Abstract:
Language reflects culture and culture is expressed through language. Language is kind of carrier of history, politics, economy, culture and everyday conversation. Language is really closely related to culture. Culture is the foundation of language.  One has to know the culture of language if he or she wants to use the language properly. So culture background knowledge plays an important role in English teaching and learning. But in fact, for we don’t understand the culture backgrounds of language and the differences in culture between Chinese and west, in English communication and learning we misunderstand words and sentences frequently and make many mistakes. In English teaching, the cultivation of students’ English cultural sense and sensitivity becomes a key link that is worth attaching importance to. To achieve this goal ,the English teacher should impart to students the English culture background knowledge and explain to them the differences between China and the west in listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation, etc, Which is of great significance in the cultivation of students’ competence of English. This paper sets to do some research on theories of culture background knowledge and apply the theories to the English teaching. The paper aims to improve student’s English ability by analyzing the importance of English culture background in listening, speaking, reading, writing, translation, etc, and offering some effective teaching methods

Key words: English teaching; culture background knowledge; culture difference

摘要：
语言反应出文化，文化通过语言来表达，语言是历史，政治，经济，文化以及每日交流的重要载体，语言与文化又是紧密相联系的，文化是语言的基础，人们必须要了解，若要合理的语言，必须了解语言的文化背景，所以文化背景知识在英语的教育和学习中扮演着重要的作用，语言与文化是紧密相连相辅相成的，但是，实际上，由于我们不知道语言的文化背景和中西文化的差异，我们在英语的学习和交流中，我们经常误解和犯错，在英语教学中，培养学生对于英语文化的意识和敏感性是一个值得重视的关键环节，为了达到这样的目的，英语老师必须向学生传授各种文化背景知识，以及向学生解释中西文化在各个方面的差异，旨在培养学生拥有足够的英语能力，本文着重研究了关于文化背景知识的理论以及怎样把这个理论运用到实际的教学中去。通过分析，揭示出文化背景知识在英语教学中听说读写译等方面的重要性，并且提出有效的教学方法来提高学生的英语能力。

关键词：英语教学；文化背景知识；文化差异

1 Introduction
For quite a long time, the relationship between language and culture background knowledge in English teaching has been overlooked. A thought, as our teaching experience suggests, is prevailing among students: it has been taken for granted that by vast training in reading, listening, speaking, writing and translating, students could reach the high standard required in English learning and communication with their proficiency only in pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.