The "should be" positioning of cultural teaching in English curriculum: from cultural teaching serving language teaching to the organic integration of the two

Deeply explored the importance and evolution process of cultural teaching in English curriculum. The article points out that culture and language are interdependent, and cultural teaching is an indispensable part of foreign language teaching. By analyzing the changes in the Chinese high school English teaching syllabus and curriculum standards over the past 20 years, the deepening of understanding of cultural teaching is demonstrated. The 2000 version of the teaching syllabus positioned cultural teaching as a tool to assist language learning, while the 2020 revised high school curriculum expanded cultural teaching to cover a wider range of areas including understanding and recognition of Chinese and foreign cultures, becoming an important carrier for achieving the educational goals of the curriculum. The article emphasizes the organic integration of "instrumentality" and "humanity" in the nature of English curriculum, reflecting the gradual deepening of understanding of the status and role of cultural teaching.

The current situation of cultural teaching in English curriculum: a tendency towards "emphasizing language over culture" and "emphasizing instrumentality over humanism"

Analyzed the tendency of "emphasizing language over culture" and "emphasizing instrumentality over humanism" in English teaching in basic education in China. The curriculum standards advocate the integration of language teaching and cultural teaching, but in actual teaching, the educational value of cultural teaching is often overlooked. This tendency leads to a lack of cross-cultural communication skills among students, which affects the efficiency and quality of language teaching. Cultural education should be centered around "people" and achieve the goals of "educating" and "nurturing" through "cultural people". Teachers should pay attention to the cultural connotations conveyed in discourse, guide students to understand different cultures, enhance cross-cultural awareness and language proficiency. The reasons for this tendency include various factors such as educational concepts, evaluation methods, and teacher literacy. The educational concept emphasizes the imparting of language knowledge, and the evaluation system is mainly based on exam scores, lacking the examination of cultural literacy and cross-cultural communication skills. English teachers lack knowledge reserves in cultural teaching and find it difficult to effectively integrate cultural teaching content into classroom teaching.

Knowledge, emotion, words, and actions "- an analytical framework for cultural teaching content

Deeply exploring the complexity of cultural teaching, it is pointed out that culture is a multidimensional and difficult to define concept. Quoting the viewpoint of American educator Lowell, emphasizing the unpredictability of culture. The British anthropologist Taylor's definition of culture is widely accepted, and culture is regarded as a complex whole including knowledge, belief, art, etc. This definition has had a significant impact on the framework for analyzing cultural content in foreign language courses. The Chinese compulsory education and high school English curriculum standards have defined cultural knowledge, but it still appears abstract to frontline teachers. The article proposes a four domain framework of "knowledge, emotion, speech, and action" for analyzing and organizing cultural teaching content. The "knowledge" domain focuses on cultural cognitive activities, including perception, understanding, comparison, analysis, etc; The "emotional" domain emphasizes cultural understanding in the emotional domain and empathy and respect for foreign cultures; The domain of "language" involves cultural knowledge related to language use; The "action" domain focuses on the representation of cultural knowledge at the behavioral level. This framework helps teachers clarify the content, objectives, and methods of cultural teaching, and improve the operability of teaching. Teaching methods should match the content of each domain, such as cultural interpretation, cultural response teaching, teaching language points, and cultural experience methods.

What’s in a name? ——Case Study on the Four Domain Analysis of Name and Address Culture: Knowledge, Emotion, Words, and Actions

This article introduces the importance of names in culture and communication through lines from Romeo and Juliet, and analyzes the cultural differences of names in different countries and regions and their impact on cross-cultural communication. Propose to use the four domain framework of "knowledge, emotion, speech, and action" to analyze name culture, including understanding the cultural roots of differences in name forms, respecting cultural differences, using names correctly for communication, and cultivating awareness of spreading Chinese culture. Pointing out the neglect of the cultural value and cross-cultural communication significance of names in current foreign language teaching, which leads to learners using incorrect and inappropriate names in English communication. We have designed a program that integrates name culture teaching into language teaching suitable for different grades. Through activities, we guide students to understand the differences in name structures and naming habits between the East and the West, and enhance their cross-cultural communication skills and cultural awareness.

conclusion

Emphasize the importance of cultural awareness in English curriculum for the core literacy of English subject, and point out the problem of "emphasizing language over culture" in English teaching in China. The article proposes a four domain analysis framework of "knowledge, emotion, speech, and action" by analyzing the connotation of cultural concepts and current English curriculum standards, aiming to help teachers better understand and implement cultural teaching, promote the deep integration of language teaching and cultural teaching, and achieve the educational goals of English curriculum.