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3.1 Defining Culture As to what culture is, people may give the definition from many different perspectives since different countries may have different political cultures, different intellectual styles, different social customs and values. Edward Sapir interprets culture as "the socially inherited assemblage of practices and beliefs that determine the texture of our lives" (1949: 207). Forter and Samovar define culture as "the deposit of knowledge, experience beliefs, values, attitudes, meanings, hierarchies, religion, notion of time, ioles relations, concepts of the universe, and material objects and possessions acquired by group of people in the course of generation through individual and group striving" (1995: 48). According to Goodenough (1957: 74, 83), culture is socially acquired knowledge: As I see it, a society's culture consists of whatever it is one has to know or， believe in order to operate in a manner acceptable to his members，.二culture, being what people have to learn as distinct from their biological heritage, must consist of the end product of learning: knowledge, in a most general…sense of the term. Brown's definition is "A culture is a collection of beliefs, habits, living patterns and behaviors which are held more or less in common by people who occupy particular geographic areas" (qtd in Hu Wenzhong, 1988: 4). However, Tylor (1920: 1) gives the definition of culture as "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." This concept of culture is all embracing, and it includes the behavioral ("customs"), the creative materials ("art"), the nominative and institutional ("moral" and "law"), and the co脚five ("knowledge" and "belief'). Putting it simply, culture refers to the whole way of life in a society 2.3.2 Language and Culture Language is the carrier of culture. It is a part of culture and plays a very important role in culture. Without language, culture would not be possible. On the one hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture, it reflects culture. On the other hand, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as their approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. Language shapes perception and language determines culture. Culture patterns, customs and ways of life are expressed in language. "Language and culture are closely related. On the one hand, culture influences and shapes the linguistic form of language." "Conversely, Teaching Strategies of Oral Class Interaction language is also the reflection of culture" (Li Li and Chen Zhi'an, 1997: 144). "Language is a part of culture, it cannot but serve and reflect culture needs"田u, 1992: 250). As a mirror of culture and society, language is not just a passive reflector, it reinforces and preserves the beliefs and customs. As Barthes points out "Culture cannot be separated from language in whatever respects" (qtd in Gu and Lu, 1990: 6). Therefore, in English language study, the idea that studying a foreign language is in fact studying another‘ culture must be kept,in mind. 2.3.3 Language and Context Context is used to mainly refer to "the social situation in which a linguistic item is used" (Richards et al. 1985: 61). People use different norms of languages in various communicative contexts. Such as t