On Cultural Instruction In English Class At Chinese Senior Middle School

Cultural instruction stands out in English teaching at Chinese senior middle school, as has been prescribed in the New English Curriculum Standard. In this thesis, why and how we should carry out cultural instruction at middle school are discussed. Without adequate cultural knowledge, misunderstanding may occur in intercultural communication, even though the sentences or words are grammatically correct. In the course of English teaching and learning, cultural awareness, cultural understanding and intercultural communicative competence are to be developed as well as the language skills.This thesis tries to expound the relationship between culture and language, as well as the importance and necessity of cultural instruction. By consulting the New English Curriculum Standard and making a survey among teachers and students at senior middle school, I discuss the requirements for cultural instruction Also presented are the present situation, the major methods and the existing difficulties in teaching culture. Based on the findings, some problems are revealed, including teachers' attitude towards cultural teaching and the effect of NMET. Then the thesis goes on to analyze these problems. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to help improve cultural teaching in class. These suggestions focus on enhancing students' cultural awareness, intercultural communicative competence and their language skills in the hope of meeting the demands set by the New English Curriculum Standard.