Evaluation Of College English Textbooks From The Perspective Of Deep Reading

In the information environment,the public is burdened with unprecedented information discernment load due to the deluge of complicated information.In order to avoid the negative effects of blind information reception and to improve the public’s critical thinking ability,deep reading is not only a solution to the widespread problem of the public’s incompetence in processing complicated information caused by shallow reading,but also a new call of the times for reading instruction.In view of the problems of shallow reading habits and lack of critical thinking ability prevalent among college students,teaching of deep reading provides a channel for improving college English teaching and cultivating high quality talents,by utilizing English teaching fully.From the perspective of deep reading,existing studies mostly propose teaching strategies that teachers should pay attention to in the teaching process from the perspective of explicit behavioral operations,neglecting the development and evaluation of relevant teaching materials.To fill the relevant research gap,this study attempts to evaluate the college English textbook used by non-English major undergraduates at a university in Jiangsu Province,New Experiencing English:Learning to think,from the perspective of deep reading so as to meet the proposed evaluation criteria.The research questions include:(1)To what extent does the case textbook meet the demands of deep reading development?(2)What are the students and teachers’ perceptions of the case textbook in regard to cultivating students’ deep reading competence?(3)How should the case textbook be improved from the perspective of deep reading cultivation?In order to achieve the deep reading objectives,this thesis first clarifies the concept and connotations of deep reading.It endeavors to define the basic features for deep reading from three dimensions of comprehension,critique and output,and the cognitive skills covered by each.Based on the constructivist view of teaching materials,the schema theory,the critical thinking hierarchy model of college students,and textbook in-use evaluation theory,this thesis sums up the inherent characteristics of deep reading and then proposes the evaluation standards for the present study of the case textbook,based on the previous research findings on materials development and evaluation.The standards cover four aspects,which include compilation style and objectives,materials selection,exercise design and practical use.Besides,questionnaires and interviews for textbook users and compilation experts are designed.By comparing with the standards objectively,collecting actual feedback from textbook users,and interviewing experts,the quantitative and qualitative data of the case textbook in respect to deep reading cultivation were obtained and suggestions for college English deep reading textbook development were collected,to answer three research questions.The analysis of data collected reveals the following findings that the case textbook centers on linguistic project construction,of which compilation style is conducive to implementing deep reading activities theoretically;the materials selected basically meets the standard of rich and interesting topics,and covers various and controversial genres required by deep reading;the patterns of exercise design are various,well reflecting the cognitive skills training on three dimensions in deep reading,with the cognitive comprehension dimension receiving the primary attention,the output dimension the second and the critique dimension the third.The textbook users’ attitudes turn out positive in general.But at the same time,there are still some problems existing in the case textbook,such as insufficient explicit deep reading strategy guidance,single form and low frequency of some specific cognitive skills training in deep reading,difficulty with project implementation,etc.In view of the case textbook’s merits and demerits,combined with expert interviews,this thesis puts forward some suggestions on the revision of the case textbook:(1)to strengthen the compilation intention of deep reading,and to provide differentiated and specialized deep reading resources for different targeted students;(2)to increase the number of exercises on critique dimension in deep reading and to improve cognitive skills in deep reading in terms of both form and content;(3)to provide explicit instructions on deep reading strategies,so as to enhance students’ attention to the deep reading process;and(4)to provide related resources for deep reading-based project construction.This study aims to enrich the research on the evaluation and development of teaching materials and fill the gap in the evaluation of college English textbooks in the field of deep reading at the same time.Also,by specific evaluation practice,this study contributes to the revision of the case textbook so as to meet users’ needs and achieve better teaching effects of deep reading in English,sharing some light to the future research and development of college English textbooks in the field of deep reading,and to the construction of high-quality specialized college English teaching materials.