A Study On Cultural Contents In English Textbooks In Junior High Schools Based On Cultivation Of Cultural Awareness

Nowadays,cultural exchanges around the world are getting closer,and the cultivation of cultural awareness has also become a need for social development.In China’s education system,cultural awareness objectives have long been included in the2011 edition of English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education(hereinafter referred to as the Curriculum Standards).The Curriculum Standards clearly pointed out that cultural awareness includes three aspects: cultural knowledge,cultural understanding,cross-cultural communication awareness and ability.The cultivation of cultural awareness takes the cultural content of textbooks as the medium.Therefore,the setting of cultural contents in textbooks has a very important impact on the cultivation of students’ cultural awareness.Moreover,the junior high schools English textbooks of PEP edition are the most widely used textbooks in China,and its cultural contents are worth studying.Based on the three aspects of cultural awareness cultivation,and examined from the three dimensions of the theme types of cultural contents,the regional distribution of cultural contents,and the activity design of cultural contents,this paper analyzes the cultural contents in the five textbooks to explore following questions:(1)What themes of cultural contents are involved in PEP English textbooks for junior high schools?(2)How are regions of the cultural contents distributed in PEP English textbooks for junior high schools?(3)What types of the cultural activities are designed in PEP English textbooks for junior high schools? It aims to find out whether the cultural contents in the textbooks are helpful to the cultivation of students’ cultural awareness.It is hoped that this study will further improve the layout and design of cultural contents in textbooks,and provide suggestions for teachers to better use the cultural contents of textbooks in order to conduct cultural teaching more effectively,thereby achieving cultural awareness cultivation objectives and enhancing students’ cultural awareness.Through research it is found that the setting of the cultural contents in the PEP textbooks basically conforms to the requirements and objectives of cultural awareness cultivation in the Curriculum Standards,but there are also some aspects that need to be improved.The textbooks of PEP edition present the following characteristics in these three dimensions: In terms of cultural themes,in PEP textbooks,there are introductions to the traditional customs,history,geography,and lifestyles,such as important festivals,recreational and sports activities,food customs,etc.There is also introduction about literature and art,behavior norms,and values,including literary works,music and films and so on.These cultural themes contribute to students’ understanding of a variety of cultural knowledge.However,there is less content on the theme of values and behavior norms in the PEP textbooks,which is not conducive to students’ accumulation of deeper cultural knowledge.In terms of cultural regions,the cultural contents of the textbooks covers the Chinese,Western and world cultures,which provides a knowledge base for students to compare their own and foreign cultures and understand the differences between them,but the world culture accounts for a small proportion.In terms of cultural activity design,the categories of activities in the textbooks include cultural understanding and cultural communication activities,but they are not evenly distributed.Cultural understanding activities account for 89%,while cultural communication activities only account for 11%.Among them,cultural facts comprehension activities account for more than 60%,contrast activities and attitude expression comprehension activities respectively account for 10% and 15%,and behavior and ability demonstration activities account for only 11%.Therefore,in terms of cultural activity design,textbooks can design more cultural understanding activities of contrast and attitude expression,as well as cultural communication activities of behavior and ability demonstration.At the same time,teachers should use textbooks rationally,integrate textbooks materials,and design cultural teaching activities,so that students can immerse themselves in the contexts simulated by textbooks activities,understand cultural similarities and differences,express their own attitudes towards cultural differences,and practice cross-cultural communication,finally achieving the purpose of improving students’ cultural awareness and cross-cultural communication ability.