The Comparison And Analysis Between Two Sets Of English Textbooks For Junior High School

In recent years, the role of textbooks in the English Language teaching (ELT) has been more and more important, with the promulgation and operation of new curriculum standards. Textbooks are best seen as a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms of learner needs. It is generally accepted that the role of the textbook is to be at the service of teachers and learners but not to be their master. The relationship between teacher and textbook is an important consideration and is at its best when it is a partnership which shares common goals to which each side brings its special contribution.Nowadays, there are three kinds of English textbooks for the learners in the junior high school available in Shanghai. They are English Textbook for Nine-year Compulsory Education (Developed Areas Edition), Oxford English (Shanghai Edition), and New Century English. The English Textbook for Nine-year Compulsory Education (Developed Areas Edition) adopts structural and functional syllabus. It has been used for ten years and it is quite influential in the field of the Junior High School English Teaching in Shanghai. The Oxford English (Shanghai Edition) is published by Oxford University Press and Shanghai Primary and Secondary Curriculum and Teaching Materials Reform Commission. It features a "building blocks" approach and the task-based approach to language learning within a framework of learner-centred themes. Nowadays the teachers have different opinions when they are using two of them. But the relative research of these two textbooks in writing is sparse and needs to be developed.There are four chapters in this thesis. The first chapter summarizes the research of the textbooks and it outlines the basic principle of the textbooks and textbooks, and the introduction of the recent research on the editing and the evaluation of the textbooks in the world. The second chapter introduces the types of syllabuses which influenced the primary and secondary English Teaching in China for years from the viewpoints of the curriculum, language and the language learning. It outlines the structure syllabus, structure-function syllabus and the comprehensive syllabus whichis topic and task based. In the third chapter, I evaluate the two textbooks. I make a complete comparison and analysis in the aspect of syllabus they choose, how the contents of the textbooks organized according to the syllabus. These contents are topics, language contents, skills and so on. The language contents contain the comparison of grammar and vocabulary. And the language skills include the comparison of listening, speaking, reading and writing.Through questionnaire and interview research, the fourth chapter raises the further thought of the comparison. I make some suggestions on how the teachers teach the textbooks and how to improve the arrangement of the textbooks. In the chapter of textbook teaching, I explain how to teach the paragraph, grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading and writing and give some suggestion on the textbook teaching as well. In the end, I attatch some task-based homework of my students' and the samples of Oxford English teaching to my thesis. I hope that they will be the illustration of my thesis and the practical examples of the task-based teaching of this textbook.I hope this thesis will give suggestions for the editing and teaching of the textbook. I also hope to explore the approach of textbook using to improve English language teaching.