Cultural Background and English Word Teaching

楊敏

Abstract： The understanding of English language can be influenced by various factors， of which the cultural background is remarkable. Deferent countries have their own cultural environment； so much attention should be paid to the different background when English is taught in middle schools.

Key words： cultural background English teaching influence

【中圖分類號】H319

There are various factors that affect English teaching and learning. One of those is culture background which plays a very important part in the course of language learning. Language is a kind of social phenomenon. Every language represents a kind of culture. Culture， which is formed in a social history， is a custom or tradition with particular characteristics of a nation. Culture influences language in every aspect， from vocabulary， grammar to context. Therefore， culture necessarily influenced the communicative procedure greatly in the course of communication.

From the point of view of sentence construction， language is a carrier as well as a part of culture. On the other hand， every aspect of culture has more or less influence on expression of information. Words of the same meaning in different languages have various cultural connotations because every language is culture-loaded. We n analyze from the inter-culture perspective， whether there are equivalents in the two languages. For example： In Chinese， jiaoao has different equivalents. （He is too self-important； Im proud of you）. However， for a long period of time， we have overemphasized the knowledge of pronunciation， grammar and sentence structure， neglecting the differences between eastern and western cultures in the connotation of words， social customs and value systems. The negative effect is that students cannot successfully convey and receive information in the intercultural communication. There are two examples below：

Example 1： A Chinese student wants to ask his American teacher to help him to do something. He asks like this：

S： Are you busy recently， Professor Smith？

P： Yes， very. Ive been working on an English play that will be put on next week.

Because P has not understood Ss intention， it is difficult for S to put forward his request.

Example 2： An American friend A attended a Chinese friend Bs wedding party. Two years later， the two friends happened to meet again.

A： Have you started a family？

B： Oh， yes. You attended my wedding， remember？

A： I mean if you have had children.

B misunderstood the meaning of family （here means children）， so the communication is a failure.

English idioms， set phrase and allusions all contain great number of words representing their particular culture. Without knowing about the cultural meaning of a word， one cannot understand its connotation easily. To make sure what a word means， we can use a dictionary； while to know the cultural meaning of a word， we can only depend on a knowledge of cultural environment. Beginning with the cultural surroundings， making sure the cultural connotation， we can completely understand each word in speech communication. There are some words which are similar in surface， but different in practical meanings.

For example：

High school （Am.） --- not college or university but senior person；

Restroom--- nota room for a rest but toilet

Busybody--- not a person who is busy but a meddlesome person；

Political camping--- not movement for politics but election campaign；

Adult books--- not books for adults but pornography.

During the course of vocabulary teaching， we should make sure that students know about the different cultural connotations of words. The cultural connotation of a word refers to emotional coloring stylistic meaning and metaphorical meaning. Owing to different cultural background， people have different social ideas and have different understanding of the same thing. There would be misunderstanding if no comparison is involved. Therefore much attention should be paid to the cultural background analysis when dealing with word teaching and learning.