Abstract:The National English Curriculum Standards require that in English teaching and English learning processes, culture is an important element. So, the question arises: Do primary school EFL classes in China include the teaching of cultural understandings of the western world?

Urbanization is an irreversible process and how to make those new generations of local land-lost peasantry and migrant workers adapt to city and city life is a problem. As to primary school, providing suitable and systematic primary education is a good way to cause a silent and transforming influence on them, so do English education. 

This study explores the current status of integrative culture teaching in primary EFL classes, with specific attention to the teaching of 4 specific cultural concepts, i.e. respect, freedom, law and equality. The guiding research questions are: 1) What is the occurrence frequency and detailed content about the above-mentioned western cultural concepts in PEP the English textbook series published by People’s Education Press Ltd. and Lingo Learning Inc.(2011)? 2) What are the teachers’ attitudes and students’ perception about these cultural concepts? 3) Whether and what problems may exist in integrative culture teaching in current primary EFL classes, as evidenced by the analyses of textbook series and collected questionnaires? The research site is laid down on the schools which are located at the industrially advanced township.

The research methods employed in this research, included: 1) detailed analysis of PEP (2011), Volume 3A and 6B in order to the frequency of occurrences and contents on western culture, especially the four core concepts mentioned above based National English Curriculum Standards published in 2011; 2) Two questionnaires: distributed to C primary school and N primary school, many of whose students are new generations of local land-lost peasantry and migrant workers. 12 English teachers and 120 students participated in the questionnaires. 

Data analyses indicate that there are some problems in this area in the present textbooks, as well as lack of cultural awareness among EFL teachers’. The thesis ended with some suggestions on how to improve cultural integrative teaching in EFL classes.

 

Key word: western cultural concepts, infiltrate, English language teaching, urban-rural gap

 

Contents

摘要

Abstract

1. Introduction-7

1.1 Motivation of the Study-7

1.2 Theoretical Significance-7

1.2.1 The requirements in National English Curriculum Standards in the phase of Compulsory Education-7

1.3 Research purpose-9

1.3.1 The characteristics of young kids-9

1.3.2 Demand of Quality-Oriented Education-9

1.3.3 Narrow the educational gap between urban and rural areas-9

1.4 General Structure of the Paper-10

2. Literature Review-11

2.1 Cultural Teaching in western countries and China-11

2.2 Definition-14

2.2.1Respect-14

2.2.2 Freedom-15

2.2.3 Law-15

2.2.4 Equality-15

2.3 Summary-15

3. Research methodology-17

3.1 Research Questions-17

3.2 Research Subjects and Methods-17

3.2.1 Data Source 1: Textbooks-18

3.2.2 Method 1: Text Analysis-19

3.2.3 Data source 2: Teacher and student questionnaires-19

3.2.4 Method 2: Questionnaires-20

4. Analysis and Discussion-22

4.1 The Analysis of Textbook-22

4.2 The Analysis of Questionnaires-24

4.2.1 The Analysis of Teachers’ Questionnaires-24

4.2.2 The analysis of students’ questionnaires-27

4.3 Problem Discussion-30

4.3.1 Problems in Textbooks-31

4.3.2 Problems in Teachers’ Teaching-31

4.3.3 Problems in Educational Policy-32

5. Conclusion-34

5.1 Major Findings-34

5.2 Suggestions-35

5.2.1 Suggestions for Teachers-35

5.2.1.1 Taking in Cultural Knowledge-35

5.2.1.2 Creating the Situation-35

5.2.1.3 Cooperative improving-36

5.2.2 Suggestions for Textbooks-37

Reference-38

Appendix 1 Teachers’ Questionnaires-40

Appendix 2 Students’ Questionnaires-43