Compiling Textbooks on the Cultures of English-Speaking Countries for Chinese Tertiary-Level Non-English Majors
Currently there are no textbooks on the cultures of the English-speaking countries specially written for Chinese tertiary-level non-English majors. This study, as a preparation to compile a textbook on the cultures of the Englishspeaking countries for Chinese tertiary-level non-English majors is composed of two parts. Part one of this study is a survey conducted in Nanjing University in May 2005 to see non-English majors comments on and expectations of textbooks on the English-speaking countries. In the survey, 86 freshmen of the Department of Intensive Instruction, students in the course An Introduction to the UK and the US and 29 sophomores and juniors, students of an optional course, An Introduction to Major English-Speaking Countries, were asked to comment on the reading materials they used in class. These materials are from published textbooks on the cultures of English-speaking countries not specially written for non-English majors. The students were asked to describe the difficulties they experience in reading the materials and their expectations of new textbooks. Part two is a comparative study of 9 textbooks on the cultures of the English-speaking countries published in the Chinese mainland in recent years.From the survey and the comparative study, Ive found that most of the current textbooks focus more on facts and are not thought-provoking enough;some are difficult for the non English-majors as far as the language is concerned; and most of the textbooks do not include language practice in their exercises. In writing new books for the non-English majors, it is advised that we (1) include diversified topics, (2) shift our focus from introducing cultural facts to raising the students cultural awareness and encouraging their critical thinking, (3) moderate the length and difficulty of the chapters, (4) help students improve their English proficiency level and (5) provide them with various forms of study aids.
textbook culture English-speaking countries non-English majors
Zhang Jie
Nanjing University
国际会议
The Third Asia-TEFL International Conference(亚洲英语教师协会第三届国际会议)
北京
英文
224-237
2005-11-04（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）