Representation Of Moral Values In Senior High School English Textbooks:A Comparison Between NSEFC And NSE

The integration of various values in English language teaching(ELT)textbooks has attracted increasing scholarly attention in recent years,such as gender issues,cultural values and moral values.Along this line of research,however,studies on moral values within ELT textbooks have received the least attention.In China,the representation of moral values in different versions of ELT textbooks still remains under-examined.To fill this gap,the present study aimed to explore the representation of moral values in two sets of ELT textbooks for senior high school students in China,namely New Senior English for China(NSEFC)and New Standard English(NSE).A mixed-approach was adopted to examine the research questions.The quantitative content analysis aimed to display the distribution of different types of moral values based on a three-level framework.This framework is anchored in the philosophy of Chinese moral education and covers three levels,namely personal level,social level and ecological level.Qualitative critical discourse analysis based on Feng’s(2019)social semiotic framework was employed to unravel the construction of moral values.Moreover,a comparison was made between these two sets of ELT textbooks in terms of the incorporation and distribution of moral values.The major findings revealed that:(1)Both of the two sets of ELT textbooks infuse three-level moral values.However,some important moral values representing Chinese culture and Chinese traits remain absent,such as the value of filial piety,brotherhood and modesty.(2)Some similarities and differences between NSEFC and NSE were identified.As for similarities,first,both of the two sets of ELT textbooks tend to highlight moral values in the social level.Second,NSEFC and NSE underscore the same moral values in every level,including the value of perseverance and being optimistic in the individual level,benevolence and solidarity in the social level and appreciation and protection of environment in the ecological level.With regard to differences,NSE remarkably infuses more moral values than NSEFC does in total numbers and also in all the three levels,especially the values in the ecological level.The second difference lies in that NSEFC contains a rather uneven distribution of three-level moral values compared with NSE.(3)Based on Feng’s(2019)social semiotic framework,it was found that most moral values in both NSEFC and NSE are realized explicitly by attitudinal lexis and implicitly by eliciting conditions.Besides,the coupling use of attitudinal lexis and eliciting conditions is often found in the reading texts.Resultant actions-the third frequently used strategy-are dominantly used under the topic of physical health and nature protection.However,metaphor as part of communicative competence is rarely utilized to construct moral values.Further examination of dominant moral values in each level exhibits that positive role models are frequently cited as moral carriers.In addition,the same value is often constructed under different topics and contexts,which reflects the feature of intertexuality.This study has sketched a general picture of the integration and construction of moral values in ELT textbooks for senior high school students in China.The research findings are conducive for textbook writers and ELT teachers to form a comprehensive understanding of the representation of moral values in textbooks.The thesis ends with limitations and some tentative suggestions for future research.