LUXIN YANG (BEIJING FOREIGN STUDIES UNIVERSITY)
DONG YU DORA LI (Beijing Foreign Studies University)
HONGJING LIAO (Beijing Foreign Studies University )
CHANGCHENG DUAN (Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press)

EXAMINING FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS AT BASIC EDUCATION IN CHINA: CONTENT, UTILIZATION AND DATABASE : MATERIALS DESIGN

Foreign language (FL) textbook research has drawn increasing attention among scholars in recent years. The research on FL textbooks in basic education stage is of great importance for the critical role that FL textbooks play in facilitating foreign language learning of target students. This symposium consists of 4 presentations. Three of them are studies on school FL textbooks from the perspective of content, utilization and cultural education respectively and the other one is on textbook database construction and application. The first study explored the challenges of three high school EFL teachers in Beijing in utilizing the textbooks with the emphasis on nurturing the development of students’ subject core competences. The findings suggest teachers face challenges in professional skills and student needs, suggesting a need for better resources and training. The second study analyzed the impact of cultural content in Chinese secondary school English textbooks on student cultural awareness and examined teacher utilization of these materials in teaching. It offers insights on using textbooks in cultivating students' cultural awareness. The third study compared visual images in Chinese and American elementary English textbooks, evaluating their representations, interactions, and educational functions, with implications for intercultural educational practices, textbook design, and visual literacy enhancement. The fourth study examined the construction process of a foreign language textbook database and developed a set of standardized norms for FL textbook database construction. The findings provide implications for constructing textbook databases as well as textbook administration and research.

Professor of Applied Linguistics of School of English and International Studies and Associate Director of the National Research Center for Foreign Language Teaching Materials, Beijing Foreign Studies University. Her research interests include foreign language curriculum and instruction, foreign language teacher education, and academic literacy development.

Assistant Professor of China National Research Center for FL Teaching Materials/School of English and International Studies, Beijing Foreign Studies University. Her research interests include foreign language curriculum and instruction, foreign language education, and foreign language teaching material development.

Associate Professor at the School of English for Specific Purposes, Beijing Foreign Studies University. Her current research interests include intercultural education, foreign language teaching and learning, educational evaluation, and mixed methods research.

Deputy Director of Higher English Education Publishing of Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, Secretary of China English Language Education Association. Her research interests include foreign language teacher education, English teaching, and foreign language academic publishing.