A Comparative Study On Reading Materials Between The Old And New Version Of Senior High School English Textbooks Published By Yilin Press

English textbooks are not only one of the crucial tools in teaching practice for teachers,but also the main source for students to learn new language knowledge.So it is incomparably important in teaching practice.As the reform in curriculum and college entrance examination,English textbooks need to be updated and reformed as well.And one important part of the reform is to choose some new reading materials to adapt to the new era.After all,reading materials are one of the significant sources for students to attain different information,and they are also the source for teachers to train students’ reading skills and develop their reading ability in practical teaching.The thesis selects reading materials of the old and new version textbooks to be evaluated,taking Compulsory textbooks as examples,which are based on New Curriculum Standards.The research uses internal evaluation and external evaluation to analyze the reading materials.According to the textbook evaluation standard by Cunningsworth,the similarities and differences of the reading materials of the two different versions textbooks published by Yilin press in terms of theme,genre,length and linguistic feature are discussed,and make a conclusion about which textbook meets the reading requirements of the New Curriculum Standards to students’ needs more.As for the external evaluation,questionnaire is applied to analyze the attitudes of teachers and students in one senior high school in Hunan province towards the reading texts in different version textbooks.And some constructive suggestions are provided for teachers to use the reading materials and textbook compilers.According to the research,the findings are as follows:the reading texts of the old and new versions of senior high school English textbooks are the products of different times,they are sufficient to meet the reading requirements to students before and after the revision of the curriculum standards in theme,genre,length and linguistic features.The reading part has strong readability,different genres and various contents.But the reading materials in the new version textbook keep up with the time,and are anchored in the humanity.The new version textbook chooses a variety of materials from the perspective of students,which has more contents about Chinese culture compared to the old one.In addition,it involves some excerpts of classic works worldwide.In length,the reading texts in the new version textbook are shorter than that in the old one,which are more suitable to students.And each compulsory book adds two more reading materials.Besides,in linguistic features,vocabulary that meets the requirements of New Curriculum Standards and mostly simple sentences and compound sentence are used in the new textbook.The length of sentences is quite similar to the old one.And according to the feedback of questionnaire,compared with the old textbook,teachers and students speak highly of the new textbook,which is in line with their daily teaching and learning needs.However,there are also some problems of the new textbook are raised as follows:difficulty of the reading materials for students who are learning,words and phrases in the text don’t follow the "from easy to difficult" rule which adds some difficulties in some way,etc.Finally,with the purpose of promoting English daily teaching practice,the paper gives some feasible suggestions for textbook compilers to select and edit some suitable reading materials,and for teachers to reasonably choose their teaching materials in daily teaching.