Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks
Globalization enhances communication among people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As cultural artifacts, English language teaching textbooks are crucial media for learners’ intercultural education, especially under the concept of English as a lingua franca. This study investigate...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Education Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/5/601 |
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| author | Hui Zhang Nur Rasyidah Mohd Nordin |
| author_facet | Hui Zhang Nur Rasyidah Mohd Nordin |
| author_sort | Hui Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Globalization enhances communication among people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As cultural artifacts, English language teaching textbooks are crucial media for learners’ intercultural education, especially under the concept of English as a lingua franca. This study investigated the cultural elements in Chinese university English textbooks via the approach of content analysis. Specifically, a set of Chinese English language teaching textbooks was selected as the sample and the audio and video materials were transcribed into texts as the data. The results were displayed by the counts of cultural elements. The data revealed that international cultures and source cultures were highlighted, and the textbooks were not oriented toward native-speakers’ English. Moreover, the distribution of cultural categories across the textbooks remains imbalanced, with cultural products occupying the largest proportion, and cultural perspectives displayed the least. This is mainly attributed to the fact that cultural perspectives are implicit cultures under the surface of the iceberg, and notably, they are sporadically reflected by the cultural products, practices, and persons. The findings provide suggestions that writers include balanced cultural elements in compiling English language teaching textbooks, and teachers scrutinize cultural representation and design intercultural activities. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-a05b52c253d840489aee7f12585df5b5 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2227-7102 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Education Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-a05b52c253d840489aee7f12585df5b52025-08-20T02:33:48ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022025-05-0115560110.3390/educsci15050601Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching TextbooksHui Zhang0Nur Rasyidah Mohd Nordin1School of Languages, Civilisation and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, MalaysiaSchool of Languages, Civilisation and Philosophy, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, MalaysiaGlobalization enhances communication among people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. As cultural artifacts, English language teaching textbooks are crucial media for learners’ intercultural education, especially under the concept of English as a lingua franca. This study investigated the cultural elements in Chinese university English textbooks via the approach of content analysis. Specifically, a set of Chinese English language teaching textbooks was selected as the sample and the audio and video materials were transcribed into texts as the data. The results were displayed by the counts of cultural elements. The data revealed that international cultures and source cultures were highlighted, and the textbooks were not oriented toward native-speakers’ English. Moreover, the distribution of cultural categories across the textbooks remains imbalanced, with cultural products occupying the largest proportion, and cultural perspectives displayed the least. This is mainly attributed to the fact that cultural perspectives are implicit cultures under the surface of the iceberg, and notably, they are sporadically reflected by the cultural products, practices, and persons. The findings provide suggestions that writers include balanced cultural elements in compiling English language teaching textbooks, and teachers scrutinize cultural representation and design intercultural activities.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/5/601cultural representationEnglish textbooksEnglish as a lingua francacultural category |
| spellingShingle | Hui Zhang Nur Rasyidah Mohd Nordin Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks Education Sciences cultural representation English textbooks English as a lingua franca cultural category |
| title | Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks |
| title_full | Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks |
| title_fullStr | Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks |
| title_full_unstemmed | Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks |
| title_short | Cultural Representation in Chinese University English Language Teaching Textbooks |
| title_sort | cultural representation in chinese university english language teaching textbooks |
| topic | cultural representation English textbooks English as a lingua franca cultural category |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/15/5/601 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT huizhang culturalrepresentationinchineseuniversityenglishlanguageteachingtextbooks AT nurrasyidahmohdnordin culturalrepresentationinchineseuniversityenglishlanguageteachingtextbooks |