This study investigates an often-overlooked aspect of language teaching: the use of cultural content in a coursebook.
The research includes analysis of teaching materials, interviews, and classroom observations of two senior high school English teachers. Using Remillard’s participatory framework, the study explores the complex relationship between teacher knowledge and practice in managing cultural content in coursebooks. It examines how teachers interpret and apply cultural elements, showing the dynamic connection between their expertise and the cultural content within the curriculum.
Four stages of cultural content interaction across pre-, mid-, and post-lesson phases are identified, along with four influencing factors.
The findings reveal that curriculum materials serve as both resources and catalysts for fostering cultural awareness; they provide insights to enhance teachers’ professional development by effectively integrating cultural content into real classroom settings.
Language teaching aims to improve learners’ linguistic and cultural skills (
Coursebooks are a fundamental part of the curriculum (
In response to the call to learn from materials use education research (
Academic perspectives on the connotations of culture vary. Some definitions have focused on the spiritual aspects of culture. For instance,
Given the different geographical sources of culture, the study of cultural origins primarily relies on the classification methods of
The latest
English coursebooks present different language content in sections, including listening and speaking, reading, writing, and viewing, to cultivate students’ abilities in these areas. Among them, the reading section, a key area for developing reading and writing competence, is one of the most emphasized sections in EFL teaching. Coursebook reading texts, an important part of language teaching development, incorporate diverse cultures and serve as a significant medium for cultural education (
Despite the large number of studies published on second language resources (
Teachers’ research on the use of curriculum materials has focused on different aspects. For example, teachers use curriculum materials in various ways, including offloading, adapting, and improvising (
Two studies warrant particular consideration because of their relevance to the current study. One was the study by
This study adopts
Remillard’s participatory framework posits that teachers and curriculum materials are integrally linked in the design and implementation of planned and enacted curricula (
The participatory framework, which suggests a direct, hierarchical relationship between teachers and curriculum materials, highlights a more vibrant, dialectical, and interactive connection (
The main elements of the framework are teachers and curriculum material. The interactive participation between them urges teachers to develop their own curriculum based on curriculum design. Meanwhile, the process of implementing curriculum development is influenced by teaching circumstances and students. The framework primarily focused on four elements: (a) teachers, (b) curriculum materials, (c) their inter-participation relationships, and (d) the planned and enacted curriculum.
As China embarks on a new round of curriculum reform, it has successively promulgated a new edition of the “English Curriculum Standards” for primary and secondary school teaching. One of the most significant changes was the emphasis on the humanistic educational function of the English curriculum, which clearly proposed the curriculum goal of “cultural awareness. Curriculum materials serve as catalysts for curriculum reform and significantly influence teachers’ instructional practices (
To achieve the curriculum goal of “cultural awareness,” Chinese English coursebooks for certain grades at the secondary school have been rewritten and implemented. To date, all versions of senior high school English coursebooks have been completed and implemented in practical teaching.
Following the intensity sampling principle (
This qualitative approach aims to gather data on teachers’ curriculum practices in their natural settings (
Observation is a powerful tool that allows participants to collect data and gain insights into the classroom (
Textual materials, including teaching resources used by teachers, such as lesson plans and presentation slides. Interviews facilitate the investigation of unobservable phenomena, such as teachers’ attitudes and thoughts (
Overview of data sources.
| Data sources | Designs and purposes |
|---|---|
| Pre-lesson and post-lesson interviews | Teachers were interviewed before and after each class to reveal their instructional designs and the reasons behind their pedagogical changes |
| Lesson observations | Lesson observations were used to capture how the cultural content of coursebooks was used during the class |
| Textual material | Materials that were used by teachers in the classroom |
Since all the data in this study were textual, content analysis was used. Coding was guided by the research question on how teachers used the language coursebook and the factors that influenced their use. Through repeated discussions, we identified commonalities and differences in teachers’ use of language course books. Teachers typically adapt their materials before, during, and after teaching (
By comparing what the teachers said and what they did in class, classroom observations were transcribed verbatim to capture the teachers’ enacted instruction. Furthermore, all documents, including transcribed classroom observations, interviews, and textual materials, were analyzed according to the
All study participants provided informed consent, and participant confidentiality was maintained by assigning teachers anonymized identifiers. Transcriptions of lessons and observational data were shared with participants for member validation.
