A Study Of Cultural Content In The PEP Version Of High School English Textbooks

The relationship between language and culture is close related.It is widely acknowledge that language is the carrier of culture,and at the same time culture can also affect the development of language.In the process of language acquisition,cultural learning is of great significance,which has great influence on the formation and improvement of students' cultural literacy.In 2017,the Ministry of Education issued the new English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools.It is an important strategy that developing students' key competency in English in order to deepen the English curriculum reform and it is vital to promote students' cultural awareness.The status of cultural teaching in foreign language teaching has risen to a higher level.Textbook is the main tool used in foreign language teaching and the main carrier of cultural inheritance,while students' book is the main part of the textbook.The reasonable arrangement of its contents directly affects the result of cultural teaching.New senior English For China as one of the most widely used teaching material at present,its cultural content is worthy of our study.This research aims to find out whether New senior English For China is useful for cultivating students' cultural awareness.Most importantly,in order to meet the requirement of better education,what can editors and teachers do with New senior English For China.The main question discussed in this paper are:(1)what kind of cultural contents are selected in the New senior English For China(2)what are the advantages and disadvantages of these cultural contents?(3)According to the analysis results,from what aspects can editors and teachers do to improve and make better use of the cultural contents about this teaching material? The research is mainly about how to cultivate students' cultural awareness care and based on the new English Curriculum Standards for Senior High Schools.The research uses Byram's textbook cultural content evaluation model to evaluate the cultural content in New senior English For China.The research has found that the cultural contents in New senior English For China have covered various topics in Byram's textbook cultural content evaluation model.And compared with previous textbooks,New senior English For China(2019)contained more Chinese culture other than target language culture.The material in New senior English For China is close to students' life and keep pace with time change.However,the distribution of related cultural topics is uneven and the cultural contents are lack of depth.The cross-cultural communication contents are also insufficient.Finally,according to the research results,the dissertation has given some advice to the textbook designers and teachers.