The Interrelation between Language and Culture in English Teaching

In daily communication, language differences significantly reflect the nature of cultural difference. To improve students' ability of cross-cultural communication, teachers are not only supposed to make students master language itself, but also should help them to understand cultural differences between their mother language and English.

Promoting Local Culture Learning in the Context of Foreign Language Instruction

Foreign language learning is also culture learning,which is a dynamic process of bridging the connections between the local culture and the foreign culture.Based on a survey of 667 teachers of English and 278 students in colleges and universities in China,this paper first reviews the current research on the promotion of Chinese culture into the classroom teaching in the context of foreign language learning and then explores future prospects in this area of teaching.The discussion starts with the discussion on these major questions in the process of incorporating local culture in the form of telling stories about China,i.e.,“why need we tell the stories”,“who tells the stories”,“who leads in telling the stories”,“how can we tell the stories”,“what can we tell in the stories”,“where can we tell the stories”,and“how well can we tell the stories”.It continues proposing to pay attention to interdisciplinary research on discourse construction,communication modes and evaluation of communicative effectiveness,and also the design of foreign language curriculum and teaching materials.It concludes that incorporating local culture into the foreign language instruction is of great help to widen students’horizons,cultivate their language proficiency,enhance their culture awareness,strengthen their confidence,and realize shared appreciation of civilization with the people from other cultural backgrounds.

Intrinsic and Indispensable Relationships between Language Learning and Culture Learning-Based on Case Studies of Cross-cultural Communication

Language and culture are closely related with each other: language is the carrier and a fundamental part of culture, while culture has an intrinsic and indispensable impact on language and is also reflected in language. So if in the language learning and teaching, attention is only paid to the linguistic forms but the relationship between language and culture is ignored, then the learner's linguistic ability will not be equivalent to his or her social and cultural communication competence. Especially in the times of globalization with increasing transna tional and cross-cultural communication, the knowledge of cultural background is the must prerequisite for not only the avoidance of cul tural "conflict" but the success of communication. Based on the studies of several cross-cultural communication cases and the analysis of the relationship between language and culture, including the famous Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, this paper is aimed to analyze the intrinsic and in dispensable relationship between language learning and culture learning.

A Study on the Integration of Chinese Culture in High School English Teaching

The inseparable relationship between language and culture indicates that culture teaching is indispensable in English teaching.The ultimate goal of culture teaching in English teaching is to cultivate learners’cross-cultural communication skills.Cross-cultural communication is a two-way process,which requires not only knowledge of English culture but also the use of English as a medium for disseminating Chinese culture to the outside world.However,in actual English teaching,the teaching of Chinese culture is a mere formality,and the teaching effect is not obvious.Therefore,it is necessary to conduct a survey and research on Chinese culture teaching in high school English classrooms to understand its current situation,existing problems,and their causes,so as to provide suggestions for Chinese culture teaching in high school.

An Introduction to the Dissemination of Chinese Culture in English Teaching in Colleges and Universities

Language and culture are closely related,and understanding the cultural knowledge embedded in the process of language learning is an important goal of English teaching in colleges and universities.At present,the dissemination of Chinese culture in English teaching in colleges and universities is lacking,which affects the improvement of students’intercultural communication skills.In order to effectively solve such problems,we need to take effective measures to disseminate Chinese culture by combining teaching content and students’characteristics.This paper summarizes the problems of Chinese culture dissemination in English teaching in colleges and universities,and explores effective countermeasures and teaching considerations,hoping to provide teachers with valuable guidelines.

The Differences between Chinese and American Language and Culture and Its Implications for College Language Teaching and Learning

Chinese and American language and culture differ from each other in five ways as Hypotactic language vs. Paratactic language, Analytical thinking vs. Synthetic thinking, Direct thinking vs. Indirect thinking, Individualism vs. Collectivism and Ethics-based vs. Legislation-based. Their implications for college language teaching and learning are worth our attention.

