浅谈语言文化背景知识对听力教学的帮助

浅析文化背景知识对英语听力理解的影响摘要：听力理解是一个复杂的过程。

影响听力的因素很多，有诸如语音、词汇、语法等一系列语言知识方面的因素，也有一些非语言知识的因素，文化背景知识便是其中之一。

在听力教学过程中，教师应尽可能多的增加文化背景知识的输入。

这不仅可以增强学生的西方文化意识，还可以建立学生的英语听力的信心，从而间接地提高学生的听力水平。

同时，通过观看电影，听力材料的背景注释，文化对比等形式，启发学生的文化知识认知。

关键词：文化背景知识；英语听力理解；语言知识【中图分类号】g6421.文化背景知识对于听力理解的重要性听力教学在英语教学中的作用越来越受到关注。

听力不是一个简单的吸收声音符号的被动过程，而是一个需要运用多种综合能力的复杂过程。

影响听力能力的不仅是正确的语音、精准的语法、熟练的句型、丰富的词汇等语言因素，对话题的熟悉程度、对文化背景知识的了解、听者心理素质的高低等也都直接影响对听力内容的理解。

而其中文化背景知识的体现尤为突出。

语言和文化的关系密不可分。

语言是文化的载体和组成部分，不同的语言记录着不同的民族风俗和社会风情，有着深刻而不同的社会内涵，承载着不同的文化信息。

语言的表层是词语、句子的组合，其深层则是对文化的记录和解读。

因此，只懂语言而不谙文化，那就很难深刻理解和正确使用语言。

英语听力材料，大多是英语国家广泛使用的对话、篇章或新闻，渗透了很多英语国家的文化知识。

在英语听力中，学生由于不了解西方的社会制度、风土人情、民俗习惯、人们的思维方式和价值观念等文化背景知识，对英汉文化差异缺乏敏感性，往往不能够迅速而准确地理解英语语言信息中所包含的实际意思和说话人的真实意图，于是就导致了英语听力理解中的重重障碍。

文化背景知识的了解有助于学生对听力材料进行思考、假设、预测内容的发展，做出判断推理，最终理解听到的信息，即理解了说话者的意思。

因此，通过注重英语文化背景知识学习，提高英语听力教学整体效率，是很有必要的。

浅析文化背景知识对英语听力的影响发布时间：2022-07-13T01:38:52.112Z 来源：《教育学文摘》2022年第5期作者：张圣雷[导读] 众所周知，听力是理解语言和进行交流的最基本的语言能力之一。

张圣雷江苏省苏州新区第一中学 215011众所周知，听力是理解语言和进行交流的最基本的语言能力之一。

在所有的交际活动当中，最基本的能力就是首先听懂别人的说话，然后才能进行交流，否则交流无从谈起。

在外语教学当中，听力更有不可替代的作用，听力在高考试卷上占分也高达30分，听力位于英语学习的四项基本技能之首。

听力在教学当中既是目的又是手段。

是读写能力的前提之一，在难度上也大大高于阅读理解。

而且目前各种国际国内交流也对听力提出了越来越高的要求。

因此，对我们从事英语教学的各位同行来说，听力教学的确有举足轻重的地位听的过程实际上是一个主动积极的过程，因而以何种方式、方法培养、激发学生主动积极的去听，让学生有强烈的听的愿望，值得我们教师深入地去探讨和研究一、影响听力理解的因素1，思维习惯对听力理解的影响长期以来，大家都认为是语音、语法、句子结构和词汇等语言因素直接影响并决定听力理解能力，而实际上影响听力的因素远远不止这些。

在外语教学中，人们将注意力集中于文化系统的内部，将语言与文化截然分开，致使外语教学中，严重脱离文化语境或是目的语文化的民族特征，将本民族文化习惯和文化模式，套用到所学语言上去，从而发生文化干扰。

在听力理解当中，由于这种文化干扰，听者往往很难跟上英美人说话的速度，很难充分理解他们的语言，从而导致听力水平低下。

在听力教学中，以多种形式生动地进行大量的文化背景知识的渗透，用文化语言去指导学生学习，努力培养学生的文化习得意识，有助于克服母语迁移心理，养成用英语思维的习惯，通过大量的文化输入，不断丰富的英语原材料的积累，让正确的语言表达占领大脑，让大脑始终沉浸在英语思维的氛围当中，才能使英语的理解达到自动化的程度，减少乃至摆脱母语的负面影响 2，文化差异对听力理解的影响外语教育的最终目的在于使学生学到地道的语言，并能结合目的语国家的文化规律，进行准确的、得体的语言交际，注意到文化的差异。

