核心素养视域下农村地区小学英语教学中文化意识培养实证研究

发布时间：2023-05-23 13:56

Contents

Chapter I Introduction 1

1.1Research Background 1

1.2Research Purpose 3

1.3Research Significance 3

1.4Thesis Structure 4

Chapter II Literature Review 7

2.1Definiton of Key Terms 7

2.1.1Cultural Awarenes 8

2.1.2English Key Compeptencies 10

2.2Theoretical Basis 11

2.2.1Developmental Model of Intercultral Sensivity 11

2.2.2Chen Shen's Three Models of Teaching Culture 13

2.3 Relevant Studies of Cultural Awareness Cultivation Abroad and at Home 16

2.3.1Relevant Studies Abroad 16

2.3.2Relevant Studies at Home 19

Chapter IH Research Methodology 24

3.1Research Questions 24

3.2Research Subjects 24

3.3Research Instruments 25

3.3.1Questionnaire 25

3.3.2Interview 28

3.3.3Tests 28

3.4Research Procedure 30

3.4.1Preparation Stage 30

3.4.2Experimental Stage 30

3.4.3Post- experimental Stage 33

3.5Data Collection and Analysis 33

3.5.1Questionnaire 33

3.5.2Interview 34

3.5.3Tests 35

Chapter W Results and Discussion 36

4.1Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural Awareness Cultivation in

Rural Primary School 36

4.1.1Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural Awareness from the

Hands of Students 36

4.1.2Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural Awareness from the

Hands of Teachers 43

4.2Results and Discussion of Influencing Factors of Cultural Awareness Cultivation.44

4.2.1Teachers' Cultural Awareness 44

4.2.2Teaching Method 45

4.2.3Exercise Designing 46

4.3Results and Discussion of Students' Cultural Awareness under the Guidance of

Integrative Model of Teaching Culture

4.3.1Results and Discussion of Pre - test and Post- test between EC and CC 47

4.3.2Results and Discussion of Pre - questionnaire and Post- questionnaire

between EC and CC 48

Chapter V Conclusion 52

5.1Major Findings 52

5.2Pedagogical Implications 53

5.2.1Implications for Teaching 54

5.2.2Implications for Research 55

5.3Limitations of the Study 56

References 57

Appendix I Questionnaire 60

Appendix II Interview Outline 62

Appendix IH Tests 63

Appendix W Teaching Case 66

Acknowledgments 69

List of Tables

Table 2-1 Information of Teaching Steps 13

Table 2-2 Integrative Model of Teaching Culture 15

Table 3-1 Detailed information of English teachers 25

Table 3-2 Reliability of the Questionnaire 26

Table 3-3 KMO and Bartlett's Test 27

Table 3-4 Detailed Information of Tests 29

Table 3-5 Contents of Teaching Culture 31

Table 4-1 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Attitude towards Cultural Knowledge 36

Table 4-2 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Views on Teaching of Culture 38

Table 4-3 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Cultural Knowledge 39

Table 4-4 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Cultural Understanding 39

Table 4-5 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Intercultural Communicative Awareness 40

Table 4-6 Descriptive Analysis of Students' Intercultural Communicative Competence 41

Table 4-7 Descriptive Statistic of Whole Questionnaire 42

Table 4- 8 A Comparison Result of Pre- test between EC and CC 47

Table 4-9 A Comparison Result of P ost- test between EC and CC 48

Table 4-10 A Comparison Result of Pre- questionnaire between EC and CC 49

Table 4-11 A Comparison Result of Post- questionnaire between EC and CC 50

ChapterI Introduction

There are four sections specified in this chapter. A specification of research background is presented firstly and then the purpose and significance of research are introduced. Last, the overall thesis structure is given.

1.1Research Background

Language can be regarded as the carrier and a part of culture. If learners want to learn well a foreign language, they have to understand cultural knowledge related to the language. According to the study of Zhou (2017), researchers Hu Wenzhong and Gao Yihong identified three aspects of foreign language teaching: language skills, communication skills and cultural competence, which hints that culture is a crucial part of language teaching. In terms of English, which is widely used in international communication, and it is also the main foreign language in Chinese education. Therefore, English teachers have a responsibility to cultivate students' cultural awareness as well as their language ability.

The importance of cultural awareness can be seen from the “English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 edition)” in which cultural awareness is one of the components of the cultivation of students' key competencies. The definition of key competencies of English subject is explained from four dimensions, namely learning ability, language competence, thinking quality and cultural awareness. The word “key competencies” was first proposed at the meeting “Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development” in 1997 and began to provide a theoretical framework for the researchers. "Key competencies" increasingly become a hot topic in research and education in recent years. In 2014, the Ministry of Education put forward a system of key competencies to cultivate students of all learning age, making it clear that students must adapt to social development and lifelong development. Key competencies are formed under the condition of combining with the characteristics of discipline. The aim of cultural awareness in English key competencies is to “enable students to learn the knowledge of culture, grasp the content of culture, compare the differences and similarities of culture, absorb the essence of culture, establish the correct values, firm confidence of culture, and form a good character of self- confidence, self-improvement and self- esteem, have certain cross-cultural communication and dissemination of Chinese culture” (2018).

In addition, cultural awareness is regarded as a significant part of comprehensive language application ability in New English Curriculum Standard for Compulsory Education (2011 edition) in which primary school students are required to reach secondary goals of cultural awareness. Therefore, cultural awareness cultivation can be achieved in English teaching in primary school. In teaching, teachers should expand the scope and the content of cultural knowledge on the basis of cognitive competence and characteristic of students. The cultural awareness of target language in teaching should be relevant to students' learning structure and daily life, in which students' interest in learning can be aroused. Integrating cultural knowledge into English teaching can expand students' cultural knowledge, reinforce students' understanding of different cultures, cultivate students' sensitivity to differences between foreign and Chinese culture, improve their understanding of cultures between Chinese and foreign and their identification of excellent cultures. Exposure to the knowledge of foreign culture is useful for understanding and using English. What's more, cultivation of cultural awareness in rural primary school is an urgent task to be conducted. According to former scholars, there are several problems exist in primary schools in rural areas, such as neglect of cultural awareness, unreasonable teaching method of culture and teachers' poor cultural knowledge and so on. Scholars provided some suggestions on the cultivation of cultural awareness. However, there are fewer research related to cultural awareness cultivation in primary school, especially in rural primary school.

Through the cultivation of cultural awareness, students can deepen their cultural knowledge, enhance their national emotion and national identity. This is consistent with the concept of “Building the sense of Chinese nation's community”, which is put forward by General Secretary Xi in the report of 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. So the concept of “Building the sense of the Chinese nation's community” can be achieved through the cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching. As mentioned in NECS (2011 edition), students should not only improve the awareness of foreign culture but also deepen the understanding of Chinese culture in rural primary school English teaching.

1.2Research Purpose

In recent years, along with the research of cultivation of cultural awareness have been studied by scholars at home and abroad, the research of cultural awareness have been explored from different aspects. Some researchers surveyed the status quo of cultural awareness cultivation and gave a detailed analysis. Some researchers explored the teaching methods of culture in different teaching stages in order to make a progress on the cultivation of students' cultural awareness. Other group of researchers took teachers as the main research subject, because teachers' cultural awareness directly affects students'. Most of these studies focused on the English teaching of middle school.

This paper targets at exploring the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation of primary school in rural areas by the means of students' questionnaire and finding out the influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation by interviewing teachers. Teachers' interview is also a supplementary method to investigate current situation of cultural awareness, which aims to attach the notice on the significant role of cultural awareness in English teaching in rural primary school. In addition, this study tries to survey whether the integrative model of teaching culture has an impact on students' cultural awareness, and to provide some suggestions for the practical teaching of culture with the purpose of making it more effective and colorful. In English teaching in primary school of rural areas, the cultivation of students' cultural awareness can not only improve their understanding of Chinese and foreign cultures but also deepen their identification with national culture, so as to establish students' sense of community of Chinese nation.

1.3Research Significance

According to the contents specified in NESC (2011 edition), the cultivation of cultural awareness conforms to the requirements of social development and acts a crucial role on the lifelong learning of students. This paper is wished to provide some referential information for future related research and practical teaching. The research significance includes two aspects: theoretical significance and practical significance.

Theoretically, first, this paper reviews a large number of studies and introduces the key terms of cultural content and connotation of cultural awareness in order to make them clear in English teaching in primary school. Although the related definition is given in English Curriculum Standards, educators often misunderstand cultural contents and cultural awareness. So it needs public attention on culture and cultural awareness. Second, this paper can arouse educators' attention to the importance of cultural awareness cultivation in English teaching. Last, this paper is hoped to offer some advice for practical teaching and valuable references for future research. This research also has some practical significance.

Practically, teachers understand the culture and cultural awareness in depth, and can clearly distinguish them, which helps them effectively cultivate students' cultural awareness. Teachers can recognize the consequence of cultural awareness in English teaching in rural primary. From the detailed research results, teachers can have a profound understanding of the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation, which can enhance teachers to make a reflection on their teaching methods and the level of cultural awareness. This study hopes to draw readers' attention towards the cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching in primary school, further provide teaching suggestions for teaching culture and improve students' cultural awareness. Because language is considered as the carrier of culture and can be a part of culture, teachers should consider students' interest and language ability when cultivating students' cultural awareness. Therefore, an appropriate teaching method is very important in cultivating students' cultural awareness. A proper teaching method can not only guarantee the teaching efficiency but also promote students' learning. The cultivation of cultural awareness can expand students' cultural knowledge which contributes to their further learning and life, cultivate students' sensitivity to differences of foreign countries and Chinese culture, enhance students' understanding of Chinese and foreign cultures, form students' national identity. Therefore, the cultivation of cultural awareness can establish students' sense of Chinese national community, which contributes to national unity and national development. Besides, the cultural awareness cultivation contributes to the realization of key competencies and the overall objective of English disciplines.

1.4Thesis Structure

There are five parts specified in this chapter.

The first part gives an introduction to the research background, research purpose and significance, and thesis structure.

The second part reviews a significant number of previous studies and mainly introduces the definition of culture, cultural awareness, and English key competencies, previous studies of cultural awareness abroad and at home and theoretical basis that includes Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and Chen's three models of teaching culture.

The third part presents research methodology, in which research questions, research subjects, research instruments, research procedure and data collection and analysis are included.

The fourth part states results and discussion and mainly analyzes the collected data of research methods mentioned in chapter three, which intends to give the answers for three research questions.

The fifth part is the last and conclusion part, in which a conclusion can be drawn on the major findings, pedagogical implications and limitations and suggestions of research.

Chapter I Literature Review

In this part, the author reviews a large number of previous studies to ensure the reliability of this paper. There are three sections specified in this part. Definition of culture, cultural awareness, and English key competencies are given firstly and then the introduction of theoretical basis is presented. The relevant studies of cultural awareness at home and abroad are introduced at the end of this chapter.

