时间：2022-09-09 11:01:59
[Abstract] The goal of language teaching is to enable students to communicate in target cultural context， so improving their cultural creativity becomes essential. Culture teaching in college English teaching serves not only to develop students’ linguistic ability， but also to increase their cultural creativity. College teaching must provide students with the opportunities to learn to know， learn to do and learn to interact.
[Key words] cultural creativity；interact；alternative
Since students who have received several years of formal English teaching frequently remain deficient in actually using the language， there is a need for a new approach to language teaching which will shift the focus of attention from the linguistic knowledge to communicative competence. Communicative competence is now seen as inadequate without the participation of cultural factors. Intercultural communication is much affected by culturally-related factors and miscommunication occurs mainly due to the lack of cultural awareness and cultural creativity. It has been concluded that English teaching in China should be regarded not only as a resource for learning foreign cultures but also as a means of cultural interaction. The students need to learn how to interact with people of different backgrounds. In attempting to answer this question， Chinese foreign language teachers are suggested to focus on developing students’ cultural creativity in college English teaching.
1. Notion of Cultural Creativity
Here cultural creativity refers to “capability which is to be achieved through acquiring knowledge about foreign culture， embedded in language and beyond language， through using this knowledge in the performance of intercultural communication and creating new thinking for a new action” （Chen， 1986： 21）. It is defined as a creative power to be obtained through learning language and culture. The development or growth of this power is a process of internal change within a Chinese student. The notion of cultural creativity pays more attention to the students’ capability to take part in cultural interaction rather than his/her ability to use a language.
2. Cultural Creativity must be Developed
The question therefore arises as to how cultural creativity may be developed. In order to develop creative individuals who are able to bring about changes through interacting with foreign culture， three dimensions to the learning of foreign culture can be proposed in college English teaching： learning to know， learning to do， learning to interact.
2.1. Learning to Know
First of all， what concerns is how to help Chinese students gain knowledge. The initial step is from ignorance to awareness of foreign people and foreign countries. When students know little about foreign people and foreign countries， they assume that the ways of life of people in foreign countries are exactly the same as those in China. As a result， they use Chinese norms of behavior to interpret foreign people’s thinking， behavior and even appearance. This will cause miscommunication. So cultural information is needed in college English teaching. The role of teachers at present is maximize the sources of information， offer students all kinds of reading materials involved with cultural information， encourage them to read authentic materials such as foreign newspapers， advertisements， journals， short stories， novels， plays and other types of literary works. Besides， there are some English magazines and books which are printed in China are easily available， such as Crazy English， English Language Learning， English Salon. The newspapers China Daily and 21st Century are also popular among students. Through such exposure， students may get more information and develop a better understanding of foreign culture.
We must also bear in mind that knowledge about culture can hardly be “handed over” to students. Learning to know depends crucially on the students themselves who abstract the knowledge of culture from the information provided. Hence more attention should be paid to the students’ own ability to achieve knowledge about foreign culture. Students should be encouraged to commit themselves to independent perception， analysis and synthesis. When teachers think about what information they should provide and how this information should be provided， attention must not only be on the information. Equally importantly， they should consider how the information could be used to develop the students’ ability to gain knowledge about foreign culture by themselves and how they should use the knowledge about foreign culture in real communication. Knowledge and ability， which are seen as equally important， are naturally connected in learning.
2.2. Learning to Do
To make changes to society implies taking action. The evaluation of what is useful and valuable to Chinese context can only be made through experiment and practice. A beneficial change from learning a foreign culture can only be achieved through doing something rather than simply knowing something. College English teaching must also provide an opportunity of learning to do some things new in the light of foreign culture.
Culture learning is not a passive process， however， it is an active one in which home culture and foreign culture exist together and interact. Learning to do must focus on the student’s ability rather than on participation for its own sake. That is to say， the teacher should not rigidly require the student to behave exactly like a native speaker. It is very difficult for the teacher to direct the student to behave appropriately， since Chinese teachers themselves may not be aware of the “criteria of appropriateness” unless some native speakers help them. They may find it difficult in formulating clearly the subtleties of behavior. There are few references available to help them explain “appropriateness” from a native speakers’ point of view in Chinese cultural context.
