A Comparative Analysis On Expository Texts Of Junior High School English Textbooks Based On Genre Theory

Textbooks provide students with various genres of texts which can help them build systematic knowledge and develop core competences.Among them,expository texts are a basic genre for students to accumulate knowledge,perceive the world and cultivate critical thinking capacity.However,concerning the existing genre-based textbook analysis,most of which concentrate on sorting out genres of texts and comparing genres among domestic textbooks.Yet,few studies center on the analysis of a specific genre and comparative analysis of a specific genre between different textbooks at home and abroad.Based on classification of genres,this study considers the function of expository texts as“providing information”.Drawing on Martin and Rose’s classification and judgment criteria for genres,and taking into account the classifications and requirements for expository texts in the English Curriculum Standards,the study proposed to integrate and classify expository texts into four genres: chronicles,explanations,procedures and reports,which can be further subdivided into 12 sub-genres.This study adopts content analysis method,comparative analysis method and case study method to analyze expository texts in three sets of textbooks at home and abroad,namely Go for It!(GFI),Oxford English(Shanghai Version)(OE),and English in Mind(EIM),aiming to answer the following three questions:(1)What are the distributions of genres and sub-genres of expository texts in the three sets of textbooks? What are the similarities and differences among them?(2)What are the distributions of thematic contexts of expository texts in all textbooks?What is the relationship between thematic contexts and genres of expository texts?(3)What schematic structures are presented for descriptive reports in all textbooks?The major findings are as follows:(1)GFI and OE are rich in genres of expository texts,including reports,explanations,chronicles,procedures,and a few mixed texts,while EIM lacks procedures.Among them,all three sets of textbooks have a high frequency of reports and explanations.Then,OE has the most diverse sub-genres of expository texts,with a number of 10 in total.Followed are GFI and EIM,seven subgenres for each one.Among them,all three sets of textbooks have a high frequency of descriptive report and sequential explanation whereas the rest sub-genres are a little involved in textbooks.(2)Expository texts in the three sets of textbooks all contain three categories of thematic contexts and some mixed thematic contexts,among which “man and society” accounts for the most.To be specific,“man and self” focuses on sub-themes like school life,learning methods,and healthy life;“man and society” focused on subthemes like cultural customs/landscapes,cultural art forms,social relationship,and holidays and celebrations;“man and nature” focused on sub-theme like environmental protection.By comparison,OE has the richest sub-themes,GFI pays less attention to subthemes like technology and natural disaster,and EIM pays more attention to natural disaster.Research found that,on one hand,some sub-themes show strong associations with a certain genre of expository texts.For example,in the three sets of textbooks,subthemes such as school life and social relationship are presented in genre of reports,and sub-themes such as learning methods and environmental protection are presented in genre of explanations.On the other hand,most sub-themes are not significantly related to genres of expository texts.(3)Schematic structures of descriptive reports in OE and EIM are richer and both have five types of schematic structures,while those in GFI mostly conform to the classical schematic structure [General Statement ^ Description].In general,schematic structures of descriptive reports in all the textbooks reflect both the feature of regularity,that is,the classical schematic structure,and diversity,such as replacing or supplementing the General Statement stage by Sub-heading stage,adding Coda stage,etc.In some cases,descriptive reports in textbooks lack a general statement in their schematic structures.The reasons and reading effects of this phenomenon are quite complex and require specific analysis.These findings have beneficial implications for English teaching and textbook compilation.First,English teachers can judge genres from a functional perspective,be aware of diversity of expository texts(that is,sub-genres of expository texts),and connection between some typical themes and expository texts,as well as the regularity and diversity of schematic structure of reading texts.Second,textbook editors should pay attention to and reasonably assign genres and themes,and enhance the authenticity in selection and diversity in schematic structure of reading texts.