An Investigation Of The Application Of Senior High School English Textbooks In Southern Rural Areas Of Shaanxi Province

A textbook is the most important curriculum resource in English teaching, which has great effect on English learning. Research on English textbooks application has important significance and enlightenment in English teaching. With the promulgation and operation of New Curriculum Standards (NCS), the role of textbooks has been more and more important in the English teaching. New Standard English (NSE) is blueprint of English Curriculum Standards (ECS). The editors of NSE textbooks take the learners’ cognitive ability as a foundation and take the needs of English learning and the development of the students’personalities into account. NSE textbooks have been put into use in many cities and provinces in our country. Therefore, the influence of NSE textbooks cannot be ignored. Vast rural areas in China have their own characteristics which are different from cities. The investigation on the application problems of NSE textbooks in rural areas has the vital practical significance, such as whether NSE textbooks meet the needs of the teachers and students in rural areas, whether teachers use NSE textbooks effectively and so on. However, such kind of related researches are few.On the basis of analysis of Teaching Materials Evaluation Theory at home and abroad and the related theory about using teaching materials, the thesis uses questionnaires, the interviews and class observations to find out the advantages and disadvantages of NSE textbooks, the difficulties and problems in using NSE textbooks in rural areas and offers some measures to improve the situation and help teachers and students to make full use of NSE textbooks in teaching.Questionnaires including students’questionnaires and teachers’questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations are the major tools in the study. The research was conducted in early January2014in Zhongcun Middle School, Shanyang County, Shaanxi Province. The study chooses150senior students randomly and all the English teachers from this school as the objects of the investigation. The research questions in this study are listed as follows:1. What are the teachers and students attitudes towards NSE textbooks?2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of NSE textbooks in their application?3. How do the teachers use NSE textbooks and do they achieve the requirements of English Curriculum Standards?4. What problems and difficulties do the teachers and students meet in applying NSE textbooks?5. What kind of help and requirements do teachers need in using NSE textbooks?Through the quantitative and qualitative analysis, the study shows that the attitude of the most teachers and students in rural areas towards NSE textbooks are positive. They think that NSE textbooks meet the needs of teachers and students. The activities are flexible and the topics are rich and colorful. Each part is permeated with vocabulary learning. Heuristic teaching method in grammar part is in accordance with students’cognitive characteristics. However, there are still some disadvantages in NSE textbooks. The length of listening materials is too long and the capacity of vocabulary is too large and the repetition is low. The difficulty level of the optional textbooks is beyond the students’level in rural areas. These require that teachers can make corresponding adjustments or supplement in using NSE textbooks to meet the students’ needs. But teachers always adapt the teaching contents according to examinations, which break the system of NSE textbooks. Teachers are not familiar with ECS. As a result, teachers deviate from the requirements of ECS in the process of applying NSE textbooks. Most teachers believe that they need the training in using NSE textbooks and study the contents of ECS to improve the understanding. Also, they need to improve the corresponding teaching conditions and facilities.