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A Study on Cultural Representation in PEP Compulsory Senior High School English Textbooks

Author(s)

Shuyu Li*, Ruiqi Liu, Linlin Liu

Affiliation(s)

School of Foreign Languages, Liaocheng University, Liaocheng, Shandong, China *Corresponding Author

Abstract

Against the backdrop of increasingly close international exchanges and the urgent need to cultivate students’ intercultural communicative competence, this study conducts quantitative statistics and qualitative analysis on the three compulsory textbooks of Senior High School English (Compulsory 1–3, 2019 edition, People’s Education Press version), based on the analytical framework for cultural representation in English textbooks developed by Zhang and Li. The findings reveal that in terms of cultural content representation, the three compulsory textbooks attach greater importance to the input of Chinese culture and international culture, followed by target language cultures, while insufficient attention is paid to cultures of other countries. Cultural practices and cultural products serve as the primary forms of cultural representation, whereas cultural perspectives, cultural figures, and cultural communities receive relatively little emphasis. Regarding the modes of cultural representation, cultural texts and pictures/introductions are most emphasized in the textbooks, succeeded by cultural expression; comparatively less attention is devoted to cultural comprehension, dedicated cultural knowledge sections, and background cultural information.

Keywords

Senior High School English; Senior High School Textbooks; Cultural Representation; Textbook Analysis

References

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