A Study On The Current Situation Of High School English Teachers’ Understanding Of Cultural Awareness Teaching In Economically Underdeveloped Areas

With the slogan “Tell Chinese stories well in English” put forward,the importance of cultural awareness teaching has become increasingly evident.Students not only need to learn about the language knowledge but also need to carry forward Chinese culture in order for the rest of the world to gain a better understanding of China.However,previous research has demonstrated that the cultivation of cultural awareness among high school students is not optimistic,and due to the influence of geographical location and information traffic,the effectiveness of teachers’ cultural awareness teaching in some economically underdeveloped areas is worrying.Based on this problem,the current state of high school English teachers’ understanding of cultural awareness teaching in economically underdeveloped areas is investigated in depth in this research,hoping to give theoretical references and practical ideas for cultural awareness teaching in economically underdeveloped areas.This study relies on the relationship between language and culture and the theory of intercultural communication and takes English teachers’ understanding of cultural awareness teaching as the topic.This study selected 50 English teachers from five high schools in Shangluo as the research subjects and conducted a more in-depth investigation through questionnaires,tests,and interviews in four dimensions: the goals,contents,methods,and evaluation methods of cultural awareness teaching.This study aims to explore three questions:(1)What is the current state of cultural awareness among high school English teachers in economically-underdeveloped areas?(2)What is the current situation of high school English teachers’ understanding of cultural awareness teaching in economically-underdeveloped areas?(3)What are the problems that the English teachers have in understanding cultural awareness teaching? What are the reasons for them?The results of the survey and test are as follows: high school English teachers are not well-versed in cultural awareness,they have deviations in the understanding of goals of cultural awareness teaching,missing the key points of cultural awareness teaching,have unscientific teaching strategies for cultural awareness,and lack of a systematic evaluation system.The factors that affect high school English teachers’ understanding of cultural awareness teaching are from the teachers’ side,such as their low reserves of cultural literacy and their lack of understanding of the elaboration of cultural awareness;and from the schools’ side,such as the lack of training for teachers on cultural awareness teaching.On the basis of the findings of the preceding investigation,the author gives some corresponding suggestions in this regard.To increase the effectiveness of teachers’ understanding of cultural awareness teaching in economically underdeveloped areas,we must begin with the following considerations: the role of college entrance examinations should be considered by the educational administrative department as a guiding link,increase the proportion of cultural awareness in the examination;schools should pay close attention to the training of teachers’ cultural awareness and teaching ability.Lastly,teachers should examine the new curriculum standards thoroughly,and be aware of the objectives,content,methods,and evaluations of cultural awareness teaching.