浅谈语言文化背景知识对听力教学的帮助摘要：课堂听力教学中包含丰富的语言文化背景知识，使学生在潜移默化的学习中提高英语听力理解水平。

语言文化背景知识包括天文地理、古今中外、名人生平、重大节日等，教师可以寻找典型语篇，让学生进行广泛的阅读，拓宽词汇量，形成语感，丰富学生的英语语言文化背景知识，提高猜测能力和推理能力。

这一点能在很大程度上帮助学生克服提高听力的知识性障碍。

关键词：听力教学文化背景精听泛听本人根据自己的听力教学活动浅谈语言文化背景知识对听力教学的帮助以及听力教学中的精听与泛听。

在英语课堂教学中，学生听老师和其他同学讲英语是提高英语听力的主要方法之一。

在英语课堂教学中，学生听老师和其他同学讲英语是提高英语听力的主要方法之一。

但是在课堂听力教学中，丰富的语言文化背景知识能使学生在潜移默化中提高英语听力理解水平。

语言文化背景知识包括天文地理、古今中外、名人生平、重大节日等，教师可以寻找典型语篇，让学生进行广泛的阅读，拓宽词汇量，形成语感，丰富学生的英语语言文化背景知识，提高猜测能力和推理能力，这一点能在很大程度上帮助学生克服提高听力的知识性障碍。

本人根据自己的听力教学活动浅谈语言文化背景知识对听力教学的帮助以及听力教学中的精听与泛听。

首先以人教版英语必修三(Unit1 Workbook P41)教学活动为例。

Listen and take notes to fill in the following chart:学生常有这样的体会，遇上内容熟悉的材料，听起来收获较大。

这就反映了语言文化背景知识在听懂有声语言过程中的重要性。

该听力材料以西方节日——复活节为主，学生如果在做听力之前了解了复活节的时间、起源、庆祝的内容以及节日里人们做些什么等语言文化背景知识，那么本节课就达到了预计的效果。

紧接着以英语必修三（Unit4 Workbook P62）教学活动为例，Listen to part 1 and make notes of the answers to the questions. Then listen to part 2 and fill in the form.该听力材料以名人杨利伟为主，学生在新闻报道或杂志上已经了解到杨利伟是中国第一位进入太空的航天员，乘由长征二号F火箭运载的神舟五号飞船首次进入太空的相关信息。

提高听力的跨文化交际与背景知识学习在现今全球化的时代，跨文化交际能力的重要性越来越凸显。

而在跨文化交际中，听力是至关重要的一项技能。

通过提高听力能力，我们能够更好地理解他人的观点，扩大自己的知识面，并且更好地融入不同文化之中。

本文将探讨如何通过学习跨文化交际与背景知识来提高听力能力。

一、了解不同文化背景知识在跨文化交际中，了解不同文化的背景知识是至关重要的。

背景知识包括文化价值观、社会习俗、历史事件等。

通过了解对方的文化背景知识，我们可以更好地理解对方的言语和行为，进而提升我们的听力技能。

例如，如果我们了解到某个国家非常重视家庭价值观念，那么当我们听到对方谈论家庭事务时，我们就能更好地理解对方的情感和态度。

又或者，如果我们了解到某个国家过去发生了一场重大的历史事件，那么当我们在对话中听到相关话题时，我们就能更好地理解对方的观点和情感。

二、培养社交技巧与语言表达能力除了了解文化背景知识外，良好的社交技巧和语言表达能力也是提高跨文化交际听力的重要因素。

社交技巧包括倾听能力、提问技巧和应变能力等。

通过培养这些技巧，我们可以更好地与他人交流，从而更好地理解对方的意思。

在语言表达能力方面，我们应该注重提高自己的语音、语调和语速等方面的表达能力。

跨文化交际中，不同的语音和语调可能会对我们的听力造成一定的障碍。

因此，通过积极学习和练习，我们可以逐渐适应并理解不同语音和语调，从而提高听力能力。

三、多样化的听力训练方法除了学习跨文化交际与背景知识外，我们还可以使用多种听力训练方法来提高听力能力。

这些方法可以包括以下几个方面：1. 听取真实材料：通过听取来自于真实环境中的录音或视频，我们可以接触到真实的语言使用情境，从而提高我们对真实对话的理解能力。

2. 听取多样化的材料：通过听取不同类型的材料，例如新闻、讲座、剧集等，我们可以扩大自己的知识面，并且更好地适应不同语境下的语言使用。

3. 听力练习：进行针对性的听力练习，例如听写、听力理解题等，可以帮助我们提高听力的敏感度和准确性。

浅析文化背景知识对英语听力理解的影响浅析文化背景知识对英语听力理解的影响内容简介：建构主义学习理论人本主义学习理论网络环境外语教学建构主义学习理论强调学习的主动性、社会性和情景性。

