Analysis Of English Textbooks From The Perspective Of Intercultural Communication Competence

Language and culture are inextricably linked,and teaching English in senior secondary schools today should not only involve the transmission of language knowledge,but also the teaching of cultural knowledge and the development of intercultural communication skills.As the main basis for teaching and learning and a medium for cultural transmission,high school English textbooks are an important channel for developing students’ intercultural communication skills.In order to meet the requirements of cultivating students’ intercultural communication skills in the new era and to enhance the overall understanding and control of the cultural contents of the teaching materials,this study explores the following three questions based on relevant theories and with reference to the version of the compulsory English textbooks for senior high school,books 1-3,published in 2019 :(1)What is the distribution and presentation characteristics of the intercultural communication contents in the discourse materials and task panels of the teaching materials?(2)Does this set of textbooks meet the requirements of the curriculum standards for the development of intercultural communication skills for senior secondary students?(3)How effective are the materials in developing learners’ intercultural communication skills?The study conducted a textual analysis of the cultural content of the textbook and a questionnaire survey of students using the textbook.The textual analysis took the textbook discourse materials and the related item task activity texts as the objects of study,drew on the theories of relevant scholars,and combined them with the cultural knowledge requirements of the General High School English Curriculum Standard to produce statistics and analysis of the textbook materials.The questionnaire survey investigated whether the textbooks were conducive to promoting students’ development of intercultural communication skills in four dimensions: knowledge,attitudes,skills and critical cultural awareness.It is found that the lack of contextuality in the text content of textbooks and the insufficient construction of intercultural communication scenarios are due to the lack of real intercultural communication needs in teaching.The depth of cultural knowledge of discourse materials is insufficient and the coverage needs to be expanded,because teaching materials need to consider fundamentals and adaptability.As a complex concept,culture is difficult to be comprehensively classified and covered.The design of teaching material task activities is not comprehensive enough,ignoring the skill dimension and awareness dimension of intercultural communication competence,which to a certain extent reflects that writers should attach more importance to intercultural education,and it is also related to the difference between the actual situation and ideal state of teachers’ interpretation and use of textbooks.To improve the effectiveness of intercultural education in teaching materials,intercultural communication situations should be created to provide richer cultural interaction experiences.Appropriately expand the content of teaching materials,enrich the cultural connotation of discourse and the form of task activities.Optimize the use of teaching materials and improve teachers’ intercultural education literacy.