| Over the past decade,elementary education in China has been constantly reformed and developed.As an essential part of elementary education,English education has become a hot spot for research in China.As the most direct source of language input,English textbooks also provide an essential platform for students to learn about the world’s culture.Language,as the carrier and medium of culture,is the external expression of culture,and the two are inseparable and develop together.Cultural awareness has been listed as one of the objectives of the English Curriculum in compulsory education.Whether the textbooks contain rich and diverse cultural elements and whether the presentation of cultural contents is attractive to students will directly affect students’ language and cultural learning effectiveness.Oxford English(Yilin Edition)is taken as the research material in this study.Based on the requirements in the National English Curriculum Standard(2011)and the basic idea of input theory,this paper attempts to propose the principles for evaluating the cultural contents in English textbooks and systematically examine the cultural contents in Oxford English(Yilin Edition).In order to make the study more comprehensive,objective and scientific,this study uses diverse research methods,mainly including textbook analysis and questionnaires.Through textbook analysis,all the texts,illustrations,exercises,and activities that deal with cultural contents in six volumes of Oxford English(Yilin Edition)are quantified and examined to reveal the overall distribution,geographical origin,different topics,and presentation forms of the cultural contents in this set of textbooks.Besides,a questionnaire survey is conducted among 126 students and 18 teachers at a junior middle school in Suzhou to further understand teachers and students’ attitude towards the cultural contents in this set of textbooks in terms of actual teaching and students’ needs.This paper mainly expects to shed light on the richness and diversity of the cultural contents and the ways they are presented in Oxford English(Yilin Edition).Besides,it also seeks to examine whether the cultural contents are comprehensible and relevant to students’ lives,which can stimulate their interest in learning.Through the research,the main findings are as follows:(1)The cultural contents in Oxford English(Yilin Edition)are rich in quantity and diversity and all the cultural elements required in the NECS(2011)are covered.However,some of the cultural contents appear unbalanced.This set of textbooks is mainly centered on the mainstream culture of developed English-speaking countries,while less attention is paid to the culture of China and other countries in the world.In terms of the presentation forms,the proportion of implicit presentation of the cultural contents is higher than explicit presentation,i.e.,more cultural contents are presented through exercises and activities,and less through reading and listening texts.Besides,this set of textbooks tends to use various types of application texts,such as letters,advertisements,and posters,to present cultural contents.(2)The cultural contents in Oxford English(Yilin Edition)are consistent with middle school students’ cognitive learning rules.However,some cultural contents are not contemporary,and some cartoon pictures and virtual characters and places in the textbooks lack authenticity,which are detached from students’ lives and unable to arouse students’ interest in cultural learning.Based on the research and the contemporary context of cultural globalization,some suggestions are put forward: First,more multicultural contents,especially Chinese culture,should be added to the textbooks to develop students’ international perspective and enhance their cultural confidence.Besides,more topics and materials closely related to students’ lives should be selected;the proportion of explicit presentation,especially reading texts,should be increased.What’s more,English teachers should strengthen their own cultural literacy and intercultural teaching awareness,actively guide students to compare cultural differences to make up for the lack of cultural contents in the textbooks. |
