How to Improve Chinese Students’ English Writing from the Cultural Teaching and Learning

何丹

【Abstract】The Chinese students English writing belongs to intercultural communication. Many problems occur mainly because the lack of the cultural awareness and knowledge， and it offers an angle for the discussion in the thesis. This thesis attempts to explore the relationship between culture and writing， and highlight the importance of culture teaching in English writing course. It is also designed to propose several approaches to development of English writing from both teachers and students perspective.

【Key words】Culture； English writing； Culture teaching

1 The Importance of Application on Culture Teaching in the College English Writing Class

Culture teaching needs to be applied to Chinese college English writing class， and it is supported by the innate closeness of language， culture and thinking， and the inseparable relation between thinking and writing. The lack of intercultural awareness will make the understanding of readers from different cultures frustrating and fraught with misunderstandings.

Of the four skills （listening， speaking， reading and writing）， writing has always been the most problematic part for Chinese college students and difficult for their teachers to help. Most English writings of Chinese students read so much like translation of Chinese， and one can fairly easily tell whether an article was written by a Chinese or by a native speaker of English. The biggest problem with the English composition of Chinese college students is that most of them just translate Chinese expressions and writing patterns to English， and usually a word for word translation from Chinese to English. That may account for their inadequacy of linguistic competence and the interference of Chinese writing habit. From students English writing we can find that not only linguistic transfer but also cultural transfer can lead to the problem in Chinese students English compositions.

In our teaching experience we can find that when Chinese students write in English they attempt to translate， first language words， phrases， and organization into English. It made their writing very choppy and does not flow. The traditional approach adopted in college English writing class focus on the instruction of linguistic form of grammar and word usage with some explanation of content and structure， while ignoring the cultural aspect related to foreign language writing. Therefore， in order to improve the efficiency of teaching and students writing， it is necessary for the teachers to pay more attention to the culture teaching in the writing course.

2 Research on L2 Writing

2.1 The Role of L1 in L2 Writing

From the beginning of last decade on， language teachers and researchers became increasingly aware of the role of writing in L2 learning. In Wang Wenyus doctoral thesis （2000）， she conducted a survey about the influence of L1 in L2 writing and the nature of L2 writing. Her empirical study proves that L1 plays an important role in L2 writing. Actually， L2 writing is a bilingual process in which many Chinese students derive support from their native language consciously and subconsciously. Since 1960s， ESL teachers began to probe the nature of L2 writing and they find that L2 writing is strongly influenced by native language and culture. Each language has its rhetoric conventions that are unique to it. It is important to awake the awareness of both teachers and students that conventions are culture-specific. Most language educators unanimously agree that the best way for learners to achieve native-like control of and an L2 is to make an effort to think in that language rather than to translate or reprocess the material into their L1 （Cohen， 1998）. It can help students avoid the negative influence of native language and culture in L2 writing.

There are some studies make an attempt to uncover the distinct nature of L2 writing， and they found one area of difference between L1 and L2 writers： the influence of writers L1. As Grabe and Kaplan （1996） pointed out： this is “an added factor for L2 writing which is not present in L1 writing” （p. 143）. Therefore， in order to improve students L2 writing， teachers and students have to be aware of the influence of L1 and the native culture.

2.2 The Cross-cultural Aspects of L2 Writing

Chinese culture and cultures of English speaking countries are widely different branches of language. Those differences between two languages and cultures frequently lead to Chinglish， which refers to expressing in English words but in Chinese way. So， in order to improve students writing， teachers have to take the cultural dimensions of transfer in relation to writing into consideration， and regard writing as a cultural activity.

Ulla Connor divided the empirical research examining the relationship between culture and discourse into three categories （1996： 21）. The fist type of research is conducted in the domain of anthropology and psychology and focuses on the social functions of writing. The second major research direction is educational and deals with the role of instruction on writing in a given language and culture. The third area of investigation is the influence of research on the development of literacy in L1， which comprises studies of ESL students backgrounds and effect of background on their literacy in L2. In addition， he mentioned that， “important discoveries have been made about the embeddedness of discourse and writing in culture and about the roles that schooling and instruction play in inculcating this embeddedness … research points to the fact that written texts and the ways they are used vary according to cultural group”， “Writing development is seen as part of the synthesis of culturally preferred patterns of rhetorical texts and the related cognitive cultural models” （1996： 100， 113）. According to those studies of writing as a cultural activity， surely when people communicate with each other or write a composition， the language they use and the way they use it all display distinct cultural features.

