A Comparative Analysis Of Cultural Contents In Reading Texts Between Two PEP Editions Of Senior High School English Textbooks

The core literacy of English subjects comprises language ability,cultural character,thinking quality and learning ability.Cultural consciousness is included in the cultural character,which is the basis of forming the students’ cultural character.The Standard of English Curriculum for Senior High School issued by the Ministry of Education in2017 systematically combs the reform practice of the common high school curriculum in the past ten years based on the revision of the 2003 Edition,and clearly proposes the core literacy of English subject.With the promulgation of the new curriculum standard for senior high school English in 2017,various versions of senior high school English textbooks have been revised and improved.The senior high school English textbook of People’s Education Press has been officially launched in 2019.Based on Cheng Xiaotang’s and Risager’s classification of cultural contents,this study makes a qualitative analysis of the reading texts of Compulsory Book1 to Book5(2019 Edition)and Compulsory Book1 to Compulsory Book5(2004 Edition),and compares the similarities and differences in cultural contents between the two editions.Then based on case study,the author observes how the teachers cultivate students’ cultural consciousness in reading class.This paper intends to explore the following issue through the research: What are the changes about culture in the reading texts of the high school English textbooks of the two versions? After the exploration,there is some case study in order to see whether do the teachers develop students’ cultural awareness when they use the new textbooks?Through analysis and comparison,it can be seen that the two sets of textbooks contain rich cultural contents,and there are differences in selection and arrangement,but also many similarities.The types of cultures are very complete,the topics are also very rich,and they keep up with the trend of modern times.People from all walks of life appear in the reading materials of the two sets of textbooks,which helps students understand all aspects of society and the living conditions of different professional groups.In terms of the selection of articles,the textbook of 2019 Edition adds stories of people of all ages,and also selects traditional Chinese culture as the contents of the text.In addition,the 2019 Edition of the textbook corrected the knowledge in the 2004 Edition on first aid for burns.The description of cholera in the 2004 Edition of the textbook has been more accurately expressed.That is,“Cholera has been defeated” was changed to “Cholera still exists”.There are also discourses on international cooperation in the 2019 Edition,which is lacking in the 2004 Edition.Through the cases observation,we can find that teachers have consciously cultivated students’ cultural awareness when using the new teaching materials.However,it ignores the change and update of cultural contents in the 2019 Edition.There is no extension of cultural contents in reading instruction.Cultural content is not rich enough.Based on the above analysis,the following recommendations are made:In the compilation of teaching materials,we should add more reading materials to introduce local culture,and supplement communicative culture.Teachers should dig deeper into the cultural contents in the teaching materials,learn the update of the teaching materials in time,and pay more attention to the cultural core reflected behind the cultural contents.