Coloring the Language:
Teaching Chinese Culture in Language Classes
Hong Zhang (张泓)
In language teaching, culture is often seen
merely as information conveyed by the language, not as a feature of language
itself; cultural awareness becomes an educational objective in itself, separated from language. This presentation will introduce a new approach
that distinguishes
itself by treating the exquisite connection between language and culture in a systematic and structured manner. The presentations will include analyses of the cultural implications of
linguistic choices and show that culture
has come to color language in many and varied ways. The audience will be
introduced to distinctive topics of Chinese culture, which serves as important portals to Chinese
perceptions and perspectives. As a whole, this paper aims at shedding light on the inner cohesion of the language and culture
pedagogy while enriching and giving deeper meaning to
what is dubbed “communicative competence.”