A Comparative Study Between The New And The Old Editions Of Junior Middle School English Teaching Material Go For It!

The research on teaching materials in China starts comparatively late. In the past few years, the English teaching materials published by People’s Education Press(PEP) have always been the national English teaching materials and become the mainstream as well. This article takes the English textbooks Go for it! published by PEP in 2002 and in 2012 as the objects of study. On the one hand, it makes a comparative study on the general overview, the structure and the content between these two editions statically by means of induction and analysis; on the other hand, it conducts a survey on Go for it! Book I dynamically through questionnaire among the teachers and students in two junior middle schools in Tangyin County, Henan Province. With reference to Grant Scale, the survey mainly wants to find out how the new edition is used in those two middle schools and how the teachers and students like it. After the survey, the author analyzes the data by statistical approach. With the combination of static analysis and dynamic survey, he hopes to understand thoroughly the characteristics, the advantages and the disadvantages of the new textbook, and meanwhile, reflects over the problems of it.The research findings show that the new edition of Go for it! Book I not only inherits many advantages of the old one, but also takes on some new characteristics: the design of the page display is more exquisite; the teaching content has been improved; the topics are cohesive; the knowledge system is fine and close; the textbook structure is compact; the module design of grammar, reading comprehension and writing are much more scientific; the length of the passage, the degree of difficulties and the capacity are moderate; it can help students to develop their self-study ability. The disadvantages lie in: the quality of the textbook cover needs improving; the demand for the teachers’ professional skills are comparatively high and thus teachers have to spend more time preparing the lesson plans; The knowledge transition between textbooks is relatively far etc. The paper then offers some suggestions on the employment of the new Go for it! Book I, including teachers’ training and the promotion of teaching materials research etc. Meanwhile some proposals of amendment concerning the quality, the transition and the construction of stereoscopic teaching material have been put forward for reference. The author hopes that those suggestions on the amendment and the employment of the textbook can contribute to the development of English education in China.