Chapter 1 Literature Review
1.1 Studies on the Classifications of Culture
It is never easy to reach a compromise about how to classify culture. Culture can be classified quite differently from different angles.
In terms of the population of a specific cultural community, Riesman, Denney and Glazer (1950: 361) propose “subculture”, which actively seeks a minority style, to distinguish from a majority. Since then, “dominant culture” and “subculture” have been in the process of classifying culture.
To stand out the differences between civilization and life culture, Allen and Valette (1977) classifies culture into “culture with a big C” and “culture with a small c”. The former mainly refers to man’s contribution to civilization and the achievements, such as arts, philosophy and literature. The latter refers to man’s life style and behavior patterns, including customs, social organizations and dietary habits.
To some cross-cultural researchers, there are two levels in culture. Hall (1959) holds a view that overt culture and covert culture are two levels in culture. In his point of view, while overt culture can be seen and depicted in language, there is no possibility of covert culture to be caught sight of, even by well-trained observers. Coincided with Hall’s view about cultural classifications, Liu Shouhua (1992) points out that culture mainly consists of overt culture and covert culture. Gu Jiazu (2002) argues that the overt culture which can be clearly and directly seen by naked eyes, refers to the exposed material culture to man, including clothes, roads, buildings, food, furniture, means of transportation, communication tools, streets, villages and so on. Covert culture refers to soft culture or spiritual culture, comprised of two levels as well, including soft culture hidden deep in material culture and that hidden in a shallow level.
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1.2 Studies on the Relationship between
Language and Culture Language and culture are mutually dependent on each other. The close interdependence deserves much attention.
Sapir (1921: 99) notes that “Language does not exist apart from culture.” Robert (1964: 149-150) argues that the language study without understanding the culture and realizing the value of target language is actually not a language study. The learning of culture is of much more importance than that of words and grammars. According to Nida (1998), there is no possibility for language and culture to exist without each other. Besides representing elements of culture, languages serve to mold culture as well. Because of the faster change of culture than language, either the syntagmatic contexts or the cultural contexts determine a word’s meaning. As Wang Yin (2007) states, languages reflect the differences of cognitive structure or conceptual system between different races, and languages serve to help people know the world as a tool.
Some scholars put the focus on the relationship between language and culture in foreign language education. According to Kramsch (1993: 8-9), it is an entrenched feature in foreign language education to teach four skills of language “plus culture”. Culture is not mere the information conveyed by the language, but actually is a feature of language itself. Language should be considered as a social practice. It is impossible to dissociate language use from cultural creation and transmission. Cultural awareness should become an educational objective closely related to language. The teaching of culture should be the core of foreign language education. “Teaching language is teaching culture.” (ibid.: 177) Horwitz (1999) points out that the cultures embodied in languages have a direct impact on the learning beliefs of students. Hao Linxiao (2007: 61) claims that the process of understanding texts is the process of understanding language and the culture behind it. Heidi (2010) studies the role of culture in foreign language curriculum and discusses the ways to convey meanings between and among different cultures. Patricia, Justine and Carrie (2013) utilize a mixed method research design, including questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions and observation of lessons to explore the learning and teaching of cultural awareness and cross-cultural understandings in modern languages in English primary schools. It is indicated that much importance should be attached to cultural dimensions in language teaching, but how to teach culture is not planned systematically.
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Chapter 2 Theoretical Framework
2.1 The Definition of Textbook
In history, textbook has been overlapped with teaching material for a long time. Textbook or teaching material refers to all the teaching and learning materials for teachers and students, which can broaden students’ knowledge and develop their skills. It includes textbook, lecture note, syllabus, workbook, handbook, newspaper, magazine, picture, photo, tape, video, movie, realia, radio, Internet information and so on (Li Quan, 2012: 3).
