A Comparative Study On New And Old SEP Editions Of English Textbooks For Junior High Schools

With the developm ent of regional in tegration and econom ic globalization,international political exchanges and trade are increasing day by day.Since the Reform and Opening up,English has developed into an important curriculum in the primary and middle school education,and English textbooks as an important carrier of English education also has undergone several rounds of adaptation.English textbooks being the main basis of teaching and learning activities,its designing plays an important role in English education.Based on the Com pulsory Education Curriculum Standard Experimental Textbook for English(New Target)by the Mini stry of Education,Shandong Education Press in 2004 published a series of English textbooks,namely The Compulsory Education Curriculum Standard Experimental Textbooks for English.And in 2012,based on English(New Target)edited by Liu Daoyi,Zheng W angquan and David Nunan,published by People’ s Education Press for 6-3 year schooling,the adaptation of the old English textbooks was implemented.This study is based on the evaluation theory of the "surface structure and deep structure" advanced by Ding Zhaopeng and the new English curriculum standards.Surface structure analysis includes com pilation system,content selection,colum n design and illustrations;deep s tructure analysis relates to emotional attitude,cultur al elements,knowledge elements,language skills and other elements.This study compares the 2004 and 2012 editions of junior m iddle school English textbook published by Shandong Education Press.First of all,the comparison encompasses such respects as emotional attitudes,cultural awareness,language knowledge,language skills,learning strategies and so on.Secondly,the editing system,column design,vocabulary and grammar of the two editions are compared for finding out the respective advantages and disadvantages.On the basis of the comparative analysis of the two sets of textbooks,the respective advantages and disadvantages of the new and old editions are revealed.Thirdly,in order to further understand the advantages and disadvantages,an investigation by questionnaire and interview is conducted to collect the views of teachers and students on the two textbooks m ainly in term s of content,desig n of activities and exercises,learning strategies,vocabulary,grammar,teaching tasks,authenticity of materials,skills,emotion and attitude,listening materials etc.This study qualitatively and quantitativel y analyzes the results,in an attem pt to deepen the understanding of the new textbook,so that teachers know be tter of it and find out how to use it more effectively in their teaching.This study also aims at providing referential information for the compliers for their future revision.This study intends to address the following issues:(1)What are the differences between the tw o editions in terms of surface structure and deep structure?(2)What are the adv antages and d isadvantages and problem s of the respective editions found in the quantitative analysis of questionnaire and interviews ?(3)What countermeasures and suggestions can be m ade for the editors and the users based on these research findings?The major findings of the present research are:(1)As for the contents of the new edit ion,72% of the students and 16 out of 18 teachers welcome the real life con tents,which indicates that the con tents of the new edition are appropriately selected.(2)In regard to the design of class activities and exercises,about half of the students agree with the design of the f orms and illus trations and arr angement of classroom activities,while 40% do not,which m ay indicate that there is still room for improvement.(3)As for learning strategies,59% of the interviewed students feel that the strategies of the new edition are helpful for their self-study,while 41% do not.This may be ascribed partly to the te xtbook itself and partly to the t eachers who are incapable to make the students comprehend the strategies thoroughly.(4)In regard to vocabulary,72% of the interviewed students and 13 out of 18 interviewed teachers think that vocabulary of the new is larger.This can be attributed to the larger size of vocabulary of this edition than that of the curriculum standard.(5)In the respect of grammar,67% of the interviewed students but only 2 teachers agree that the order of grammar learning is reasonable.This result tells us that editors of the textbook should collect more of the teachers’ opinions for grammar edition.(6)For the possibility of accom plishing the teaching tasks,findings indicate that only 8 of the 18 interviewed teachers could accomplish them within the prescribed time.This suggests that the tasks need to be reduced.(7)As for the authen ticity of m aterials,10 interv iewed teachers give positive answers,while 8 do not.This is also suggestive to editors.(8)In regard to sk ills and emotional attitudes,70% of the interviewed students agree that the new listening m aterials are proper in vocabulary,about half give positive answers to speed,and to the effective development of their practical use of English and to their increase in un derstanding of English culture.However,the percentage of agreement is below 60 % in the ef fectiveness of enhancing their interest in English learning,in the deepening of their understanding of foreign culture,and the lowest is in the cultivation of their patriotism(47%).Editors and teachers are advised to find some solutions to those of lower percentages.(9)On the teachers’ part concerning listening materials,11,14 and 13 interviewed teachers agree respectiv ely with th e speed,the ef fectiveness in im proving listening ability,and with cultivating th e ability of language use.Of the four aspects,the low est rating is on the cultivation of the students’ patriotism.This suggests that editors should be seriously aware of the significance of patriotism cultivation among students.