2.1Definition of Key Terms

The word “culture” stems from the Latin word “Colere” which is explained as the cultivation of land and crops, and later expanded to the cultivation of people's interest, talent, art, moral ability, etc. Culture exists in people's daily life, mainly reflects the life of material and spirit of human beings. The definition of culture is very broad. So far there is still no unified and complete definition.

Edward Tylor (1871) was an anthropologist from British. It was the first time that the definition of culture is explained in his book Primitive Culture. He explained that “Culture is complex subject, in which belief, law, knowledge, morality, custom and any other abilities and habits are contained and they are acquired by man as a member of society”. In 1992, scholar Stern pointed out two kinds of cultures, the broad culture and the narrow culture. Culture in its broad sense is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth, it cannot only contains transportation, daily necessities but also includes institutional culture, mode of thinking, values, aesthetic taste and faith. Culture in narrow sense includes social custom, life style, and mode of thinking and norm of conduct.

According to NECS (2011), culture in foreign language teaching is explained as “the geography and history, local conditions and customs, traditional customs, lifestyle, norm of conduct, literature and art, and values”. In the process of learning, contact and comprehension of culture of English speaking countries contributes to the comprehension and usage of language, is conducive to deepening the comprehension and love of Chinese nation's excellent traditional culture, is conducive to the acceptance of advanced culture belonging to all mankind, is conducive to cultivation of world consciousness. In teaching, teachers should consider the students' age and cognitive ability, and increasingly broaden the content and range of cultural knowledge. Students should understand the culture of English speaking countries, and distinguish the differences and similarities of Chinese and foreign cultures. In English teaching, the cultural knowledge of English speaking countries should be closely relevant to students' study and life, which contributes to the stimulation of students' interest in English learning. More importantly, the enlargement of the range of students' contact with foreign cultures is crucial, which contributes to students' broadening of vision, improvement of their sensitivity to different cultures and discernment to different cultures. So that students' skills of intercultural communications can be improved smoothly and effectively.

2.1.1CulturalAwareness

The definition of cultural awareness is presented by many scholars, among them the definition given by Tomalin is widely applied in different research of cultural awareness. Tomalin (1998) believed that cultural awareness is students' recognition of using language and communicating with others, and it is deeply influenced by behavior related to cultural context. According to NECS (2011 edition), cultural awareness is made up of four aspects, namely cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, and intercultural communication awareness and competence. Teachers should notice all the four aspects of cultural awareness in English language teaching. In the research of Liu (2014), the relative meaning of each part was presented as followings: Cultural knowledge refers to the knowledge of history, geography, custom and so on. Cultural understanding means that students' comprehensive process or comprehensive ability towards culture and its differences. Intercultural communication awareness is interpreted as students' sensitivity to the similarities and differences of different cultures when using a foreign language, and self- consciousness of adjusting their language understanding and language output on the basis of the culture of the target language(such as English). Intercultural communication competence is explained as students' ability of using the language appropriately on the basis of cultural environment and cultural backgrounds of both sides of communication and on the premise of understanding and respecting cultural background of both sides of communication. These four aspects of cultural awareness supplement and facilitate each other. In NECS (2011), it is put forward that primary school students should reach secondary teaching goals of cultural awareness. In English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 edition), the definition of cultural awareness is given as following: students' comprehension and self-identity for Chinese and foreign culture, and self-identity for splendid culture, and students' intercultural cognition, attitude and behavior orientation showed by the globalization background.

In the context of globalization, it is inevitably involves the communication under the different cultural background, which asks people to have the ability of communicating with others from different cultural settings. In NECS (2011), the significance of cultural awareness specifically was put forward: “It contributes to students to learn to be a person and to do things, and be a person with responsibility and quality, to improve self-confidence of culture, to comb the sense of human community and destiny, to enhance national identity and national feelings”. According to Xie (2020), cultural awareness cultivation can strengthen students' identification towards differences of cultures between the East and the West, expand their knowledge, cultivate their patriotic spirits, and help students establish a positive attitude towards life. In English teaching, the teaching of cultural knowledge is conducive to students' great understanding of English, which can make students to form a good awareness of intercultural communication and improve their intercultural communication competence. So that students can choose the appropriate way to use English in intercultural communication.

In practical teaching, teaching objectives of cultural awareness cannot be achieved by independent, it always accomplished in language teaching. NECS (2011 edition) highlights that students are supposed to have a basic understanding of cultural similarity and difference between Chinese and foreign countries. Moreover, it clearly indicates that English teachers should consider students' age and cognitive ability in teaching. In English teaching, the knowledge of foreign cultures should be strongly associated with students' daily life and learning, so that their interests in English learning can be aroused effectively. So the cultivation of students' cultural awareness should be attached much of attention by English teachers in primary school English teaching to develop their further learning.

It is remarkable that teachers should notice the cultivation of cultural awareness of English, Chinese and Mongolian of rural primary school students who learn those three languages in their class. The cultivation of cultural awareness of English, Chinese and Mongolian is conducive to the realization of Xi's vision of “Building a strong sense of Chinese nation' community”, its essence is to strengthen cultural identity and establish the sense of Chinese nation' community. Culture is the indicator of a nation, the picture of their life and the memory of the spirit of its members. Strengthening the Chinese cultural identity of Chinese people is beneficial to enhancing the consciousness of the Chinese nation community, so that the members of community reach a consensus on the idea of emotional resonance, and form a joint force of behavior to form a strong sense of unity and belonging, and recognize the strong vitality of the Chinese nation "Chinese dream".

2.1.2English Key Competencies

The word “key competencies” was first proposed at the meeting “OECD” in 1997. In 2014, it is proposed by the Ministry of Education that students of all studying ages should be developed the system of key competencies, and clarifying that students must meet their development of society and lifelong.

In English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 edition), key competencies are defined as the concentrated embodiment of education values, and students form the correct values, essential character and ability through the subject learning. There are four dimensions specified in English key competencies, namely language competence, cultural awareness, thinking quality and learning ability. Language ability is interpreted as the ability of synthesis and expressions formed in social context and the language awareness and consciousness formed in the process of learning and using. Thinking quality means that thinking ability and level of performance in the logic, criticism and innovation. Learning ability is interpreted as the consciousness and competence of students to learn and use the learning strategies, broaden the ways and improve the efficiency of learning English. Cultural awareness refers to the process in which students acquire cultural knowledge, understand cultural contents, compare cultural similarities and differences, and acquire the ability to communicate with foreign culture and disseminate Chinese culture. It is an expression of students' cross-cultural cognition, behavioral orientation and attitude under the background of globalization. Cultural awareness reflects the value orientation of English education.

In NECS (2011 edition), cultural awareness refers to “students' understanding for similarities and differences of cultures between Chinese and foreign countries, and their competence to distinguish cultural differences and intercultural communication competence”. The requirement of cultural awareness meets that of English key competencies, so the English key competencies can be cultivated in primary school English teaching. Over the long period of time, it is necessary to consider students' further learning of English and characteristics of future development of society. The cultivation of English key competencies in English teaching in rural primary school contributes to students' future learning stages of English. So it is significant to cultivate primary school students' cultural awareness from the perspective of English key competencies. 2.2Theoretical Basis

The guidance of theories can provide a great support on thesis writing. This paper mainly takes Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and Chen's three models of teaching culture as theoretical basis.

2.2.1Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

According to Xie (2020), Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) is proposed in Milton Bennett's research Basic Concepts of Intercultural Communication in 1988. There are two important terms in DMIS, ethnocentrism and ethnorelativism. Ethnocentrism is regarded as universal, since this kind of culture considers their life style as superior to others', although there is a tight connection with neighbors. In ethnocentrism, their own culture is regarded as reality, and other cultures are seen as threats to their culture. In opposite, others' culture is regarded as a treasure by ethnorelativists who realized that cultural context contains all behaviors, and they not only try to understand other cultures but also believe that other cultures can help them expand experience of reality.

In Milton Bennett's mind, there are three stages in ethnorelativism, they are acceptance stage, adaptation stage and integration stage.

At the acceptation stage, people accept the existence of cultural differences in which the acceptance of verbal and non-verbal behaviors are included, and then develop a respect for the values, which is related to the acceptance of a variety of opinions that containing major behavioral differences. With the increase of cross- cultural awareness, people start to view the differences of culture in a complicated context.

At the adaptation stage, people can repair the relationships with others from different cultures with the knowledge of cultural differences. The speakers balance what culture is suitable while interacting with people from different cultural settings. At this stage, they have less prejudice to other culture and can develop yourself and change your behavior in order to interact more effectively in different culture. Gradually, they have the ability to live and work effectively in a new culture.

During the integration phase, they identify themselves as multiculturalists in behavior. They are not only like to have a joint with new culture, they also can have an achievement in the globalized world (2020).

According to the explanation of ethnorelativism, the author divides four steps of teaching culture into three stages of ethnorelativism. The first and the third step of integrative model are presentation and explanation, which are regarded as acceptation stage where students understand and accept the existence and cultural differences of foreign cultures from the teachers' presentation and explanation. The second stage is the discussion step, which is regarded as adaption stage in which students are admitted to discuss different cultures of English speaking countries and China. In adaption stage, students can imagine the differences between foreign and Chinese culture, the purpose of which is to require students to effectively adapt to the new culture. The last step of teaching model is experience step which is considered as the integration stage in which students are expected to participate in some activities, like role-play. Students are asked to act as a person in the textbook. For example, a student can act as Sarah and introduce the culture of her country, which can effectively cultivate students' cultural awareness. The information talked above is given in the table 2-1.

Table 2-1 The information of teaching step

Teaching step

According to the theory of ethnorelativism in DMIS, there are three stages in learning culture, they are acceptation stage, adaption stage and integration stage, which are suitable for the the learners who has less contact with culture, especially for the students of rural primary school. Those three stages in ethnorelativism of DMIS provide theoretical guidance for the application of integrative model of teaching culture in rural primary school English teaching.

2.2.2Chen Shen's Three Models of Teaching Culture

Xie (2020) mentioned the models of teaching culture of Chen in her research, there are three representative teaching models of culture concluded in Chen's book “Research Language and Culture Teaching Strategies”. Chen believes that the emergence of each model is a further supplement, expansion and reconstruction of the original model. Meanwhile, a tendency of certain time can be reflected by each model, with typical representation. The three models of teaching culture is made up of the additive model of teaching language and culture, the integrative model of teaching language and culture and the comprehensive model of teaching and culture.

2.2.2.1The Additive Model of Teaching Language and Culture

The objective of this model is to learn target language and culture. In Chen's opinion, characteristics of this model are summarized as following: First, teaching of culture becomes a part of language teaching, and it fully integrates teaching of culture into foreign language courses. No matter what kind of cultural contents, which are taught through a certain teaching method, it is taught to students in an interdisciplinary manner. Secondly, teaching culture is still attached to language courses. Chen believes that culture as knowledge can be taught with this model, in other word, this model only focuses on students' learning of cultural knowledge while neglecting students' participation in real cultural environment. In addition, teachers' dominant role is highlighted in this model, students acquire cultural knowledge from the presentation of teachers, therefore, there has less activity related with culture.

