A Comparative Study On Culture Presentation By Illustrations Between Two Versions Of Pep Senior High School English Textbooks

With the advent of the picture-reading era,the visualized communication of information becomes a routine all over the world.Meanwhile,globalization has accelerated the growing speed of English as a worldwide lingua franca.The two trends create a pressing need for changes in English Language teaching(ELT),which is closely related to the role of ELT materials in facilitating intercultural interactions and competencies of viewing images etc.The General Senior High School Curriculum Standards English 2017 Edition(V.2017 English Curriculum Standards)lists the ability of viewing as one of the equally important five skills,namely speaking,writing,listening,reading and viewing for the first time.At the same time,it highlights cultural awareness as one of the four core competencies for high school students.Considering the rapid growing importance of viewing skills and cultural elements in ELT as well as their highly correlated relations and close integration in textbooks,this study explores the culture presented by illustrations in textbooks that hold enduring centrality in ELT.The purposes of this research lie in two ways: first,to analyze and compare the culture presentations by illustrations between the two versions high school English textbooks to find the changes of the newly published one;second,to interpreter the tendency of these changes and make according suggestions for ELT.The two versions textbook samples are from People’s Education Press(PEP)of different ages,of which the latter will succeed the other in 2022,namely New Senior English for China Students Compulsory 1 and Compulsory 2(approved in 2004,V.2004 for short),the Common Senior High School Textbook English Compulsory 1 and Compulsory 2(approved in2019,V.2019 for short).Via the image-by-image analysis,this study adopts the semiotic theories to explore the culture presentation of illustrations of two versions of textbooks comparatively in a triangulation way supported by questionnaires for students and semi-structured interviews with teachers.According to the three features of interculturality theory proposed by German philosopher Jürgen Habermas,three research questions are raised.First,compared to V.2004,what are the changes in diversity of cultures presented by illustrations of the textbooks in V.2019? Second,compared to V.2004,what are the changes in equality between cultures presented by illustrations of the textbooks in V.2019?Third,compared to V.2004,what are the changes in interactivity between cultures presented by illustrations of the textbooks in V.2019?The findings of this study lie in three aspects.Firstly,the frequency of culture diversity presented by illustrations in V.2019 outnumbers that in V.2004 in categories of countries,ethnic groups,ethics,ages etc.This result is in accordance with some papers in journals as well academic dissertations.Secondly,different from the focus on target language cultures in V.2004,V.2019 provides a relatively balanced ratio in culture classified by language and ideology but has a rise in contemporary cultures.It showed a slightly increased portion on cultures in ethic,ethnic groups and ages,as displays obvious respect and equality for all cultures in both content and attitude.Thirdly,a steep rise in the presentation of intercultural communication is found in both frequency and intensity in V.2019.These changes reveal an interculturality thought in the culture presentation of the textbooks of V.2019,which also indicate the editors’ attempt to raise the awareness of intercultural citizenship and develop visual literacy for senior high school students.The external ELT context including globalized “screen reading” tide,a Community of shared future for mankind,one belt and one road etc.contribute to these changes to some extent.In the meantime,the policy about the traditional culture issued by the Chinese Central Government in 2007 and the cooperation of PEP with the Cengage Learning Group both bring positive effects on the culture presentation during the construction of ELT textbooks.The study also states the limitations,implications,suggestions for ELT and recommendations of further research separately in the final chapter.