备注：该作品为调查报告类，获校级D类作品一等奖
Abstract: Through a questionnaire survey and statistical analysis, the author tries to evaluate New Interchange (1) from the intercultural perspective. The results show, in a whole, that the course book is culturally appropriate in embedding different cultural elements in different task/item types, and that it successfully enhances the learners’ interest. And such a practice provides many implications deserving pedagogical consideration.
Key Words: interest, cultural diversity, New Interchange, intercultural.
1.Culturally embedded learning and teaching of English
1.1 Culture and language
Culture is the deposit of knowledge, experience, beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notions of time, roles, spatial relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by a group of people in the course of generations through individual and group striving. It is composed of artifacts, concepts and behaviors. (Samour, 1988: 19)
Language, the means for communication among members of a culture, is the most visible and available expression of that culture. A language is a part of a culture, and a culture is a part of a language, the two are intricately interwoven so that one cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language or culture.
It is apparent that culture, as a deeply ingrained part of the very fiber of our being, becomes highly important in the learning of a second language. The acquisition of a second language is also the acquisition of a second culture, which is called acculturation. (Brown, 2000)
1.2 Intercultural communication and communicative competence
Intercultural communication is communication between people whose cultural perceptions and symbol systems are distinct enough to alter the communication event. Today intercultural communication encounters are different from encounters of the past. New technology, growth in the world’s population, and shifts in the global economic arena have contributed to increased international contacts. Settings that are most affected by these cultural changes include the educational system and interpersonal relationships.
Communicative competence was coined to be distinguished from pure linguistic competence, in order to highlight the difference between knowledge about language forms and knowledge that enables a person to communicate functionally and interactively. In Canale and Swain’s definition, four different components, or subcategories, make up the construct of communicative competence: grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence. Sociolinguistic competence refers to the knowledge of the sociocultural rules of language and of discourse. It “requires an understanding of the social context in which language is used, the roles of the participants, the information they share, and the function of the interaction. Only in a full context of such kind can judgment be made on the appropriateness of a particular utterance” ( Savignon, 1983: 37).
In Byrnes (1991), the notion of cross-cultural communicative competence is mentioned. One may characterize it as twofold: (1) a competence that derives from knowledge of a wide range of synchronic and diachronic facts about the other culture. Among them would be its ways of organizing public and private life, time and space, its history, its artistic and scientific achievements, its institutions, its modes of social stratification, its myths about its past and its dreams for the future; (2) a competence that manifests itself in an awareness of the rules of language use, both oral and written, as they mark a given culture. Both sets of competence are intricately and inseparably tied to each other within the framework of culture.
In short, culture and language should be taught and learned simultaneously, if communicative competence is the ultimate goal of English teaching and learning.
1. Brief introduction to the course book: New Interchange ( 1)
New Interchange, published by Cambridge University Press, is a multi-level course in English as a second or foreign language for young adults and adults. New Interchange teaches students to use English for everyday situations and purposes related to school, social life, work, and leisure. The primary goal of the course is to teach communicative competence. The underlying philosophy is that learning a second or foreign language is more rewarding, meaningful, and effective when the language is used for authentic communication. Throughout New Interchange, students are presented with natural and useful language. The language used in New Interchange is American English; however, the course reflects the fact that English is the major language of international communication and is not limited to any one country, region, or culture.
The course book is characterized by its diverse cultures embodied in everyday life, including food, dresses, and lifestyles, etc. It provides us with figures and facts comparing different cultures. In this way cultural bias and stereotypes are avoided.
In my classroom, the students are much interested in the cultural aspects provided in this course book, which suggests that New Interchange may be quite successful in the intercultural perspective. Then how could the compilers achieve such a success in stimulating the students’ interest with diverse cultural elements? What is the relationship between the degree of cultural difference in different tasks and student’s interest in learning English?
2. How culturally appropriate is New Interchange (1): a questionnaire survey and statistical analysis
3.1 Design
One independent variable (Task Type) and 2 dependent variables (Cultural Difference and Student’s Interest) are concerned. In each questionnaire, 2 units are required (one they like most and one they dislike most). Cultural Difference is defined as 5 scales, indicating how much the target culture is different from our own. Similarly Student’s Interest is also defined with 5 scales (see the questionnaire in Appendix).
3.2 Subjects and Questionnaire
16 Chinese adult students of English, at the beginner’s level, participated in this survey. They are all first-year students studying English in the Continuing Education College of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, aged between 18 and 20.