人本主义学习理论强调人在学习中的自主地位，强调学习中的情感因素。

网络环境下的外语教学作为论文格式论文范文毕业论文" 建构主义学习理论人本主义学习理论网络环境外语教学建构主义学习理论强调学习的主动性、社会性和情景性。

人本主义学习理论强调人在学习中的自主地位，强调学习中的情感因素。

网络环境下的外语教学作为一种全新的教育方式，强调以学生为主体、以语言应用技能训练为主要内容，这与建构主义和人本主义学习理论所主张和创造的学习环境相一致，分别对三者进行了分析并找出三者间存在的共性。

一、引言传统的“以教师为中心，教师讲、学生听”为特点的外语教学模式重在语法、词汇知识的传授，存在去情境化、缺少交流与协作、忽视学生兴趣与要求等倾向，该模式既不能保证教学的质量与效率，又不利于培养学生的发散性、批判性和创造性思维，不利于培养具有创新精神和实践能力的人才。

随着社会和经济的飞速发展，当前各级各类学校的教育、教学正发生着重大变革并在探索新的思路以适应社会发展的需要，在整个探索的过程中建构主义和人本主义学习理论在世界范围内显示出强大的生命力，同时，以多媒体计算机和网络通信技术为认知工具的外语教学模式也成为各级学校改革的重点所在。

那么，建构主义和人本主义学习理论与网络环境下的外语教学是否相契合、相一致，他们之间又存在着哪些相通点呢?二、建构主义学习理论建构主义教学理论源于瑞士著名心理学家皮亚杰在2O世纪6O年代提出的“发生认知论”。

但是这种理论开始在世界范围流行，并显示出强大的生命力，还是2O世纪九十年代以后的事情。

建构主义理论认为知识不是通过教师传授得到，而是学习者在一定的情境即社会文化背景下，借助其他人的帮助，利用必要的学习资料．通过“意义建构”的方式而获得oD]换句话说，学生获得知识的多少不再取决于学生死记硬背教师讲授内容的能力，而是取决于学习者根据自身的经验去建构有关知识的能力。

英语论文文化背景知识对英语听力理解影响的调查研究A Study of Cultural Background Knowledge’s Effects on English Listening ComprehensionAThesisPresented to文化背景知识对英语听力理解影响的调查研究摘要：听力理解是一个复杂的过程，影响听力的因素很多，有诸如语音，词汇，语法等一系列语言知识方面的因素，也有一些非语言知识的因素，文化背景知识便是其中之一。

