138 / 2021-06-29 14:16:34

Analyzing Cultural Representation in High School English Textbooks Used in China and Germany: A Semiotic Approach

cultural representation,EFL textbooks,semiotic approach

This study presents a comparative analysis investigating the cultural representation in two sets of widely used senior high school EFL textbooks newly published in China (Yingyu) and Germany (English). By using the Framework for Analyzing the Representation of Cultures in English Textbooks, this study examines cultural products, cultural practices, cultural perspectives, cultural persons, and cultural communities in the textbooks. Furthermore, this study uses Weninger & Kiss’ framework to study the image-text semiotic relations. The findings show that: 1) Yingyu emphasizes more on source culture than English, while English emphasizes more on the culture of inner-circle countries than Yingyu. The most represented countries of international culture in Yingyu are mainly developed countries, while those in English include developing countries as well; 2) The proportion of cultural product is the highest in both textbooks. The proportions of cultural practice and cultural products are almost the same in both textbooks. The proportions of cultural perspectives and cultural communities in English are higher than those in Yingyu; 3) The proportion of explicit representation is much higher than that of implicit representation in Yingyu. Meanwhile, three types of image-text relations are found, namely, denotational relations, denotational/ pedagogic relations, and denotational/ pedagogic/ linguistic relations. Discussions and implications on the development of pictures concerning cultural content in EFL textbooks have been offered.