2.2.2.2The Integrative Model of Teaching Language and Culture

Communicative teaching method affects this model. Culture coexists with language in this model. Teaching of culture should be associated with language teaching. The characteristics of this model are presented as followings: First, language courses should include teaching of culture. Besides, students' communication and students' dominant role are emphasized in this teaching model. Secondly, language and culture show identity in teaching. There has no specific position in language courses for teaching of culture, but is conducted in language teaching, and students' participation is emphasized rather than teacher' presentation. This teaching model emphasizes the application of cultural knowledge in practical environment.

According to the research of Xie (2020), there are four teaching steps in integrative model of teaching culture, respectively presentation, discussion, explanation and experience. In presentation step, teacher prepares some materials related to cultural contents, such as pictures or videos, so as to motivate students' interest. The presentation of pictures is expected to awaken what students have learned in their brains. In this teaching step, students are expected to be able to accept different cultures. In the discussion stage, teacher requires students to discuss the different cultures according to the materials given in English class. Considering the characteristics of primary school students, teacher can encourage students to imagine and discuss cultural differences. In the explanation step, teacher gives further introduction on cultural differences, which aims to make students understand and accept the differences in culture. In the experience step, students are asked to take part in activities in which they output the cultural knowledge learned from the above three steps. In this step, students can engage in group discussion or role-play to output cultural differences, and students have chances to communicate with the classmates.

This step is considered as integration stage. The teaching model is shown in table 2-2.

Table 2-2 Integrative model of teaching culture

Teaching step

2.2.2.3The Comprehensive Model of Teaching Language and Culture

Cross-cultural communication research has an impact on this model, meeting the requirements of society development. It shows the characteristics as followings: First, in this model, the interaction between discourse and the context provides a condition for teaching of language and culture. Teacher-student interaction is provided fully the conditions and environment, in which students are permitted to interact with teachers equally, so that the problems are solved in effective. Second, this model emphasizes the two-way culture. That is to say, the connection between target culture and native culture is emphasized. Third, in this model, both the transfer of cultural knowledge and communicative interaction are emphasized.

This study tries to cultivate students' cultural awareness by using the integrative model of teaching culture proposed by Chen. The first model aims to cultivate students' learning of culture of target language, focusing on students' cultural knowledge rather than communication in cultural learning. This model is conducted under the dominant role of teachers, and too boring to primary school students. The second model regards students as the dominant role of teaching of culture, so that students have more opportunities to express themselves. Students can participate in different activities, such as role-play, giving a report and so on, which can arouse their interests in learning of culture. In the second model, educators can not only cultivate students' cultural awareness of foreign languages but also cultivate cultural awareness of own nations. In the teaching experiment, the author can cultivate students' culture awareness of foreign and China. Therefore, this model conforms to the concept of “Building a strong sense of the Chinese nation community” to a certain extent. In addition, the teaching steps of integrative model of teaching culture meet the contents of English key competencies. In English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education (2022 edition) , it is specified that students can acquire cultural knowledge of foreign and China through the comparison. The third model requires students to solve practical problems in cultural conflicts, which needs students to possess higher ability, so this model is suitable for advanced level of foreign language learning.

As a result of comparison of three teaching models, integrative model of teaching culture is more appropriate than other two teaching models in primary school English teaching, so the author applied the integrative model of teaching culture in rural primary school English teaching. Besides, according to the idea of Chen, all the three models of teaching culture emphasized the importance of culture in language teaching and the role of teachers and students whose attitude, understanding and behavior can directly affect the cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching. Therefore, this study tries to investigate the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation and its influencing factors from the perspective of teachers and students.

2.3 Relevant Studies of Cultural Awareness Cultivation Abroad and at Home

There is a significant number of studies of cultural awareness cultivation abroad and at home, and some of the typical research will be introduced in following two parts.

2.3.1Relevant Studies Abroad

According to research review of Shao (2020), in 1945, American linguist Fries first discussed the importance of teaching of culture and stressed the relationship between culture and language. Andishen Saniei emphasized the important impact of cultural awareness cultivation in foreign language teaching. Researchers like Graves, Tomlinson also discussed the necessity of developing cultural awareness and provided some methods and rules for cultural awareness cultivation (2014).

In 1993, Barry Tomalin and Susan Stempleski presented two objectives of language teaching, the first objective is to enhance students' cultural awareness, and another is to enhance their comprehensive use of language skills and promote foreign language teaching. In 1990s, the British National Syllabus pointed out the objective of foreign language teaching: foreign language learners should cultivate different cultural awareness and civilization, American drafted a teaching proposal of language and culture, and listed European cultural content into foreign language course.

At the beginning of 21st century, with the globalization development, cultural awareness had a rapid development on practice and theory. The cultivation of cultural awareness is not limited in education, in other areas of society such as journalists, nurses and psychologists. In 2005, Peter did an empirical investigation on nurses' English cultural awareness. The purpose of this study is to cultivate nurses' awareness of English culture through field communication, field research and guidance of teacher. The conclusion is drawn that English cultural awareness of nurses can be improved by teachers' explanation and face-to face communication.

Maryam Tafaroji Yeganeh's (2015) study heightened the relationship between culture and language and found out that the shortage of time was seen as the main obstacle for teaching of culture. In the above research, it was also emphasized that developing teachers' cultural awareness can enhance students' knowledge of the target culture rather than skills.

Scholar Hanvey (1979)believed that cultural awareness has four levels of characteristics. The first is that cultural awareness is defined as the comprehension of the apparent features of culture. The second refers to the cultural phenomena which is obviously different from national culture. In his thought, the third level refers that people can understand what they have never touched or learned before. The fourth level refers to people's ability putting themselves in others' shoes and truly understanding the behaviors of others. In 2016, four stages of cultural awareness are described by Tarchi and Surien, the first stage is cultural shock, the second is acculturation, then there is cultural adaption, finally, it is a cultural adjustment.

Janice Elich Monroe (2013) advocated that the play can enhance students' cultural awareness. Play in this research contains dance, music, children's game, storytelling, family traditions and festivals. Cardona (2015) studied that activities that are designed under the principles of the Text-Driven method can develop students' cultural awareness to some extend in elementary English teaching. Jensen (2019) advocated that the flipped learning approach can enhance students' cultural awareness. Based on the importance of English teaching, Fenner (2008) explored a teaching model of culture which contributes to learning of culture.

Other groups of scholars studied the teachers' cultural awareness. Like Barry, he analyzed the factors influencing the progress of English teachers' cultural awareness, and provided some valuable suggestions on the improvement of teachers' cultural awareness. (2017). Moran (2009) studied cultivation of teachers' cultural awareness and summarized that cultural awareness cultivation should be cultivated in practical situation, comprehension of cultural awareness can be promoted by communication- centered learning.

There are some research on the relationship between teaching age, intercultural communication awareness and competence, Liaw (2010), debated that teaching age influences intercultural communication awareness and intercultural communicative competence of foreign language teachers. Through comparative analysis, Laviosa (2011) found that teachers with longer teaching experience were more sensitive to cross- cultural communication than those with shorter teaching experience, teachers with longer teaching experience are better at solving cultural contents in teaching materials. Michael (2013) believed that teachers' awareness and competence of intercultural communication can be strengthened with the increase of rich teaching experience and teaching age. Pajares pointed out that intercultural communication awareness and competence is related to the age of a foreign language teacher, which is presented in the research of Liang (2019).

Gashi (2021) who discussed the curriculum documents and culture in teaching contents and finds that there is a misalignment of cultural understanding between curriculum documents and textbooks. It is appealed that teachers should be more creative on using the materials of teaching culture in teaching. Besides, it is recognized by the researcher that cultural comparison between others' and native can enhance students' deep understanding on different cultures. Pulverness A talked about the materials used in cultural awareness teaching. Meliha R. Simsek (2104) introduced a textbook to develop students' cultural awareness, and the author gave the description of the textbook and some strategies to develop students' cultural awareness. In the research of Osama (2020), the “friends' sitcoms” is used as a material to enhance students' cultural awareness in EFL. In his research, Osama emphasized the importance of appropriate materials in cultural awareness cultivation.

Ho (2009) pointed out three elements which influence cultivation of cultural awareness, such as teachers' cultural knowledge, native English speakers' availability and limited time of teaching culture.

Through reviewing foreign research, the author summarized that the research of cultural awareness includes many aspects, mainly focusing on the importance of culture, characteristics of culture, teaching approaches of culture, cultural awareness of teachers and students and so on. To sum up, the cultivation of cultural awareness plays a vital role in language teaching, especially in teaching of target language. The revision of foreign research has great reference significance for this paper.

2.3.2Relevant Studies at Home

Recently, more and more domestic researchers have realized the significance of cultural awareness, and their studies focused on different aspects. Most of the studies focus on the present situation of cultural awareness cultivation and the explosion of teaching method of culture. Some of research are carried out from different aspects such as key competencies, English Curriculum Standards and cultural ecology and so on. Some of research are about teachers' cultural awareness, and some are about the application of teaching models in cultural awareness cultivation.

To be presented at first is the research which is studied from the perspective of key competencies. Zhang (2022) minutely presented cultural awareness cultivation of students from the perspective of key competencies. First, the researcher gave detailed explanation on cultural awareness, then introduced the values of the cultivation of students' cultural awareness with the guidance of key competencies. Last, the researcher pointed out some strategies on cultural awareness cultivation from the point of key competencies. Liu (2019) did a research of cultural awareness cultivation in senior high school students with the guidance of English key competencies. In her paper, she gave the definitions of key competencies, culture and cultural awareness in order to clarify educators' understanding of key terms. From the research, it is summarized that the current situation cultural awareness cultivation of middle school students is relatively unsatisfactory, and cultural literacy of teachers is not high. Through the teaching experiment of interaction mode of target language-mother tongue culture, it has a certain impact on cultural awareness. Wang (2018) analyzed the problems existing in cultural awareness in primary school and conducted a case study on cultural awareness cultivation from the perspective of key competencies. Three kinds of teaching designs are applied in teaching, and the third design is suitable for the cultivation of cultural awareness. Wu (2020) studied the cultivation of cultural awareness in English reading teaching in primary school based on key competencies. In the process of experiment, the author designed three steps in which students' cultural awareness can be cultivated. As a result of teaching experiment, it was drawn a conclusion that students are strongly interested in the learning of culture and their cultural awareness has made a progress after teaching experiment. Besides, it is summarized that teachers agree with the significance of cultural awareness on students' English learning. However, teachers' limited cultural literacy causes the pessimistic situation of cultivation of cultural awareness.