为检验文化背景知识对英语听力理解的影响，本研究对60名非英语专业的大学生进行了一次英语听力检测实验。

实验结果显示文化背景知识对听力理解有促进作用，具体来说，它在减轻听音前的心理压力，增强听者自信心，培养听者英语学习兴趣等方面都有着极其重要的作用。

基于以上结论，本文建议，在听力教学过程中，教师应尽可能多的增加文化背景知识的输入量。

这不仅可以增强学生的英美文化意识，还可以培养学生的英语思维能力，从而间接地提高学生的听力水平。

同时，教师还必须注意输入的策略，给学生制造轻松愉悦的环境，比如可以通过观看电影，课前演讲，文化对比等形式，以活泼的形式促进学生听力的提高。

关键词：文化背景知识；英语听力理解；英语教学iA Study of Cultural Background Knowledge’s Effects on EnglishListening ComprehensionAbstract：Listening comprehension is a complicated process, which is affected not only by such linguistic factors like pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, etc., but also some important nonlinguistic factors, one of which is cultural background knowledge. The paper presents an empirical studyon 60 non-English major collage students with the aim to testify the function of cultural background knowledge in English listening comprehension. The results of the experiment reveal that cultural background knowledge has the promotive function in English listening comprehension; it can reduce the psychological pressure before listening, strengthen the confidence on one hand, and reinforce the interest of English learning on another. Therefore, the paper lends strong support that in English listening teaching, teachers should introduce a lot of cultural background knowledge which can not only improve students’listening level and strengthen students’ consciousness of foreign cultures, but also cultivate the ability of thinking in English. In the teaching process, teachers should pay more attention to the input methods and create a relaxing and pleasant environment in listening classes. Such means as watching the movies, doing the class report, comparing cultures of different nations, etc, are all effective ones that will improve students’ ability and consequently facilitate students to form the self-study habit.Key words: cultural background knowledge; English listening comprehension; English teachingiiCONTENTS摘要 (i)Abstract (ii)Introduction (1)1 Literature Review (2)1.1 Diverse Views on English Listening Comprehension (2)1.2 Category of Cultural Background Knowledge (3)1.3 Process of English Listening Comprehension and ItsInfluencing Factors (3)1.3.1 Listening Process (3)1.3.2 Influencing Factors in English Listening Comprehension (4)2 Experiment (4)2.1 Research Questions (5)2.2 Methodology (5)2.1.1P a r t i c i p a n t s (5)2.1.2 Materials (5)2.1.3 Procedures (5)3 Findings and Results (6)4 Discussion (7)4.1 About Data (7)4.2 Influences of Cultural Background Knowledge (8)4.2.1 Psychological Pressure (8)4.2.2 Self-confidence (8)4.2.3 Learning Interest (9)4.3 Learning and T eaching Strategies (10)Co nclusion (11)Bibliography (13)Appendix A Testing Paper (14)Appendix B Testing Items (17)Table 3.1 (7)Figure 3.1 (7)Acknowledgements (21)IntroductionListening as the first step of learning a language has been studied for many years. Recent researches on English listening have focused on such influencing factors as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, etc. What is new, however, is the analysis from theperspective of information processing,English listening comprehension is a complicated psychological process with the interaction of language and thinking. In addition, it is the interaction of listener’s conceptual formation, background knowledge, and processing strategies. Research on English listening comprehension from the three angles of cognitive psychology can provide an inspiration for teaching listening and clear out the barrier in listening comprehension. (Ying Guoli, 2009: 82)Although many people have realized the importance of cultural background knowledge in English listening, few people made researches on how it affects the comprehension, and still fewer use it in listening teaching. With this question in concern, this survey concentrates on how the cultural background knowledge affects English listening comprehension and how to input more cultural background knowledge in listening teaching.Deducing from database of sixty non-English majors, this paper makes an elaborate investigation and description of influences of cultural background knowledge in English listening comprehension through observation and comparison of the subjects’ distinct reations to the testi ng items. The participants are students from two non-English major classes of the same grade who have almost the same English cultural background knowledge, around 60 in total. In the first class, before the listening test, their teacher introduced the relative cultural background knowledge of the material firstly, then told the examinees that the following listening test will include the information they have learned. The second class listened to the same testing materials directly, no cultural background knowledge was introduced before listening. By comparing thecorrectness rates of students of these two classes, we come to analyze the influences of the cultural background knowledge in English listening comprehension.The paper is divided into 4 Chapters. The introductory chapter contains some basic issues for the study. Chapter 1 is the literature review part which will firstly present researches on this topic that have been made and the corresponding conclusions, and then introduce the category of cultural background knowledge which is ―a complex matter, including knowledge, belief, art, morals, customs, and other capabilities acquired by people as a member of society‖.(Zhang Cengyi, 2009: 7) The English listening process and influencing factors which obstacle the understanding of the listening materials will be included as well. In Chapter 2, we will introduce our experiment that includes the research questions, methodologies such as participants, testing materials, and the procedures of the experiment, etc. We will report the corresponding results and findings in Chapter 3, followed by discussion in Chapter 4. And the last part is conclusion of the paper.1 Literature Review1.1 Diverse Views on English Listening ComprehensionWith the development of globalization, more and more people realize the importance of learning English. Researchers of the whole world have investigated kinds of methods to help people improve their English. And they reach the agreement that mastering a language means to develop abilities of listening, speaking, reading, and writing at the same time. Just as David Crystal (2002: 378) mentioned, ―Language work is first heard, then practice orally, before seen and used in written form.