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1、I. IntroductionWith the booming global economy, English plays a more and more important role in international trade. The number of students and social groups that are interested in learning English has sharply increased in recent years. Hao (2007) stated that with the increase of cross-cultural comm
2、unication and to go with the present society, the final purpose of English teaching should be defined as developing the students cross-cultural communicative ability. This is the capability of perpetrating communication with people from different places with different cultural backgrounds. Therefore
3、, English teaching also is a type of activity of cross-cultural communication teaching. In the English teaching system of middle schools, reading teaching plays a significant role. Furthermore, English reading input also is the major source for a Chinese ESL student. As Nuttall (2002) contends, lang
4、uage improvement is a natural by-product of reading (P.30). The role of reading, therefore, exerts great influence on the English reading teaching. However, for a long time, when teaching English reading in middle schools, teachers always emphasize the language teaching and overlook its cultural bac
5、kground knowledge. As a result, English reading teaching can not meet the requirements of the present cross-cultural communication for cultural knowledge is an important element of cross-cultural communication. Han (2007) stated in many situations, it is often found that although the students have m
6、astered certain English vocabulary and grammar, they still can not comprehend the authentic meaning of text or encounter reading obstacles. The reason for this case is the absence of cultural knowledge. Hence, teaching language is to teach culture (Kramsch, 1993:177). According to Wu (2003), English
7、 reading ability can be called a kind of comprehensive communication ability. If people want to understand a text, grasp the main idea of text, and use the information from text to predict, judge and reason, cultural knowledge must be possessed apart from certain English language knowledge. Widdowso
8、n (cited in Cheng, 2007) stated that reading also is a kind of interaction between the writers and readers. To some extent, if there is not an understanding of the target language culture, people may find it difficult to get effective comprehension. Hence, the teachers should try their best to impar
9、t social cultural background information to students in the process of English reading teaching. The study of leading cultural background knowledge into English reading can effectively improve the students reading ability and reading level; it also plays an important role in improving the ability of
10、 cross-cultural communication. Beyond that, under the implications of cross-cultural communication and the cognition of English as an international language, many educators gradually recognize that language learning is not only to learn the language knowledge and skills, but also to acquire the rela
11、tive cultural knowledge.The purpose of this paper is to analyze the current situation of English reading teaching of middle schools in China, and point out the reasons for the limitation of current situation and then explain the relationship between cross-communication and English reading teaching.
12、Next, the author analyzes the importance of leading cultural background knowledge in English reading teaching through a specific case. Also, the study may attract educational scholars to consider the present situation and to put forward some guiding suggestions so as to help those teachers, who only
13、 focus on language knowledge and skills, realize that knowledge and cultural knowledge are equally important. In the end, to a great extent, these implications for teachers and students can exert great influence on the educational revolution in our country.II.Literature ReviewAs a quite important pa
14、rt of the English teaching system of middle schools, English reading teaching has attracted many scholars attention. Especially, in recent years, scholars have done a lot of researches from different perspectives according to the current situation of English reading teaching in China. With the study
15、 of cross-cultural communication, many scholars extend cross-cultural communication to the foreign language teaching, such as, Hu Wenzhong, Zhang Hongling, etc. Other scholars integrate cultural background knowledge with English reading teaching of middle schools. Although many scholars in China pay
16、 more attention to English reading teaching in the middle school, there are still some scholars in China who have studied and analyzed cross-cultural communication and English teaching from various angles. According to some related studies, it is not difficult to find that some of them introduce the
17、 relationship between cross-cultural communication and English teaching in middle schools generally, and some of them analyze English reading teaching from the perspective of the relationship between cultural knowledge and English reading teaching, such as, Pang Ying, Xiao Ji, Chao Dingjiang, etc. O
18、nly a few scholars have studied cultural knowledge and English reading teaching of middle schools from the perspective of cross-cultural communication. Its a pity that most of them have only analyzed English reading teaching in terms of the cultural background knowledge, or just given a brief introd
19、uction. Therefore, this paper will analyze the relationship between cultural background knowledge and English reading teaching of middle schools from a new angle of cross-cultural communication. III. The Present Situation of English Reading Teaching from the Perspective of Cross-cultural Communicati
20、onThe relationship between English reading teaching and cross-cultural communication is a popular topic all the time in China and attracts much attention from several fields.3.1. Present Situation of English Reading TeachingMany foreign linguists find that reading is an important link of language le
21、arning and also is an important way for people to obtain knowledge and information through some relative research. Cheng (2007) believed that the main task of English teaching is to develop the students reading ability. Unfortunately, many students reading ability still can not reach the required le
22、vel. In other words, they are only able to understand the surface meaning of the text and can not see the deeper meaning. However, English as a foreign language is widely taught in middle schools, but few teachers realize the relationship between English reading teaching and cross-cultural communica
23、tion. When teaching English reading, the teachers are devoted to teaching language knowledge skills instead of some communicative skills. In fact, English reading teaching has a close connection with cross-cultural communication. As for English reading teaching in middle schools, the present situati
24、on of English reading teaching is still far from satisfactory as many teachers have a confused understanding for the purpose of English reading teaching of middle schools, and also for the relationship between language and culture. In addition, many teachers who teach English reading even neglect th
25、e cultural differences in classes and understand the meaning of texts in a Chinese way of thinking. 3.2. Reasons for Present Situation of English ReadingAs regards the reasons for present situation of English reading from the perspective of cross-cultural communication, Li (2007) pointed out that th
