange, training and strengthening college students＇ cultural cognitive ability is a burgeoning research subject in today＇s foreign language teaching profession of colleges and universities Cross-cultural communication skills and cultural cognition abilities have become an important measure of the ability of the modem language talents. This paper tries to implement a comprehensive reform of college English curriculum system through an empirical research in order to improve students＇ cultural cognitive abilities and cross-cultural communicative competence and change the non-ideal situation in college English teaching. Its valuable experience can greatly promote language teaching and help other universities reform their college English curriculum.

An Exploration on ＂Cultivating Character＂ in the Courses of College English

The fundamental purpose of Virtue education for college students is to carry out the education policy of moral education first and cultivate college students＇ correct attitude towards life, work, helping them achieve the happy life. This paper, based on the understanding of the inner link between the character of the college English course culture contains and students＇ virtue cultivation, analyzes the characteristics of our College English curriculum culture such as generation, counterbalance and practice and puts forward strategies to cultivate student＇s deliberating, self-supervision and cautious action by teachers＇ teaching wisdom, the design of the teaching evaluation and contents and students＇ learning experience step by step and so on.

Understanding ＂Shanghai mathematics exchange＂ between Shanghai and Britain from social and cultural perspectives

＂Shanghai mathematics exchange＂ has been a prevalent theme, as well as a controversial topic. The program of＂mathematics exchange＂ which was executed by Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and the Department of Education： which is the highest performing jurisdiction in the world for mathematics. It is important to analyse and understand this project from political, cultural, social and other different perspectives. Meanwhile, This article applies Foucault and Bourdieu theories to illustrate the exchange programme and the changes of curriculum reform both in Britain and China. Practical evidences have provided the functions and the driving forces will be supplied for the further development of education continuously.

Reading Course and Cross-Cultural Communication of Tourism English

Tourism English reading is the course with the largest amount of information that students know and understand professional knowledge background of tourism, development history of tourism industry and classification and development status of tourism industry; which is also a course that students learn with relative difficulty. In tourism English reading teaching, introducing the cross-cultural communication knowledge and enhancing cross-cultural communication ability will help students to overcome the obstacles in reading, so as to make this course play its role.

DEVELOPMENT OF INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCE IN IN-SERVICE TEACHERS' TRAINING

Teachers often feel unsure about English language teaching in intercultural dimension because they think the courses they took before are language knowledge oriented. Even though they hear about language-culture teaching theory and practice in the classroom, they are lack of confidence in trying to introduce a cultural dimension. The purpose of the article is to discuss how to integrate the theory of English teaching in intercultural dimension with its practical application in the classroom and to what extent the in-service teacher training course designed for middle school English teachers in Xinjiang can contribute to promoting their acquisition of intercultural communicative competence. The innovation requires changes in teachers' self-concept, in their professional qualifications, in their attitudes and skills towards English learning and teaching. Some activities for the course are presented and some ideas may serve suggesting approaches to teacher training.

Peer Teaching as a Pedagogical Strategy for Autonomy in Teacher Education

This action research study investigates peer teaching as a pedagogical strategy to raise pre- service second language teachers＇ awareness of autonomy in learning and teaching. Classroom observation, focus group interviews, and questionnaire were used to （a） explore how the student teachers engaged in the practices of peer teaching and learning and reflected on their relevance to their own future teaching careers and （b） identify the major benefits and challenges of peer teaching from the students＇ perspectives. Most of the students actively engaged in peer teaching during the course and considered it as a strategy that they might later use in their teaching. Issues such as awareness of teaching elements, opportunities for peer learning, cultural diversity, and English as a medium of instructions brought both benefits and challenges for students in the process of peer teaching. The study points to a research agenda for pre-service teacher education for autonomy that focuses on the long-term impact of students＇ experiences of a range of pedagogical strategies for autonomy on their future teaching.