Changes In Cultural Perspectives Between The Original Materials And A Newly Localized ELT Textbook

With the trend of English becoming a lingua franca,teaching what kind of culture and how to develop learner's intercultural communicative competence have become the main concerns for language educators.Considering the enduring centrality of textbooks in language learning,cultural contents in English textbooks,therefore,are an important issue to be investigated.The current study analyzes the changes made in a newly localized series of textbooks intended to be used in Shanghai: Senior High School English(Shanghai Education Press,2020)with regard to cultural contents during the adaptation of its original materials,a series of international textbooks entitled Insight(Oxford University Press,2013).The research questions are as follows:(1)What categories of culture are presented in the international English textbooks and localized ones?(2)Which elements of culture are presented in the international English textbooks and localized ones?(3)What changes are made during the textbook localization in terms of culture?(4)What would these changes represent in the ideas of teaching English as a lingua franca?To answer the questions,a content analysis is made on reading materials,listening and video transcriptions,and tasks.An interview with the chief editor of Senior High School English is carried out after the textbook analysis.The findings of the study can be summarized as follows:In terms of the categories of culture,first of all,target culture predominates source culture and international culture in both series.Chinese ELT textbooks still put most emphasis on target culture,for it stands to reason that English learners should have enough exposures to the culture of the Anglophone world.Secondly,the biggest change made during the adaptation is adding a large number of Chinese culture into the localized version.Such localization embodies the requirements of Chinese political atmosphere these years when the country is calling for a stronger sense of cultural confidence.Thirdly,regarding the representation of the international culture,Senior High School English is more international-oriented,revealing the author's attempt of a paradigm shift to teaching English as a lingua franca in the Chinese context.Learning international culture also complies to China's curriculum standards,in which intercultural communicative competence is one of the language competencies to be nurtured.Fourthly,with regard to culture-neutral contents,the result shows the authors' intention of neutralization which is beneficial to a balanced culture study.As for the elements of culture,both aesthetic and sociological cultural elements are presented in the two series of textbooks,with the latter outnumbering the former.Changes are made in Senior High School English where more aesthetic target cultural elements are presented.Furthermore,the study finds that many tasks in the localized version are especially designed for TBLT,which has positive effects on enhancing intercultural awareness and establishing positive cross-cultural attitudes.In a nutshell,the findings reveal the author's intention of promoting a more culturally balanced and ELF-aware teaching in the Chinese context.Study implications and recommendations for further research are also discussed in the end of the paper.