英字新聞・雑誌の見出し表現と英米文化理解(第43回JACET全国大会特別号)

概要

論文の詳細を見る
It is often said that the Japanese, even after learning English at college level, cannot read English newspapers and magazines properly. Insufficient English ability and a lack of knowledge of the world situation are usually cited as reasons for this. Moreover, Japanese learners of English are confronted with a further difficulty, that of understanding and appreciating headlines of English newspapers and magazines, because these often assume Western cultural awareness. From this viewpoint, we investigate such headlines to find out how and to what extent such cultural elements are interwoven in them. After categorizing them according to the subject, we show that magazines tend to have many more of these culture-oriented headlines than newspapers do. In order to see whether any reference relevant to the headline is obtainable or not, we consult four medium-sized dictionaries for the meaning of each and every cultural word used in the headlines. It is found that these dictionaries offer little assistance in this respect. It is highly desirable that such cultural references be added. Finally, we point out some problems that Japanese learners of English face when they try to understand such headlines.
社団法人大学英語教育学会の論文