1、1The Integration of Crossculture Teaching into College English Reading for Chinese Learners throughAbstract. With the research of the relationship between cross-culture and language teaching， people have become well aware of the necessity of integrating cross-culture into language teaching. While pr
2、oviding the students with the opportunity to improve their intercultural communication competence， this research presented on the integration of cross-culture teaching into college English reading for Chinese learners through project-based learning （PBL） ， which reveals that project-based learning p
3、roves to be an effective way to integrate cross-culture teaching into EFL reading and it produces a positive effect on Chinese learners cross-culture communication competence and their EFL learning and is really productive and rewarding. Key words： cross-culture； college English reading； project-bas
4、ed learning. 1.Introduction 1.1 Definition of cross-culture education 2Cross-culture education means to make the Chinese students understand the culture of the target language such as English， so that they may have a general understanding of the similarities and differences between eastern and weste
5、rn cultures. It helps to improve students sensitivity of the culture between east and west. It is useful to improve students cross-culture communicative competence. In this paper， cross-culture communication competence is used to refer to the ability to communicate with people from English speaking
6、countries in a appropriate and effective way. It needs motivation， knowledge， skill and strategy to demonstrate what behavior is appropriate and what is not. As for the content of cross-culture education， Wang （2005） divided cross-culture communication into 3 forms such as verbal， non-verbal and ext
7、ra-verbal interaction. 1.2 The relationship between language and culture The relevance of teaching culture with language is based on the belief that language and culture are inter-connected. The predominant view is that culture cannot be taught without language and vice versa. Without the study of c
8、ulture， foreign language instruction is inaccurate and incomplete （Savignon & Sysoyev， 2002）. 3Abrams （2002） also believes that it is of great necessity to teach about the target culture in social study classes so that students are not only taught how to meet their communicative goals， but are also
9、taught the socio-cultural knowledge of L2 group that is necessary in drawing inferences about the social meanings or values of utterances. A similar view is expressed by Zhang （2007） who suggests a multi-dimensional curriculum approach to teaching languages. In this approach， both a cultural and a c
10、ommunicative syllabus become essentials in language teaching as much as a more formal approach. Therefore， it is quite necessary to aim for the integration of language and culture learning in language education. The approaches to the integration of language and inter-cultural learning are inspired b
11、y some experts such as Oxford （1994 ） and Moran （2001）. They suggest a range of practical techniques and some tips that help to make the teaching of cross-culture and language a better experience for teachers and students， such as contrast， cultural capsules， clusters， quizzes， cultural problem solv
12、ing， cognitive approach and so on. Project-based learning （PBL） can link all the above activities together. 1.3 Project-based learning Project-based instruction was introduced into English as 4EFL/ESL education as one way to reflect the principles of student-centered teaching. Organizing projects is
13、 seen as an effective way to teach language and content simultaneously. The use of projects establishes a direct link between language learning and its application as well as to create opportunities which allow EFL learners to develop their abilities in the target language by interacting and communi
14、cating with each other and with native English speakers. Beckett & Slater （2005） found that teachers reported having various goals for implementing projects in their EFL/ESL classrooms， such as challenging students creativity， fostering independence， enhancing cooperative learning skills， building d
15、ecision-making， critical thinking and learning skills and facilitating their language socialization. 1.3.1 The basic mode of PBL PBL is an instruction method which uses authentic， complex， real-life projects to motivate learning. It is a kind of activity in which students compose， test， improve and
16、create something as a systematic teaching method that engages students in learning knowledge and skills through an extended inquiry process structured around complex， authentic questions and carefully designed products and tasks. The basic mode found 5in most projects includes selecting a topic， mak
17、ing plans， researching， developing products and sharing results with others. However， because PBL hinges on group effort， establishing a trusting， cooperative relationship before embarking on a full-fledged project is also necessary. Activities that engage learners in communication tasks and in peer
18、- and self- evaluation help create the proper classroom environment. Information gap activities， learner-to-learner interviews， role-plays， simulations， field trips， contact assignments outside of class and process writing with peers prepare learners for project work. a. Selecting topics. A project
19、should reflect the interests and concerns of the learners. Teachers can begin determining project topics at the start of an instructional cycle by conducting a class needs assessment to identify topic areas and skills to be developed. As the teacher and learners talk about projects and get to know e
20、ach other， new topics and issues may come to light that are appropriate for project learning. A project may focus on the objectives of one instructional unit or it may span several units. It may take place during a unit or be a culminating final event. In any case， learners need to be in on the deci
