A Lesson Study:Cultivating Students' Cultural Awareness In High School English Classes

It is widely recognized by the linguists from China and abroad that one cannot teach a language without teaching its related culture.This research lays its foundation on teaching practices in the senior high school English classes and has its bases on the research achievements of language-culture linguistic studies from China and abroad as well as the principles of educational psychologies such as humanism,constructivism and schema theory.Under the guidance of the newly-issued curriculum standard accompanying the new curriculum reform promoted by the department of national education,along with the research results of teaching resources for cultivating cultural awareness of the course book series Advance with English,this research digs into all sorts of resources,and tries to find about the two following questions through a lesson study.1)Can senior high English classes be integrated with cultural awareness cultivation?2)How can teachers design cultural activities according to different kinds of cultural resources,to cultivate students'cultural awareness and develop their language competence effectively?The course book Advance with English is mainly loaded with four kinds of cultural resources:reading material,picture material,vocabulary material and activity material.This research applies the research method lesson study,which includes academic discussion,classroom record and following-up practice circles,combined with other qualitative study forms,such as interview,which is conducted among students and English teachers,into senior high English classes.This research has made the following findings.1)Senior high English classes can and must be integrated with cultural awareness cultivation properly.2)With the in-depth development of cultural awareness cultivating material which is designed for a variety of lessons that are sorted into reading comprehension,language items,aural-oral teaching,vocabulary building and synthetical activities,teachers can adopt various approaches.As for reading,cultural extension,cultural comparison and cultural association activities are recommended.As for pictures,cultural supplement,cultural explanation and cultural differentiation strategies are recommended.As for vocabulary,cultural commentary and cultural elaboration strategies can not only help cultivate students' cultural awareness but also make classes interesting.As for activities,cultural cooperation and cultural role-play strategies are to create a pleasant cultural atmosphere where students' cultural awareness can be cultivated spontaneously.This research also finds that the cultural awareness is yet in an equally good position to be cultivated in after-class activities such as extensive reading,audio-visual media intervention and other school-wide activities.In conclusion,teachers are able to cultivate students' cultural awareness in senior high school English classes to some extent due to various approaches,and are thus able to enhance students' language skills,communicative competence and intercultural communication competence which contribute to senior high students' comprehensive ability to use English.