‖According to the statistics offered by Guo Jianmin (2004:117), 45% of adults’ time connects with listening in daily communicative activity. And the latest National CET-4 Reform Program promulgated by the Ministry of Education in 2005 claimed that the part of listening comprehension rise to 35%. Therefore, there is no need to explain the importance of listening in English study.Many researchers, like He Fusheng (2006: 9-10) and Gao Guixiang & Pan Bingxin (2002: 2-5), analyzed the factors that influence the listening comprehension. They concluded that the l isteners’ abilities of vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, intonation, etc, would affect correctness of listening.Recently, some other researchers, like Xiang YU (2008: 14) and Xiang Huyue (2008: 96-98), took such personal subjective factors as interest, motivation, self-confidence, etc, into concern in English listening comprehension study. There are also some researchers who begin to pay their attention to the importance of cultural background knowledge in listening. Listening comprehension is a complicated psychological process. Linguists approach English listening mainly from psycholinguistic perspectives which identify two kinds of information processing models that can be labeled as bottom-up and top-down in the listening process.H.Douglas Brown (2001) believed that bottom-up processing proceeds from sounds, words, grammatical relationships, lexical meanings, etc. to a final ―message‖while top-down processing is evoked from ―a bank of prior knowledge and global expectations ‖and other background infor mation that the listener brings to the text. David Crystal (2002: 372) pointed out, ―T oday, learning a foreign language is likely to mean learning a great deal about the foreign civilization and culture at the sametime. … It helps the learners to become m ore fullyaware of differing ways of behavior, and reduces the risks of culture shock, foreigner stereotyping, and intolerance.‖In addition, some researchers claimed the degree of the familiarity about the materials, the quantity of cultural background kn owledge, and the listeners’ psychological diathesis will directly affect understanding of the listening contents.From all the above researches, influences of cultural background knowledge turn out to be obvious. After mastering the relative cultural background knowledge, listeners will become more confident. Otherwise, they will be nervous and uneasy in listening.1.2 Category of Cultural Background KnowledgeThe category of culture is both huge and ambiguous. It can be studied from such aspects as the physical geography, economy, history, politics, educational system, literature art, music, science, technology, media, sport, daily life-style, popular beliefs, folk customs, and social values, etc. That knowledge is huge and complex; no one can remember them at one time. What we can do is to accumulate them little by little in daily learning.Every nation has its own unique cultural background. The process of learning English is also the process of understanding and mastering the culture of English-speaking countries. Any word or action can reflect the cultural connotation to some extent. And people always try to understand others based on their own cultural background knowledge and linguistic habits. Under the deep influence of mother tongue and homeland culture, in the process of listening comprehension, listenersusually analyze and understand English with Chinese thinking style, which would cause difficulties in understanding the speaker’s real intention quickly and exactly. So in English listening teaching, teachers should try their best to guide students to learn cultural background knowledge as much as possible. We should make the category of cultural background knowledge clear, so we can pay more attention to them in daily learning. With regard to cultur e, I mean ―the pattern of learning embodied in symbolic forms, including actions, utterances and meaningful objects of various kinds, by virtue of which individuals communicate with one another and share their experiences, conceptions and beliefs‖ (Hinkel, 2001: 77).1.3 Process of English Listening Comprehension and Its Influencing Factors1.3.1 Listening ProcessListening comprehension includes listening and distinguishing the single phoneme and successive speech sounds, as well as grasping the meaning. According to cognitive psychology, listening is the active process in which the listeners accept, understand and choose the useful information positively, and then preserve it into long-time memory. In other words, listening comprehension is not a passive accept, but involves positively analyzing the listening content by using their acquired knowledge, then choosing, arranging and classifying them. This is a re-arrangement process. This process includes three stages, namely, the linguistic stage, the cognitive stage, and the met cognitive stage.1.3.2 Influencing Factors in English Listening ComprehensionThis part is concerned with the influencing factors in listening process. The activity of listening can be further divided into 6steps. First, it is the perception and recognition of the speech sound. That is to say, at the beginning of the listening, sound waves reached the ears. In this step, the pronunciation, intonation, stress, plosive, and rhyme, are the main influencing factors. Second, it is the initial understanding of the exact materials. This step requires listeners to grasp the meaning of the words, phases, and sentences. So it is influenced by the vocabulary and grammar. Third, it is to preserve the material in short-time memory. However, ―Inform ation kept in short-time memory will be forgotten after 30 minutes if it is not repeated‖(Wu Xinchun & Zhang Jun, 2009:181). So, the forth step, which connects the listening materials with their own cultural background knowledge, is essential. Then, the listeners comprehend the materials and preserve them in long-time memory. At last, the main idea and outline will be caught. From the last three steps, we can conclude that the listeners’cultural background knowledge and thinking mode affect the listening comprehension deeply and widely.From the above statement, we can predict that cultural background knowledge has a great influence on listeners’psychological diathesis in English listening. In the following chapter, the paper will present the experiment that will testify the function of cultural background knowledge in English listening. And based on the experimental study, the purpose of this paper is to clarify the function of background knowledge, make both students and teachers realize the importance of cultural background knowledge in listening comprehension and to bring the awareness of input of background information in English teaching at the same time.2 ExperimentIn the previous chapter, we have discussed the category of cultural background knowledge and the process of listening comprehension which is a complicated psychological process. In this chapter, we will illustrate our experiment which is designed to testify the function of background information in listening comprehension. It will include the research problems, methodologies, such as participants, testing materials, and the procedures, etc.2.1 Research QuestionsBased on testing materials chosen from CET-4 and CET-6 which contain 5 short dialogues and 5 long passages, the specific research questions we set out to address in the present study will include:ⅰ. Whether there is any influence of cultural background knowledge on English listening comprehension.