EXPLORING MORAL VALUES IN ENGLISH COURSEBOOKS FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN CHINA

Jing Wang

Abstract


This article examines the representation of moral values in textbooks designed for adult learners of English as a foreign language in China. Guiding the analysis is a view of critical pedagogy. Content analysis is employed to analyze the following questions: What moral values are embedded in the textbooks for university EFL students? Do the coursebooks contribute to developing cultural awareness both of the target culture and of the learner’s? Is the treatment of moral values in those textbooks adequate to develop students’ critical thinking? The study concludes that coursebooks are imbued with moral and cultural values, which may be explored by teachers who could create opportunities to cultivate students’ critical thinking.

Keywords


content analysis, English coursebooks, moral education

Full Text:

PDF

References


Abednia, A. & Crookes, G. V. (2019). Critical literacy as a pedagogical goal in English language teaching. In Gao X. (Ed.), Second Handbook of English language teaching (pp.1-21). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_14-2

Bori, P. (2022). Representation in coursebooks: A critical perspective. In J. Norton & H. Buchanan (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of materials development for language teaching (pp. 123-135). London: Routledge.

Canagarajah, A. S. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in English teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Cortazzi, M. & Jin, L. X. (2001). Materials and methods in the EFL classroom. In Hinkel, E. (Ed.), Culture in second language teaching and learning (pp. 196-219). Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.

Curdt-Christiansen, X. L., & Weninger, C. (2015). Introduction: Ideology and the politics of language textbooks. In Curdt-Christiansen X. L. & Weninger C. (Eds.), Language, ideology and education: The politics of textbooks in language education (pp. 50–66). London: Routledge.

Freire, P. (1970, 2005). Pedagogy of the oppressed: 30th anniversary edition. London: Contimuum.

Giroux, H. A. (2000). Impure acts:The practical politics of cultural studies. New York: Routledge.

Giroux, H. A. (2020). On critical pedagogy (2nd ed.). London: Bloomsbury.

Gray, J. (2013) Critical perspectives on language teaching materials. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

He, L. Z. (2022). 从教材入手落实大学外语课程思政 [Textbooks as a medium for integrating moral education into college foreign language teaching]. 外语教育研究前沿Foreign Language Education in China, 5(2),18-22.

Johnston, B. & Buzzelli, C. A. (2008). The moral dimensions of language education. In Hornberger N.H. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (pp. 95-104). Boston: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30424-3_8

Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World Englishes: Implications for international communication and English language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Krippendorff, K. (2004). Content analysis: An introduction to its methodology Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China. (2020). 大学英语教学指南 [Guidelines on College English teaching]. 高等教育出版社.

Pingel, F. (2010). UNESCO guidebook on textbook research and textbook revision. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

Raths, J. (2002). Improving instruction. Theory into Practice, 41(4), 233–237. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s15430421tip41042

Shaaban, K. (2005). A proposed framework for incorporating moral education into the ESL/EFL classroom. Language Culture & Curriculum, 18(2), 201-217. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908310508668742

Thongrin, S. (2018). Integrating moral education into language education in Asia: Guidelines for materials writers. In H.P. Widodo et al. (Eds.), Situating moral and cultural values in ELT materials (pp.153-174). English Language Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_9

Tomlinson, B. (2012). Materials development for language learning and teaching(Review). Language Teaching, 45(2), 143-179. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444811000528

Wen, Q. F. (2016). 在英语通用语背景下重新认识语言与文化的关系 [Rethinking of the relationship between language and culture in the context of teaching English as a lingua franca]. 外语教学理论与实践 Foreign Language Learn Theory Practice, 2,1–13.

Wen, Q. F. (2021). 大学外语课程思政的内涵和实施框架 [A framework of integrating moral education into college foreign language teaching]. 中国外语Foreign Languages in China, 18(02), 47-52. https://doi.org/10.13564/j.cnki.issn.1672-9382.2021.02.008

Wu, S. M. & Navera, G. S. (2018). ELT materials as sites of values education: A prelimunary observation of secondary school materials. In H.P. Widodo et al. (Eds.), Situating moral and cultural values in ELT materials (pp.51-68). English Language Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63677-1_4

Xiong, T., Feng, D., & Hu, G. (2022). Researching cultural knowledge and values in English language teaching textbooks: Representation, multimodality, and stakeholders. In Xiong, T., Feng, D., Hu, G. (eds.), Cultural knowledge and values in English language teaching materials. Singapore: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1935-0_1

Xu, J. F. (2021). 高校英语课程教学素材的思政内容建设研究 [Developing university English teaching materials for morality cultivation]. 外语界Foreign Language World, (02),18-24.

Zheng. X. & Gao. Y. H. (2019). Promoting intercultural competence in English language teaching: A productive bilingualism perspective. In Gao X. (Ed.), Second handbook of English language teaching. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58542-0_11-1




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.v25i2.4937

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2022 Jing Wang

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Indexed and abstracted in:

    

 

LLT Journal Sinta 2 Certificate (S2 = Level 2)

We would like to inform you that LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching has been nationally accredited Sinta 2 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia based on the decree  No. Surat Keputusan 158/E/KPT/2021. Validity for 5 years: Vol 23 No 1, 2020 till Vol 27 No 2, 2024

  

 

This work is licensed under CC BY-SA.

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

 

Free counters!


 LLT Journal: A Journal on Language and Language Teaching, DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt, e-ISSN 2579-9533 and p-ISSN 1410-7201is published twice a year, namely in April and October by the English Language Education Study Programme of Teacher Training and Education Faculty of Sanata Dharma University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia.