Chapter 17

Cultures of Learning in Three Language Coursebooks in China:‘ Read with Your Heart’

‘Listen and Check’‘Fill in the Blank and Use the Language’

Qu Jiangqiong and Tan Bee Tin

Presented by:Maryam Heidary

Sajjad Ghadamyari

As scholars have noted language teaching materials are carriers of cultural messages. Almost every thing in a coursebook is capable of carrying information. Such information can be embedded in informative or descriptive text materials, text presenting the attitudes and values of culyural group ,dialogues, vocabulary, communicative functions, illustrations, activities and instructions for teachers and learners.

Cortazzi and Jin (1996)use the term “culture of learning” in their study, referring to behavior in language classrooms. According to them, much behaviour in language is set within taken-for-granted frameworks of expectations attitudes values and beliefs about what constitutes good learning, about how to teach or learn, wheather or how to ask questions, what textbooks are for, and how language teaching relates to broader issues of the nature and purpose of education.

• This term “culture of learning” has been used by other researchers. Hu for example, uses the term to refer to ‘a whole set of expectations, attitudes , beliefs, values, perceptions, behaviors that are characteristic of a society with regard to teaching and learning’.

• The present study investigates cultures of learning as reflected through three different types of language teaching materials used in China and aims to address the following research questions:

• What are the differences and similarities in terms of cultures of learning reflected in the various components of three language coursbooks?

The study

To answer the research question, three coursebooks (i.e. Chinese, English and get together book1),including their corresponding teachers’ books , are selected.

A)It’s designed for secondary school students.B)It’s used by students to learn Chinese as their mother tongue.C)The main purpose of this book is to improve learners’ language ability, to

enrich their cultural knowledge and to help learners meet the educational requirements set by Ministry of Education.

Chinese:

The book contains :1)Five units

Each unit is divided to:

Six sections , all of them related to reading. All six sections have similar theme. Each reading sections is organized in a similar way It starts with a brief introduction about the topic and also about the

major of theme of the unit The reading text is then followed by a number of task

At the end of each unit , there is also an integrated section which focus on speaking , writing , extensive reading and language awareness.

2) Followed by ten Chinese poem .

3)Three well-known articles.

4)An appendix of Chinese calligraphy, which is provided for learners interested in reading and handwriting.

Number of tasks: Students should look for examples of texts similar to which they have read in every day texts such as advertisement.

English:It’s used for secondary school students.It’s used as a foreign language teaching book.It reflects task-based language teaching theory.It’s adapted from the original “go for it”. It contains:1)Ten units. Each unit is divided into two sections:1)A 2)B Each sections starts with a listening task and ends with a speaking task. At the end of each unit , there is a ‘self check’ section which mainly focuses on

vocabulary.

2(A review unit is provided after students have completed the whole book.

3(A pronunciation table and a vocabulary list with Chinese explanations are attached at the end of student’s book .

The major source of learning content in ‘English’ is listening texts, while reading texts are used as a main source of learning content in ‘Chinese’ .

Get together: It is an American English coursebook.

It is for secondary school students. It’s used for private language schools which take language as a second

language The main purpose of this book is to encourage students to acquire a thorough

(complete) grounding in language while developing vital communication skills.

The book is includes : Sixteen units :

1)Each unite is divided into 3 sections

A. Each unit starts with listening task accompanied by their transcriptions.

B. The language focus section is concerned with the grammar point which the

listening text features.

C. The final section is a speaking task where students work in groups using the main

language coverd in the unit.

Every two units are followed by one “Rewind” unit . Grammar at a Glance, Pluse practice and Wordmaster are provided at the end of the book.

a. Listeningb. Focus on languagec. speaking

The unit structure in “Get Together” is similar to “English” in its emphasis on listening and speaking activities . No reading texts are used in the unit. However , in “Chinese” reading plays a major role .

While “Chinese” and “English” have their origin in a Chinese education contexts, “Get Together” has its origin in in what Holliday calls a “BANA” context (Britain, Australasia and North American ) .

This study is interested in examining to what extent these three books are similar and different in terms of the culture of learning embeded in various components of the books.

To reveal the underlying expectations , attitudes and beliefs about what constitutes (makes) good learning and teaching and how good learners and teachers should behave, this paper has examined both external and internal aspects of the student’s book as well as the preface and guidance for teaching in the teacher’s book .The following procedure was adopted:Suggested by the frameworks , the physical aspects of the three books (such as

introduction , layout of the student’s book table of content, etc. ) were examined and external features of these aspects were identified. Cultures of learning based on these features were interpreted.

Detailed analyses of two selected units in terms of their task instructions were conduced. Cultures of learning represented through instructions were interpreted.

To reach the comprehensive picture of the book, the concept of culture of learning was used as a criterion to examine all the visual images and contents in the whole book . The underlying beliefs and views of good learning and teaching were interpreted.

Finally , the preface and guidance for teaching the selected units in the teacher’s book were looked at and appropriate evidence was used to triangulate (investigate in terms of different criteira) the claims from the student’s book.

Following Littlejohn’s definition ,various external features of the three are examined. Examples of such external features include :aims and objective specified in the introduction of the students’ book , tables of content in the students’ book and the layout of the students’ book.

A comparison of the aims of the three books suggests that all three books emphasize the role of cross-curricular or/and cross-cultural knowledge in language learning .

Cultures of learning promoted through the external features of the book

“Chinese” has the idea of an inseparable relationship between “Chinese” learning and cross-curricular and cross-cultural knowledge in many aspects of the students’ book as well as the teacher’s book. The material writer explicitly states in the preface of the students’ book that Chinese language is closely related to other subjects such as history , geography and biology . Learning Chinese is like learning other subject.

“Getting together” also thinks that cross-curricular activities and projects can facilitate language learning, although it seems to believe that culture learning in language mainly involves learning the target culture(e.g. the contents and visual images mainly reflect target culture) compared with “Chinese” and “Getting Together” , “English” emphasize the importance of integrating local culture into the target language culture ( i.e. integrating Chinese culture into Western culture)

Such beliefs are also reflected in the content and activities of the three books .For example, in unit 5 in “Chinese” all the articles focus on the topic of animal , learners can access cross-curricular knowledge in the process of language learning. Meanwhile as these articles are written by both Chinese and Western writers and therefore can entail different cultural knowledge. Or “English” seems to target localization of context for language use by using local visual images ( e.g. lanterns chopsticks , a dragon picture and traditional Chinese dress in the illustration for ‘ I’d like some noodles ’)

Several findings emerge from the analysis of task instructions found in the selected unit of the books.

Cultures of learning reflected in the task instructions in the selected unit

The instructions in “Chinese” provided learners with descriptive lead-in information about the topic/theme of the unit before students are asked to read the texts . Effective learning and reading are associated with understanding and reflecting on the beauty and moral value associated with the topic of the text .

( e.g. she receives Nobel prize twice , but she treats herself as a normal person. If you want to know how to be a true scientist . Read the short article. Read with your heart instead of your eyes; make your hear close to this great crystal heart.

Instructions in “Chinese” : ‘read with your heart’

Instructions in “Chinese” also emphasize the role of repetition , imitation reading aloud in learning as reflected in the following example:

The poet uses lots of meaningful metaphors in the poem. Imitate the first paragraph to write several metaphors.

Reading aloud repeated reading are regarded as contributing to deeper understanding . Imitating a good model is an important step to be taken before the production of one’s own work . Good language learning is viewed as intensive reading of texts and commentary , to be accompanied by ‘ refined reflection’.( Repeated reading is considered important in learning and it’s the prerequisite of deep understanding and reflective thinking ).

The instruction in “English” covers a wide range of skills ,although the emphasis is put on listening. Unlike “Chinese” , students are not provided with descriptive information about value of the topic before listening to the text.

Listening and reading are promoted not as a spiritual activity to illustrate one’s mind but as a goal-oriented , instrumental activity to perform a pedagogical or communicative task. The goal of reading and listening is to check one’s understanding about the factual content to perform a pedagogical task or a communicative task.

E.g.

A) Listen and repeat

B) Listen and circle the numbers you hear

C) Listen and match the names month and dates.

Like “Chinese” listening and reading are also regarded as preparatory steps to be taken before students produce their own conversation or written texts.

Learners are encouraged to exchange information with other learners rather than reflects on the topic on one’s own.

Every unit in “English” ends with a self-check task ,because self monitoring and evaluating one’s learning outcome are important for good learning.

