An Empirical Research On Cultivating Rural Primary School Students’ Cultural Awareness In English Teaching-A Key Competencies Perspective

Language and culture are inseparable and interrelated.Language is not only the carrier of the culture,it is also a part of culture（1998）.The cultivation of cultural awareness is an indispensable and important part of language teaching.In English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education（2022edition）,the importance of cultivation of students’ key competencies is emphasized again,this includes language ability,cultural awareness,thinking quality and learning ability.Therefore,it is important to cultivate students’ cultural awareness in primary school English teaching.In recent years,the scholars abroad and at home have conducted multi-perspective and multi-level research on the cultivation of cultural awareness,and put forward theories and related teaching models.Among them,Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and Chen’s（2001）three kinds of models of teaching culture attract special attention.This study adopts the integrative model of teaching culture as empirical research basis,and the research conclusion provides some references for the cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching in rural primary schools.This study takes 129 students of senior grades and five English teachers from rural primary school in Ar Horqin Chifeng as the research subjects.In this study,the research methods of questionnaire,interview,test and experiment are applied,aiming at answering three research questions:（1）What is the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation in rural primary school English teaching?（2）What are the factors that influence the cultivation of cultural awareness in rural primary school English teaching?（3）Can the application of integrative model of teaching culture improve students’ culture awareness from the perspective of key competencies?According to the collection and analysis of the data of questionnaire,interview and tests,the major findings of the research are as follows: 1.The cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching is not ideal.Students hold a negative attitude towards the teaching and learning of culture,and their cultural awareness level is relatively low.Teachers recognized the importance of cultural awareness cultivation.However,they pay seldom attention to the cultivation of cultural awareness 2.The main influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation of primary school in rural areas are English teachers’ poor cultural awareness,improper teaching and unreasonable design of cultural exercises.3.The average value of cultural awareness test of students in experimental class has apparently improved compared with that before the experiment.The average values of six dimensions of questionnaire of students in experimental class have improved compared with that before the experiment.Besides,the average values of students’ attitude towards teaching of culture and learning of culture and intercultural communication awareness and competence have been greatly improved compared with those before the experiment.It is proved that the integrative model of teaching culture can improve the level of cultural awareness of primary school students.Based on the above research results,the author states the implications for the future practice of culture awareness cultivating and research in related fields.And the author also summarizes the limitations and suggestions of the research,hoping to be helpful to future study and the cultivation of cultural awareness.