CHAPTER ONEINTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
Business English program, a branch of the discipline of Foreign Language and Literature, hasbeen established among 293 colleges till March, 2016. It specifies that learners should notonly have a solid command of English language knowledge and skills, but also acquireacquaintance with culture and society status quo of English speaking countries. Thereupon, inorder to fulfill these objectives, a train of language-based lessons and culture lessons shall beestablished, which is beyond the capability of an ESP- oriented business English lesson.Besides, learners shall be equipped with systematic business awareness, which can beachieved by commercial curriculum, and an ESP-oriented business English lesson is unable toassume the task of imparting commercial input. Under such circumstances, correspondingteaching materials are waited to be developed to meet Business English teaching demand.Thus, Business English (A Comprehensive Course) (hereinafter referred to as the BEtextbooks ) is compiled by teachers from School of English for International Business (SEIB)in Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GDUFS), distinguishing itself from generalEnglish course books. Meanwhile, even the textbooks are specifically designed for businessEnglish major, blemish certainly exists and causes predicament for learning and teaching.Currently, according to teachers’ feedback and teaching evaluation, this set of teachingmaterials still possesses flaws, waiting to be further revised.
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1.2 Rationale and Significance of the Present Study
In the short-term perspective, evaluating teaching materials attempts to provide justifiablesuggestions in terms of revising or adapting textbooks on the basis of research findings. In thelong run, Ministry of Education is going to promulgate The National Criteria of TeachingQuality for BA Program in Business English (hereinafter referred to as the National Syllabus)which specifically proposes and defines Business English curriculum system and teachingstrategies. Thus, it is of great significance for editors to speculate how Business English teaching materials fulfill the needs of National Syllabus. Furthermore, the BE textbook is atypical course book of business English teaching materials. And according to teachers’feedbacks, it possesses flaws and is in need of adaptation. Therefore, a systematic evaluationis needed to provide suggestions for further revision.
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CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Some Definitions
Since the thesis is oriented at evaluating BE textbooks, it’s requisite to illustrate relevantdefinitions to comprehend evaluated teaching materials. As a result, this part, referring toauthoritative literature, elaborates on course book, business English, and business Englishmaterials. Meanwhile, familiarizing the definition of corpora and corpus tools is conducive toanalyze BE textbooks objectively.
2.1.1 Definition of Course Book
Cunningsworth (2002) once noted the role of course book, indicating “Course books are bestseen as a resource in achieving aims and objectives that have already been set in terms oflearner needs” (p.7). It can be seen that course books act as a solutions carrier to satisfylearners’ needs, with goal-oriented materials arrangement. Apart from learners’ need to beconsidered, teachers’ aim also plays a crucial role. Cunningsworth (2002) noted “the role ofthe course book is to be at the service of teachers and learners but not to be their master”(p.14), which demonstrates teaching materials are positioned as support for teacher’s teachingprocess instead of a guiding role,. To conclude, course books shall be equipped with the dualfunctions that take aims of teachers and needs of learners into account.
Furthermore, concrete classification of roles is also completed by Cunningsworth.According to his understanding, seven roles are played by course books in ELT, serving as “aresource for presentation materia
