The Importance Of Infiltration Of Chinese Culture Into English Teaching In Senior High School

Language is part of culture. Language teaching and culture teaching are closely linked to each other. Many English teachers in China have realized the importance of cultural teaching in English language teaching. But English textbooks used by senior high schools involve much about the culture and custom of English-speaking countries rather than about the knowledge of Chinese culture. As a result, learners lack of the knowledge of their own culture, and they are poor in expressing Chinese culture in English in an accurate and appropriate way. Chinese culture aphasia happens when learners encounter intercultural communication, which also leads to communication barriers. A lack of such competence often misleads foreigners’understanding of Chinese culture. The current condition of English teaching could not meet the learning requirements of the learners. The final goal of learning language is to communicate with others. English Curriculum Standards for compulsory full-time High school has made clear that the fundamental aim of the new curriculum is to develop students’ comprehensive language competence. In fact, the communication of culture is a two-way road in cross-cultural communication. We should not only learn from the essence of foreign culture, but also pay attention to the native culture input. We still have the responsibility to develop and promote Chinese culture to the outside world.Over the recent years, many researchers have realized the importance of infiltration of Chinese culture into English language teaching after their investigations and analysis. It is also a good help in developing cross-cultural communication competence. Some theories related to language, culture and cross-cultural communication provides the fundamental theory bases for the thesis. Discussions of the current situation of Chinese culture teaching in English class have been made based on the investigation conducted in a middle school during the teaching practice of the author. It also shows the learners’ attitudes towards culture teaching. Some problems in current English teaching have been found. Moreover, an analysis of cultural content in English textbooks used in senior high schools and the new curriculum clearly shows the imbalance proportion of Chinese culture and foreign culture. At last, the thesis attempts to highlight the importance of infiltration Chinese culture into English language teaching. Some principles and methods are suggested in order to find an effective way to develop communicative competence of senior high students and finally to meet the needs of cultural communication.