ⅱ. How cultural background knowledge will affect English listening comprehension.ⅲ.Learning and teaching strategies in English listening comprehension.2.2 MethodologyIn the following, we will illustrate our experiment in details, including its participants, stimuli, and procedures.2.2.1 Participants60 undergraduates aging from 20 to 22 take part in this project. Half of them are sophomores, from class 5, Physical Department of HeZe University, in Shang Dong Provence. The rest 30 students are from class 2 of the same grade in the same department and university. The selection of the participants bases on three reasons. Firstly, all the participants are undergraduates aging from 20 to 22 who have the ability ofmature thinking and prediction. Because the function of the cultural background knowledge can only be revealed by associating with the context, then prediction and deduction of abstruse meaning are needed. Secondly, they are all from science department. Comparatively speaking, they are not familiar with the culture of English-speaking countries. Therefore, in the process of the experiment, we can control the quantity of cultural background knowledge that they have learned. Thirdly, they have acquired the fundamental English knowledge, such as vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation, intonation…So we can give prominence to the influences of cultural background knowledge in listening.2.2.2 Testing MaterialsAll these testing materials which contain 5 short dialogues and 5 long passages are chosen from CET-4 and CET-6 which suit the level of the participants. Among them, short dialogues 2, 4, 5 and long passages 1, 2, 4 are testing items about cultural background knowledge which include the idioms, historical eminent person and his work, theory of language research, and the creation of basketball. In order to simulate the real listening test, the rest 2 short dialogues and 2 long passages do not relate to background cultural knowledge.2.2.3 ProceduresBefore the tests, we select the listening materials carefully and collect the relative cultural background knowledge thoroughly. To arouse self-learning interest, the knowledge is illustrated as simple and interesting as possible.The two tests are carried out separately in English listening classes. And in order to simulate the real atmosphere of examination, the explanation and operation are done by teachers. Before listening, students of the first class (class 5 mentioned inthe participants) are told that the following cultural knowledge will be contained in the following listening test. Then their teacher explains the relative cultural background knowledge and asks them to listen carefully. Now, let us take the passage 1 and passage 2 (in Appendix A) of the test which will be mainly analyzed and discussed in this thesis, as an example. About passage 1, the teacher introduces the achievements of Benjamin Franklin in his life, his contribution in American history, and his works. And about passage 2, the teacher introduces contrastive opinions on language origins, and Chomsky’s theory is illustrated in specific. At last, the listening proceeds when they have known well the background knowledge. Students of the second class (class 2) are not given any relative cultural background knowledge before listening. The listening process goes directly.3 Findings and ResultsIn this paper, we have 20 testing items that include 5 short dialogues and 5 long passages. And every passage contains 3 questions (in Appendix A). Although for some particular questions, class 1 has done better, such as question 5 whose correctness rate is 76.6% compared with the 53.3% of class 2. Students of Class 2 have their own advantages on other questions, such as question 1 whose correctness rate is 66.6% compared with the 30% of class 1. These differences demonstrate that there are many factors influencing the listening comprehension. For those non-cultural materials, such as long passages 3 and 5, there is not a great disparity in the correctness rates between class 1 and class 2. So we will not analyze the correctness rates of those questions. But the correctness rates of passage 1 (question 6 to 8) and passage 2 (question 9 to 11) (inAppendix A) make us see clearly the huge function of cultural background knowledge in English listening comprehension. Because before listening, class 1 has learned the relative cultural background knowledge which we have mentioned in the previous chapter. With the help of that knowledge, they do a better work than students of class 2. Therefore, this paper will investigate the influence of the cultural background knowledge in English listening by analyzing and discussing these two passages. The correctness rates of question 6 to 11 will be showed in the following table.Table 3.1 ResultsCRClassPassage 1 Passage 2 6 7 8 9 10 11Class 130% 56.6% 90% 43.3% 50% 73.3%Class 2 20% 13.5% 66.6% 33.3% 20% 73.3%(QN stands for Question Number; CR stands for Correctness Rates)We will firstly transform Table 3.1 into a figure for a clearer observation in thefollowing:30%56.60%90%43.30%50%73.30%20%13.50%66.60%33.30 %20%73.30%0%20%40%60%80%100%123456Class2Class1 Figure 3.1 the corresponding figure of Table 3.14 Discussion4.1 About DataBased on comparison of the percentage rate in the above figure, it can be obviouslyinferred that for each question, students in class 1 score more highly than those in class 2. Thus, the correctness rate is much higher for each question. Consequently, we conclude that if one is familiar with the corresponding cultural background knowledge, it will become easier to understand the whole test and get the right answer.In the following part, we will prove our viewpoint by analyzing each individual question.As for question 6 (in Appendix A), it is about vocabulary. Compared with other questions, the correctness rate is not very good. Students of class 1 still did better than those in class 2. The difficult point of this question lies in the words that are too difficult for most students. TheQNquestion is ―Which of the following words i s not used to describe Franklin?‖(in Appendix B). The selection is ―A. Brilliant.B. Industrious.C. Versatile.D. Brave.