An Analysis Of Cultural Contents In New Standard English For Senior High

As the main medium for language and culture learning,textbooks are considered to be the most direct tool for students to learn about Chinese and foreign cultures.It is therefore necessary to focus on the evaluation of cultural content in textbooks.The subjects selected for this thesis are Compulsory Book 1 to Compulsory Book 3 of the New Standard English,newly published in 2019.The cultural elements were evaluated internally as well as externally according to Cheng Xiaotang’s theory of textbook evaluation,combined with the Framework compiled by Zhang Hong.Three questions need to be answered in this study:(1).What is the overall distribution of cultural elements in different categories in the NSE(2019)?(2).Do the cultural contents in the NSE(2019)meet the cultural knowledge and cultural awareness requirements set out in the NECS?In what requirements does it meet the criteria?(3).Are the cultural contents in the NSE(2019)conducive to teachers’ culture teaching? In what ways is it conducive for teachers to teach culture?Several conclusions have been drawn that(1)All cultural types are covered in the NSE,but not evenly distributed,and the percentage of the same cultural content is not consistent between the different volumes of the textbooks.(2)The proportion of knowledge culture in the NSE is greater than that of communicative culture,but the difference between the two is not significant.(3)The selection of cultural knowledge in the NSE basically meets the cultural knowledge requirements of the compulsory part of National English Curriculum Standards for High School(2020 revised version),as well as the level 1 objective of cultural awareness.(4)Almost all teachers felt that the cultural elements in the textbooks were appropriately designed and generally met the relevant requirements of the new curriculum.Meanwhile,the cultural elements are also conducive to teachers’ practical cultural teaching.Based on the findings of the study,this paper makes the following recommendations to the textbook compilers: increasing the proportion of relevant cultural knowledge and some exportoriented cultural activities.The following recommendations are made to teachers: teachers should improve their professional skills and cultural literacy,focus on the cultivation of students’ intercultural awareness and create more cultural export activities for students.