26、ere are two reasons: the first reason is that some teachers in the middle school believe that transferring language knowledge to students should be regarded as the main purpose of English teaching. The second is that some teachers insist that cultural knowledge teaching can not be accomplished as th
27、e content in the middle school is so simple. This kind of vague cognition has exerted great negative influence on daily communicative ability in middle schools. In addition, the methods of traditional English reading teaching have been established for a long time and the influence can not be elimina
28、ted in a short time. The traditional English reading teaching seems to mainly concern sentences, vocabulary, and grammar for traditional reading teaching is often regarded as a course for language knowledge. That is, English reading teaching focuses on imparting language knowledge rather than cultiv
29、ating the cross-cultural communication awareness. Consequently, most English teachers put emphasis on the language itself only, such as, vocabulary and grammars, without paying attention to the cultural knowledge of the text. The result of ignoring the cultural knowledge is that although the student
30、s have enough English language knowledge to know the meaning of each word and understand each grammar structure, they still can not comprehend the authentic meaning of the text. In recent years, although, English reading teaching of middle schools has greatly improved in middle schools, and both tea
31、chers and students have made great efforts, the result is still unsatisfactory owing to many factors.3.3. Requirement of English Reading Teaching in Terms of Cross-cultural CommunicationEnglish reading teaching should be based on the aim of cross-cultural communication from two aspects.The first asp
32、ect is to know the requirement of relationship between language and culture. Our language is our culture Yu (cited in Liu, 2004), so, the relationship between language and culture is inseparable. Language is an important base of culture and also is the reflection of culture. In addition, a language
33、is a mirror of a nations cultural characteristics. It not only includes native history and cultural background, but also contains the national view of life and the way of thinking. Without full understanding of relative cultural knowledge, it is impossible to learn the language easily. Therefore, th
34、e teachers must teach English reading with cultural knowledge from the perspective of cross-cultural communication. The second angle is to understand the need of current society. At the beginning of the 21st century, people who can communicate with others from different cultures are required by mode
35、rn society. According to this, the author thinks that the main objective of English teaching is to achieve cross-cultural communication and communication with the people who have different cultural backgrounds. Zhang (2007) thinks, the ability of cross-cultural communication is one aim of foreign la
36、nguage learning. Cultural knowledge is an essential element of English reading teaching in middle schools and cross-cultural communication. Therefore, learning cultural knowledge is very necessary. It follows that learning a kind of language must involve learning its culture. IV. Cross-cultural Comm
37、unication and English Reading TeachingImproving learners intercultural communicative competence has been acknowledged to be the major goal of current English language teaching in China. What intercultural communicative competence is and how to achieve by our English learners have become issues of ma
38、jor concern. 4.1 Cross-cultural Communication Briefly speaking, Zhang (2007) contends that cross-cultural communication refers to the communication between the native- speakers and non-native speakers. Hu (1989) said there are two different kinds of understanding for cross-cultural communication. In
39、 a narrow sense, cross-cultural communication refers to various cultural factors and related problems involved in mass communication. In a broad sense, it refers to various aspects of culture involved in all kinds of communication among people with different backgrounds. From the explanation of inte
40、rcultural communication, it is not difficult to find that the cultural backgrounds are an essential element to achieve successful cross-cultural communication. From here, it is easy to get an application that it is very useful for English teachers to teach reading and to take the cross-cultural comm
41、unication into consideration with the characteristic of English reading teaching of middle schools, because this can remind the students of learning the culture of English-speaking countries consciously.4.2. Relationship between Cross-cultural Communication and English Reading Teaching People from d
42、ifferent countries and different nationalities have different cultural backgrounds. This makes the communicative ways and customs different. If people dont get an understanding of the cultural backgrounds from others, they will fail to realize the cross-cultural communication successfully. In other
43、words, when conducting the cross-cultural communication, if both sides in communication are not under the same cultural situation, puzzlement or misunderstanding will easily arise and then make the communication fail. Actually, the real tie that makes people go together is their culturetheir common
44、thinking and standard Ji (cited in Benedict, 1935:16). Apparently, the key to successful cross-cultural communication is to understand others cultural backgrounds. Only in this way, can the cultural shock be avoided effectively. However, Deng and Liu (1995) pointed out that language is a part of cul
45、ture and plays a very important role in it. Some social scientists consider it the keystone of culture. Language is simply the tool conveying the message which is important to them, whereas in language classrooms the message is the tool conveying the language (Nuttall, 2002:30). Language is the prin
46、cipal means for us to conduct our social lives. It is the symbolic system of human communication. When it is used in the contexts of communication, it is bound up with culture in multiple and complex ways. Language expresses, embodies and symbolizes cultural reality (Kramsch, 1993: 9). From here, le
47、arning language must understand its culture. English, which is a tool to transfer cultural information, plays an important role in understanding the meaning of the text. So, cultural knowledge is indispensible for English reading teaching of middle schools. Many textbooks in middle schools contain m
48、any cross-cultural communication factors. That provides the condition for cross-cultural teaching. Furthermore, some textbooks are compiled by domestic experts and foreign experts from Britain, America, Australia, and Canada. The Chinese students want to master every text completely. And they have t
49、o learn relative cultural background knowledge of text. From the above analysis, the cultural elements have extended to all-sides of English. Culture teaching is the important content of English teaching. Learning language must know its culture and learning culture must understand language. Therefore, teachers not only teach students pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary to make them grasp language knowledge and skills. At the same time, that makes students acquire English-speaking countries culture and recognizes the differ
