Influence of Cultural Differences on Reading in Second Language Acquisition.docVIP

Influence of Cultural Differences on Reading in Second Language Acquisition 2008-09-24 21:06 Abstract Reading is a very complicated skill involving many aspects. Linguistic knowledge can affect one’s reading, but cultural factors play a more important role in reading process. Many true and serious reading barriers are not only from the proficiency of language knowledge itself, but also caused by cultural differences between target language and our mother tongue. Cultural differences exist in background information, words, sentences, and text structures, all of which are going to cause potential barriers in reading. Only by finding a feasible way to remove the barriers can we improve our reading ability. Key Words Cultural differences; reading comprehension; reading barriers; solutions 摘 要 阅读是一项涉及面非常广泛而又复杂的技能，我们在二语习得时，阅读中可能遇到的障碍不仅仅是来自于其语言知识本身，更多致命障碍来自于目标语言与母语之间的文化差异对阅读理解所造成的影响，这种语言的文化差异存在于背景知识，词汇，句子，和篇章结构中。它们对阅读产生直接影响并可能导致潜在的阅读障碍，只有针对产生阅读障碍的原因找出切实可行的办法，才能有效地提高阅读能力。 关键词 文化差异；阅读理解；阅读障碍；解决方法 IntroductionLanguage and culture are mutually functioned and dialectically interacted in the sociolinguistics theory. Language is the cornerstone and carrier of culture. There will be no culture without languages. And more, language is the mirror of culture and affected by it. Culture makes the rule of language, and leads the tendency of its production and development. So, each kind of language is characterized by its national special and unique features and distinctive from the others (刘守华,1992, pp.147-148). It is an important aim for a second language learning to master its culture by reading foreign material. In turn, we will encounter many problems and barriers in reading for lacking of cultural knowledge on the target language. All of above, we should be clear to see that, it is necessary to indeed and basic for reading to well know and understand the foreign language and culture.Reading is regarded as a communicative and social activity in modern English teaching theory. It