Wen (2020) applied the ESA teaching model in junior high school's English reading teaching with the purpose of strengthening students' intercultural communicative competence. The definition of ESA is presented in the research, and this model includes engaged stage, study stage and activated stage. The author gave detailed introduction to each stage of ESA teaching model and presented teaching design related to this teaching model. In her research, it is drawn a conclusion that ESA teaching model conducive to the improvement of students' intercultural attitudes and learning interests. Therefore, it is proved that using ESA teaching model in English reading class contributes to the improvement of students' intercultural communicative competence.

Li (2015) analyzed the present situation of senior high school's teaching of culture on the basis of cultural ecology. Some suggestions are given for teaching of culture from four aspects: First, it is important to enhance cultural awareness of teachers and students and create a cultural setting, which make teachers and students can effectively experience the culture, and train teachers' cultural ecological awareness through the perfect design of teaching culture. Second, the increase of suitable cultural contrast content, a reasonable balance between different cultural contents and a scientific organization of cultural teaching contents are emphasized in the research. Third, ecological balance of English teaching culture should be achieved by exploring the model of education, and students' dominant role was highlighted. Fourth, the creation of cultural ecology of English teachers should be recognized.

Wang (2016) surveyed the present situation of cultural awareness in university. It is summarized that students can use language appropriately but they lack of intercultural knowledge. However, students in university are eager to develop their intercultural awareness. The researcher provided some effective teaching methods to cultivate students' cultural awareness, such as a design of discussion or debate about cultural differences in teaching, cultural comparison and direct explanation from teachers.

Besides, other group of researchers investigated teachers' cultural awareness which directly affects students' cultural awareness. As a research result of Wu (2020), teachers' intercultural awareness is generally weak, which is caused by following obstacles: Teachers' experience of work and working place, teachers' poor motivation to intercultural awareness cultivation, teachers' heavy work pressure and present test system, teachers' insufficient time and energy to the width of contents of intercultural knowledge, teachers' limited training of professional intercultural awareness. Liang (2019)had a deep understanding on teachers' cultural awareness by the means of cultural test, questionnaire and interview. The result of the study indicated that teachers' cultural awareness is relatively low, especially teachers' cultural knowledge and intercultural communication competence. Liang also pointed out that teachers' poor cultural awareness causes poor cultural knowledge of students. The richer the teaching experience, the higher the level of cultural awareness. Under the guidance of key competencies, Xian (2020)conducted a comparative research on the cultural awareness of experienced teachers and novice teachers in senior high school, investigating two kinds of teachers' attitudes towards cultural awareness and cultural awareness in class. Two kinds of teachers all approve the significant role of cultural awareness, and they have own teaching styles on students' cultural awareness cultivation.

The influencing factor of cultural awareness is another research point. Pan (2019) investigated the elements that influencing the cultural awareness cultivation. It was summarized that there are three factors as followings: students' attitudes, teachers' poor cultural literacy and education environment. Zhou (2017) held the idea that there are four obstacles affecting senior high school's teaching of culture, respectively teachers' poor cultural knowledge and unsystematic teaching method, inappropriate teaching material, examination system and heavy work of students. Qiu (2019)summarized the influencing elements in junior high school from two aspects, the first is teachers' focus on language schema in which traditional teaching pattern and the result evaluation are talked, the another factor is teachers' ignorance of formation of cultural schema in which teachers' poor cultural competence and defects of textbooks are presented.

Wang (2021) gave the definition of cultural awareness at first. Then, the contents of cultural awareness in the fifth grade textbooks are analyzed from three aspects: they are teaching topic, illustration and text content. Last, the researcher gave some advice for the cultivating students' cultural awareness in English teaching.

In addition, Chen (2001) proposed three kinds of teaching models of language and culture which is based on the previous research abroad and at home. Three models are additive model, integrative model and comprehensive model of teaching language and culture. According to author's research review, Chen's three models of teaching language and culture are mentioned in the research of Xie (2020) who surveyed the present situation of cultural awareness in primary school, and found out two kinds of teaching models of culture which are used in English teaching in primary school. As a result of comparison, integrative model of teaching culture is more appropriate than additive model of teaching culture in primary school. The advantages of integrative model of teaching culture are given in the research of Xie (2020).

Besides, other scholars studied cultural awareness cultivation of rural schools. Zhang (2021) pointed out three kinds of factors affect the cultural awareness cultivation of rural primary school; Unreasonable teaching of culture, the focus of language knowledge and ability, teachers' poor cultural literacy, obsolete teaching method and outdated teaching means. Based on above situation, they pointed out some advice and claimed the importance of teaching of culture. Yang (2021) did a research on correlation between cultural awareness and teaching effect of teachers in rural middle schools and found when teachers' cultural awareness is stronger, the teaching effect is better. Therefore, students' learning achievement is higher. There are several problems exist in teachers' cultural awareness: Teachers' neglect of cultural knowledge, unreasonable teaching method and limited teaching materials.

In conclusion, this study introduces the research related to cultural awareness cultivation. The research review shows that the significance of cultural awareness cultivation has been recognized by the researchers, and different studies focus on different aspects and different teaching stages. In particular, in each study, teachers' cultural awareness level is emphasized, which indicates that improving teachers' cultural awareness is an urgent task. The high level of cultural awareness of teachers has a positive influence on students' cultural awareness.

Chapter IH Research Methodology

There are five parts specified in this chapter. The first part introduces the research questions. The second part describes the research subjects. The third part is about research instruments, which includes questionnaire, teachers' interview and tests. The fourth part presents the research procedure. The fifth part describes the collection and analysis of data.

3.1Research Questions

This paper aims to answer following research questions:

1.What is the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation in primary school English teaching?

2.What are the factors that influence the cultural awareness cultivation in primary school English teaching?

3.Can the application of integrative model of cultural teaching improve students' culture awareness from the perspective of key competencies?

3.2Research Subjects

In this study, 129 students and five English teachers of rural primary school of Ar Horqin will be selected as research subjects. English teachers come from different ages, different educational background and teaching experience, the detailed information of teachers is given in table 3-1. And 129 students are from senior grades, because students from senior grades can understand and answer the questions better than the students from junior grades, and their cultural knowledge may be higher than students from junior grades, which contributes to reliability of the research. Students from rural primary school are learning three kinds of languages, the first language is Mongolian, the second language is the national language and the third language is English.

Two classes in grade six are selected as experimental subjects. One is the control class with 32 students, and another is the experimental class with 31 students. The integrative model of teaching culture can be used in experimental class. And the author attends English class as usual in control class. When meeting obvious culture elements in English teaching in control class, the author will briefly explain it. In English teaching in control class, the new words and sentences are the key points of teaching.

Table 3-1 Detailed information of English teachers

Teacher A Teacher B Teacher C Teacher D Teacher E

Age 30 35 44 28 43

Educational Secondary Postgradua Secondary

background Undergraduate Undergraduate school te school

graduate graduate

Teaching period 4 years 5 years 12 years 3 years 11years

3.3Research Instruments

The research instruments relevant to this research are questionnaire, interview and test, which were designed to answer the questions that are mentioned in above part. The pre- questionnaire is mainly to explore the current status of students' cultural awareness cultivation, while the post- questionnaire is mainly to investigate the effectiveness of integrative model of teaching. English teachers are required to answer interview questions, which aims to explore the factors that affecting the cultivation of cultural awareness. The pre- test is mainly to investigate a significant difference between EC and CC, while the post- test aims to test the effectiveness of teaching model of culture in EC.

3.3.1Questionnaire

Questionnaire in this paper is designed to survey the present situation of cultivation of cultural awareness from the hands of students of rural primary school. The prequestionnaire and the post- questionnaire are designed in this study. A pre- questionnaire is designed for 129 students to probe the present situation of cultural awareness cultivation, and a post- questionnaire is applied in experimental class to understand the changes after teaching experiment. Two questionnaires have the same contents.

The questionnaire design is based on the previous work of Shao (2020), Qiu (2019) and Zhu (2014), and the author rewrites the questions according to the full consideration of the requirements of the NECS (2011edition) and key competencies in curriculum standards

of 2022. Considering that cultural awareness is one of the crucial points of key competencies, it is essential to study students' attitudes towards the importance of cultural awareness. Therefore, the author designed the questions of students' attitudes towards cultural knowledge on the basis of questionnaire of Qiu (2019). The cultivation of cultural awareness cannot be separated from teachers, so students' evaluation on teaching of culture should be designed in the questionnaire according to the work of Shao (2020). Besides, the main part of the questionnaire is to test students' cultural awareness which covers four aspects, namely, cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communication awareness and competence. The questions of cultural awareness involved in this questionnaire are based on the questionnaire conducted by Zhu (2014) and related contents of English key competencies. The questions from the work of Zhu (2014) available in primary school are applied in this study. The questionnaire, composed of 20 questions, is divided into six dimensions: students' attitude towards cultural knowledge (question 1-3,8 ), students' evaluation on teaching of culture (question 4-7), students' cultural knowledge (question 9-11), students' cultural understanding (question 12-14), students' intercultural communication awareness ( question 15-17) and intercultural communication competence ( question 18-20). According to Likert Scale, each question is followed by five choices starting with strongly agreeing to strongly disagreeing, which is scored as 5-1. When students achieved higher test scores, their level of cultural awareness is higher.

For the purpose of ensuring the validity of the data, questionnaires were handed out to students during their free time at school. Students conducted a questionnaire under the supervision guidance of the author, which can provide a beneficial condition for this paper. It took about 40 minutes for students to accomplish the questionnaire. The reliability and validity of questionnaire can be seen from the analysis in following table.

The reliability of each dimension of questionnaire and validity of the whole questionnaire are given.

Table 3-2 Reliability of the Questionnaire

Dimension Cronbach's Alpha N of item Students' attitude towards culture .843 4

Students' evaluation on teaching of culture

Students' cultural knowledge .877 3

Students' cultural understanding .892 3

Students' intercultural communicative awareness .855 3

Students' intercultural communicative competence .817 3

In reliability analysis, Cronbach's Alpha value greater than 0.6 is generally considered acceptable, 0.7 is better, 0.8 is very good, and 0.9 or higher is the ideal level. The table 4-1 shows the reliability analysis of the scale, from which we can see the Cronbach's Alpha value of five dimensions is greater than 0.8 and one of it is near the 0.8, and the Cronbach's coefficient after item deletion is greater than 0.7 level, which hints that the reliability of the scale meets for the standards.

The KMO is a test statistic, in which the simple and partial correlation coefficient between variables are compared. When the KMO value is closer to 1, the correlation between the variables is stronger and the validity of the original variables is better; On the contrary, when the KMO value is closer to 0, the validity of the original value is worse. The Bartlett test is used to verify that each variable is independent. The original assumption is that the relevant variable is a unit matrix. If the null hypothesis is refused, then the variables are correlated and have good validity. If the null hypothesis is not refused, it hints that these variables can provide some information independently, and their validity is good.

