Senior High School English Textbook Evaluation

English textbooks are not only a major source for students to acquire necessary English language knowledge,skills and learning strategies,but also the main resources for teachers to carry out English teaching.In face of diverse of English textbooks,it is necessary to evaluate them and then more appropriate textbooks can be chosen.This study selects four versions of high school English textbooks widely used in high schools.They are New Senior English For China(NSEFC)published by People’s Education Press,New Standard English(NSE)published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press,and Advanced with English(AWE)published by Yilin Press and New Senior High English(NSHE)published by Beijing Normal University Press.Based on the requirements of English core competences in General High School English Curriculum Standards 2017 edition(hereinafter referred to as the New English Curriculum Standards 2017 edition),according to Qiao Ailing,Cheng Xiaotang and Sun Xiaohui,Cunningsworth,the four versions of compulsory high school English textbooks were analyzed and evaluated in this research,and the features of each version are the main focus.The research questions are as follows:1.From macro aspect,how are the four versions of high school English textbooks designed?(1)Is the guiding ideology of the textbooks in line with the General High School English Curriculum Standards(2017 Edition)?(2)How is the textbook structure system designed?(3)How is the internal unit designed?2.From micro aspect,how are the four versions of high school English textbooks designed?(1)Do the textbooks cover the main language knowledge and language skills?(2)What culture knowledge is included in the textbooks?(3)What learning strategies are covered?(4)What thinking qualities are the textbooks dealt with?3.What aspects of the four versions of high school English textbooks should be improved ?The research results are as follows:1.From macro aspect,the guiding ideology of the four textbooks meets the requirements of the New English Curriculum Standards(2017 edition),and sufficient attention is paid to the cultivation of students’ core competence in English subject.The structure system of NSEFC,AWE and NSHE is relatively complete,while NSE lacks workbook of unit.Reasonable arrangements in the internal unit design have been made in the four versions of textbooks.2.From micro aspect,(1)different emphasis is put on language knowledge and skills in the four versions of textbooks.For example,importance is attached to the learning of pronunciation and provides a separate phonetic section in NSEFC,while importance is attached to vocabulary learning and there is a section to introduce vocabulary learning strategies in the other three textbooks.In terms of language skills,in NSEFC and NSHE,there is a special section for listening and speaking and there are more listening and speaking activities,while in AWE and NSE,there is no section for listening and speaking and there are less activities,which may lead to inadequate listening and speaking skills training;there is no extracurricular reading in NSE and there are more literary works appreciation in AWE;there is a free writing section after class in NSEFC and NSHE;and in NSE and AWE,there are various forms of viewing during the viewing section.(2)Cultural knowledge is noticeable in the four versions of textbooks,and in NSEFC and NSHE,balance is obtained among the target language culture,native language culture and international culture better than the other two.(3)In terms of learning strategies,cognitive strategies are emphasized in all the four textbooks but communicative strategies are ignored.(4)In terms of thinking quality,logical thinking accounts for the largest proportion in the four versions of textbooks.Differently,the cultivation of creative thinking is emphasized in NSE,in which creative thinking accounts for the second largest proportion while critical thinking the smallest proportion;but creative thinking accounts for the smallest proportion in NSEFC,AWE and NSHE,while critical thinking the second largest proportion.3.It needs to be improved in arrangement of the particular vocabulary teaching and English literary readings in NSEFC;It is necessary for NSE to provide workbooks,arrange pronunciation teaching and provide extra-curriculum reading materials;listening and speaking activities need to be designed in AWE;and communicative strategies should be provided for the four textbooks.