Teaching is an activity which is embedded within a set of culturally bound assumptions about teachers, teaching, and learners. These as summations reflect what the teacher’s responsibility is believed to be, how learning is understood, and how students are expects to interact in the classroom. In some cultures, teaching is viewed as a teacher-controlled and directed process. For example, the Chinese attitude toward learning has been summarized in these terms:
Learning involves mastering a body of knowledge that is presented by a teacher in chunks small enough to be relatively easily digested. Both teachers and learners are concerned with the end product of learning, that is, they expect that the learner will, at an appropriate time, be able to reproduce the knowledge in the same form as it was presented to him by his teacher.
1.2.2 Student’s Role
Truly indeed, compared with American students, Chinese are more passive and obedient, and they seldom ask questions openly in class. In Chinese culture questioning may be seen to represent a challenge to the teacher. On the bright side, they are also more diligent and possess excellent powers of concentration. Perhaps one of the most noticeable characteristics is that Chinese students are all inclined to obviate direct disagreement and confrontation in the classroom.
Recent studies even a local study provide insight into the different learning styles and practices of Asian and in particular Chinese students studying in a European country. They provide a cultural context for the Chinese approach to copying material for assignments, both from colleagues and from external sources such as the Internet. The Chinese regarding copying as a valid method of learning, as opposed to the popular Western view which regards such copying as plagiarism and cheating.
II. Differences between English and Chinese language and culture
English as an international language plays an important role in intercultural communication. Teaching English as a foreign language in the Chinese context should not only include the forms of the language but its social functions as well. As the teachers, they have the responsibility to help students learn about the difference between Chinese culture and Western culture, and different speech act sets in two cultures.
Teaching English in the Chinese context should be a course with its objective of development of students’ competence rather than their formal knowledge of English. This course should be student-oriented, since competence is something one can acquire or learn for oneself but not something that can be given or taught by a teacher. To our delight, speech acts theory has been applied in English classroom and more and more teachers adopt communicative approach in their teaching. Since language and culture are inseparable, one cannot master the spirit of a foreign language without knowing its culture. a. Language and culture can not be separated and language is a part of culture. Every language reflects the relative social culture and culture gives the rich meaning to language.
2.1 Differences Between English and Chinese Culture
2.1.1 The difference of cultural knowledge
The cultural knowledge including astronomy and geography, political history, military and economy, scientific development, literature and art, life and other aspects of knowledge. To read the original works, understand foreigners speaking, for polytechnic college students, it is necessary to improve the cultural quality, because when they are in the process of professional learning, they rarely regard this knowledge accumulation. Therefore in the teaching, teachers must consciously guide, and timely supplement the relevant cultural background knowledge. For example, in the teaching of "core" English University second sixth unit Passage A Burial Customs in Ancient Egypt, a teacher, it is necessary before the class that introduce the Egyptian history, geography to students one by one, it will plays an important role to help the students understand the text . 中美文化差异对中学英语课堂教学影响(3):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_39087.html