Models for Teaching Culture in Computer-Assisted Language Learning

CALL （computer-assisted language learning） has tremendously transformed the teaching of language, with its wide application in many aspects of language teaching. However, how to integrate CALL into the teaching of culture is still rarely discussed. The purpose of the paper is to explore feasible models for teaching culture in CALL and their effects on students＇ acquisition process. Based on two fundamental pedagogical approaches （participatory pedagogy and multiliteracies pedagogy） for teaching culture, this paper proposes three pedagogical models （problem-posing model, web-quest model, and computer-supported collaborative learning model） for teaching culture in CALL. In the end, this paper illustrates a combination of the three models in real CALL setting by a cultural teaching case. A questionnaire survey and interviews are conducted to reflect on students＇ feedback, which gives an insight into possible adjustments in teaching models and the paper also proposes future possibilities in applying these models into teaching culture

Study on Current Situation and Countermeasures of English Language Culture Teaching for English Majors in Local Normal Universities

At present, English language teaching for English majors in local normal universities in China has been restricted by many aspects of factors, and the current situation is not optimistic. The main reason for this situation is that the teachers and students of English majors in some local normal universities have some deviation in understanding the English language. The teachers can not have the right attitude towards English language culture teaching,and they make one-sided emphasis on the skill learning of English language majors,but ignore the normal teaching of professional English language culture. To improve this situation and improve the overall level of English majors in normal univerities, it requires us teachers and students to work together, improving the overall level of this course from the two aspects of ＂teaching＂ and ＂learning＂ , in order to help students to truly grasp the English language culture and skillfully use English in daily life and work.

Application of Popular Media Culture in English Language Teaching

Huge development and rapid evolution has set new trend of language use and language study. Younger generations keen on popular media culture in daily life as well as language study. Language teachers keep up with the development to explore how to use popular media culture in classroom teaching. Comparing a dispute question of whether putting media culture in language education or not and then illustrating some relevant literatures of application of new media education to explain the necessity and tendency of this new education style. Recent researches find the links between popular culture and encouragement of young learners' motivation of English study. There are plenty of popular media culture materials while numerous teachers prefer to use video clips of animation or popular TV drama as a specific popular culture in English teaching especially to vocational college students.

Analyzing Culture of Learning and Teaching in the Iranian Secondary Schools English Language Course Books： Prospect

Knowing and analyzing the ＂culture of learning and teaching＂ in a coursebook or series of course books can contribute to teachers＇ and students＇ success in the educational and pedagogical goals and objectives. Cultures of learning and teaching refer to the perspectives of teachers and learners towards learning and teaching. Most of the research studies conducted in this field have referred to values and attitudes related to good learning and teaching as reflected through observations, interviews and questionnaires. However, just few studies have examined this term with regard to language teaching materials, and course books. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to introduce, investigate, and analyze the cultures of learning and teaching in Iranian secondary school course books entitled Prospect series. Based on the model used in this study, the cultures of learning and teaching in Prospect series were investigated as reflected in their external features including aims and objectives cited in the introduction, tables of content, and layout of the students＇ books, and internal features including task instructions and visual images in students＇ book plus the instructions in the teacher＇s book. Each of these features as well as the pedagogical issues of the Prospect series were provided and elaborated.

An Empirical Research on Integrating Chinese Traditional Culture into College English Teaching

198 non-English freshmen students from Shandong Yingcai College were selected as research subjects.The subjects were divided into the experimental group(EG) and the control group(CG).The students in EG were taught English integrated Chinese traditional culture for three semesters,while the ones in CG were taught as usual.The results indicate that the integration of Chinese culture broadens the students' horizons and improves the students' ability to express Chinese culture in English and intercultural communicative competence.

Collective Oriented Culture and Its Negative Impact upon Oral English Teaching

As one of the most distinguished features of Chinese Culture,collective oriented culture is the deep structure of Chinese cultural psychology which has shaped Chinese character and influenced their behavior.As a result of it,Chinese students suffer this negative effect from collective orientated culture when acquiring English,especially in oral English acquisition.TEFL teachers should be aware of cultural psychology and try their best to minimize its negative effect instead of neglecting or even enlarging it during oral English teaching.

