The Current Situation Of Cultural Awareness Cultivation In The Teaching Of English Elective Textbooks In Senior High School

There are rich cultural connotations in language.The inseparable relationship between language and culture determines that current English teaching in senior high school is not only the teaching of language knowledge,but also the dissemination of cultural knowledge and the cultivation of students' cross-cultural communication awareness and ability.Cultural awareness is listed as one of the four key competences of English subject in National English Curriculum Standards for General High School,which fully shows the importance of cultural awareness cultivation in senior high school English teaching.English textbook is an important carrier of English teaching and the cultural content embodied in textbooks is the core part of the cultivation of cultural awareness in English teaching.Therefore,how teachers utilize the English textbooks directly affects the effect of cultural awareness cultivation.New Senior English for China textbooks are composed of compulsory and elective textbooks.Elective textbooks,supplementary to compulsory textbooks,are rich in cultural content and are more conducive to the development of students' cultural awareness.However,in the current test-oriented education environment,whether the culture teaching of elective courses has been valued and whether the development of students' cultural awareness has been implemented are ignored by many scholars.Hence,based on the connotation of cultural awareness stipulated in National English Curriculum Standards for General High School(2017 version),this study takes the teaching of New Senior English for China Student's Book 8(hereinafter referred to as NSEFC Book 8)as an example to explore whether the cultivation of cultural awareness is concerned in the teaching of English elective textbooks in senior high school.The author invites 10 English teachers from two schools and 200 students in Lichuan NO.5high school as research subjects and mainly focuses on the following questions:(1)What is the current situation of students' cultural awareness cultivation in senior highschool?(2)Which part of New Senior English for China Student's Book 8 contributes to the cultivation of students' cultural awareness?(3)How do teachers use the textbook to cultivate students' cultural awareness?After organizing the data of students' questionnaire,textbook analysis,class observation and teacher's interview,the author has the following findings:(1)cultural awareness cultivation in the teaching of compulsory textbooks has made some progress.However,there is still a certain gap to reach the 7-level goals stipulated in National English Curriculum Standards for General High School(2003 version).(2)Textbook analysis finds that the cultural content of the Warming Up,Reading(Pre-reading),Using Language and Workbook in the NSEFC Book 8 is conducive to the cultivation of students' cultural awareness.(3)English teachers don't make full use of the cultural contents in elective textbooks as they spend most time on language points and grammar;culture teaching methods are also not diversified enough and the cultivation of students' cultural awareness is limited to the level of cultural cognition.Culture teaching in elective textbooks should be given equal attention.Teachers need recognize the unique role of elective textbooks and make full use of them to cultivate students' cultural awareness.At the same time,teachers should correctly deal with the relationship between language teaching and culture teaching and improve their professional accomplishment.