A Study On Cultural Contents In The 2019edition Of New Senior English For China

Under the background of the new era,cultivating socialist builders and successors with Chinese feelings,international vision and intercultural communication skills has become the general goal of English curriculum in senior high schools.As a bridge that links teachers with students,cultural contents in textbook have great influence on the cultivation of students’ cultural awareness and intercultural communication ability.Therefore,this study gives a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the cultural content in the 2019 edition of New Senior English for China（NSEFC）.This research mainly answers three questions:（1）What are the characteristics of the cultural contents in NSEFC in terms of distribution proportion and cultural categories?（2）What are the characteristics of the cultural contents in NSEFC in terms of presentation forms and input and output?（3）What are the attitudes of teachers and students towards the cultural contents in 2019 edition of NSEFC? With the guidance of textbook evaluation and intercultural communication theory,this study aims to make internal and external evaluation of cultural contents in 5 textbooks of NSEFC by text analysis and questionnaires.Finally,based on the research findings,the author gives the relevant suggestions for the improvements and use of the textbooks.The major findings include:（1）Target culture is dominant in the textbook though the distribution is uneven;Chinese culture is considerable and somewhat overemphasized;International culture accounts for the least.Cultural categories are diverse and comprehensible;Being informative,comparative,communicative and educational are the four characteristics of cultural categories,although the distribution of cultural themes is unbalanced.（2）Combination of text and picture is the dominant cultural presentation form;Audio-visual resources are the new mainstream way to present cultural content.Cultural input is more stressed than cultural output and there is a lack of cultural output;Reading is the most important way of cultural input,while exercises are the main way of cultural output.The input and output of Chinese culture have received much attention,but its effectiveness still needs further study.（3）Teachers and students attach importance to cultural contents in textbooks;Teachers and students’ view on the distribution proportion of cultural content in the textbook is basically consistent with the results of text analysis.Their preferences for cultural themes are consistent with the actual setting of the textbook.Based on the above findings,the author gives relevant suggestions.Suggestions for textbook writers:（1）Optimizing the distribution proportion of regional cultures in textbooks;（2）Making reasonable allocation of cultural themes based on the needs of teachers and students;（3）Appropriately integrating the audio-visual resources into textbooks to flexibly present cultural content;（4）More meaningful cultural output settings are desirable.Suggestions for teachers:（1）Comprehensively and objectively understanding cultural contents in textbooks;（2）Enriching cultural topics in textbooks based on students’ needs;（3）Making full use of various presentation forms in textbooks to create cultural contexts;（4）Balancing cultural input and output activities that are provided by textbooks based on teaching reality.Suggestions for students:（1）Actively receiving and understanding cultural contents in textbooks;（2）Making good use of Workbook to have extensive reading of cultural contents;（3）Broadening cultural horizon through multiple presentation forms in textbooks;（4）Transforming cultural input in textbooks into effective cultural output.