A Comparative Study Of English Textbooks At Junior High Schools In China,Japan And South Korea

English materials as part of the English course are not only the means to achieve the goals of English education but also the carrier of the English curriculum reform. English materials play a vital role in English education and the quality of English materials compilation and adaptation determines and influences that of Ergiish education to a great extent.As East Asian countries, China, Japan and South Korea are to some degree linked with each other in some aspects such as historical origins, education ideas and pedagogical methods. Because of the differences of political and economic systems, however, cultural traditions and ingenious features can be found in their English textbooks.Therefore, in this thesis, by reviewing the previous theoretical materials evaluation criteria and studies and based on Cheng’s and Cunningsworth’s criteria for evaluating English materials and English Curriculum Standards of the three countries, a comparative analysis framework has been proposed to analyze the English materials at junior high schools in China (Go For It), Japan (New Horizon) and South Korea (Middle School English) from both macroscopic and microscopic perspectives in detail. At the macroscopic level, textbook organization systems, topic selection, layout of unit contents & the whole textbooks and illustrations are compared. At the microscopic level, the language comprehensive competence is examined including language knowledge, language skills, emotional attitudes, cultural awareness and learning strategies. This thesis aims to figure out similarities and differences from the two perspectives and the reasons by a comparative study of the three sets of textbooks. In the end, suggestions for the compilation of Chinese junior high English textbooks have been put forward on the basis of the research results.