Based on the theoretical framework, this study examines how teachers use cultural content in coursebooks and the factors that influence this practice. Results from classroom observations, teacher interviews, and text analysis reveal that teachers’ use of cultural content in textbooks occurs in four stages, shaped by five factors. Specifically, these stages are reading and clarifying objectives, evaluating cultural content, adapting cultural content, and reflecting on its use. According to the framework of this study, reading and evaluating cultural content in textbooks are the main steps in teachers’ planning, while adapting the content is central to lesson implementation. Reflecting on the use of cultural content happens during the final stage, when teachers consider their process. Each stage is supported by evidence that uncovers the reasons behind teachers’ decision-making, as detailed below.
The first and foremost prominent stage that emerged in teachers’ cultural content is reading and clarifying objectives. Before implementing cultural content teaching, both participating teachers acknowledged their commitment to reading and clarifying the curriculum teaching objectives from the texts, as evidenced by the following excerpts:
John pointed out that repeatedly reading the text, understanding its cultural content, and referring to the exercises at the end can clarify the text’s teaching objectives and its relationship to the course objectives. For instance, in one of John’s teaching segments, the thematic context is humans and society, and the text type is an expository essay on festival themes. The text mainly introduces the significance of festivals and the evolution of their connotations. Through in-depth reading, John distilled the text’s cultural teaching goals.
Alice believed that the teaching objectives for cultural content should be clarified and derived from perspectives on Chinese and other countries’ cultures, thereby further clarifying the teaching objectives of this cultural theme reading discourse and providing a clear objective foundation for better teaching. Alice distilled out the cultural values and ideological connotations embedded in a reading passage of a world-famous artistic work: first, by the quintessence of Chinese nation’s culture, further illustrating that art knows no borders and that various cultures of the world should each be appreciated for their own beauty and comparing different interpretations of Hamlet in Chinese and Western cultures, this text highlights the unique aspects of the Peking Opera version of Hamlet, highlighting the charm of traditional Chinese art. This leads students to understand and appreciate harmonious coexistence. Second, the text reflects the current trend of cultural communication and integration between Chinese and Western cultures, suggesting that cultural exchange among nations is also a significant means of cultural innovation. We should be adept at embracing and be enthusiastic about innovation.”(Alice’s teaching plan).
Evaluation of cultural content is intertwined with the first stage. In the process of reading and clarifying objectives, both teachers have another important task: to evaluate cultural content and clarify its latent cultural concepts, thereby developing their teaching plan and designing teaching activities that are suitable for their students’ learning level and competence. Teachers’ evaluations of cultural content in textbooks will also involve consulting other resources of cultural content and adding relevant cultural content. Their evaluations influence the development of their teaching plan and also affect the process of adapting cultural content in textbooks.
For instance, John found that, in a reading text. Halloween and the European harvest festival are key elements of the discourse theme, the introduction to their development and origins was very brief. During the reading and evaluation, John finds that there is insufficient information on the related cultural content and decides to search for more on the historical development and evolution of the festivals mentioned in the text. Similar to John, Alice noted that, during the process of reading and clarifying the objectives of the cultural content, she found the reading passage lacked sufficient detail to elucidate the deep cultural concepts in “Hamlet.” Therefore, she decided to search for more materials to supplement the reading text and achieve the purpose of profound cultural concept teaching.
After evaluating the cultural content of coursebooks, teacher will adapt their use based on the evaluation results. As McDonough et al. (2013) demonstrated, material adaptation is intrinsically linked to the evaluation of these materials through use. Adaptation is an inevitable and necessary procedure to ensure a match between the materials and learners (
After reading and evaluating the text’s cultural content, both teachers drew on their existing cultural resources and considered how they understood and learned it. From the perspective of being English learners, they thought about which strategies, such as adding, deleting, supplementing, and adjusting, could be adopted and what cultural teaching methods could be used to teach the cultural content more effectively. When implementing these strategies, teachers also considered their students’ learning contexts and abilities to ensure they are both feasible and practical. Teachers’ adaptation was evident through the introduction of new knowledge or the provision of scaffolding.
Supplementation is a method by which teachers add more relevant information to the cultural content of reading texts and their accompanying exercises. During the first two stages, teachers found that the cultural content of reading texts needs further supplementation and improvement.
After assessing the reading text of Hamlet, Alice pointed out that it was insufficient to achieve the objectives of cultural awareness. Therefore, she searched for additional related cultural content and incorporated it into her teaching plan, thereby advancing the achievement of cultural content teaching objectives. After searching for the text’s cultural content, Alice finds three types of related material: textual, audiovisual, and pictorial. Based on the cultural content in the discourse and considering the students’ learning levels, Alice selected important excerpts from the Western drama Hamlet and the Peking opera The Prince’s Revenge for the audiovisual materials, as well as photos of the Peking opera and Western drama costumes and stage settings. These are used to supplement the cultural content of reading texts, providing vivid and symbolic forms for teaching the abstract value connotations of Hamlet and offering clues for thinking about and understanding them.