‖ (in Appendix A). And the right answer is ―Brave‖. Although the other three words have been given in the record, most students can not catch them. But students of class 1 know well about Franklin’s life story in which his bravery is not reiterated, so they have a higher probability to get the right answer. This has been proved by the correctness rates of question 6 of the two classes presented in the above figure.Looking at the correctness rates of questions 7, 8 and 10, thedisparity of the two classes is more obvious. That is also the best explanation of the function of cultural background knowledge in English listening. Questions 7 and 8 (in Appendix A) are about Franklin’s autobiography that is an inspiring account of the poor boy’s growth history. In it, Franklin does not show off the honors and prizes he has got in his life, but honestly mentions his own misdeeds and errors. He writes it to give lessons to others. Question 10 is about Chomsky’s linguistic theory. Because students of class 1 are familiarized with this knowledge, most of them can get the right answers. The correctness rates of the two classes are the best explanations that cultural background knowledge has a promoting function in English listening comprehension.According to the data analyses, it is obvious that the influence of cultural background knowledge on listening comprehension is tremendous. Based on such a fact, this chapter will elucidate how cultural background knowledge affects listening comprehension from individual psychological respects, namely, psychological pressure, self-confidence, learning interest in specific.4.2 Influences of Cultural Background Knowledge4.2.1 Psychological PressureStudents with higher anxiety may perform worse in reading, writing, listening, and speaking of a foreign language. By analyzing the correctness rates of the two classes, students of class 1 know well about the cultural background knowledge of the material, even if they only catch several words and sentences, they can get the main idea, so the anxiety and pressure will be somehow reduced. From the psychological respect, Da Huiming (2007, 24) pointed out that language anxiety is one of the mostimportant factors which influence the individual performance in foreign language learning. This kind of language anxiety is named as psychological pressure in English listening. Listening materials are handed out in a wink. It cannot be read repeatedly as reading materials. So in the listening process, listeners will be in deep anxiety and pressure unconsciously. And at the same time, they consider the difficulty oflistening materials too great to perform well. The promoting function of cultural background knowledge is revealed at this time.4.2.2 Self-confidenceNo matter what you do, if you keep self-confident, you have half succeeded. In listening process, self-confidence is one of the most important factors that affect your comprehension. In this part, we come to discuss how enormous cultural background knowledge strengthens listeners’ self-confidence before listening and while listening.Students of class 1 have done a better work. Before listening, the more one knows about the cultural background knowledge of the English-speaking countries, the more one believes he can do well. Learning the cultural background knowledge not only brings the cultural awareness, but also cultivates the thinking ability in English. That is the top-level aim of English learning. As time goes by, listeners will have complete confidence in themselves. This can also help reduce the psychological pressure.The function of cultural background knowledge is more obvious in the process of listening, for most English articles bring out the theme at the beginning. In the process of listening, when students of class 1 get the familiar material, they will associate it with their justly learned knowledge. When they find that thematerials and their knowledge are same, they become confident immediately. Even if there are some differences, they would not pay more attention to them. So it will be easier to catch the right answer. Self-confidence will be increased little by little with every success. After a period, no matter what materials one listens to, he will always have confidence.4.2.3 Learning InterestAs a famous proverb goes, interest is the excellent teacher of human being. Liao Jianhua (2006) held that interest is the unity of consciousness and activeness in the process of English learning. With interest, there is a driving force in people’s mind, which impels people to try their best to master as much knowledge as possible. It is necessary for students to cultivate the interest of learning English. But, how can they do? It is a difficult problem for both teachers and students. As to one criterion for good teaching, teachers are responsible for making the materials interesting and enjoyable. Cultural background knowledge that includes a lot of real life senses and interesting stories would be good tools to cultivate students’ interest of English listening. So in English listening teaching, teachers should be clear that the input of cultural background knowledge and the practice of listening are bidirectional processes. In other words, accumulating cultural background knowledge as much as possible can help listeners comprehend the listening materials and listening to diverse materials can enrich listeners’cultural background knowledge as well.Above all, those three factors interact with each other. Without the psychological pressure, one can perform easily and confidently. With the confidence, interest of learning rises higher and higher. Vice versa, the maintenance of interest is a goodmethod to reduce pressure and to increase confidence. And all of them can be realized through the accumulation of cultural background knowledge.4.3 Learning and T eaching StrategiesKnowing the influencing factors of listening comprehension is just the first step. If students cannot make use of learning strategies, it will be like that having a good tool, but do not know how to use it. So in order to achieve somewhere, it is necessary for teachers and students to cooperate to formulate and carry out the useful strategies.In the whole process of English teaching and learning, teachers should use diverse and i nteresting materials and vivid teaching methods to attract students’attention. So teachers should have a wide range of professional knowledge, especially the cultural background knowledge of English –speaking countries. If a teacher wants to give students a cup of water, he must have a barrel of it. They should create relaxing atmosphere and build good relationship between teachers and students.They should have the strong sense of duty, and they cannot only impart knowledge, but also stimulate students’ i nterest and motivation of learning at the same time. And it should be kept in mind that the classroom teaching is not enough for students, teachers can make the fullest use of students’ free time to arouse their confidence, interest, and motivation. Above all, all those strategies that teachers can take are related to cultural background knowledge. In listening teaching, if a teacher only lets students listen to the records mechanically, students will soon feel tired, become anxious, and loose their confidence and interest finally. It would be a good solution that periods of listening alternate with periods of inputting cultural background。