Table 3-3

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy .766

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-square 522.510

Df 190

Sig. .000

KMO is clearly presented in the table 4-2, that is 0.766>0.6, which hints that the validity of questionnaire is good. The significance level of the Bartlett test value is 0.000, that is, under the obvious level of 1%, Bartley is rejected the null hypothesis of special test. It shows that the validity of each dimension of the scale is better.

3.3.2Interview

An interview for teachers is used to provide supplementary information for the research. Interview is aimed to survey the status qua of cultural awareness cultivation from the point of English teachers. Teachers' attitudes can be surveyed from teachers' interview which can further investigate the factors that influence cultural awareness cultivation. In order to protect teachers' confidentiality, five English teachers are named as A, B, C, D and E.

The interview design is based on the work of Shao and the related contents of English key competencies. Cultural awareness is a crucial part in English key competencies, so it needs to investigate teachers' attitudes and understanding towards cultural awareness. There are five aspects related with interview, they are respectively teachers' access to target culture, teachers' understanding and attitude towards cultural awareness cultivation, teachers' opinions on teaching materials, teaching methods on cultural awareness cultivation and difficulties of cultivating cultural awareness.

Because of teachers' heavy workload, the author uses teachers' free time to conduct the interview. In other words, the author interviews English teachers one by one during teachers' free time, and each teacher is permitted to answer the questions in 15-20 minutes. During the interview, when some teachers can't grasp the meaning of questions, the author gives a detailed explanation in order to prove the reliability of interview. Interview is conducted before the teaching experiment.

3.3.3Tests

In order to further investigate students' cultural awareness, a pre- test and a post- test of cultural awareness are designed for both EC and CC. The contents of both of tests are related to four aspects of cultural awareness and the test is designed under the standard of secondary teaching goals of cultural awareness and requirements of key competencies. Test papers are based on Wu's (2020) test design which is applied to test cultural awareness of students from primary school in rural areas. Meanwhile, the author designs some questions about Chinese culture and cultural differences between different countries in the test papers according to the contents of English key competencies. The students of the two classes can be tested to see whether there is a significant gap in their cultural awareness and whether students can be used as experimental subjects. When finished the experiment, students come from two classes of grade six can be tested to see whether the integrative model of teaching culture has an impact on the cultivation of cultural awareness.

The form, score distribution and difficulty distribution of the two tests are same. Each test paper contains four parts, including 15 multiple-choice questions, 5 true/false questions, 3 fill- in- blank questions and writing. The test is given out of 100 points, with higher scores implying the greater cultural awareness. The design of test content is based on four aspects of cultural awareness in NECS of 2011, respectively cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communication awareness and competence. For example, question 5 “Which is the signal animal of America?” in the first part of test can check students' cultural knowledge of foreign country. Students' cultural understanding can be tested by the second question “What is the meaning of ‘raining cats and dogs'?” in the second part. Then, the first question “ Red can be regarded as in English speaking

countries when it considered as ___ in China.” in “Fill- in- blank” part is employed to test students' intercultural communication awareness of different cultures. And students' intercultural communication competence is checked through the first question “When you meet the person from English speaking countries, you shouldn't ask them ” in the first

part of the test. The design of the writing is applied to investigate students' understanding of Chinese culture, which contributes to the establishment of a strong sense of the Chinese nation community. Students are asked to finish tests in English class. That is to say, students take 40 minutes to accomplish it. The category, numbers, scores and aspects of the research are given in table3-1.

Table 3-4 Detailed information of tests

Category Numbers Scores Research aspects

Pre- test Multiple choice 10 60 Cultural knowledge, intercultural communication competence

Post-test True or false 4 20 Cultural knowledge and understanding,

Fill in blank 3 15 Intercultural communicative awareness

and competence

writing 1 5 Cultural understanding

3.4Research procedure

The research procedure includes three parts: preparation, experimental and post- experimental stage. The pre- questionnaire survey, pre- test of cultural awareness and interview are mainly involved in preparation stage. In experimental stage, the author states the time of teaching experiment, English teaching in primary school, teaching design and gives a brief introduction to integrative model of teaching culture. In post-experimental stage, the author briefly presents the research instruments related to this study after teaching experiment.

3.4.1Preparation Stage

At the preparation stage, the author collects the data of questionnaire, teachers' interview and pre -test with the goal of exploring the present situation of cultural awareness cultivation from the hands of teachers and students. On the basis of investigation and research, author tries to summarize the factors that influence cultural awareness cultivation. First, the author conducts students' questionnaire among 129 students from senior grades who take about 40 minutes to finish pre- questionnaire. Then, 63 students from grade six take 40 minutes accomplish the pre- test in English class, with the purpose of finding if there has any difference between two classes and investigating students' cultural awareness. Last, five English teachers participate in interview with their free time, each teacher is asked to answer five questions according to their teaching. The interview aims to further investigate the status qua of cultural awareness cultivation.

3.4.2Experimental Stage

The research will run for 16weeks, from September 2021 to January 2022. In the process of experiment, the integrative model of teaching culture is adopted in EC while the traditional teaching method is employed in CC. The teaching aim in control class is to cultivate students' language knowledge and learning ability.

Chen put forward three teaching models of culture, among them the integrative model

is conducted in experimental class. According to researcher Xie (2020), integrative model of teaching culture has certain advantages. Firstly, Students' watching and describing pictures or videos can arouse related cultural information or experience they learned before. Secondly, Students will have a lot of cultural experience during this process. Students can be provided opportunities to communicate with each other. The design of activities in teaching culture can enhance students effectively experience culture, and students' learning interest can be motivated by using the integrative model of teaching culture. The main difference between two classes lies in the teaching purpose. The teaching objective of experimental class isto cultivate students' cultural awareness as well as language ability.

In primary school, there are three English classes a week, and the author uses two of them to conduct teaching experiment to cultivate cultural awareness for 10 to 15 minutes in each lesson. The author conducts three times of teaching culture in each unit. The contents of teaching culture mainly focus on vocabulary and reading materials. The cultural contents are summarized in following table.

Table 3-5 Contents of teaching culture

Weeks Units Cultural contents

3-5th week Unit1 How can I go to Foods(cultural knowledge)

there?

Famous areas(cultural knowledge)

Foods(cultural knowledge, intercultural communicative

competence)

communication competence)

Different ways to go out(cultural understanding)

Driver sits on different sides(cultural understanding,

intercultural communication awareness)

Main festivals(intercultural communication awareness and competence)

Different family education(intercultural communication awareness)

Introduction of kung fu(cultural knowledge)

Different national treasures(cultural knowledge)

Different foods(cultural knowledge)

Individual secret(intercultural communication awareness)

Appellation(intercultural communication competence)

Mood and color, different culture of color(intercultural

communication awareness)

Different behavior on communication competence)

Before the teaching experiment, the author designed teaching design according to four steps of integrative model of teaching culture that is reviewed by Xie (2020). According to integrative model of teaching culture, there are four teaching steps: presentation, discussion, explanation and experience.

In presentation step, teacher shows the pictures or videos of foreign and Chinese culture, the application of pictures or videos can motivate students' interests in learning. The cultural contents should be related with students' life and study. Students are expected to make them accept the existence of different cultures.

In discussion step, teacher asks students to discuss cultural differences by asking questions, so as to cultivate students' sensitivity to intercultural communication. In this step, students are permitted to imagine cultural differences. Through this step, students are hoped to adapt foreign culture.

In explanation step, teacher states the cultural contents of different countries with the help of pictures or videos. From the explanation, students can acquire the knowledge which is related to English speaking countries' culture and have a deep understanding of native culture.

In experience step, students are asked to experience cultural differences, so they can participate in activities like role-play, listing of different cultural contents, and expression of attitudes on different cultures. For example, students can role-play in which a student can play the role of Sarah and introduce culture of her country, the other can play a role of Wu Yifan and introduce the culture of his country, which contributes to the cultivation of students' cultural awareness.

The more detailed information of integrative model of teaching culture in English class can be seen from the typical teaching case of “Unit3 My weekend plan- Read and write”. (See appendix IV)

3.4.3Post- experimental Stage

When the teaching experiment is completed, experimental class students need to take a post- questionnaire which aims to investigate the changes in students' attitude towards cultural awareness and teaching of culture. The post- questionnaire has the same contents with pre- questionnaire, which can clearly investigate the changes of students' attitudes.

Participants from CC and EC are asked to take a post- test of cultural awareness level that is designed by the author. The test form, difficulty and distribution of scores are similar with those of pre- test, but with different contents. By comparing the test results of the two groups of experimental participants, this paper discusses whether the integrative model of teaching culture has an effect on the improvement of students' cultural awareness of experimental class students.

A post- test is used to test the effect of integrative model of teaching culture on students' cultural awareness cultivation after teaching experiment.

3.5Data Collection and Analysis

A Questionnaire, interview and test paper are used to collect the data and the software SPSS 23.0 is applied to analyze the collected data.

3.5.1Questionnaire

The first step of the research is to carry out a pre- questionnaire which is designed to survey the present situation of cultural awareness from the hands of students. Then the factors affecting the cultivation of cultural awareness are studied and analyzed. The author explores current situation of cultural awareness cultivation from six aspects. They are students' attitude towards cultural knowledge, students' evaluation on teaching of culture, students' cultural knowledge, students' cultural understanding, students' intercultural communication awareness and intercultural communication competence. Before beginning the teaching experiment, 129 students from senior grades are required to complete a prequestionnaire during their free time, which aims to investigate current status of cultural awareness. During the questionnaire, the author explains the cultural awareness, and leads students to do the questionnaire and translates it into mother tongue when students are confused, which contributes to the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. At a result, a total number of 129 copies were collected and all of which were valid. In other words, the efficiency is 100%. After teaching experiment, a post-questionnaire is carried out among 63 students from EC and CC, which targets at investigating the effectiveness of integrative model of teaching culture. All the collected data of questionnaire is analyzed by SPSS 23.0, and a descriptive analysis of overall questionnaire and an independent sample T-test of test comparison between CC and EC are given in the research.

3.5.2Interview

In order to provide persuasive evidence for the research, five interview questions are designed for English teachers to explore the factors that influence cultural awareness cultivation. The content of interview as follows: teachers' access to target culture, teachers' understanding and attitude towards cultural awareness cultivation, teachers' opinions on cultural elements of teaching contents, teaching methods and difficulties in cultivating cultural awareness. The interview is conducted from September 5th to September 15th in 2021 in free time of English teachers due to their heavy workload. On the other hand, teachers can express their idea freely in a relaxed atmosphere which is conducive to the reliability of interview. The information talked with teachers is recorded by phone. During the interview, the author gives a detailed explanation when interviewees are confused. After finishing interview, the author wrote down the critical points from the recording and found out the answers from interviewing questions, then sorted out and analyzed the answers in the order of interview contents. Then, the author concluded the results of interview which is elaborated in chapter four.