Similarly, by engaging in the meticulous process of reading and thoroughly evaluating the cultural content embedded in the text, John embarked on a quest to delve deeper into the multifaceted aspects of the various festivals prominently featured in the reading material. John sought to uncover the intricate details of the origins, developments, and cultural customs of the festivals included in the reading text. In his quest for a comprehensive understanding, he selected the historical origins and developmental changes of four festivals—Halloween, Harvest Festival, Spring Festival, and Mid-Autumn Festival—as supplementary materials for the text’s cultural content. The aim is to provide a dynamic, comprehensive portrayal of cultural content to support the implementation of cultural teaching objectives and the development of cultural awareness.
In addition to collecting and supplementing appropriate cultural content, two teachers also read other sections of the same unit, selecting cultural content from related sections on reading and integrating it into the cultural content of the reading text to enrich and improve it.
Taking the reading text on festivals as an example, John found that the listening and speaking, reading and writing, and video sections were all centered on activities related to different Chinese traditional festivals. Among them, the video section focuses on the Lantern Festival, which students are all familiar with. To activate students’ learning enthusiasm and stimulate their thinking about the connotative meaning of the text’s theme, he decided to adjust the Lantern Festival in the video section as a pre-reading task for the reading text.
Alice’s adjusting related content from other sections within the unit was also employed. Having carefully examined and assessed the teaching content and activity tasks within each section of the unit, Alice discovered that other sections also featured numerous artworks aimed at helping students understand and appreciate art as a unique cultural symbol. Alice decided to use the Starting-Out video as an introduction to text teaching, the ballet
In addition to adjusting other relevant materials within the unit into the reading text, two teachers made timely adjustments to the pre-established learning tasks based on the students’ classroom responses during the teaching phase. For example, during the while-reading stage, John guides students to focus on the central cultural concept of each paragraph, asking them to read and identify the main idea, thereby effectively helping them understand the text’s cultural concepts. However, when dealing with parts where students had difficulty extracting the main ideas of paragraphs and texts, John adopted an adjustment strategy of removing the original activities and guiding students to focus on the first and last sentences of paragraphs, which effectively helped students complete the teaching tasks (John’s classroom observation).
In the post-lesson interview, John reflected on classroom problems and noted that they might have stemmed from unfamiliar festivals appearing within the same paragraph. Coupled with limited time for classroom reading, students found it difficult to grasp the texts’ main ideas. Therefore, John decided to adjust the teaching plan for problematic parts after class and optimize the related tasks.
While dealing with student difficulties, Alice also adjusted the teaching plan, as highlighted below: in the task where the teacher asks students to predict the answer based on the title, students have difficulty answering the question “What does Hamlet refer to?” Alice encountered this situation and immediately adjusted the approach, prompting students to label the photo of a play from Hamlet as either Chinese or Western culture, while the teacher prompts students that Hamlet is a play from… So it refers to… The aim is to present students with the cultural background of Hamlet to ensure they can be guided to the correct answer (Alice’s classroom observation).
After applying the first three coursebook use stages, two teachers began to reflect on their use of the coursebook’s cultural content and gained a better understanding of it. The supplementary cultural content in coursebooks should be directly related to the reading text’s cultural content and align with the students’ learning situation, rather than a broad range of supplementary materials. As two teachers’ excerpts reveal:
In addition to reflecting on strategies for using cultural content, two teachers also reflected on their classroom teaching. They flexibly adjust their teaching tasks based on students’ classroom performance and reactions, reflecting the development process from planning to implementation. For instance, during classroom instruction, students in John’s class demonstrated insufficient text interpretation skills and an inadequate understanding of the connotations of festival values, which led to difficulties in reading comprehension, as they struggled to extract the main ideas of paragraphs and texts accurately. In response, John immediately adjusted the teaching task during class. He chose to adopt a teaching strategy of building “scaffolding” for students, guiding them to read the main sentences of paragraphs and prompting them to focus on the first or last sentences to answer questions, thereby helping them obtain key information to understand the text’s cultural concepts. After class, he reflected that it would actually be possible for students to express their own opinions during the class, although it might take up more classroom time. Through the collision of thoughts from all students, the main ideas of the text and paragraphs could also ultimately be derived.
