Curriculum standards are landmark documents that define the teaching content of relevant subjects in the form of outline. It is the embodiment of curriculum plan. It defines the teaching purposes and tasks of the subject, the scope, depth and structure of knowledge, the teaching progress and the basic requirements of the teaching method, and expounds the curriculum nature, curriculum objectives, content objectives and implementation suggestions of the subject in detail. Curriculum standards are also the basis of textbook compilation, teaching, evaluation and examination propositions, and the basis of national management and evaluation of curriculum.
The English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition, 2020 revision), compiled under guidance of the spirit of the 19th National Congress and the Party’s educational guidelines, defines the educational objectives and content. After the improvement and promotion of the Old Curriculum Standards, the New Curriculum Standards focus on the development of students’ key competencies.
From the perspective of The English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition, 2020 revision), this study focuses on analyzing the old and new textbooks, and the compatibility of the new textbooks with the New Curriculum Standards.
2.2 Research questions
The main questions to be discussed in this study are as follows.
1. What are the changes of the New Curriculum Standards on the cultivation of students’ cultural awareness compared with the Old Curriculum Standards?
2. What are the similarities and differences between the old and new textbooks of PEP edition in terms of the allocation and presentation of cultural content?
3. How do teachers use the new textbooks of PEP edition to cultivate students’ cultural awareness?
The Old Curriculum Standards refer to the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (Experiment) formulated by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2003. The New Curriculum Standards refer to the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition) formulated by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China in 2017. Subsequently, in June 2020, the Ministry of Education fine-tuned the New Curriculum Standards and release the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition, 2020 revision). Compared with the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition), the English Curriculum Standards for Ordinary Senior High Schools (2017 edition, 2020 revision) only has some modifications in the “preface” part. Therefore, the New Curriculum Standards in this paper refer to both two editions of Curriculum Standards. Besides, mainly the requirements on cultural awareness and the cultivation of cultural awareness in the Old and New Curriculum Standards will be studied.
Chapter Three Results and Discussions ........................... 24
3.1 Internal evaluation from curriculum standards and textbooks ......................... 24
3.1.1 Analysis and discussion of requirements on cultural awareness in the Old and New Curriculum Standards ....................... 24
3.1.2. Analysis and discussion of thematic contexts in the old and new textbooks ........ 30
Conclusion ...................... 58
Chapter Three Results and Discussions
3.1 Internal evaluation from curriculum standards and textbooks
The internal evaluation of the old and new textbooks is mainly done by analyzing, comparing and discussing the following four aspects, namely the requirements on cultural awareness in the Old and New Curriculum Standards, thematic contexts, allocation of the cultural content and presentation of the cultural content.
3.1.1 Analysis and discussion of requirements on cultural awareness in the Old and New Curriculum Standards
As is mentioned in Research Objects, the Old Curriculum Standards re
