| In order to meet China’s demand for English talents in the new era,new requirements are highlighted in the English curriculum standards of regular senior high schools.Teachers and textbooks are essential factors in curriculum implementation.Therefore,the effectiveness of textbook usage or the level of teachers’ textbook use and its contributing factors warrant attention.To find out how effectively the new PEP textbooks are used by high school English teachers in practical teaching and the influencing factors behind the case,based on Kong Fanzhe’s textbook level model,the author communicated with three high school English teachers with different teaching proficiency(novice teacher X,skilled teacher Y and proficient teacher Z)from a national model senior high school in Jiangxi province via a qualitative case study.The results showed that the effectiveness of textbook usage / the level of textbook use(use level)of all three teachers is “conventional use”.However,while the use level of teacher X was “conventional use without new ideas”,the use level of both teacher Y and teacher Z was “conventional use but with new ideas”.The most important influencing factor was teachers’ teaching beliefs,and the least important influencing factor was examination system.Specifically,in terms of teaching beliefs,for skilled and proficient teachers,the most important influencing factor was the consistency between textbooks and curriculum standards.For the novice teacher,the most important influencing factor was students’ cognitive level and prior knowledge.All three teachers were at the level of “teaching with textbooks rather than “creative use” of textbooks.In conclusion,textbook usage is influenced by multiple factors,including teachers’ teaching experience,student-related factors,teaching material and the examination evaluation system.The research suggests that teachers’ concepts of textbooks should be changed,and their awareness of curriculum development should be cultivated;teachers should be encouraged to use textbooks critically and enhance their autonomy in textbook use;teachers should be stimulated to develop and use the cultural background knowledge in textbooks. |