3.5.3Tests

Test papers are designed for the purpose of investigating students' cultural awareness cultivation. At the preparation stage of teaching experiment, a pre- test is done by 63 students who are from control and experimental classes, students complete the test in 40 minutes in English class. In order to provide the reliability of tests, students did the pretest under the supervision of author who states that students' testing score is not related to their academic performances. Then, the author collected the data and analyzed it through SPSS 23.0. An analysis of result of pre- test shows that there is no obvious gap between two classes, which hints that the teaching experiment can be conducted. On December 31st, 2021, a post- test is conducted in CC and EC in order to check the changes in students' cultural awareness level. In other word, whether the integrative model of teaching culture has a positive impact on cultural awareness cultivation can be tested through a post- test. Students finish the test in 40 minutes in English class. As a result, 63 tests are collected in total. The collected data of tests was analyzed through SPSS23.0, and an independent sample T-test of the tests can be shown in the fourth chapter.

Chapter W Results and Discussion

In this chapter, results and discussion of the research will be specified. There are three main parts, the first part is results and discussion of current situation of cultural awareness cultivation in rural primary school, the second part is results and discussion of influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation, the last part is results and discussion of students' cultural awareness under the guidance of integrative model of teaching culture.

4.1Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural Awareness Cultivation

In order to investigate the current situation of culture awareness cultivation from the perspective of teachers and students, the author designed students' questionnaire and teachers' interview.

4.1.1Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural awareness from the Hands of Students

Students' questionnaire consists of 20 questions, six dimensions, including students' attitude towards cultural knowledge, students' evaluations on teaching of culture, students' cultural knowledge, students' cultural understanding, students' intercultural communication awareness and competence. The author analyzed the data of questionnaire in the order of six dimensions. A descriptive statistic will be presented in each dimension. Descriptive statistic includes maximum, minimum, mean values and standard deviation which are clearly presented in following parts.

4.1.1.1Students' Attitude towards Cultural Knowledge

The objective of this part is to understand students' attitude towards cultural knowledge. There are four questions (1, 2, 3, 8) involved this dimension.

Table4-1 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Attitudes on Cultural Knowledge

English speaking countries' culture

2. How much do you care about the learning

knowledge of English culture 129 2 5 3.23 1.027

3. It is essential to learn the knowledge of culture in

English class 129 2 5 3.05 1.000

8. Learning the knowledge of English speaking countries' culture contributes to English learning 129 1 5 2.51 .977

Among students' attitude towards culture, the average value of the item “How interested are you in the knowledge of English speaking countries' culture ” is the highest, which is 3.40; The second is “How much do you care about the learning knowledge of English culture” with an average of 3.23; The third question “It is necessary to learn cultural knowledge in English class” and “Learning the cultural knowledge of English speaking countries contributes to English learning” ranked third and fourth, with the mean values of 3.05 and 2.51 respectively.

As can be seen from the table, students are interested in cultural knowledge and they desire to learn cultural knowledge, which is a good message for educators to cultivate students' cultural awareness. With students' strong desire to learn cultural knowledge, cultural awareness cultivation can be conducted smoothly and effectively. Then, students' attitude towards the importance of cultural knowledge is acceptable. However, students lack the consciousness of the contribution of learning cultural knowledge to English learning, which means students' cultural awareness cultivation is not in place. In the cultivation of cultural awareness, students' attitude is an important factor that teachers should consider. So it is important that teachers should make students to recognize the significance of cultural knowledge in English learning. Besides, teachers should apply the appropriate teaching methods to motivate students' interests so as to improve their attitude towards cultural knowledge.

4.1.1.2Students' Evaluation on Teaching of Culture

Four questions (question 4, 5, 6, and 7) are designed for the investigation of students' evaluation on teaching of culture. Table 4-4 will display the result of this part.

Table 4-2 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Views on Teaching of Culture

N Min. Max. M. SD

4.Through the English class, you can learn the knowledge of English speaking Countries' culture

5. In English class, your English teacher compares 129 2 5 2.90 .748

the culture between China and English speaking 129 1 5 2.47 .820

countries

6.How satisfied are you with English teachers'

classroom teaching of culture

7.How much attention is paid to the teaching of 129 1 4 1.99 .852

cultural knowledge in classroom teaching by 129 1 4 2.56 .759

English teachers

The item “Through the English class, you can learn the knowledge of English speaking countries' culture”, with the highest average of 2.90; The second is “How much attention is paid to the teaching of cultural knowledge in classroom teaching by English teachers”, with an average of 2.56. “In English class, your English teacher compares the culture between China and English speaking countries” and “How satisfied are you with English teachers' classroom teaching of culture” ranked third and fourth, with mean values of 2.47 and 1.99 respectively.

In general, students' evaluation on teaching of culture is negative. Although students think that the cultural knowledge have been learned from the English class is at a medium level, students' satisfaction with classroom teaching is lower. In other words, the presentation of cultural knowledge and statement of cultural differences are attached less attention by English teachers. Integration of culture into language teaching conforms to the requirement of English Curriculum Standards. Cultural awareness cultivation is a new challenge for English teachers and a new learning experience for students. The reasons why students are dissatisfied with teaching of culture is caused by inappropriate teaching materials of culture or teaching methods. Considering that students' questionnaire lacks the reliability, the questions associate with cultural awareness and teaching of culture are designed for teachers, the more detailed analysis can be seen from the interview analysis.

4.1.1.3Students' Cultural Knowledge

There are four parts contained in cultural awareness in NECS (2011), cultural knowledge is one of the significant parts of cultural awareness, questions 9- 11 are related to this part.

Table 4-3 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Cultural Knowledge

N Min. Max. M. SD

9.I know the major holidays and celebrations of 129 1 5 2.78 .912

English speaking countries

10.I know the table manners of English speaking 129 1 5 2.97 .992

countries

11.I know the main food names in English speaking 129 1 5 2.54 .991

countries

The first item “I know the major table manners of English speaking countries” has the highest average value, which is 2.97; Next item is “I know the main food names in English speaking countries”, with an average of 2.84; The item “I know the major holidays and celebrations of English speaking countries” has the lowest mean value of 2.78.

In conclusion, students' score of cultural knowledge is lower, which indicates that students' cultural knowledge level is not good enough. Cultural knowledge is one of the standards to test students' cultural awareness. Cultural knowledge of English speaking countries or China can be easy to found out from the textbook, like different food and drink, buildings and symbolic animals of different countries, which are so apparent to be explored by English teachers.

4.1.1.4Students' Cultural Understanding

Cultural understanding is another important part of cultural awareness. Table 4- 6 will show the data of students' cultural understanding.

Table4-4 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Cultural Understanding

N Min. Max. M. SD

12. I understand the differences of China and English speaking countries' life styles 129 1 5 2.60 .733

13. I can understand the meaning of different words in different artistic conception

14. Learning the knowledge of English speaking 129 1 5 2.50 .840

countries' culture contributes to the communication with 129 1 5 2.24 .974

foreigners

Among this dimension, the average value of item “I understand the differences of China and English speaking countries' life styles” is the highest, with the average of 2.60; Secondly, “I can understand the meaning of different words in different artists concept”, with an average of 2.50; “Learning the knowledge of English speaking countries' culture contributes to the communication with foreigners”, with the lowest average of 2.24.

The analysis of above dimension shows that students' cultural understanding is not ideal. They have lower awareness towards the importance of cultural learning. According to the research of Zhu (2014), cultural knowledge and cultural understanding are basic factors of cultivating students' cultural awareness. The final objective of knowledge teaching is to make students to apply the learned knowledge to communicate with others who are from different countries. Hence, the input of cultural understanding is an indispensable part in English teaching.

4.1.1.5Students' Intercultural Communicative Awareness

There are three questions (15-17) related to the dimension of students' intercultural communicative awareness.

Table 4-5 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Intercultural Communicative Awareness

N Min. Max. M. SD

15.I like to communicate with English speaking countries' people 129 1 5 2.45 .952

16.I can understand and accept the different cultures 129 1 4 2.52 .811

17.I have confidence in communicating with English 129 1 5 2.39 .872

As the table shown, the average value of the second item “I can understand and accept the different cultures” is the highest, which is 2.52; The second is the item “I like to communicate with English speaking countries' people”, with an average of 2.45; Item “I have confidence in communicating with English speaking countries'people” has the lowest mean value of 2.41.

The analysis of above dimension shows that students' intercultural communicative awareness is relatively low. The input of cultural knowledge and cultural understanding directly affects students' intercultural communicative awareness. Teachers should improve students' cultural identity of own country and sensitivity of different cultures in English teaching. Accordingly, students' confidence towards intercultural communicative awareness can be boosted effectively, which contributes to students' cultural awareness cultivation.

4.1.1.6Students' Intercultural Communication Competence

The questions (18-20) of intercultural communication competence are designed in the last part.

Table 4-6 Descriptive Statistic of Students' Intercultural Communication Competence

N Min. Max. M. SD

18.I can properly express the meaning of praising and 129 1 5 2.39 .721

requesting

19.I can properly use different appellations, greetings and 129 1 5 2.39 .841

farewells

20.When communicating with English speaking 129 1 5 2.58 .916

countries' people, I know what to say

The item “When communicating with English speaking countries' people, I know what to say” has the highest mean value, which is 2.58; The item “I can properly express the meaning of praising and requesting” and “I can properly use different appellations, greetings and farewells”, with the same average of 2.39.

As the data showed in the table, students' intercultural communication competence is at lower level, which implies that students' input of cultural knowledge is not very optimistic. In English teaching, teachers should provide students cultural environment as much as possible, so students have more opportunities to experience different cultures and they will have deep impression on intercultural communication competence. The final goal of language and cultural learning is to apply the learned knowledge to communicate with others. Intercultural communication competence is a crucial part as well as other three parts of cultural awareness.

Table 4-7 Descriptive Statistic of Whole Questionnaire

N Min. Max. M. SD

1. Students' attitude towards culture 129 1.75 4.50 3.1725 .53106

2. Students'views on teaching of culture 129 1.25 3.75 2.4787 .43192

3. Students'cultural knowledge 129 1.00 4.67 2.8605 .64522

4. Students'cultural understanding 129 1.00 3.67 2.4496 .56119

5. Students' intercultural communicative awareness 129 1.00 4.33 2.4598 .61660

6. Students' intercultural communication competence 129 1.33 4.00 2.4526 .54125

Overall average value of students' attitude towards culture is 3.1725, which is at the medium level on the premise of full score of 5; The overall average of students' views on teaching of culture is 2.4787, which is at a lower level on the premise of full score of 5; The overall average value of investigating students' cultural knowledge is 2.8605. On the premise of full score of 5, the average value is at the lower middle level; The average values of investigating students' cultural understanding, investigating students' intercultural communication awareness and competence are 2.4496, 2.4598 and 2.4526 respectively, which are at the lower level on the premise of score of 5.