Nowadays, textbook is included in teaching material. According to Gowin (1981), textbooks are books used as an educational instrument, which is a medium of reasonable thinking, a collection of concepts and information, a stimulus to new meaning and experience, and a record of past events and new ideas (Jiang Shanye, 1991: 129). F. Richaudeau (1986) defines textbooks as a tool that can meet the needs for teaching, learning and training, and that can help students memorize things (Zeng Tianshan, 1998: 52). As Educational Dictionary (1990: 448) explains, textbooks are instructional books compiled in accordance with curriculum standards. Textbooks are the major teaching and learning materials for teachers and students, the vital basis for extending students’ knowledge and evaluating students’ performance in learning activities. Texts are fundamental in textbooks.
“Textbook” in this thesis refers to the English textbook for students compiled according to curriculum standards and primarily utilized in the process of learning in class, which precisely refers to NSEFC of China and All Aboard Series of Japan.
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2.2 The Definition of Culture
There is never an easy way to give a precise definition on the term culture due to its richness and complication of connotations and denotations. Culture can be defined differently as it can refer to different things in different contexts.
Culture is defined both from a macro perspective and a micro perspective. Scholars such as Tylor (1871), Goodenough (1964) and Moreman (1988) provide their definitions on culture in a broad sense. Tylor (1871) gives the first academic definition on culture in a systematic way, which, still being widely cited, paves the way for later-on cultural studies. It is defined that “Culture, or civilization, taken in its broad, ethnographic sense, is a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society” (Tylor, 1871:1). Goodenough (1964: 9) states that culture are the forms of the things people think of, and the patterns of the ways they think of those things. Moreman (1988) defines culture as a set or a system of principles of interpretation and the products of that system. As claimed by Li Shanrong (1996: 22), culture should include all the processes and achievements of man’s social activities. Culture is defined in a narrow sense by scholars like Malinowski (1944)，Hall (1959) and Gu Jiazu (2002). Malinowski (1944) brings forward that culture, comprised of two basic aspects, utensils and customs, is a well-organized system, which satisfies human needs in an either direct or indirect way (Li Taohong, 2015:5). Hall (1959) and Gu Jiazu (2002) holds the view that culture is a combination of material things and spiritual things. Material ones include clothes, roads, buildings, food, furniture, means of transportation, communication tools, streets, villages and so on. Spiritual ones include customs, traditions, ideas, assumptions, beliefs and so on.
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Chapter 3 Comparison between China’s English Curriculum Standards and Japan’s Education Guiding Essentials for English Subject ........................ 213.1 China’s English Curriculum Standards for High School .................................. 21
3.2 Japan’s Education Guiding Essentials for High School .................................... 23
Chapter 4 Comparison of Cultural Contents and Their Presentation ..................... 29
4.1 Comparison of Target Culture ......................... 30
4.2 Comparison of Source Culture ............................... 36
Chapter 5 Implications for China’s EFL Education .............................. 64
5.1 Implications for Curriculum Standard Designers ................................ 64
5.2 Implications for Textbook Compilers .............................. 66
Chapter 5 Implications for China’s EFL Education
5.1 Implications for Curriculum Standard Designers
English curriculum standards are the guidelines on what to select and how to select for English textbooks, and on what to teach and how to teach for English teachers. Hence, it is of much necessity to point out what disadvantages are there in English curriculum standards so that more proper standards can be set, better textbooks can be compiled and more effective teaching can be made.
Firstly, specific objectives should be set for each book, even in the same module. As mentioned in Chapter 3, Japan’s Education Guiding Essentials for English subject set specific objectives for each book of a series. But it cannot be seen in China’s curriculum standards for English. China’s features the objectives for each module, such as the module for compulsory curriculum, compulsory curriculum with selective modules, and selective modules. Each module, as a whole, sets its objectives, but does not set specific ones for each book in the module. Book 1 to 5 comprises the compulsory module, which sets a general cultural objective for the module that students should understand the different cultural elements and connotations in the contexts. (MOE, 2017: 47) It is advised that the cultural elements and connotations in each book, even in each unit, needing to be understood should be pointed out so that the cultural teaching will be more effective.
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Conclusion
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