Analysis And Evaluation Of Socio-Cultural Introductory Textbooks In Use

Considering the significant role of textbooks in target culture teaching and learning, this research aims at a thorough analysis of the socio-cultural introductory textbooks for English majors. Two research questions are extended: to what extent learners are satisfied with their textbooks and what can be done to facilitate the utility of sociocultural introductory textbooks.Based on an intensive literature review, two conspicuous features: learnability and learner autonomy, are found to be the most demanding aspects in culture teaching and learning textbooks. Thus it is worthwhile to take them into consideration during the evaluation process. Previous research shows that learnability and learner autonomy are embodied to a great extent by the authenticity of materials and the easiness of textbooks. Thus an existing model is adapted with slight revisions focusing on the two aspects.In order to answer the two research questions, on the one hand, this paper investigates the target needs and study needs of learners. On the other hand, it evaluates two sets of textbooks, namely, The Society and Culture of Major English-Speaking Countries: an Introduction and An Overview Introduction to English Speaking Countries.427 participants are involved in the research. Simple statistics, in-depth narration and follow-up interviews are employed. The results show that the learners are content with the framework of their textbook, the topics it covers and the adequateness of the exercises but dissatisfied with the difficulty of language, the authenticity of materials and the single layout of the textbook. The first reason is that learners are expecting dense information from socio-cultural introductory textbooks (Seelye, 1988). The second reason is that it is hard for them to comprehend the texts with abundant new information and highly concentrated distribution of new words.To solve the above problems, it is suggested that means such as multi-media textbooks should be designed for the sake of learnability, and that authentic tasks should be expected in the socio-cultural textbooks to elicit learner autonomy during the learning process.