A Study On The Selection And Evaluation Of Cultural Themes In College English Textbooks

In recent years, more and more attention has been paid to cultural aspects in College English (CE) education in China. Against this background, this thesis aims to look into the selection and evaluation of cultural themes in College English textbooks based upon New Horizon College English (NHCE), a popular textbook for College English in China.The thesis is based upon some theories such as culture teaching, Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) and the theories of textbook evaluation. The thesis employs Byram's eight-dimensional categorization for cultural themes to describe and evaluate the selection of the cultural themes in NHCE: social identity and social group, social interaction, belief and behavior, social and political institutions, socialization and the life cycle, national history, national geography, and stereotypes and national identity. Based upon the investigational study and interview of the textbook users'cultural awareness, cultural expectations, and their preference of the eight dimensions of cultural themes in NHCE, the thesis attempts to offer an evaluation of cultural theme selection in NHCE, and propose some suggestions for future textbook compilation for College English.The investigational subjects in this study include 353 students and 31 teachers who learn and teach college English from Northwest Normal University and Lanzhou Jiaotong University. In addition, 4 teachers and 8 students from the investigational subjects are chosen for outlined interview. The instruments are the questionnaires and outlined interviews for students and teachers respectively.After the investigation and interview of students and teachers involved in the research, descriptive analysis is made to understand students'and teachers'cultural awareness and cultural expectation on the one hand, and students'and teachers'evaluation of cultural theme selection in NHCE on the other hand. Then a matching analysis is made of students'and teachers'cultural expectations and cultural theme selections in NHCE.The major conclusions of the present research are as follows: First, the themes of the texts in NHCE are relatively evenly distributed, covering all the eight themes listed in Bryam's cultural classification, and the themes about the social life was most popular with the subjects. Second, both students and teaches are rather high in their cultural awareness in foreign language learning and teaching, and they think it important and significant to implement cultural teaching in CE education. Thirdly, students and teachers are familiar with the text themes in NHCE, and they have general positive evaluation of cultural theme in the textbook. Both parties have more preference for the themes related to social interaction, socialization and the life cycle, and national history. Last, in selecting cultural themes in textbook development, the compilers should maximally meet the students and teachers expectation, taking into account the requirement of course syllabus and balance for students'cultural education and ICC development.The originalities of the thesis lie in its mixed use of qualitative and quantitative approach to cultural theme selection in the textbooks for CE education, as well as the bridging function among the cultural awareness, cultural expectation and textbook evaluation. Since the cultural theme selection is related to the development of learners'ICC, due attention should be paid to users'preference and expectation in textbook development.