Teachers do not use curriculum materials in a vacuum. A multitude of factors shape their use of curriculum materials, including teachers’ personal knowledge of cultural content and students’ competence, features of the cultural content of the reading text, students’ issues, and contextual factors. Further elaboration on these factors, together with supporting evidence, is presented below.
In this study, teachers’ personal knowledge of cultural content influenced their use of cultural content. In the interview, both teachers mentioned that the cultural content in reading texts serves as a means of cultural knowledge, constructing a content scaffold to facilitate the achievement of cultural teaching objectives for teachers. By integrating cultural content into the teaching of linguistic knowledge, teachers advance the goals of cultural teaching while promoting language instruction.
Based on her understanding of the drama Hamlet, Alice decided to adopt an additive and supplementary strategy in her teaching. First, she incorporated and supplemented audiovisual materials from the Western drama Hamlet and the Peking opera The Prince’s Revenge during the introductory session to help students intuitively experience and appreciate the distinct artistic expressions of Chinese and Western cultures. This approach helped them understand that the drama
John, based on his understanding and comprehension of the theme of festivals as well as his knowledge and recognition of the cultural customs and values associated with festivals across different cultures, decided to adopt a strategy of supplementing and adjusting the cultural content of coursebooks to develop his teaching plan. Specifically, he examined the historical origins and development of Halloween and the European Harvest Festival to compare the cultural practices embodied in these festivals and gain a profound understanding of their connotations. As illustrated in his interviews:
Moreover, John noted that the text’s existing cultural knowledge still requires supplementary materials to fully discuss the festival’s thematic connotations. This is because the ideological essence of festivals is abstract and embedded in their cultural symbols. Without thorough preparation of rich materials and the design of relevant questions, extracting the main ideas from the text is difficult. John conducted an additional search of the text’s cultural content to supplement the teaching materials (teaching plan analysis).
Teachers’ knowledge of students’ competence is also an important factor influencing how they utilize the cultural content of coursebooks in their teaching. The overall learning atmosphere in John’s class was positive. Based on the core literacy requirements of English, John combined the characteristics of the reading text content, structure, and language to analyze students’ learning conditions in terms of their language ability and cultural awareness. Prior to this lesson, students had already attained proficiency in English expressions for festival introductions; however, they had not yet developed a strong ability to infer and analyze the author’s intentions through detailed examples. Therefore, the teacher incorporated questions requiring students to identify the main ideas of paragraphs in the teaching plan, aiming to train their summarizing and generalizing abilities.
In the post-lesson interview, John stated that his students were familiar with the unit theme, Festivals and Celebrations. The unit text mainly draws on famous traditional festivals in China and abroad, which are closely related to students’ daily lives. However, students rarely consider
During the interview, Alice, like John, noted that her students exhibit a strong grasp of English, active critical thinking skills, a keen interest in learning the language, and effective collaboration with instructors during daily lessons. Nonetheless, she observed a deficiency in their vocabulary, particularly regarding traditional Chinese culture and the arts, resulting in a lack of pertinent knowledge. Consequently, Alice tailored her instructional approach by curating and augmenting cultural resources pertinent to the course material to address these learning gaps.
The cultural content embedded in reading text plays a crucial role in shaping teachers’ use. In interviews, both teachers highlighted that the cultural components in reading texts are instrumental in fulfilling the cultural awareness objectives specified in the English curriculum standards. These cultural elements in reading texts serve as the primary conduit for delivering cultural instruction and facilitating the attainment of cultural awareness goals.
For instance, John’s teaching plan focuses on exploring the significance of festivals. The reading text is structured around various forms of festivals, each paragraph systematically presenting distinct aspects. John strategically aligns his teaching with the text’s core themes, which elaborate on the global prevalence of festivals, the ubiquity of harvest festivals across cultures, the evolution of traditional festival customs, the commercialization of festivals, and their integral role in social interactions. By leveraging the text’s organizational framework, John devises instructional activities that facilitate students’ comprehension of the central theme, thereby enhancing their engagement with the cultural content.
Both teachers tailored their incorporation of the coursebook’s cultural content to suit their respective classes. John, for instance, opted to remove original activities when students encountered difficulties in grasping key concepts from paragraphs and texts during reading sessions. He then transformed this approach into a teaching method that directed students to concentrate on the initial sentences, thereby enabling them to respond to questions effectively.
Alice, like John, adjusts her pre-designed teaching tasks as she uses the textbook’s cultural content. Alice observed that students were having difficulty to compare and compare Chinese Peking Opera and Western drama using still images and knowledge. She changed the task to ask students to choose an option from the provided images, simplifying it, encouraging students to expand their knowledge of the subject, and fostering active participation in the classroom.
