2.2 Language to Learn Culture
Language is the central means of learning culture in the language classroom. In the language classroom, as in the culture at large, the language is also everywhere. You find it in the textbooks, audiotapes, videos, books, newspapers, magazines, movies and in the words exchanged between and among students and teachers. The culture is also present in many of these same materials, especially if they are authentic language material, used by members of the culture. In the classroom context, however, language and culture tend to be distinct and heated separately. While this perhaps has the disadvantage of providing an incomplete portrait of language-and-culture, the separation also has all undeniable advantage. Language and culture can be separated for pedagogical reasons. First of all, learners do benefits by concentrating only on mastery of linguistic forms including the cultural dimension could add unnecessary complexity. Second and most relevant to culture, we use language to learn culture, a separation that helps language learners. The language we use to learn culture is specialized. It is the language of the classroom, where culture is the topic and language the means to comprehend, analyze, and respond to it. To achieve this, four language functions are needed: language to participate in the culture, 1anguage to describe the culture, language to interpret the culture，and language to respond to the culture. These four functions mirror the stages of the cultural experience cycle: participation, description, interpretation, respondence —knowing how, knowing about, knowing why, and knowing oneself. In order to learn culture though experience, therefore, we need to use certain kinds of language at each step along the way.
2.3 Language to Participate in the Cultural Experience原文请+QQ752018766 辣.文^论,文'网
This language derives from the five dimensions of the culture and is represented in the classroom through the cultural experience. The cultural experience can consist of any representation of the culture in which 1earners engage through listening, speaking, reading, writing, observing or doing. The culture presented can be products, practices, perspectives, communities or persons. The paper will use the term cultural text to define any representation of the culture that is presented in the language classroom such as reading a passage, watching a film, preparing or eating food, participating in a role-play, writing a language journal, performing a folk dance, singing songs, or listening to a speech or teacher’s anecdotes about the culture different. Consider poetics as a cultural text. This features the language-and-culture needed to participate in cultural practices, where people need to express themselves, communicate, and carry out the affairs of their shared way of life. In the language classroom, the language of participation is removed from the cultural context in which it occurs. There are exceptions of course but for the most part the language to participate is modified to fit the classroom. It is tailored according to the curriculum, students’ background and knowledge, their level of proficiency and other factors. This language-and-culture is condensed, simplified, excerpted or otherwise modified so that learners can manage it. This modification is accomplished through activities that replicate social interactions in the culture: dialogues, role-plays, simulations, interviews, games or other activities that feature communication in the manner of members of the culture. In addition, other kinds of classroom based activities incorporate the language of participation. These include activities in which the language is used for self-expression or communication, such as asking questions, giving answers, or discussing what happened on the weekend. Regardless of the activities, in order to master the language of participation, learners need to practice in manipulating linguistic forms. This is often best achieved by separation language from culture, especially at lower levels of proficiency.
Again, this aspect of language is commonly referred to as functions-language functions or communicative functions. Functions emphasize the purposes that language serves for people of the culture, such as greeting, complimenting, story-telling, or thanking, the specific language that we use to carry out functions depends, of course, on the social situation, the people involved, the topics at hand and other factors. Knowing and choosing the appropriate language is essential to functions. Keep it in mind that verbal language is just one of many means of communication that people use in these situations. Gestures, facial expressions, eyes contact, touching, physical distance, silence and other factors all play all important role in functions. But for the moment, let us concentrate on written and spoken language.
上一页 [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] 下一页
英语教学中的文化意识Culture Consciousness in English Teaching 第3页下载如图片无法显示或论文不完整，请联系qq752018766