In order to find the answer to the above-mentioned question, the author designed a questionnaire as attached in the Appendix. The subjects are asked to choose one unit they are most and least interested in respectively. For each task type of each unit, there are 5 scales of cultural difference and 5 of student’s interest.
3.3 Procedure
Before carrying out the questionnaire survey, I made a summary of the cultural elements contained in each unit of the course book. The questionnaire survey was carried out in class. The instruction of the questionnaire was explained to ensure a full understanding of what they were going to do. The survey was completed in twenty minutes.
3.4 Data analysis
SPSS 11.0 is used to analyze the collected data.
Table 1. is the descriptive analysis of five main task types: Reading, Listening, Interchange, Conversation, and Writing. They are selected because they are direct attempts to promote the componential abilities of communicative competence. The items in the table are listed in the ascending order based on the Mean values for each task in the unit they like.
Table 2. is the analysis of the correlations between the cultural differences and the student’s interest.
3.5 Results and Discussion
3.5.1 General report
Table 1. Mean values of the Interest scores and Cultural Difference scores
Conversation
Listening
Writing
Reading
Interchange
Average
Dislike 0
Interest (I0)
2.94
3.19
3.00
2.69
2.50
2.86
Cultural Difference
(CD0)
3.06
3.13
3.25
2.88
2.69
3.00
Like 1
Interest (I1)
3.06
2.75
3.13
2.56
2.94
2.89
Cultural Difference (CD1)
2.06
2.44
2.19
2.13
2.13
2.19
In Table 1, for Listening and Reading, I1=2.56 when CD1=2.13, and I0=3.19 when CD0=3.13. For each of the other three task types, a lower I-value is accompanied with a relatively higher CD-value. This implies a cluster tendency: Cultural treatment in Listening and Reading seems different from that in Conversation, Writing and Interchange.
Table 2. Correlation between Cultural Difference and Interest scores
Conversation
Listening
Writing
Reading
Interchange
Dislike (C0)
0.44
-0.19
0.15
0.02
-0.10
Like (C1)
-0.13
0.22
0.51
0.03
0.09
In Table 2, with the highest value of 0.51, the correlation is not significant. This may be due to two reasons: (1) 16 subjects are not enough; (2) there are other factors influencing student’s interest besides cultural difference. Anyway there will be a comparison of the units they like and dislike in 3.5.3.
3.5.2 Comparison of the cultural differences
The compilers seek more similarity than difference in designing conversations, writing practice and interchange activities; in contrast, cultural elements in listening and reading reflect more diversity than commonness. As is shown in the LIKE column of Table 3., with the lowest mean values, Reading and Listening contain more culturally different elements. While the other three items, Interchange, Conversation and Writing have relatively higher mean values, indicating that they contain less culturally different elements. In sharp contrast, Reading and Listening have higher mean values than the other three items in the DISLIKE column.
Table 3. Comparison of the mean values of cultural differences:
Like
Dislike
Items
N
Mean
Std. Deviation
Mean
Std. Deviation
Reading
16
2.56
1.46
3.00
1.26
Listening
2.75
0.93
3.19
1.05
Interchange
2.94
0.85
2.50
0.82
Conversation
3.06
1.24
2.94
1.00
Writing
3.13
1.50
2.69
1.01
Inferably, cultural variance strongly influences to what extent the teaching materials are enjoyed. But the item with the more cultural differences is not necessarily the more enjoyed. Why? (1) There might be a range defining the allowed variance. 2.56-3.13 in liked unit seems better than 2.50-3.19 in disliked unit. And (2) there must be other important factor(s) influencing the degree of the students’ interest, among which task type should be definitely included.
The contrast implies that the five items may be divided into two groups: (1) Reading and Listening; (2) Interchange, Conversation and Writing. This division is no more a coincidence if two terms are considered: COMPREHENSION and PRODUCTION. Language comprehension (reading and listening) involves less cognitive load than language production (speaking and writing) does. Excrescent cultural elements in a productive task may increase difficulty and reduce the student’s interest. Since cultural difference and task type are interwoven factors influencing the student’s interest, course book compilers must take task type into consideration when choosing and laying out cultural elements.
