A Genre-based Study On The English Textbook For Senior High School(2019,PEP)

English Curriculum Standards for General High School(revised in 2020)points out that genre type is one of the six elements of English course.Genre type includes such continuous as narrative,exposition and such discontinuous texts as chart,diagram and comics as well.These different genre types provide important stylistic materials for English learning.Based on the genre theory from Sydney School,the requirements about genre type in English Curriculum Standards for General High School,and the classification of news writing from Guo,the author reconstructs an analytical framework for this study in order to explore into the genre types,their distributive features and their schematic structures as well.The following three research questions are dealt with.1)What kinds of genre types are included in the senior high school English textbooks and what are their distributive features?2)What are the schematic structures of these genres? What are the compulsory and optional stages of each genre and the order of the stages?3)Do the genre types and their distributive features match the requirements of English Curriculum Standards for General High School?After analyzing the written texts in the three required English textbooks for senior high school(2019,PEP),the results are found as follows:1)There are 64 texts in the three English textbooks,which belong to 12 genre families and 27 sub-categories.The frequencies of the genres are as follows:exposition(16 texts,25%)> practical writing(11 texts,17.19%)> stories and new media genre(7 texts,10.94%)> Responses,explanations,and descriptions(1 text,1.56%)> procedure(0 text,0%).Textbook One includes 14 genre types,which has the richest genre types.Textbook Two includes 10 genre families,which has the most genre families.Textbook Three contains the most diverse genre types,including fable,scene,web page and so on.2)The schematic structure of each genre type is various and different from each other.The basic schematic structure of each genre type is presented as follows: recount:[Orientation ^ Record ^ Reorientation];narrative: [Orientation ^ Complication ^Evaluation ^ Resolution ^ Coda];biographical recount: [Orientation ^ Record];historical recount: [Background ^ Record];historical account: [Background ^Account].Both biographical recount and historical recount have the compulsory stage:Record and both historical recount and historical account have the optional stage:Background.Descriptive report: [Classification ^ Description];review: [Context ^Description ^ Judgment];discussion: [Issue ^ Sides ^ Resolution];editorial:[Beginning ^ Body ^ Conclusion];explanation: [Orientation ^ Phenomenon:outcome ^ Interpretation ^ Coda];description: [Object ^ Description];exposition:[Orientation ^ Introduction ^ Attitude].As for news writing,practical writing,new media genre and other genres,there is no specific schematic structure for them.But they must contain some necessary stages.All the texts in the three English textbooks follow the schematic structure with the compulsory stages.Also,the same genre type is of various schematic structures.(Note: Words in bold are the compulsory stages)3)In general,the genre type and genre knowledge involved in the three English textbooks can basically conform to the related requirements of English Curriculum Standards for General High School.First,the three English textbooks contain most of the genres required,such as stories,histories and expositions.Second,the proportion of exposition and practical writing fits the requirement that in the period of required courses,students need to learn exposition,practical writing and their related genre knowledge.Third,the same genre may have various schematic structures but with the compulsory stages.However,there are still some aspects that can not satisfy the related requirements of English Curriculum Standards for General High School.First,there is no genre of procedure.Second,the genre types in the three English textbooks are not rich enough.Third,the proportion of narrative and news writing are relatively small.Fourth,the sub-categories of a genre family are not comprehensive enough.