The Impact of American Culture on English Teaching

【Abstract】Culture can be most simply defined as a set of shared ideas, or the customs, beliefs, and knowledge that characterized a way of life. Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. In teaching, teachers should attach importance to cultural differences and study these differences.

【Key Words】American Culture； English Language； English Teaching

【中图分类号】H31 【文献标识码】A 【文章编号】2095-3089（2016）02-0117-01

1.Concept of culture

All of the customs, beliefs, values, knowledge and skills that guide a peoples behavior along shared paths are part of their culture. Culture can be divided into material aspects (the products of a peoples arts and technology) and nonmaterial aspects (a peoples customs, beliefs, values, and patterns of communication). People throughout the world have different cultures. Thus their standards for behavior often differ. We tend to assume that certain behaviors have pretty much the same meaning around the world, and we anticipate that other people will act as we do. But this is clearly not the case.

2.Relationship between English language and American culture

Language is a part of culture and plays a very important role in it. On the one hand, without language, culture would not be possible. On the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. It reflects culture. Language and culture interact and understanding of one requires understanding of the other. Learning English well means more than merely mastering the pronunciation, grammar, words and idioms. It means learning also to see the world as native speakers of that language see it, learning the ways in which their language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of their society, learning to understand their “language of the mind”. Learning a language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture.

In our daily life, when we communicate with the Americans, its fairly common for us to face the embarrassment. Because of cultural differences, misunderstandings may arise, although the English language used in communication may be faultless. The same words or expressions may not mean the same thing to different peoples. Because of cultural differences, a serious question may cause amusement or laughter；a harmless statement may cause displeasure or anger. Because of cultural differences, jokes by an American maybe received with blank faces and stony silence.

3.Importance of American cultural background knowledge in English teaching

Reading English articles requires a certain language basis, but the competence of reading comprehension is not entirely related to ones language level. Knowledge of American cultural background is also important. Reading is a process affected by integration of ones language knowledge, cultural background knowledge and other professional knowledge, and a process of continuous guesses and corrections according to available language material, cultural background and logical reasoning. Generally speaking, Chinese people study Chinese without the difficulties aroused by cultural background. However, when we read English articles, differences between Chinese and American culture often bring us many difficulties.

Idiom is an important part of English and American culture. They are often hard to understand and hard to use correctly. They are almost impossible to understand from the meanings of the individual words. And with English idioms, even the same words may have different meanings. Difficulties in reading cannot be completely solved by ones language knowledge, because works of a people cannot be separated from the peoples cultural tradition. So, in teaching reading, a teacher should explain grammatical difficulties as well as expound cultural background.

4.The teaching methods of American cultural background knowledge

It is not easy to teach American cultural background knowledge. Firstly, teachers must be acquainted with the differences between Chinese and American cultures. Teachers can provide cultural information, as well as make students express themselves correctly in different occasions, and the latter is more important.

A proportion of American material and authentic material should be used, especially dialogues, because its more authentic and reflects cultural behavior followed by speakers. Authentic material refers to material selected from authentic activities concerning social factors. Next, teachers should explain cultural factors involved in the material with purpose. Secondly, encourage students to read extensively, including American novels, magazines, and newspapers etc. Thirdly, in the classroom, teacher should pay attention to proper language forms as well as suitable use of language. Fourthly, use good native English videotapes and films in teaching, and then organize discussions. Fifthly, encourage students to communicate with American speakers. Sixthly, hold some lectures about American cultures and customs, comparing Chinese culture with American culture.

5.Conclusion

American culture includes many different aspects. In teaching, teachers should attach importance to cultural differences and study these differences. As English teachers, we should not only help students to learn English language, but also to learn American social and cultural background knowledge. Only so, students can widen their knowledge and thus further learn English well.

Reference：

[1]胡文仲,《文化与交际》，外语教学与研究出版社,1994

[2]Paul Davies and Eric Pearse, Success in English Teaching, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2002

作者简介：

吴超（1980- ），女，天津市人，天津现代职业技术学院，副教授，主要从事英语教学与翻译的研究。