21、sion making b. Making plans and doing 6research. Once a topic is selected， learners work together to plan the project， conduct research and develop their products. Learners with low language proficiency or little experience working as part of a team may require structure and support throughout the p
22、roject. Pre-project activities that introduce problem-solving strategies， language for negotiation and methods for developing plans are useful. Learners may also need practice in specific language skills to complete project tasks. c. Sharing results with others. Project results can be shared in a nu
23、mber of ways. Oral presentations can accompany written products within the classroom. 1.3.2 The teachers roles in PBL Project work can be more effective when teachers relax their control and students regard the teacher as a guide and facilitator. A teacher-facilitated project transforms from “teache
24、r telling” to “student doing”. It places the emphasis of doing on the students. A teacher-guided project lets the teacher teach the curriculum and engage the students. Accountability is placed on the teacher. Thus， finding the proper balance between teacher guidance and student autonomy enhances the
25、 advantages of project work in the language classroom. 71.4 Researches related to the present study In Abrams（2002） study， the 2 control groups developed more cross-culture awareness than the 2 treatment groups. Savignon and Sysoyevs （2002） study indicated that explicitly teaching socio-cultural str
26、ategies in a communicative EFL classroom is successful. Batemans （2002） study showed that not only were the students exposed to a native speaker of their target language， their attitudes towards the target culture， their peoples， their own culture and culture learning in general were all deemed to b
27、e positive. Beckett & Slaters （2005） study introduced a methodological tool called “the project framework”， which allows ESL students to see the value of PBL by making explicit the various components which work together to promote higher level academic literacy. Based on the above programs， EFL stud
28、ents evaluations of projects in academic classes have not been as consistent， opinions about project work in mainstream classes have generally been positive. According to Zhangs （2010） research on 30 years PBL， teaching practice research abroad has not yet gone through the preliminary stage of exper
29、imentation. In China， there are many theoretical explorations 8integrating inter-culture into EFL teaching （Wang， 2005； Zhuang， 2006； Zhang， 2010） ， which can shed light on applying the theory into EFL teaching and empirical studies （Ou， 2007； LI et al.， 2007） with non-English students or high schoo
30、l students as the subjects indicate that PBL not only helps integrate cross-culture into EFL teaching， but also contributes to the cultivation of students overall communicative competence. However， most of the researchers in China focus on cultural introduction and students motivation and autonomy n
31、eed further exploring. What is more， very few empirical studies are conducted on PBL aiming to integrate cross-culture into college English reading. Nevertheless， all the previous explorations provide insight for this research. 2. Research Design 2.1 Research questions The main purpose of this exper
32、iment is to cultivate students cross-culture communication competence， improve their comprehensive ability， and form an effective way in the teaching and learning of college English reading. Based on the theoretical framework proposed， the authors put forward the following research questions： （1） Do
33、es PBL help promote Chinese students cross-culture communication competence？ 9（2） How much is PBL related to Chinese students language proficiency？ （3） What are Chinese students attitudes towards the program？ 2.2 Participants 80 students are selected from freshmen in the same university in Hubei pro
34、vince， with the sampling fraction 1：2：7：3 according to the students scores in the national entrance examination. The selected students are distributed to 2 classes with simple random sampling according to their numbers given with one group consisting of 40 students as the experimental group （EG） ， a
35、nd the rest as the control group （CG）. Both classes shared the same teacher， which was to prevent individual differences in teaching style affecting the results. The 2 groups worked from the same textbook published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. They received 4 periods of English c
36、lass each week. The textbook was progressed at the same rate in each class， and almost the same number of assignment was given after class. The amount of time that students spent studying outside class was a variable that could not be directly controlled during the experiment. At the end of the prog
37、ram， the teacher investigated the average time that the students spent in studying out of class so as to take 10this into consideration during the analysis of the results. The experimental group received the approach which was carefully designed by the researcher to integrate cross-culture and langu
38、age instruction through PBL while the control group received the conventional teacher-centered approach. The questionnaire on culture （p=0.451， 2-tailed） conducted before the program indicates there exists no significant difference in the 2 groups in terms of their initial levels of inter-culture be
39、fore the experiment， which guarantees the results from the study are valid and reliable. The program extended from March 2012 to June 2012. 2.3 Research instruments The final examination of the first term of 2011-2012 school year was taken as a posttest. The objective part of the exams was all marke
40、d with computer； the subjective part was marked by the other 2 teachers who did not carry out the program and the means of the marks given by the teachers were accepted to make sure the reliability of the study. Questionnaires on culture adapted from the “A socio-cultural test” by Wang（1990） administrated to the subjects before and after the program consist of 4 parts， 2 of which are appropriate or inappropriate questions on non-verbal and verbal behavior in