3.5.3 Comparison of the units they like and dislike
Table 4. Comparison between correlations of the liked units and those of the disliked units (Correlations between the cultural differences and the differential interest):
Items
Units most interested in
Units least interested in
Variance
Conversation
-0.130
+0.436
0.566
Listening
+0.221
-0.188
0.409
Writing
+0.513*
+0.154
0.359
Interchange
+0.086
-0.098
0.184
Reading
+0.031
+0.021
0.01
* indicates that the cultural differences and the differential interest in Writing are significantly correlated.
Since the sample in this study is not large, I care more about the variance than the exact correlation coefficients. The items in Table 4. are listed in a descending order based on the variance values. The higher the variance value is, the more sensitive is the
interest in the corresponding item to cultural difference. The students are more sensitive to cultural differences in Conversation, Listening and Writing, and their interest in the three items varies much with the cultural elements contained. For Conversation, less cultural difference may lead to more interest; for Listening, relatively more cultural difference may be better.
For Interchange and Reading, the low coefficients might lead us to think that the students are hardly affected by cultural differences contained in these two items. It might be a mistake, for the exact coefficient may not be so reliable when the sample is very small. Look at Table 3. The mean score of Interchange drops from 2.94 to 2.50, and that of Reading jumps from 2.56 to 3.00. The change reflects that the students’ interest may in a certain degree be influenced by cultural differences.
3. Conclusion
From the evaluation, several pedagogical implications can be extracted:
a) Culture and language are interrelated, and intercultural elements are indispensable to promote communicative competence.
b) Cultural difference in materials strongly influences the student’s interest. The influence is bi-directional. On one hand, it may stimulate more interest of learning; on the other hand, it may discourage the student.
c) There might be a range of cultural difference for positive effects. Items with more cultural differences are not necessarily more enjoyed.
d) Task/Item type plays an important role in mediating cultural difference and the corresponding interest. Comprehension items, such as Listening and Reading, may allow more cultural difference while production activities, such as Conversation and Writing, may need more commonness. This is in line with contemporary cognitive theories about second language acquisition.
e) Cultural information should display openness, objectivity and friendly comparison. Many texts contain cultural information in the form of cultural capsules, i.e., short passages describing the differences between different cultures. Statistical graphs and data can objectively show the vivid picture of different cultures. Bias and stereotypes in viewing one’s own culture and others’ cultures should be well rejected in presenting those diverse cultures.
f) More surface culture, such as food and dresses, than deep culture should be introduced at the beginners’ level. In a course focusing on helping beginners develop communicative competence in a real sense, most of the cultural elements should be embedded in their daily life, so that the student can be encouraged to develop their listening and spoken English through communicating in English.
Of course knowing a culture involves so much more than the transmission of information these cultural passages allow. Indeed, developing in the student an understanding of the attitudes, values, beliefs—the “world view”—of a particular target culture is at least as important as imparting factual knowledge such as what foods one can/ cannot order in a restaurant, in which denominations the currency comes, etc. But it will be too much for beginners to touch upon the deep cultural aspects that are sometimes addressed through studying the literature of the target culture. Besides, surface cultural information can lead the student, both beginners and advanced, to arrive at a comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date understanding of the target language.
References
Brown, H.D. 2000. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (4th ed) [M]. NY: Addison-Wesley Longman, Inc.;
Byrnes, H. 1991. Reflections on the Development of Cross-Cultural Communicative Competence in the Foreign Language Classroom [A]. Foreign Language Acquisition Research and the Classroom. B.F. Freed (eds). 1991. D.C. Heath and Company;
Canale M. & M. Swain. 1980. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing [J]. Applied Linguistics. 1/1:1-47;
Ellis, Greg. 1996. How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach? [A]. ELT Journal. 50/3: 213-218;
Jiang, Wenying. 2001. Handling ‘Cultural Bumps’[J]. ELT Journal. 55/4: 382-390;
Kramsch, Claire. 1993. Context and Culture in Language Teaching [M]. London: OUP;
Larsen-Freeman, D. 1987. From Unity to Diversity: Twenty-Five Years of Language-Teaching Methodology [J]. English Teaching Forum, 1987 October: 2-10;
Richards, J.C. 2001. New Interchange (1). CUP;
Samour, L.A. & R.E. Porter. 1988. Intercultural Communication: A Reader (5th ed) [M]. Wadsworth Publishing Co.;
Savignon, S.J. 1983. Communication Competence Theory and Classroom Practice. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley;
高宝虹. 外语教学和跨文化交际[J]. 四川外国语学院学报. 2001（3）Vol.17/2: 101-102;
胡文仲. 1999. 跨文化交际学概论 [M]. 北京: 外研社;
廖道胜. 中国学生英语阅读中的文化障碍 [J]. 外语教学. 2001（7）Vol.22/4: 72-77;
陆 云. 基础阶段学生跨文化口头交际得体性问题及对策 [J]. 外语教学. 2001（9）Vol.22/5: 55-60.
