A Comparative Study Of Reading Materials In English Textbooks Between PEP And FLTRP For Junior High School

The reading materials occupy the largest part of the textbook.It contains a large number of vocabulary,phrases,grammar and sentence structures,which are helpful for students to acquire language knowledge and language skills.Therefore,the selection and reasonable use of reading materials in textbooks has an important impact on students’ reading effect and English teaching.Based on Cunningsworth’s(2002)reading material analysis theory,Grant’s(1987)textbook evaluation method and Cheng Xiaotang’s(2011)textbook evaluation method,this study adopts text analysis and questionnaire to compare the reading materials between PEP and FLTRP’s textbooks.The research model of this study uses the combination of internal evaluation given by Cunningsworth’s(2002)and external evaluation given by Grant’s(1987).To be specific,internal evaluation includes genre,topic,length and grammar of the reading materials in the PEP and FLTRP’s textbooks.External evaluation includes teachers and students’ attitude toward the reading materials in the PEP and FLTRP’s textbooks.It aims to find the general characteristics,similarities and differences,users’ attitudes towards the reading materials in the two textbooks.The specific research questions are as follow.1.What are the basic characteristics of the reading materials of PEP and FLTRP’s English textbooks?2.What are the similarities and differences of the reading materials between PEP and FLTRP’s English textbooks?3.What are the attitudes of teachers and students toward the reading materials of PEP and FLTRP’s English textbooks?The research results are presented as follow.First,there is no significant difference between the reading materials of PEP and FLTRP(P>0.05).They both have the factors of genre,topic,length and grammar and the distributions of the factors are completely consistent.Second,there are some similarities and differences of the reading materials between PEP and FLTRP’s English textbooks.In terms of genre,the two editions of textbooks have more narratives,and the genres of reading materials are rich and diverse.In terms of topic,the reading materials of the two editions have diversity in topic,but the topic coverage of the PEP is smaller,and the cultivation of students’ cross-cultural communication awareness is weaker than that of FLTRP.In terms of length,the total amount of reading materials of the FLTRP is more than that of the PEP.In terms of grammar,the reading materials of the two editions of the textbooks reflect the grammar points required in the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education.Third,the users of the two editions of the textbooks have a high evaluation of the reading materials.In terms of topics,most of the students are interested in the topics of the two editions of textbooks.In terms of genre,the recognition of PEP’s teachers is higher than that of FLTRP’s teachers,but the recognition of PEP’s students is lower than that of FLTRP’s students.In terms of language knowledge,teachers and students have a high evaluation on language knowledge.in terms of cultural knowledge,teachers and students have a high degree of recognition of cultural knowledge.In terms of language skills,teachers and students of the two editions of textbooks are relatively satisfied with language skills(listening,speaking,reading and writing).But in terms of language expression ability and listening,students’ satisfaction is low.In terms of curriculum standards,most teachers of the two editions of textbooks think that the contents of reading materials are consistent with the requirements of the English Curriculum Standards for Compulsory Education.Among them,the recognition degree of the teachers of FLTRP is slightly higher than that of PEP.It is hoped to provide some suggestions for the development and utilization of the reading materials in the two editions textbooks for junior high school English...