【作者】 朱如忠；

【导师】 方文礼；

【作者基本信息】 扬州大学 ， 英语语言文学， 2006， 硕士

【摘要】 本文旨在调查中国高中学生英语学习中的文化障碍,其目的是提高教师的英语教学水平和学生的跨文化交际能力。本研究采用实验和问卷调查的方法,围绕三个问题展开:1.文化因素,包括中国文化因素和英语国家的文化因素,是否影响中国高中学生的英语学习?2.如果有影响,哪些中国文化因素和英语国家的文化因素阻碍了中国高中学生的英语学习?3.这些因素是怎样阻碍了他们的英语学习的?本文的理论框架是高一虹(2001, 9)总结和概括的文化三分法。高一虹认为文化有三个层面:物质文化、人际文化即传统文化和心理文化。本研究着重探讨了第二、三层面的文化因素(如价值取向等)对高中学生英语学习造成的障碍。针对第一个问题,共有九十名高一年级学生参加了实验,实验结果表明文化因素确实对受试者英语学习和理解存在影响;针对第二、三两个问题,三十名教师参加了问卷调查以探明哪些文化因素阻碍了高中学生的英语学习以及其如何阻碍他们的英语学习的。本研究有如下主要发现:第一、文化因素对中国高中学生的英语学习确实有影响。他们的英语学习不仅受到英语国家文化因素的影响,而且受到母语文化因素的影响。人们一般认为母语文化因素不会阻碍或干扰他们的英语学习,而事实证明这种观点是片面的。第二、中国一些传统的文化观念和价值取向,如“学而优则仕”、“万般皆下品,惟有读书高”,根深蒂固于人们的头脑,使得学生不能正确对待学习中的竞争,过于重视考试排名,从而加重了学习者的焦虑感,特别是在困难或失败面前往往缺乏自信。这种文化因素的干扰几乎可见于各门学科,但以英语为甚,因为这是一门公认的比较难学的科目之一。第三、传统的中国文化强调集体意识,使得相关的教育管理部门过分强调整齐划一,特别是英语教材和教法过于统一,从而忽略了学生的个性差异和英语教学的因地制宜等。第四、阻碍我国高中学生学习英语的英语国家文化因素主要包括人际文化和心理文化因素,前者是指随着社会的发展与历史的变迁,一些词汇和表达方式被赋予了新的文化内涵,或者出现了一些汉语很难找到对等说法的新词和新的表达方式。后者是指一些观念和文化价值取向,无形地影响了本族语者对英语语法和语篇形式的选择,而这些选择的特点往往被我国高中英语学习者所忽略。本研究结果也在不同程度上反映中国一般学生在英语学习以及其它学科的学习中存在的这类问题。但由于高考制度的存在,中国文化某些层面对高中学生的学习,特别是英语学习的影响尤为明显和突出。同时作者也是为了结合自身教学实际才以高中学生的英语学习作为切入点进行研究的。本文对中国高中学生英语学习文化障碍的研究对英语学习者、英语教师、教材编写人员和教育行政部门均有一定的启示。本研究有两点不足:一、实验样本不够大,如果实验样本更大些,研究结果将更具说服力。二、尽管研究者通过各种途径搜寻国外文化障碍研究的相关文献,但获得的材料有限,否则研究的结果可能会更好些。更多还原

【Abstract】 This study was undertaken to investigate the cultural factors which affect Chinese high school students’English learning for the purpose of improving our teaching and learning. Two research designs were employed in this study. One was quantitative design, which includes an experiment, and the other was qualitative design, consisting of an open-ended questionnaire. The research questions to be addressed in the study are as follows:1. Do cultural factors, including Chinese and English cultural factors, affect Chinese high school students in their English learning?2. What Chinese and English cultural factors obstruct Chinese high school students in their English learning?3. In what way do such cultural factors affect or obstruct Chinese high school students in their English learning?The theoretical framework for the thesis is the three-level classification of culture summarized by Gao Yihong (2001, 9). According to Gao, culture consists of three levels: the physical culture, the conventional or interpersonal culture, and the psychological culture. This study is mainly concerned with the second and the third level.Altogether 90 Senior One students participated in the experiment with a view to finding out whether cultural factors have an effect on English learning and then 30 high school teachers were invited to respond to the questionnaire about what cultural factors obstruct Chinese high school students in their English learning.The study yielded the following major findings:First, cultural factors do affect Chinese high school students’English learning, including not only English cultural factors but also Chinese cultural factors. The assumption that Chinese students know their culture well and that Chinese cultural factors will not interfere with their English learning has been proved to be one-sided.Second, some traditional Chinese cultural beliefs or value orientations, such as‘to be a scholar is to be at the top of society while all other careers are inferior’(万般皆 下品,惟有读书高), are deeply rooted in people’s minds and have caused Chinese students to have misunderstandings about the competitions in school. As a result, high school students usually take their examination results too seriously and are liable to feel anxious or lose self-confidence. Such cultural effects can be found almost on the learning of all subjects in high schools, especially English, which is believed to be one of the most difficult subjects.Third, traditional Chinese culture favors collectivism as against the individualism advocated in English-speaking countries. Such a value orientation subconsciously causes administrative departments concerned to over-emphasize the sameness or uniformity, especially in terms of instruction materials or pedagogical methods, and overlook the individual differences and necessary variations. Besides, the family planning policy also, to a certain degree, affects Chinese high school students in their development of independent self-concept.Fourth, cultural factors of English-speaking countries that hinder Chinese students in their English learning mainly involve the interpersonal or conventional culture, and psychological culture. The former refers to some new concepts encoded in new words and expressions, or some old words and expressions which have carried new meanings; such new concepts or meanings sometimes puzzle Chinese high school students, who find no equivalences in Chinese culture. The latter refers to some beliefs or value orientations, which subconsciously help to determine the native speakers’syntactical and textual choices; such choices would often hinder Chinese high school students’understanding unless they have a knowledge of the cultural value orientations underlying the choices.This study also has strong pedagogical implications for English learners, English educators, textbook compilers, and educational administrations.The limitations of the study are as follows: one was that the sample of the experiment was not large enough. If the sample had been larger, some of the results would have been more convincing. Another was that the researcher’s limited access to the literature about the previous studies of cultural obstruction in this area.更多还原