A Variety of Cultures Represented in English Language Textbooks： A Critical Study at Saudi University

Textbooks material is one of the important issues that are worthy to investigate in order to enrich student＇s engagement and interaction in EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classrooms. In this study, the author argues that textbooks materials used in academic institutions may well take a significant part in generating an active environment in EEL classrooms. It is believed that more opportunities will be created for students to be more involved, active, and able to understand the content being addressed more effectively. Yet, by looking at the textbooks being utilised （at a university context where the author teaches）, one can notice that student＇s culture （Eastern） is to a large extent missing in these textbooks, most of these books instead represent dominantly ＂Western＂ culture namely American and British cultures. This can deafly be depicted by topics discussed, pictures, clothing, names, and many other issues portrayed in these textbooks. This study is an attempt to challenge and problematize such domination of Western cultures portrayed in the content of English textbooks used in academic institutions not merely within Saudi Arabia but also extended to other countries and nations in the world.

The Effective Ways to Integrate Excellent Traditional Culture Into College English Teaching—Taking Tea Culture as an Example

Further strengthening the integration of traditional culture and college English teaching has a great impact on the cultivation of students’comprehensive moral literacy and values.At the same time,the ingenious integration of tea culture into college English teaching not only helps to enhance students’cultural self-confidence,but also helps to effectively carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture.Therefore,according to the tea culture,this paper describes in detail the practical significance of integrating tea culture into college English education,and then puts forward that tea culture has become an effective way of college English teaching,hoping to bring the students’English learning ability to a certain extent.At the same time,it can further promote and develop China’s tea culture.

Language, Culture & Teaching of English Reading

A culture has a close connection with a particular language and plays an important role in the learning and teaching of it. This paper is to discuss the necessity to strengthen students’ culture awareness, and to present some effective approaches to the instruction of cultural knowledge in teachng of English reading.

A new strategy of integrating American culture with English teaching ＆ learning by using VOA Special English feature programs

The paper mainly studies a new way of combining American culture with English language teaching and learning by means of the VOA Special English feature programs. It is based on a 5-year period of teaching practice, experience and reflection. This interactive, innovative, productive and student-centered approach is a far cry from the rigid, old, unproductive and teacher-centered approach of teaching British and American culture without combining language learning and practice as is commonly used here in Chinese colleges. The author also throws some light on how to use on-line teaching resources and how to cultivate independent learning on the part of the students he has worked with.

Exploring English Language Learning Policies in Iran Based on Secondary School Course Books for Learning English in Light of Globalization and Culture

With the globalization of English, the macro and micro cultures of the users of English around the world interact intensively. Considering these conditions, the local and global cultural interface seems an important issue which needs to be clarified in the materials and books used for learning English. Thus, the focus of this study was to explore the language learning policy of the new Iranian English course book at high schools, Prospect 1, recently published and taught for a year in Iran, in light of globalization and culture. This qualitative study was conducted through carrying out semi-structured interviews. The participants of this study were 30 teachers of Ministry of Education, who had the experience of teaching Prospect I for a year and they were mostly chosen from Mashhad and the rest from other cities of Khorasan province, Iran. The interview contained four main questions which were posed to the teachers. The findings of the study indicate that the language learning policy of Iran need to pay more attention to the learners＇ intercultural communicative competence because it mainly attempts at teaching English language focusing on the home culture in the Iranian context. The article ends with some pedagogical implications and more recommendations for developing research studies.

The Culture Importing In English Language Teaching

With the advancement of economic globalization, our country needs more and more English talents with international vision. University English Language Teaching is not just limited to listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also develops students ＇intercultural communicative competence, so it requires teachers to import culture in the teaching process and cultivate the students＇ cultural awareness.

Necessity of Teaching Culture in Foreign Language Classroom

This paper expounds on the importance of teaching cultural things in foreign language classroom. Some commonly seen ＂cultural mistakes＂ are probed in detail to reveal that cultural awareness plays a crucial role in cross-cultural communication and teaching culture can greatly boost students＇ interest in learning a foreign language.