E.g. :

1)Key word check : check (√)the words you know.

2)Write five new words in your vocab-builder.

The instruction in “Get together” like “English” cover a wide range of language skills. No detailed information about the topic is given before listening and reading tasks.

Students use certain language structures to perform a communicative or a pedagogical task.

“English” and “Get together” emphasize the goal-directed .

One distinct feature of “Get together ” is that every two units are followed by one “rewind” , which provides special sections for review , consolidation(becoming stronger and better) and regular progress checks. This indicates that effective learning is closely associated with frequent review and consolidation.

Instructions in get together: ‘Fill in the blank’ and ‘ use the language’

By contrast , “English” and “Chinese” don’t have such “rewind” units at regular intervals. There is only one review unit at the end of “ English” and there is no review unit in “Chinese”. But in these books review and revision seems to be integrated into each unit instead .

A close examination of the content of the three books indicates that: 1)How best to learn language .

2) How teachers and learners should behave in the language classroom

Several texts and instructions in “Chinese” explicitly express the view of strong relationship between successful learning and cumulative (gather) effort and hard work.

Cultures of learning reflected through the visual images and the content of the three books

Finally , examining pictures of classrooms in “Get together” and “English” , we can find that the view of the ideal learning environment for effective learning and teaching differs significantly.

As shown in these two figures , the learning environment is more relaxed in “Get together” than in “English” . Learners can eat and pets can stay in the classroom when the teacher is teaching in “Get together” .While both teacher and students behave formally in “English” .Visual images play very important roles in facilitating language learning in “English” and “Get together” and they are not for decorative purposes. Students use these images to perform the task.

“Chinese” , in contrast , rarely uses visual images and pictures . If there is a picture there , the purpose of the picture is purely decorative.

The boy is shown for a decorative purposes. While in two other books the visual elements are used to stimulate learners’ linguistic purposes.

This section compares the information given in the teacher’s books of under-the-study books. One striking note is the difference in terms of the length of information given in the teacher’s books.

Cultures of learning reflected through instructions in teacher’s books

Title/SB vs. TB SB TB

CHI.(Unit 1) 23 52

ENG.(Unit 10) 6 10

GT.(Unit 2) 4 4

The instructions in ‘English’ SB are very brief whereas teachers are provided with elaborated instructions and information in ’English’ TB for the same unit. Task instructions in SB are so brief that students must rely on teacher to do the tasks.

Information of TB:

Answers to activities

Transcriptions of the listening tasks

Elaborated version of instructions of SB

What teachers are asked to do in class?

Get students to read aloud the dialogue

Repeat the task( play a recording twice)

Check and correct student

Similarly, the instructions for teachers in unit 1 of “Chinese” give detailed information on how to teach and what to teach in the classroom. To give an example of how detailed the information is, the summary of information given for reading text 1 is two pages long.

In contrast, “Get Together” (Tb) is the same length as the student’s book. Teachers are merely provided with some extra information concerning possible procedures to be adopted in teaching the unit.

Correction Culture

In “English”, although there is an opportunity for working with a partner for correction, teacher-led correction is encouraged (‘help students make corrections ’, raise your hands and I will help you’). This again confirms that “English” promotes the view that the teacher is the knower, provider and corrector of knowledge. In contrast, the instructions in the teacher’s book of “Get together” don’t put such emphasis on teacher-led correction. Although teachers are reminded to “check answers”, no instructions are given concerning the teacher’s correction of students’ errors. “Get together” seems to promote a more tolerant view of errors.

C O N C L U S IO N

There are some similarities and differences between all three books. One similarity shared between all is the use of curricular and cultural

knowledge as a resource for language learning, noting that there are differences in terms of the cultural knowledge selected(target, local).

The common features between ‘Get together’ and ‘English’ The emphasis on verbal alertness rather than mental alertness The use of visual images for learning rather than for decorating The ‘utilitarian’ or ‘transactional’ view of language learning: Using language to

fill information gaps and perform communicative tasks

Unique features distinguishing ‘Chinese’ from other books: Emphasis on mental alertness Reflection on spiritual and moral determination in learning Confucian tradition: “Memorizing, understanding, reflecting and questioning are the

basic components of learning in traditional Chinese education.”