Research On The Adaptability Of College English Textbook

Foreign language teaching and learning materials are indispensable. Educational authoritiesgradually carry out the policy to diversify versions in textbooks, which will improve theadaptability of textbooks to specific areas, schools and students. Thus the series of textbookCollege English (new edition) were published and widely used by colleges and universities.However, the studies of the coursebook mainly focused on the introduction of the editingtheory and the content while the quantified analysis of the textbook and empirical study of itsadaptation in specific regions are badly in need. Therefore, the researcher based on the results ofrelative study on the textbook evaluation and college English course requirement, read widely onthe literatures and surveyed the users of the materials by means of questionnaires and interviews.Some specific quantitative evaluation criteria were defined, such as text length (1000-3000words),sentence length (more or less the same with that of CET4), occurrence of complex sentences(mainly the usage of passive voice). Meanwhile, an in-use evaluation in Ningbo University wasdone and its problems and causes were found and analyzed. Finally, some suggestions areproposed for the better use of the textbook.The results of the textbook evaluation itself are listed as follows:First, the length of the text almost lies in the range1000-3000.Second, the average sentence length of the text is a bit shorter than that of CET4and itsdiscrepancy is significant.Third, the occurrence rate of passive voice in textbook4is the highest, but second to it is thatin textbook1, so it is in random distribution.Fourth, the readability of the textbook is a bit higher than that of reading passages in CET4. Inother words, the texts in CEN are easier to read than those in CET4.Fifth, the words in the basic requirement word list can satisfy learners while one third or morewords required by College English Curriculum Requirements at higher level do not occur at all andthe repetition rates of core vocabulary are rather low. Sixth, the text provides all-round skills for training, but its social-cultural content is obviouslyAmerican culture-oriented.The results of questionnaires and interviews show that:First, the topics and genres in CEN are various and authentic. But some contents are out ofdate and need to be improved. Students’ interests in those topics are partial.Second, students show little interest in the design tasks after text A, but much more interestedin their learning value. They unanimously deem the translation exercises are useful to their futurelife and study.To sum up, this thesis aims at providing a new textbook evaluation mode and exploring itsadaptation in Ningbo University and wish more and more scholars pay attention to the textbookevaluation. It is also hoped that the criteria and operations in the thesis could contribute to thecompiling and selection of textbook.