Writing is an instrument of communication， so the L2 writing， such as Chinese students English writing， is and intercultural communication. As Chen Shen （1999：51） mentions， the paradigm of intercultural communication in ELT comes much later than those of explicit cultural studies and communicative language teaching. By putting together certain ideas about communication， culture， society， education and human， a different way of looking at teaching and learning about interaction among cultures has emerged. So we can develop Chinese students English writing from the culture teaching in ELT， tightly based on communicative purpose.

3 Some Researchers Study of the Cultural Teaching

In traditional culture teaching， teachers always dominate the class and pour out their knowledge while students only receive the knowledge mechanically and passively. But the present researchers testify that the passive situation of students is not good while the active mode should be advocated.

Patrick R. Moran points out that “Culture has many definitions， because it is multifaceted……For most part， these definitions present culture as an abstract entity that can be separated from the experience of participating in it” （2003： 13）. Therefore， instead of using “culture” as the focal point of definitions， he uses “cultural experience”， which means the encounter with another way of life. He explains that the cultural experience consists of the cultural content， the activities in which students engage this content， the outcomes that are intended or achieved， the learning context， and the nature of the relationship the teacher develops with students.

On culture teaching， Damen （1987：327） describes it in terms of culture learning. Based on her definitions of culture learning （derived principally from ethnography）， she proposed five teacher roles： counselor， participant， observer， resident pragmatic anthropologist， mediator， and fellow learner. Her analysis of teachers roles gives us important implication that teachers are not only teacher in culture teaching， but also counselor and fellow learner and so on. English teachers should realize the importance of culture teaching， and experience the culture learning actively， try to become an effective culture learner， and then cultivate students cross-cultural awareness and competence.

4 Some Countermeasures on English Writing Teaching and Learning

4.1 Cultivation of Cultural Awareness in English Writing Teaching

As Chinese culture and foreign one are diverse in many aspects， students need to start from the understanding of mother tongue and culture to grasp the target one. Through learning cultural elements one after another， the learners eventually put the pieces together so that a total and unified picture of culture is formed. In order to improve the efficiency of the Chinese college English writing course， culture teaching centers on cultivating cultural awareness of the students.

The stereotyped pattern of teaching advance composition in most students idea is something like this： the teacher gives a topic and each student writes a paper on it； then the teacher grades the paper. So， the student is in a passive position from beginning to end， and he has a tendency to assume that the only reader of their writings will be the teacher， which certainly does not enhance his appetite for writing. The cultural experience is an interactive activity， so the teaching of culture is the interactive activity in which foreign language learners are active participant to acquire foreign cultural knowledge. Then， Chinese students writing English compositions， an activity of conveying ideas and interpreting it in a foreign language， also is an interactive between writers and readers. So， in order to make their meanings understood， they need to know the cultures of their target readers， whether on the surface or at the deep level.

Zhou Aimin （1999： 265） pointed out that in order to guarantee that students write abundantly， the teacher should not worry （at least for the time being） about the grammatical or mechanical mistakes in their papers. And students should not be threatened by their teachers stressing aspects of refined grammar and usage， which would not be conducive to a productive atmosphere for active writing.

4.2 Combining Writing with Reading

Reading and writing has close relationship， and reading is the foundation of writing. In English writing class， teachers should train the students ability of critical reading by contrasting writing styles， thought patterns and using of proverbs or idioms between Chinese people and native English-speakers. By contrasting those two patterns， the students cultural awareness between Chinese and English will be raised. Moreover， teachers should ask the students to notice those differences when they read other English articles to enhance their awareness of the characteristic of English.

Except for the choosing reading material for students， teachers can also combine text analysis in the reading class with writing to help them acquaint with the thought pattern and its related writing style of English. In traditional intensive or extensive reading class， teachers put most emphasis on individual linguistic point of vocabulary and grammar， but neglect the devices of cohesion and coherence and ways of ending， which is just what students need to pay attention to because those aspects display the writers thought pattern and writing style. So， in reading texts of typical English writing style， teachers need to pay more attention to the analysis of the structure of the text， pointing out the use of devices in connecting sentences or paragraphs and explaining the relation between writing style and thought pattern so as to make students familiarize with the writers style and thought pattern. From the combination of text analysis with writing helps the students acquainted with the style and the thought pattern of the writer of target language.

By applying the proposed suggestions， teachers will be better able to help the students acquaint with thought patterns of native English speakers and their writing styles and guide them to write quality English compositions.

【References】

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[责任编辑：朱丽娜]