小议文化背景知识在听力教学中的重要性摘要建构主义的学习理论认为学生是学习过程的主体，是知识结构的主动创建者。

在听力教学中传授文化背景知识可以减少学生对母语的依赖程度，培养学生的兴趣，提高学生的注意力。

同时，对教师来说，文化背景知识是教学中一项必要的内容。

关键词文化背景知识建构主义听力教学随着语言教学的深入和发展，经验的不断丰富，文化背景知识愈来愈受到重视，并且成为语言教学不可缺少的一部分。

在语言教学的一个重要方面——听力教学中，文化背景知识也同样举足轻重。

听力教学环节由学生、教师和课堂三部分组成。

下面就这几个方面分别来论述文化背景知识的重要性。

1．学生方面根据建构主义的学习理论。

即学习的生成过程是学生已有的知识经验即原有认知结构与从环境中主动选择和注意的信息相互作用、主动建构信息的意义的过程。

在这个过程中，学生是认知主体，是这个过程的主要进行者。

学习者并非被动接受知识的灌输，而是知识结构的主动创建者吴晓真，2。

他们通过发现问题——提出假设——证实假设并解决问题——发现新问题这一循环往复的过程不断扩建自己的知识结构转引自，1998。

在建构主义看来，…学生对知识的接受，只能由他自己来构建完成，以他们自己的经验为背景，来分析知识的合理性刘书锋，24。

建构主义认为，知识不是通过教师传授得到，而是学习者在一定的情境即社会文化背景下，借助他人包括教师和学习伙伴的帮助，利用必要的学习资料。

通过意义建构的方式而获得。

…学生要成为意义的主动建构者…要把当前学习内容所反映的事物尽量和自己已经知道的事物相联系，并对这种联系加以认真的思考刘书锋。

24。

语言是思维的载体，是一个民族、国家和地区的政治、经济、文化及社会生活等各个方面的反映。

因此，学生在学习英美国家的语言时，必然要涉及到他们的语言背景知识。

听力中涉及背景知识材料屡见不鲜，背景知识几乎成了语言的主体。

显然具备背景知识能使学生有一种熟悉感，对所听材料有一个更深刻的了解，甚至能弥补语言上的一些不足，如听到这么一句话。