Abstract: This paper aims to investigate effects of cultural background knowledge on English reading comprehension in junior high schools and study the availability of some common methods used in cultural teaching. The paper first discusses the current situation of cultural teaching in English reading classes in Chinese junior high schools. Then an empirical research is carried out to study the availability of four common methods of cultural teaching on reading comprehension. The paper concludes that for junior high school students, their English reading comprehension ability might correlate to their cultural competence, and the four common methods are available in teaching various aspects of culture. 

Key words: cultural background knowledge; English reading comprehension; cultural teaching

摘要：本文旨在研究初中阶段文化背景知识对于英语阅读理解的影响，以及一些常用的文化教学方法的可行性。文章首先讨论了中国英语阅读课堂中文化教学的现状，然后通过一项实验研究了课堂中常用的四种文化教学在英语阅读理解中所起到的效果。本文最后得出结论，初中学生的英语阅读理解能力和文化能力可能是相关的，并且常用的四种文化教学方法在不同文化方面的教学上是可行的。

关键词：文化背景知识; 英语阅读理解; 文化教学