Appendix
附录1. 问卷
请仔细阅读文化一览表。
1．哪些单元的文化内容令你耳目一新并有效地促进了英语学习？请选出这方面最成功的一个单元填入下表。哪些单元的文化内容陈旧乏味，没能提高你学习英语的兴趣？请选出这方面最失败的一课填入下表，并简短说明原因。
2．比较所选单元各项当中的文化内容与我们的文化的异同并打分：
（1. 完全不同；2. 差异较大；3. 差异适中；4. 非常相似；5. 完全相同。）
3．你对所选单元各项练习的兴趣如何？请给出分数：
（1.兴趣浓厚；2.比较感兴趣；3.一般感兴趣；4.不太感兴趣；5.没兴趣。）
文化内容最好的是：Unit_____
练习项目 文化异同指数 兴趣指数
文化点滴（SNAPSHOT） [ ] [ ]
词汇扩展（WORD POWER） [ ] [ ]
会话练习（CONVERSATION） [ ] [ ]
听力练习（LISTENING） [ ] [ ]
语音练习（PRONUNCIATION） [ ] [ ]
写作练习（WRITING） [ ] [ ]
阅读练习（READING） [ ] [ ]
交流活动（INTERCHANGE） [ ] [ ]
文化内容最不恰当的是：Unit_____
练习项目 文化异同指数 兴趣指数 原因
文化点滴（SNAPSHOT） [ ] [ ] [ ]
词汇扩展（WORD POWER） [ ] [ ] [ ]
会话练习（CONVERSATION） [ ] [ ] [ ]
听力练习（LISTENING） [ ] [ ] [ ]
语音练习（PRONUNCIATION） [ ] [ ] [ ]
写作练习（WRITING） [ ] [ ] [ ]
阅读练习（READING） [ ] [ ] [ ]
交流活动（INTERCHANGE） [ ] [ ] [ ]
THE END
THANKS!
附录 2.
剑桥国际英语教程（New Interchange）1
文化内容一览
Unit 1 Please call me Chuck.
称呼Names & Titles: Mr. 先生Ms. 女士Miss小姐Mrs. 太太
问候Greetings from Around the World: Handshake 握手, bow 鞠躬, pat on the back拍肩, hug拥抱, kiss on the cheek吻
见面问候的方式Meeting & Greeting Customs: Chile, Finland, The Philippines, Korea, USA
Unit 2 How do you spend your day?
工作/课程安排Work and School Days: Brazil, UK, South Korea, USA
工作Work and Work Places: Salesperson, chef, flight attendant, carpenter, receptionist, nurse
学生兼职和开销The Daily Grind: Students’ part-time jobs and their expenditure
Unit 3 How much is it?
消费习惯Spending Habits of Adults and Teenagers in USA
Price价格, commodities商品, materials材料, colors颜色
购物方式Shop Till You Drop: Catalogue shopping, TV shopping, Computer shopping in USA.
Unit 4 Do you like jazz?
娱乐方式Entertainment: Music (Rock, rap, country, salsa, pop, classical, jazz, gospel, etc.)
TV programs (game shows, talk shows, soap operas, etc.)
Movies (horror films, thrillers, westerns, science fiction, etc.)
美国音乐种类排行Music Sales in the United States
歌手/乐队Singers/ Groups: Wynton Marsalis, the Cranberries, Whitney Huston, Caetano Veloso, Bonnie Raitt, Cui Jian
Unit 5 Tell me about your family.
好莱坞家庭Hollywood families: Warren Beatty, Charlie Sheen
美国家庭Facts about Families in USA: Children, marriage, elderly
变化中的家庭The Changing Family
Unit 6 How often do you exercise?
体育运动Sports and Exercise: Aerobics, baseball, bicycling, Rollerblading, soccer, swimming, tennis, weight training, yoga, jogging, basketball
美国六大体育锻炼活动Top Six Sports and fitness activities for teenagers in US
A couch potato, a fitness freak, a sports fanatic
运动与健康的研究Smart Moves: research on sports and fitness
Unit 7 We had a great time!
