Analyzing English for Academic Purposes textbooks in China: A study of intercultural issues

Bo Hu,Pengfei Yao,Yulong Li

doi:10.15294/elt.v9i1.38259

Abstract

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.

Highlights

In order to satisfy the increasing demand for English for Academic Purposes (EAP) lessons at universities, many Chinese academic publishers have invited scholars to produce new EAP textbooks, or to adapt existing textbooks originally published in other countries, after purchasing the relevant copyright
The current study aims to contribute to the field by solving the following problems: How are the students’ home and target cultures, concerning cultures of learning” (CoL) and contrastive rhetoric (CR), represented in the contents of the chosen EAP textbooks published in China? How do the EAP textbook authors/editors perceive the processing of intercultural differences in the EAP textbooks they designed? How do teachers perceive and operationalise intercultural differences in teaching EAP, in line with the textbooks? To what extent are the challenges encountered by the students related to intercultural differences, and to what extent were they resolved using the textbooks?
Concerning academic distance (AD), each chapter of New Outlook College English Reading and Writing 3 included a section on critical thinking, but these sections lacked explanations in the context of either the home or the target culture

Summary

Introduction

In order to satisfy the increasing demand for EAP lessons at universities, many Chinese academic publishers have invited scholars to produce new EAP textbooks, or to adapt existing textbooks originally published in other countries, after purchasing the relevant copyright. Intercultural issues in EAP is important because, when first introduced to EAP, students from non-Western backgrounds can encounter varying degrees of academic shock (de Chazal, 2014), caused by unfamiliar academic conventions, and different study strategies (Singh and Doherty, 2004; de Chazal, 2014). Both Cortazzi and Jin (1996), and Parris-Kidd and Barnett (2011) employed the concept of “cultures of learning” (CoL) to explain the challenges Chinese students sometimes encounter in international context, and linguists have employed notions of contrastive rhetoric (CR), whereby Chinese students’ English academic writing is influenced by their native cultural and linguistic heritage (Kirkpatrick and Xu, 2012). Sign and Doherty (2004) warned EAP teachers that their students’ intercultural differences can alienate students in their study of English academic practices, as EAP classes are nodes of academic and cultural exchange (de Chazal, 2014) that represent the initial contact zone for international students (Sign and Doherty, 2004)

Methods

Results

Conclusion