Open AccessAnalyzing English for Academic Purposes textbooks in China: A study of intercultural issues
Author(s) -
Yulong Li,
Peng-Fei Yao,
Bo Hu
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
elt forum: journal of english language teaching/elt forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2721-4532
pISSN - 2252-6706
DOI - 10.15294/elt.v9i1.38259
Subject(s) - confusion , intercultural communication , english for academic purposes , rhetoric , china , psychology , contrastive analysis , pedagogy , resource (disambiguation) , mathematics education , linguistics , political science , computer science , computer network , philosophy , psychoanalysis , law
An increase of English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaching in China has resulted in a surge of EAP textbooks on the market. However, there has been little accompanying interest in how well intercultural issues are handled and presented in these publications. Accordingly, the present study employs Chinese students’ Cultures of Learning (CoL) and contrastive rhetoric (CR) as reflection points in the analysis of the content, production, and consumption of two series of EAP textbooks adapted from overseas textbooks. Findings revealed that intercultural differences are not given due recognition in the textbooks which in some cases can lead to confusion and misunderstanding. Meanwhile, the teachers involved in the study, as users of the other textbook series, were found to treat the textbooks only as a supplementary EAP teaching resource. Moreover, the continued confusion on the part of some of the students involved in the study highlighted the desirability for future textbooks to render intercultural differences in a critical EAP manner.