Ideology and Culture Behind an English Textbook for Chinese Universities

Abstract

This article discusses what influences ideology and culture have on the selection of English teaching materials in China and what images of the native speakers the materials project in the minds of the Chinese learners. It first looks back briefly on the history of the use of English teaching materials in the last century and then analyzes the most widely used textbooks in Chinese universities. It has observed that in the last 50 years the selection of English teaching materials has gone through stages, from a coverage of one or two foci to a full coverage of the life of the native speakers. It has been found that ideology and culture influence the selection of teaching materials and these materials in turn reinforce those images in the minds of the learners. For example, the representation of female gender demonstrates it.