Generally speaking, students have a relatively positive attitude towards culture, which provides a good condition for teachers who can conduct teaching of culture more effective. However, teachers should play better the role of guidance. Teachers should take full consideration of the choice of teaching methods and teaching materials. Appropriate teaching methods can motivate students' learning interests, which conducive to students' cultural awareness cultivation. In the teaching process, four elements of cultural awareness should be covered, and the input and output of culture should be balanced.

4.1.2Results and Discussion of Current Situation of Cultural Awareness from the Hands of Teachers

In order to provide a reliable and valid data for the study, the author interviewed five English teachers to explore the current situation from their hands. After collecting the qualitative data, the author wrote down the critical points from the recording and found out the answers from interviewing questions, then sorted out and analyzed the answers in the order of interview contents. In this part, the interview mainly involves two aspects: English teachers' understanding and attitude towards cultural awareness cultivation and their behavior in practical teaching.

Teachers' understanding and attitude towards cultural awareness cultivation is concluded as follows: English teachers have positive attitude towards cultural awareness. Firstly, it is crucial to understand the cultural background in order to learn well a kind of language which cannot be divorced from the culture. In other word, cultural awareness is an understanding and recognition for culture. Students' learning interests in English can be aroused through cultural awareness cultivation. Secondly, the cultural awareness cultivation is helpful for students' future learning. Thirdly, cultural knowledge is a significant component of language learning. Through the cultivation of cultural awareness, students can learn many interesting things of differences between Chinese and English speaking countries' culture.

Although teachers hold the positive attitude towards cultural awareness cultivation, and they recognized the importance of cultural awareness in English teaching. In practical teaching, they ignore or pay less attention to the cultural knowledge. First, although there have some access to target culture, they lack of learning awareness. Second, their teaching method of culture is unreasonable and they often ignore the teaching of culture. Besides, cultural elements of teaching content are considered too limited to be found out.

The author concluded the reasons why English teachers pay less attention to the cultural awareness cultivation: Firstly, there are only three English classes in a week. Hence teachers have no time to cultivate students' cultural awareness in English class. Secondly, in teaching, teachers emphasize word explanation, sentence patterns and simple grammar. Thirdly, the exercise after each unit is about language knowledge but not culture. Fourthly, it is stated that cultural elements on the textbook is not clear and teachers' knowledge is limited, so they cannot discover the cultural elements in the textbooks.

4.2Results and Discussion of Influencing Factors of Cultural Awareness Cultivation

In order to understand the influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation, the author interviewed five English teachers from five aspects and summarized the main influencing factors as followings.

4.2.1Teachers' Cultural Awareness

Teachers' cultural awareness will be presented from following two aspects: teachers' access to target culture and teachers' opinion on cultural elements of teaching content.

Several accesses are talked in the interview. The films are presented as important access. A person can relax herself by watching the movie. Meanwhile, she also can get some cultural knowledge of foreign culture. Second, New English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory school is presented as another access. Teachers learn the explanation and analysis of cultural awareness from NECS (2011 edition) when they are required to do a learning report at school, however, teachers are unfamiliar with the content of cultural awareness in NECS (2011 edition). Besides, social software like Douyin is conducive to the learning of cultural knowledge, teachers sometimes take notice of foreign culture when they are playing Douyin.

Although there are some accesses presented in the interview, teachers hold the same idea that they don't learn cultural knowledge consciously. In general, teachers' negative learning awareness towards culture leads teachers' poor cultural awareness.

In addition, teaching material plays a vital role in cultural awareness cultivation. Most of the cultural elements come from the teaching materials, and teachers' main teaching material is the textbook. So it is essential to understand teachers' views on cultural elements of teaching content. Teachers' opinion as followings: Teachers hold the same idea that the cultural elements of teaching content are limited. Besides, teachers' cultural awareness is too limited to find out the cultural knowledge from the textbooks. In addition, cultural elements of teaching content are not enough to cultivate students' cultural

awareness.

However, if analyzing the textbook in detail, there are much more elements of culture in the textbook. In English teachers' opinion, they should do lots of things that are irrelevant with teaching works. So that teachers have less time or spirits to prepare their class more effectively. So the author summarized that the reason of teachers' negative attitude towards teaching content is teachers' poor cultural awareness.

In conclusion, teachers' cultural awareness should be cultivated at first, because teachers' cultural awareness directly affects students' in English teaching. Therefore, the first influencing factor of cultural awareness cultivation in English teaching in rural primary school is considered as teachers'poor cultural awareness.

4.2.2Teaching Method

Teaching method is an indispensable part in English teaching, especially, in the cultivation of cultural awareness, teachers should adopt suitable teaching method to verify the effectiveness of cultural awareness cultivation.

About the question of what kind of ways that teachers adopt in students' cultural awareness cultivation, teachers hold the same ideas that they use simple explanation when they meet the content of culture that is so obvious on the textbook. Sometimes teachers compare the cultures between China and English speaking countries. When the author continues to ask that how to compare the differences between cultures, all the teachers hold the opinion that they only use explanation, there has no other ways, like using pictures or short videos.

Based on the analysis of interview, the author concluded that teachers sometimes cultivate students' cultural awareness in the teaching process. However, their teaching methods of cultivating students' cultural awareness may be inappropriate. English teachers briefly explain the cultural contents in English teaching and they have no systematic teaching procedures on students' cultural awareness cultivation. For primary school students, visual materials like pictures or videos aid the retention of information effectively.

In summary, inappropriate teaching method is considered as the second factor that influences cultural awareness cultivation in rural primary school English teaching. A systematic teaching method needs long time to form for English teachers, so teachers' training of teaching of culture should be organized by the education department in order to improve teachers' teaching method and strengthen students' development. More importantly, teachers' self- learning is crucial. Teachers should pay attention to the improvement of method of teaching culture.

4.2.3Exercise Designing

The last interview question intends to clarify the difficulties that teachers meet during teaching of culture. Several obstacles are talked by English teachers: teachers' poor cultural knowledge, limited time, fewer training of teaching culture, teaching environment, cultural elements of teaching content and exercise designing.

If it can be said that teachers' poor cultural awareness and teaching method is considered as subjective influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation, exercises designing can be viewed as objective factor. In this research, exercise designing is considered as the third influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation.

The exercise of present English textbook is of language knowledge and competence. Thus, teachers will pay more attention to the language knowledge on the English textbook, and they take time and spirit to cultivate students' language competence. Similarly, if the exercise is about cultural awareness, teachers will take notice of the cultivation of cultural awareness and they also pay attention to their cultural awareness in order to improve students' cultural awareness. So exercise designing of cultural awareness has a positive effect on the cultivation of cultural awareness. In other words, education department should take notice of the exercise designing of cultural awareness which is related with the content of English textbook.

Based on the data collection of interview, the author summarized the influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation as followings: teachers' poor cultural awareness, inappropriate teaching method and unreasonable exercise designing.

4.3Results and Discussion of Students' Cultural Awareness under the Guidance of Integrative Model of Teaching Culture

For the purpose of exploring the effect of integrative model of teaching culture on students' cultural awareness, questionnaires and tests are designed for students who are from control and experimental class. The content of pre- test and post- test is designed under the guidance of English key competencies. Especially in the third part of the tests, the content of intercultural awareness and competence is designed for students in order to check their knowledge of cultural differences. The collected data of test and questionnaire is analyzed by SPSS 23.0 and is presented in following parts.

4.3.1Results and Discussion of Pre -test and Post- test between EC and CC

Before the experiment, a pre- test of cultural awareness is carried out among students of EC and CC with the purpose of finding a significant difference between the two classes. The author collected the test scores and analyzed the data which is shown in following table.

Table 4-8 A comparison of Pre- test Results between EC and CC

Class N M. Sig.

EC 31 64.113 0.839

CC 32 64.547 0.839

Table 4-10 shows the results of comparison of pre- test between CC and EC, in which the mean value of CC is 64.547 when the mean figure of EC is 64.113. The mean value of pre- test of EC is 0.434 points higher than that of CC. The mean value of pre- test between CC and EC is small. So cultural awareness level of two classes before teaching experiment is basically the same. To further find the obvious gap between CC and EC, an independent sample t- test is given, and the relevant result is given in above table.

Table 4-10 shows that P value is 0.839 which is greater than 0.05. It hints that there is no obvious gap between two classes in terms of pre- test of cultural awareness. In summary, the teaching experiment of cultivating students' cultural awareness can be carried out in English teaching.

After the experiment, students of EC and CC take a post- test of cultural awareness, aiming at seeing whether the conduction of integrative model of teaching culture has an impact on students' cultural awareness. The results of the comparison are showed in the table.

Table 4-9 A comparison of Post-test between EC and CC

Class N M. Sig.

EC 31 68.855 0.001

CC 32 63.25 0.001

Table 4-11 shows the comparison result of post- test between CC and EC, in which the mean figure of post- test of control class is 63.25 when the mean figure of experimental class is 68.855. The mean value of post- test of EC is 5.605 points higher than that of CC. With the purpose of finding the significant difference between CC and EC, the author gave an independent sample t- test on the post- test. The result is shown in table 4-11.

Table 4-11shows that the P value is 0.001 which is smaller than 0.05 and it refers to that there is an obvious gap in the mean value between two classes after the teaching experiment. It also can be concluded that integrative model of teaching culture can positively influences students' cultural awareness.

When the mean value of pre- test and post- test of EC is compared, the mean value of pre- test and post- test is respectively 64.113 and 68.885. The mean value of pre- test is 4.742 points lower than the figure of post- test. P value is 0.021 which is less than 0.05, which hints that there is an obvious gap between pre- test and post- test of EC after teaching experiment. In can be concluded from the data, cultural awareness of experimental class is improved after the conduction of integrative model of teaching culture, which proves that the integrative model of teaching culture is beneficial to cultivating students' cultural awareness.

4.3.2Results and Discussion of Pre- questionnaire and Postquestionnaire between EC and CC

In order to explore students' learning attitude and cultural awareness under the guidance of integrative model of teaching culture, the author conducts a pre- questionnaire a post- questionnaire on EC and CC. The questionnaire is done by 63 students from grade six and the questionnaire recovery rate was 100%. The results of pre- questionnaire and post- questionnaire of EC and CC are collected and presented in following parts.

4.3.2.1 A Comparison of Results of Pre -questionnaire between EC and CC

The results of pre- questionnaire are analyzed at first, then the independent sample t- test was conducted on the pre- questionnaire.

Table 4-10 A Comparison of Results of Pre- questionnaire between EC and CC

Class N. M. Sig.

1. Students' attitude towards culture EC 31 3.3145 0.172

CC 32 3.1172

2.Students' views on teaching of culture EC 31 2.3710 0.079

CC 32 2.5391

3.Investigate students' cultural knowledge EC 31 2.8602 0.658

CC 32 2.7917

4.Investigate students' cultural understanding EC 31 2.4194 0.868

CC 32 2.3958

5.Investigate students' intercultural communicative EC 31 2.3333 0.421

awareness CC 32 2.4479

6.Investigate students' intercultural communicative EC 31 2.4194 0.113

competence CC 32 2.6250

As can be seen from the table, P values of students' attitude towards culture, students' views on teaching of culture, students' cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communication awareness and competence are greater than 0.05, which hints that there is no obvious gap in the mean values of the six dimensions between CC and EC during the pre- test.

