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1、【标题】通过增长文化背景知识提高英语阅读理解能力 【作者】王 军 【关键词】英语阅读；理解；文化背景 【指导老师】廖东红 蒋朝霞 【专业】英语 【正文】I. Introduction Reading comprehension is one of the most important purposes and skills in English learning. However, it has been observed that most of English learners are unable to read effectively, and even fail to compreh
2、end texts. Therefore how to improve learners reading ability is of great significance. Nowadays, many English learners have attributed their poor reading comprehension to linguistic deficiencies and poor mastering of grammar. Consequently, they are forced to remember words mechanically. They are kee
3、n on analyzing sentences and grammatical phenomenon carefully. And they think that they can improve their reading comprehension through expanding their vocabularies and gaining greater control over complex syntactic structures. Even more, some English learners believe that they would have no difficu
4、lty in comprehending the whole text as long as they grasp the meaning of each word, each sentence, and each text passage. However, the result was often disappointing. Now, based on theories and researching of some experts, we realize that linguistic deficiency is only one of the factors that might h
5、ave caused English learners poor reading comprehension. It is lack of cultural background knowledge that is the major element affecting their comprehension. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop learners cultural background knowledge. In the following parts of this paper, we will discuss f
6、irstly describe the current situation of English reading and culture background knowledge in reading comprehension, illustrate the influence of background deficiency on learners comprehension, and propose ways to help students develop cultural background knowledge. The primary purpose of this articl
7、e is to draw English learners attention to the importance of culture background so as to improve reading comprehension. IIThe Current Situation of English Reading ComprehensionNowadays, many English learners find that English reading is difficult for them. Some people complain that even though they
8、know every word in the text, they can not understand the meaning of the text. Some people complain that they have grasped grammar, in other word; they can analyze structure of sentences. But, they also can not understand the meaning of the text. In fact, learners can understand the main idea of the
9、text through linguistic knowledge and schematic knowledge. Schematic knowledge was produced in 1970s, which is the advanced, complicated knowledge structure. Studying English, the word is the basic unit of language. It is the foundation of language study. Therefore, most English Learners consider th
10、at the more words remember the higher ability of reading. But knowing each meaning of word is not enough. One reason is that each word can express different meaning in different situation. For example, usually “six and seven” means numeral, but sometimes it has another meaning. In this sentence “Eve
11、rything in the room is at sixes and sevens”, we know that each meaning of word and the structure is very simple, but we do not know the meaning of the whole sentence. As the result we do not know proverb and idiom of English. In this sentence “sixes and sevens” means “be out of order”. Another reaso
12、n is that some words with background knowledge influence comprehending. For example, the word “individualist” originates from the meaning of “individualism”. In different kinds of domestic dictionaries “Chinese-to-English” and “English-to- Chinese”, “individualist” is a derogatory term. In America,
13、people emphasize personal freedom. Consequently, “individualist” is a commendatory phrase. So, “individualist” has different culture meanings in different culture. From above two examples, to comprehend fully the text it seems that remembering words mechanically and analyzing the structure are not e
14、nough. III.Cultural Background Knowledge in English Reading Comprehension Reading is one of main channels for people to obtain knowledge and information. And comprehension is the essence of reading. Therefore, reading comprehension becomes one of the most important purposes and skills in language le
15、arning. However, many English learners are not able to read effectively, and even fail to comprehend text. Most of them have attributed their poor reading comprehension to linguistic deficiencies. But linguistic deficiency is not the major element affecting them. According to the discussion about th
16、e current situation of English reading, we can conclude that cultural background deficiency is the major element affecting reading comprehension. A. Historical Culture in Reading Comprehension Because of the difference of country and nation, the development of history of country and nation is also different. Therefore, when learners read some English materials, they would often meet some barriers resulting from the difference
