Evaluation of global Englishes oriented features in a Chinese senior high school textbook

Abstract

English now is a global language used by speakers from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and non-native speakers outnumber native speakers. As a result, it has been argued that English language teaching should shift from the traditional model of teaching native English to a Global Englishes language teaching model. Several pedagogical implications have been proposed for Global Englishes language teaching, which can be categorized as cultural exposure and linguistic exposure. As English language teaching textbook materials are assumed to play an important role in learners’ language input, especially in the perception of Global Englishes elements, it is suggested to incorporate Global Englishes language teaching in textbook materials. In the Chinese context particularly, learners are more likely to encounter people from other Asian countries rather than English-speaking countries, and English language learners also set their aim of learning English for global use. This study evaluates to what extent a textbook series Advance with English, used for the intermediate level senior high school students in Jiangsu Province of China, reflects Global Englishes elements in cultural exposure and linguistic exposure. The results indicate that although knowledge of diverse cultures and linguistic strategies are incorporated in the textbook materials, there is limited exposure to how English is used in dynamic, fluid and changing lingua franca contexts by speakers from different cultural and lingual backgrounds. The general implication of this study is that English textbook materials in China should be incorporated with various lingual and cultural English uses in an authentic global context, and that English teachers should be educated with aspects in Global Englishes language teaching.