休闲活动In their free time: percent of U.S. and Canadian high school seniors who participate in each activity every day
假日活动On Vacation: Drive around, have a picnic/ party, go to a club, take a trip
旅游明信片Vacation Postcards:
Egypt (dig in some old ruins)
Hawaii (a spa in Kauai, did yoga, went snorkeling)
Alaska (the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge)
Acapulco (Mariachi singers)
Unit 8 How do you like the neighborhood?
设施Places: Barber shop, Laundromat, library, stationery/ grocery store, travel agency, theater, bank, coffee shop, drugstore, gym, post office, bookstore, dance club, gas station, hotel, restaurant
生活区评估指标Important things to look for in a community: low crime rate, good public transportation, etc.
城市风貌City Scenes: Mexico, Japan, Australia
Unit 9 What does he look like?
外貌Appearance: height, age, looks, hair
服饰变化30 Years of Fashion: 50s: cap, T-shirt, black leather jacket, gloves, jeans, heavy boots
60s: teased hair, wide belt, miniskirt, knee socks, sunglasses, mini dress, tights
70s: polyester shirt, three-piece suit (jacket, vest, flared pants)
Hip-hop服饰Hip-hop Fashions: baggy jeans, athletic shoes, hiking boots, baseball cap (usu worn backward), jacket with sports logos, sweatshirt, flannel shirt, blouse and skirt with cartoon characters
Unit 10 Have you ever ridden a camel?
休闲麻辣烫Unusual ways to spend time: Singapore: eat at a bird-singing café; New Zealand: try bungee jumping; New York: go to a TV talk show; Reunion: see people fire walking;
see David Copperfield’s show; try a new restaurant, go mountain climbing in Switzerland, ride a camel, go white-water rafting
冒险Taking the Risk: Hang gliding, Mountain climbing, Scuba diving
生活方式Lifestyle survey: easygoing and relaxed, busy and fast-paced
Unit 11 It’s a very exciting city!
著名城市Famous Cities: Venice, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Santa Fe, Mexico City, Miami, Kuala Lumpur
旅游热点国家Countries with the Most Tourists: France, Spain, USA, Italy, China, UK, Hungary, Mexico, Poland, Austria
Unit 12 It really works!
常见疾病Common Health Complaints: headache, backache, sore muscles, stomachache, cold, cough, flu, insomnia
药物及包装Medicines and containers: tube, box, bottle, can, package
偏方Home Remedies
Unit 13 May I take your order?
Favorite kinds of ethnic foods in USA: Italian, Chinese, Mexican, French, German, Japanese
饮食和菜谱Food and Menu
点菜Order/ take order
小费Tip/ not to tip
Unit 14 The biggest and the best!
“Down under”: Australia (famous beaches like Bondi Beach, the Great Barrier Reef)
and New Zealand (Auckland, the City of Sails)
世界五大最高建筑The Five Tallest Buildings in the World
日常环保Things You Can Do to Help the Environment: Cars, Energy, Products, Water
Unit 15 I’m going to see a musical.
青年休闲活动Youth at Play: the percentage of young adults in USA and Canada who …
休闲方式Leisure Activities: Exhibitions, friendly gatherings, spectator sports, live performances
（记录）留言Take/ leave messages
缩减话费Ways to keep phone calls short: find a “partner in crime”, time your calls intelligently, don’t ask questions like “What’s new?”, etc.
Unit 16 A change for the better!
人生大事Things that bring about change in our lives: Change jobs, get/ lose a job, get a raise, fall in love, date someone new, get married, have children, get divorced, etc.
变化Things that change: appearance, health, skills/ abilities
生活目标The Future Looks Bright: Life goals
语言与文化融为一体、密不可分，学习语言的同时我们也接触和吸收了精彩纷呈的异域文
化，包括饮食着装、生活方式，甚至价值观、是非观、审美观、人生观等比较抽象的方面。新鲜的异域风情可以使我们耳目一新，帮助我们学习语言。但是如果与我们已有的文化取向背道而驰，则有可能使我们产生抵触情绪，从而影响语言学习。
思考：我们的课本（剑桥国际英语1）中包含了丰富多彩的文化内容，你们认为这些文化与中国文化相比，有哪些不同之处，又有哪些共同之处呢？同大于异，还是异大于同？或者在各项活动中文化异同关系处理地是否恰当？
