A Research On Topics Of Reading Materials In English Textbooks For Middle School

In order to improve students' communicative competence from the perspective of language input,the author has made an empirical analysis of the quantity,quality and arrangement of the topics selected for the textbooks of Oxford English(Shanghai Edition)together with evaluations of both internal and external factors that affect topical selection.Based on textbook compilation theory and with reference to the English curriculum standards for primary and middle school in Shanghai,this essay made quantitative and qualitative analyses on Oxford English for junior high schools(Shanghai Edition).This study found that1.The quantity of topic is not enough and topic category coverage does not meet the requirements of topic coverage in English curriculum standards for primary and middle schools in Shanghai.2.The content of the reading materials is appropriate and relevant to learners' acquired knowledge.But the epochal character and cultural feature still need to be improved.And learners' cognitive ability is overlooked in some topics.3.Certain logical relationship appears in all the units,but logical relationship can not be found in all the modules.The topic arrangement follows the succession principle and cyclic extension pattern,but the recurrence rate is a bit low and the contents do not have close relationship with other subjects,which do not conform to the principle of integrity.The quantity of genre types is very limited.There are too few articles under each genre.The quantity of concrete nouns and sentence patterns in each topic are not enough for students' daily talk.Presentation forms of illustrations and text wording do vary,but the disadvantages in quantity,quality and arrangement of language input fail to match the fundamental ways of students' language learning.Therefore,the language input will neither improve students' reading skills nor help students achieve their communicative goals.To solve the main problems in this research,the author puts forward some suggestions and specific improving measures in terms of topic quantity,topic quality and topic arrangement.The topic numbers should meet the full coverage of the topic category in the new English Curriculum Criteria,and more texts should be added to each topic.With reference to topic quality,epochal character and cultural feature needto be considered on the basis of learners' cognitive ability.The logical relationship among themes of modules ought to be seen to.The textbook compilers are encouraged to use cyclic extension pattern to increase the repetition rate of each topic.Both the vertical and horizontal layouts of textbook materials are to be considered when compilers organize the topics in English textbooks.Attention should not only be paid to the vertical gradation of teaching materials of different grades,but also to the lateral connection with teaching materials of other disciplines in order to help improve the readability and integrity of all the textbooks.As for the specific measures for improving the compilation quality of the Oxford English(Shanghai Edition),this essay provides,as examples,some passages related to students' physical and mental development,social development of science and technology and the basic knowledge of various disciplines in the school curriculum.The author also provides a supplementary table for concrete nouns related with some topics in this set of textbooks.