4.3.2.2A Comparison of Results of Post-questionnaire between EC and CC

After teaching experiment, the author conducted a post- questionnaire among students of control class and experimental class in order to survey the changes of students' attitude and cultural awareness. The collected data of post- questionnaire is analyzed by the software SPSS23.0. An independent sample t- test was conducted on the post- test data of the six dimensions of the EC and CC.

Table 4-11 A Comparison of Results of Post- questionnaire between EC and CC

Class N M. Sig.

1.Students' attitude towards culture EC 31 3.669 0.00

CC 32 3.266

2.Students' views on teaching of culture EC 31 2.984 0.01

CC 32 2.664

3.Investigate students' cultural knowledge EC 31 2.957 0.620

CC 32 2.875

4.Investigate students' cultural understanding EC 31 2.548 0.712

CC 32 2.500

5.Investigate students' intercultural communicative EC 31 2.676 0.364

awareness CC 32 2.540

6. Investigate students' intercultural communicative EC 31 2.839 0.638

competence CC 32 2.770

As the results are shown in the table 4-9, P values of students' attitude towards culture and students' views on teaching of culture are 0.00 and 0.01 which are less than 0.05, which hints that there is an obvious gap on the mean values of the two dimensions of CC and the EC during the post- test. And the P values of investigating students' cultural knowledge, cultural understanding, intercultural communicative awareness and competence are greater than 0.05, which hints that there is no obvious gap in the mean values of the above four dimensions between the CC and the EC during the post- test.

In summary, the conduction of integrative model of teaching culture got the relative achievement in cultural awareness cultivation. Especially, experimental class students' attitude towards culture and teaching of culture has improved a lot when compared with students in control class. Among other four dimensions, although experimental class students' score of cultural awareness is a little higher than students' in control class, there has no obvious gap between two classes. Besides, as a result of comparison between the mean values of six dimensions of pre- questionnaire and post- questionnaire of EC, it can be drawn a conclusion that the mean values of each dimension in post- questionnaire are greater than those of pre- questionnaire. Students' attitude towards culture and teaching of culture became more positive than that of pre- test. And there has an apparent change in students' intercultural communicative awareness and competence. In author's mind, integrative model of teaching culture contributed to students' intercultural confidence. In other aspects, students' improvement of intercultural awareness and competence can reflect that students' sensitivity towards cultural differences is improved, which is helpful to students' cultivation of key competencies.

Chapter V Conclusion

Based on the results and discussion, the author concluded from three parts. First, the major findings of research are presented. Next, the author stated the implications for teaching and research. Last, limitations and suggestions are summarized for further research.

5.1Major Findings

In this part, the major findings of the research are given according to three research questions.

Firstly, the current situation of cultural awareness cultivation is unsatisfactory in general. As a result of questionnaire, the mean value of students' attitude towards the learning of culture is the highest among six dimensions, which indicates that students have positive attitudes towards cultural awareness cultivation. Therefore, it can provide a good condition for the conduction of teaching of culture. According to the analysis of teachers' interview, it is found that they realized the significance of cultural awareness cultivation in English teaching. Teachers also keep a good understanding towards the cultivation of cultural awareness. However, they pay less attention to cultural awareness cultivation in practical English teaching.

Secondly, it comes into conclusion on influencing factors of cultural awareness cultivation. The first one is teachers' poor cultural awareness, which is caused by several elements: Teachers' access to target culture is limited, the relevant training of cultural awareness is not organized by education department; Teachers lack of self- recognition on the promotion of cultural awareness. The factors mentioned above will negatively influence teachers' in-depth excavation of teaching contents of culture. In general, teachers play a crucial role on students' cultural awareness cultivation, so it is important to cultivate teacher' cultural awareness. The second factor is inappropriate teaching method. Teachers give a brief explanation for cultural content of textbook, even they have no idea how they teach cultural knowledge effectively. On the consideration of characteristic of primary school students, the visual learning materials should be designed in class. Students intend to easily accept the visual learning materials rather than boring explanation. Besides, students of primary school can participate in different activities in active. So the selection of good teaching method is a crucial step in cultural awareness cultivation. The third factor is inappropriate exercise designing, which should be relevant to cultural knowledge. The feasible exercise designing can attach teachers' attention on cultivation of cultural awareness of teachers themselves and students.

Thirdly, it is summarized that integrative model of teaching culture is beneficial to cultivating students' cultural awareness in English class. When the results of pre- test and post -test of EC are compared, the mean value of pre- test is 4.742 points lower than the figure of post- test. As a result of comparison between EC and CC after teaching experiment, the mean value of post- test of EC is 5.605 points higher than the figure of CC. The independent sample t- test shows that there is an obvious gap between EC and CC. Besides, in the comparison of pre- questionnaire and post- questionnaire, it is proved that students' attitude towards learning culture and teaching of culture has improved after teaching experiment. It can be drawn a conclusion from the table that the mean value of intercultural communication awareness and competence has improved apparently, which implies students' self- confidence of cross- culture is strengthened. What's more, according to the comparison of class performance between two classes observed by the author, students in EC can participate in class more actively than those in CC. When EC students were required to participate in activities, they are very interested in it and they like to show themselves freely and bravely. In English class, when EC students meet some new words or pictures, they are eager to get some knowledge of culture from teacher, so students listen to the class very carefully. In addition, students in experimental class like to share different cultural knowledge learned from phones by themselves. Students' learning of culture, especially learning of Chinese culture in English class, is conducive to their establishment of a strong sense of Chinese nation community. More importantly, the application of English key competencies enhanced students' understanding and using of English. In English class, students intend to use English to communicate with others during the conduction of teaching experiment. Besides, students' self- confidence of culture has improved through the application of English key competencies.

5.2Pedagogical Implications

Cultural awareness cultivation is a crucial part of English teaching, it can motivate students' leaning interests to a certain extent and it is helpful to students' future learning. Thus, cultural awareness cultivation should be paid more attention as well as language learning. Followings are the implications for the teaching and research.

5.2.1Implications for Teaching

There are some implications given for teachers. First of all, teachers' cultural knowledge should be advanced, which effectively influences students' cultural awareness cultivation. During teaching experiment, the author took much time to find the cultural elements from the textbook and internet, which made the author stress a lot in teaching work. So it is significant that teachers should pay continuous attention to teaching of culture and take much of time to improve themselves in cultural awareness. Then, teachers should select a feasible material in teaching of culture. For primary school students, the materials are expected as pictures or videos which can stimulate students' interest towards learning and make students easy to understand the contents. Besides, the teaching content should be related with students' daily life or things they are familiar with, like food, color and animals and so on. Thus, students will have abundant things to say in English class. The application of teaching method is considered as another important part in teaching culture. Students' interest in learning can be aroused through an appropriate teaching model and their cultural awareness can be improved. For example, in English class, teachers can arrange role-play, guessing games and mind mapping for senior grade students. So teachers should adopt an appropriate teaching method which should consider the characteristic of students.

Besides, any of the application of new teaching method should take time to adapt with teaching environment. Therefore, when a teacher applies a new teaching method, she/he should consider students' original learning level. At the beginning of teaching of culture, the author couldn't finish four steps of teaching culture because of her first attempt to conduct integrative model of teaching culture and students' limited receptivity, which influenced the progress of the course to some degree. When conducting integrative model of teaching culture, teachers can carry out the first two steps at the beginning of the conduction, so teachers can have a great time management and students can fit in new teaching model gradually. More importantly, the application of correct guidance is very important. In this paper, because of the guidance of English key competencies, the author clearly knows that teacher should cultivate students' intercultural awareness and competence for the purpose of improving students' knowledge of cultural differences.

In addition, It is an urgent teaching task for teachers to cultivate students' language ability, like speaking. In the process of teaching experiment, students took much of time to fit in the experience stage where students are asked to discuss with each other the differences and similarities between Chinese and English speaking countries' culture. In other word, students' language competence is weak, so that they lack of ability to express their idea in English fluently and briefly. Students' cultural awareness needs long- term to be cultivated and students' learning ability should be considered as a main factor in the application of new teaching method.

Furthermore, the evaluation for students' cultural awareness cultivation is worthy of consideration. In the context of teachers' neglect in cultural awareness cultivation, the exercise designing about cultural awareness should be considered as an evaluation for students' cultural awareness. Consequently, teachers and students can take notice of it gradually and there is a progress on their cultural awareness.

5.2.2Implications for Research

As can be concluded from the literature review, cultural awareness plays a significant role in teaching. Cultural awareness should be attached more attention in teaching. According to research results, some implications are given for the research.

First, this research aims at cultivating students' cultural awareness of rural primary school. The future research contents can be extended on the relationship between students' cultural awareness and language ability, the impact of cultural awareness on students' English learning and other aspects of cultural awareness in primary school.

Second, integrative model of teaching culture can be applied in other learning stages. Other two teaching models of culture or other teaching methods also can be employed in cultural awareness cultivation. However, educators should connect students' learning ability and characteristic with teaching method. After all, students are the dominant role of teaching. In addition, the ideas of English key competencies should be selected correctly, which will provide a great support to the research.

Third, the research instrument of students' interview can be used on the application of integrative model of teaching culture, in which students express their ideas or attitudes on

teaching method. Accordingly, the author can apply this teaching model better in future teaching.

5.3Limitations of the Study

Although this study has a relatively certain result in cultivating students' cultural awareness, there are some problems and limitations exist in the research.

Firstly, the time of teaching experiment is limited. In primary school, there are few English classes a week. Considering the teaching progress, the author cultivates students' cultural awareness in a limited time, so that the research lacks in-depth development. Besides, it is difficult to cultivate students' cultural awareness in a short time, so the research results lack of reliability.

Secondly, the research sample is limited and lacks representation. There were students from grade five and six participated in the research, which cannot represent the situation of other grades of this school. The scope is not extensive. The results of research cannot reflect the situation of other rural primary school students. Besides, the research sample is from grade five and six, which lacks pertinence.

Thirdly, the research instrument of questionnaire cannot test students' authentic cultural awareness, which influences the reliability of research.

Based on the above limitation of research, several suggestions are presented as followings: first of all, the research should take a long time and cultural awareness cultivation should have a long- term plan. It is concluded that students' cultural awareness level has improved certainly, but students' achievement is not high enough. Short time cultivation of cultural awareness cannot guarantee the accuracy of research. Then, the research subjects should be the same grades, which can prove the strong pertinence of research. So that further research should consider the pertinence of research in order to prove the high reliability for the research. Last, the further research should consider the research instruments that can test students' authentic cultural awareness. Through the conclusion, it is hoped to offer valuable advice for the relevant studies in order to make them more colorful.

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