A Study Of The Authenticity Of Business English Textbooks In China

The research into the authenticity of foreign language teaching materials is a hot topic among foreign language teachers and researchers in recent years. The debate over the role of authentic materials, as well as what it means to be authentic, has become increasingly complex and sophisticated over the years. Different researchers explore it from different perspectives, including second language acquisition, cross-cultural studies, discourse and conversational analysis, motivation research, materials development and so on. However, most of the research about authenticity focuses on English for General Purposes. Few has been done about authenticity focusing on teaching materials of English for Specific Purposes, especially on Business English. And even there are some, they are almost theoretical studies, lacking empirical research into the present situation of authenticity of teaching materials. This thesis studies the current condition of text authenticity and task authenticity of Business English textbooks in China, which contributes to the research of authenticity in this area.Specifically, the study addresses the following research questions:1. What is the text authenticity of the Business English listening and speaking textbooks?2. What is the text authenticity of the Business English reading and writing textbooks?3. What is the task authenticity of the Business English textbooks?This thesis applies the method of sample analysis to the text and task authenticity of Business English textbooks. The whole process of study can be divided into two steps: 1. sample selection: a sample of 60 Business English textbooks is collected, including 30 speaking and listening textbooks and 30 reading and writing textbooks; 2. results analysis: the results of the present situation of text authenticity and task authenticity of Business English textbooks are analyzed.The analysis of the results proves at last: 1. Text authenticity of the Business English listening and speaking textbooks is poor, and audio and video materials of Business English listening and speaking textbooks are almost non-authenticity; 2. Text authenticity of the Business English reading and writing textbooks is not satisfactory as well, but it is better than that of listening and speaking textbooks. 3. Task authenticity of the Business English textbooks is also poor; even one thirds of textbooks has no task at all. The reasons for the above results are analyzed in details in this thesis. Suggestions on the improvement of text authenticity and task authenticity are given on the basis of the results.In the end, the thesis states research drawbacks and areas that more attentions are to be given in future research about authenticity.