ELT IN CHINESE GENERAL SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL: AN ANALYSIS OF CONTEMPORARY CHINESE ELT TEXTBOOKS

This study explores the teaching of the English language in general senior high schools in China, using the textbooks currently in use as its main research tool. The relevance of the topic stems from the importance attributed to foreign language teaching (which in most cases coincides with the teaching of English) in Chinese primary and secondary education, as it constitutes one of the three core subjects of the national education system, alongside Chinese and mathematics. A direct consequence of this is that these three subjects also form the compulsory component of the gaokao 高考, short for putong gaodeng xuexiao zhaosheng quanguo tongyi kaoshi 普通高等学校招生全国统一考试 (“Nationwide Unified Examination for Admissions to General Universities and Colleges”), China’s national university entrance examination. Specifically, this study is divided into four chapters. The first chapter traces the history of English language teaching in China, proposing a periodization into seven historical phases, ranging from the imperial era (up to 1912) to the present day, identified as the “Xi Jinping Era” (2012–present). This classification, developed by the author, is based on the function attributed to English language teaching in different periods – a function closely intertwined with political considerations, to the extent that English language teaching in China has been described as a true “barometer” of the country’s diplomatic relations (Vickers & Zeng, 2018: 140). The second chapter analyzes the historical development of both the English curriculum for general senior high schools and the corresponding textbooks. Conceived as complementary to the first chapter (whose periodization it follows), it aims to provide a more comprehensive picture of the state of English language teaching at this level of education and of the structure of the textbooks currently in use. It also seeks to achieve a deeper understanding of the process through which an “official” form of English is constructed in China, as well as what is considered acceptable in terms of content (Adamson, 2004). The third chapter constitutes the core of the study and presents the author’s analysis of the English language textbooks currently in use in general senior high schools in China. The analysis covers the eight sets officially approved by the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE, 2023) and was conducted using an evaluation framework for foreign language teaching textbooks, developed by the author on the basis of that proposed by Cortés Velásquez et al. (2017). This instrument includes 37 questions designed to examine textbook structure, the organization of volumes, input characteristics, graphic design, and theoretical and cultural references. The fourth and final chapter presents the results of the author’s field research, consisting of semi-structured interviews – both oral and written – with English language teachers from both general senior high schools and international senior high schools, the latter serving as a control group. The primary motivation behind this investigation was to gain a deeper understanding of how English language textbooks are actually used, as well as of teachers’ beliefs and opinions regarding English language teaching in China. Overall, this study aims to highlight the close relationship in China between the English curriculum, the English component of the gaokao, and textbooks.