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Cultural representations in primary English language textbooks in China
Author
Qiao, Ping
Supervisor
Curdt-Christiansen, Xiao Lan
Abstract
Globalization, fuelled by the wide spread of English, has raised serious questions about the sociopolitical, economic, and cultural of English impacts on the linguistic and cultural integrity of non-English speaking countries. For countries like China where English is paradoxically legitimized as a linguistic means to strengthen national economic and political power, how to balance globalization and nationalism is of great concern.
Situating the discussion of global-local tensions around the rapid expansion of English in the context of China, this study adopts a critical-sociocultural framework to explore the cultural representations in a set of elementary English language textbooks, Primary English. Both content analysis and text analysis are employed to examine what national cultures are represented and how they are presented in those textbooks. With critical discourse analysis as research framework, it aims to show how the cultural representations are articulated in relation to sociocultural ideologies and how the written texts build up particular relationships with the students that may shape their cultural identity.
The quantitative and qualitative results show that although there are 15 national cultures included in those textbooks, they are neither equally nor neutrally represented.
It is Chinese culture that has been given greatest emphasis: it is portrayed in a more ample and desirable way than any other national cultures. The promotion of Chinese culture in the textbooks has been used to cultivate in students’ a strong sense of national pride and to foster Chinese national identity. The construction of nationalism embedded in those textbooks clearly reflects the political and ideological concerns in the curriculum discourse, in which the English language has been appreciated as a new language of nationalism and English language teaching has been utilized to resist the hegemonic effects of English.
The findings of this study have important theoretical, political and pedagogic implications. They not only shed light on our understanding of the relationship between English language textbooks, ideology, and identity formation, but also provide a reference for future policy making, curriculum design, and textbook evolution in China and in other contexts at the backdrop of globalization.
Situating the discussion of global-local tensions around the rapid expansion of English in the context of China, this study adopts a critical-sociocultural framework to explore the cultural representations in a set of elementary English language textbooks, Primary English. Both content analysis and text analysis are employed to examine what national cultures are represented and how they are presented in those textbooks. With critical discourse analysis as research framework, it aims to show how the cultural representations are articulated in relation to sociocultural ideologies and how the written texts build up particular relationships with the students that may shape their cultural identity.
The quantitative and qualitative results show that although there are 15 national cultures included in those textbooks, they are neither equally nor neutrally represented.
It is Chinese culture that has been given greatest emphasis: it is portrayed in a more ample and desirable way than any other national cultures. The promotion of Chinese culture in the textbooks has been used to cultivate in students’ a strong sense of national pride and to foster Chinese national identity. The construction of nationalism embedded in those textbooks clearly reflects the political and ideological concerns in the curriculum discourse, in which the English language has been appreciated as a new language of nationalism and English language teaching has been utilized to resist the hegemonic effects of English.
The findings of this study have important theoretical, political and pedagogic implications. They not only shed light on our understanding of the relationship between English language textbooks, ideology, and identity formation, but also provide a reference for future policy making, curriculum design, and textbook evolution in China and in other contexts at the backdrop of globalization.
Date Issued
2011
Call Number
PE1068.C5 Qia
Date Submitted
2011