A Comparative Study Of Cultural Contents In Reading Materials Of The NSEFC And NSE (2019 Edition) For Senior High Schools

Language is an integral part of culture;learning a language is also learning a culture.Language is the carrier of culture,and culture makes language more expressive.Even the process of language teaching is also the process of teaching different kinds of cultures,therefore,English teaching is linked compactly with the teaching of culture.As one of the English subject core competences,Cultural awareness is listed in the newly promulgated National English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools(2017 Edition)(hereinafter New Curriculum Standards).Meanwhile,cultural teaching,cultural contents and cultural knowledge have been raised to a higher level in foreign language teaching in middle schools in China.Textbooks,as the main carriers of the foreign language teaching,are the main link between teachers and students;while they are also the tools for cultural inheritance,the presentation of cultural contents has quite a crucial influence on the cultivation of students’ cultural awareness.The research subjects are the reading texts of New Standard English(NSE,Books1--3,2019 Edition)Published by the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press and New Senior English for China(NSEFC,Books1--3,2019 Edition)Published by People’s Education Press,both of which are compiled under the guidelines of New Curriculum Standards.The research is trying to analyze the cultural contents of these two sets of textbooks and trying to answer the following questions:1.What is the overall distribution of cultural contents in reading materials of senior high English textbooks of NSE and NSEFC?2.What topics are contained by the cultural contents of these two versions of textbooks? What are the remarkable characteristics of their arrangement?3.How do the cultural contents in NSE and NSEFC embody the requirements of the New Curriculum Standards?For one thing,in order to understand the overall distribution of cultural contents in these two sets of textbooks,the research classifies,statistics and analyzes the cultural contents of reading materials in NSE and NSEFC from the perspective of cultural regions and cultural function: as for cultural regions,this paper consults Zhang Gecheng and Zhang Hongyan’s classification of cultural contents based on Cortazzi & Jin;And for cultural function,which is based on Zhang Zhanyi’s classification of cultural contents.For another,this research attempts to discuss the topics and subject matter included in these two versions of textbooks,and to explore how the cultural contents in NSEFC and NSE reflect the requirements of the contents of curriculum according to the New Curriculum Standards.The research shows that the cultural contents of target culture and comparative culture account for the largest proportion in NSE from the perspective of cultural regions,while the cultural contents of native culture,world culture and other culture occupy the largest proportion in NSEFC.From the perspective of cultural function,both NSEFC and NSE are orientated by knowledge culture,but the proportion of communicative culture in NSE is higher than that in NSEFC.Meanwhile,the newly compiled two sets of textbooks of senior high school have the rich selection of cultural contents in reading texts,which can meet the requirements of curriculum contents in New Curriculum Standards.Between the two editions of textbooks,NSEFC more directly embodies the specific requirements of cultural knowledge in the curriculum content of the New Curriculum Standards;and NSE is closely related to the three theme contexts of “human and self”,“human and society” and “human and nature”,which has a more hierarchical and logical arrangement.According to the analysis of the textbooks,the research deems that the textbook writers need to appropriately increase the proportion of native cultural contents and comparative cultural contents with the principle of compiling the textbook on the one hand,and accurately grasp the essence and characteristics of Chinese and foreign culture and select the most typical discourse to make cultural comparison and analysis.On the other hand,the research maintains that English teachers should establish the teaching awareness of the mutual integration of language learning and cultural learning,and create meaningful context to guide students to recognize foreign cultures objectively and actively in the process of practical language teaching,especially for the ability of comparing,appreciating,criticizing and reflecting,so as to better cultivate students’ cultural awareness,and broaden their horizons,and understand and tolerate different cultures.