Practical Pathways and Challenges of Integrating Cultural Awareness into Senior High School English Teaching

Xiu-Chun Li （ No.1 Middle School of Wenshan Prefecture, Wenshan, Yunnan 663099, China ）

Abstract

In the 21st century, marked by the in-depth development of globalization, intercultural communicative competence has become an essential component of core competencies. As a bridge connecting Chinese and foreign cultures, senior high school English has shifted its instructional goals from a sole focus on language skill training to a comprehensive educational model that integrates language competence with cultural awareness. This paper aims to systematically explore the theoretical foundations, practical significance, diversified implementation pathways, and underlying challenges of incorporating cultural awareness into senior high school English teaching. It first clarifies the connotation of “cultural awareness” and its positioning in the English Curriculum Standards for General Senior High Schools (2017 Edition, 2020 Revision). It then proposes specific and operational practical pathways from four dimensions: curriculum content, teaching methods, teacher competence, and assessment systems. Finally, the paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the challenges encountered in current practice, including limitations of teaching materials, deficiencies in teachers’ professional competence, exam-oriented pressure, and students’ cognitive biases, and accordingly puts forward optimization suggestions. The study indicates that only by constructing a student-centered, multi-dimensionally coordinated, and dynamically developing culture-immersive teaching ecosystem can the educational value of the English discipline be truly realized, thereby cultivating a new generation equipped with Chinese cultural identity, a global vision, and intercultural communicative competence.

Keywords

Full Text

References