Moreover， it also seems unnecessary to demand that Chinese students behave like native speakers. In intercultural communication， if a foreign language speaker is identified by a native speaker of English as a foreign language speaker through pronunciation or other linguistic features， then the native speaker of English often becomes more tolerant towards the non-native speaker. If his or her speech is almost indistinguishable from the native speaker’s， then the native speaker will expect him or her to behave properly in every respect. Imitation of unfamiliar behavior may cause resentment in students and other people if they have not yet assimilated a positive impression of foreign people. Students should be encouraged to use the language to be themselves.
Since college English teaching in China is a main source for learning to know about foreign culture and also a means of interaction between home and foreign cultures， college English teaching should be a means by which Chinese students experience alternative ways of doing things. This experience of alternative ways of doing things is the premise for breaking “conventional ways” and developing a capacity for change. Trying to do things in a new way is a preparation for creating new things. In this sense， Bentahila and Davies’ suggestion for English teachers in Morocco can also be recommended to Chinese English teachers： “… The aim should be to provide the foreign language students with as much knowledge as is practicable about the native speakers’ norms， but without suggesting that this is the only effective way of using the target language， so that they may be equipped to make an informed choice as to whether to conform to native speaker patterns， maintain those of their own culture， or adopt some sort of compromise， and indeed to make different choices according to the different situations in which they find themselves. During this process， the students’ cultural creativity has got to be developed. More importantly， perhaps， students should thus acquire an awareness of the alternative ways of doing things with language that may remain with them even after they have abandoned the study of the foreign language and no longer need to use it…” （Bentahila and Davies， 1989：110-111）.
Learning alternative ways of doing things in future behaviors can help students to adopt a more flexible attitude than those who only know their own tradition but never think about alternatives. This attitude helps the students to know not only other cultures but also their own culture， since beneath alternative ways of doing things， there is a commonality， which reflects the universal values shared by all cultures.
2.3. Learning to Interact
College English teaching enables students to learn to know a foreign culture and to do things in the light of this knowledge. Meanwhile as part of teaching and learning， it also fulfils the task of transmitting home culture. This implies that College English teaching at the same time should be an opportunity to learn to interact with foreign culture and also with its members where this is possible.
Through learning， the students turn externally available knowledge into their own internal knowledge. To interpret Piaget’s claim （1970） that learning is a process from the known to the unknown， Robinson tells us that in cultural learning， “the ‘known’ would refer to learner’s own preferred method of inputting information and the ‘unknown’ would refer to the target culture’s preferred mode of presenting material” （Robinson， 1985： 23）. That is to say， when gaining knowledge about foreign culture， the student’s existing knowledge about the home culture is employed and interacts with new cultural input. So learning is a process of internal change which involves an interaction between the known and the new. In turn， the achievement of knowledge is the result of internal change occurring in students.
By means of college English teaching， if the student can develop an ability through intercultural communication and intercultural understanding， then he needs to make an internal change， in another word， the development of a creative power for change. Gaining knowledge about foreign culture can strengthen a student’s intellectual power since the student changes from being ignorant to being knowledgeable. He or she begins to understand foreign culture and in return to understand the home culture better. These two steps in internal change are important for they indicate that the student’s relations with reality have started to change. He or she may view the world differently， since his or her perspective has been widened by breaking through mono-linguistic and mono-cultural limitations. To accelerate this change， the students are encouraged beyond the known to the unknown， in this process from the known to the unknown， they will see how they themselves acted while actually experiencing the situation they are now analyzing. If Chinese students， through English learning， have developed a creative power for change， then perhaps we can say they have what we have called cultural creativity.
In brief， teachers should expose his students to target culture through College English teaching as much and often as possible， helping them to increase cultural competence. In the changing situation， teacher’s role is different from that in the past. All their efforts is help students learn automatically， speed the change from the unknown knowledge to their own internal one. Only in this way， the outside knowledge can be turned into the inside creativity of students. In teaching any language， teachers are imparting information and therefore power， the power of knowing. By gaining knowledge， students gain power because knowledge is power.
Bibliography：
[1] Bentahila， A. and Davies， E. 1989. Culture and Language Use： A Problem for foreign Language Teaching. IRAL.Vol，27，No.2：99-112.
[2] Chen， S. 1986. Focusing on Knowledge about Culture or Cultural Creativity. Paper presented at the 11th Annual Congress of Applied Linguistics Association of Australia.
[3] Piaget， J. 1970. Genetic Epistemology. New York： Columbia University Press.
[4] Robinson， G. L. N. 1985. Cross-cultural Understanding： Processes and Approaches for Foreign Language， English as a Second Language and Bilingual Educators. New York： Pergamon Press.