The educational context significantly shapes teachers’ integration of cultural content from coursebooks. In China, English coursebooks are meticulously designed in alignment with government-mandated curriculum standards. Consequently, teachers’ incorporation of cultural content closely aligns with the prescribed objectives of these coursebooks. Notably, two high school English teachers adhered strictly to the original cultural content presented in the reading passages, eschewing any modifications. Their pedagogical approach prioritized adherence to the coursebooks to ensure students’ proficiency in the requisite examinable knowledge. This study diverges from prior research by revealing that English teachers opted to enrich the existing cultural content in coursebooks through supplementary materials and adjust other cultural materials, rather than altering them.
In using the coursebooks’ cultural content, teachers demonstrate flexible, timely adaptation. This aligns with the theoretical perspective proposed by
In addition, teachers prioritize clarifying cultural goals and take cultivating cultural awareness as the core starting point, perhaps because coursebook compilation in China primarily follows the curriculum structure and standards promulgated by the central government as guiding blueprints. This aligns with the perspective of
Furthermore, although the use of coursebook exhibits a degree of uniformity, teachers demonstrate considerable flexibility in their use. While advancing the curriculum objectives outlined in the course standards, two teachers adapted the cultural content of coursebooks to varying degrees. This demonstrates that, in implementing cultural awareness competency objectives, teachers have played a relatively comprehensive role in transforming the written curriculum into taught and learned curricula. In this process, teachers’ use of the coursebook’s cultural content is guided by curriculum objectives and influenced by teaching contexts and students. To be specific, despite the coursebook’s mandatory role, teachers demonstrated significant potential to use materials more flexibly, consistent with previous research (
The study revealed that five factors influenced Chinese senior high English teachers’ use of cultural content in the coursebook. Influencing factors include teachers’ personal knowledge of cultural content and students’ competence; the features of the cultural content in the reading text; students’ issues; and contextual factors. In other words, the process of using cultural content in a coursebook has not been simple or linear. Teachers’ use of coursebooks’ cultural content is not merely a singular adherence to the prescribed material, but stems from their own cognitive understanding and interpretation of instructional cultural content. This aligns with the theoretical perspective proposed by
Teachers’ personal knowledge of cultural content and students’ competence are influencing factors, and the coursebook’s cultural content use in this study reflects a “collaboration” between teachers and the coursebook’s cultural elements, jointly shaping teaching strategies that align with students’ learning contexts and classroom responses. This also concurs with Brown’s research findings (
Furthermore, two teachers’ use of cultural content showed a distinctive characteristic that previous research has also paid much attention to (
This study found that teachers emphasize cultivating cultural awareness goals in the new round of curriculum reform when using textbook cultural content, while also paying attention to students’ learning conditions, reflecting a student-centered approach to textbook use. From the research findings, it can be observed that although teachers consciously align the cultural content of teaching with curriculum objectives and strive to implement the goal of cultural awareness in their teaching practices, they pay insufficient attention to the implicit ideological connotations and value systems embedded in these materials. This results in a relatively superficial teaching of the coursebook’s cultural content.
While comprehensively examining the process of implementing the cultural awareness curriculum goals in education in the latest round of English curriculum reform in China, this study effectively addressed the research questions; however, it should be noted that it is inherently small-scale, with a limited scope and a focused approach. The results have inherent limitations, as they cannot be generalized to all language teachers across contexts and educational settings. While insightful and valuable to some extent, the findings should be cautiously interpreted, recognizing that they may not reflect standard practices of all EFL cultural content teaching.
The findings of this study have several implications for teachers’ professional development. To achieve the goals of educational reform, it is essential to foster teachers’ competency in using curriculum materials effectively. Competence in effectively utilizing the coursebook’s cultural content can be fostered at the instructional and institutional levels.
First, for the instructional level, before using the coursebook’s cultural content to develop a teaching plan, teachers should more consciously understand it, enriching their understanding, to help students learn it better. During this process, they should effectively utilize the course book’s cultural content in conjunction with students’ learning situations. Teachers should continuously reflect on and summarize their teaching experiences with the coursebook’s cultural content and students’ classroom participation. This process helps teachers continually refine their use of the coursebook, enhancing their pedagogical design abilities (
The study is essential in two main ways. First, it helps fill a significant gap in research on language teachers’ use of cultural content in coursebooks in the material-based English Language Education (ELE) setting. Second, it introduces a new way of understanding how language teachers interact with prescribed curriculum materials. The results can serve as practical tools to help teachers make informed choices about incorporating best practices and adapting textbook content to achieve their teaching goals and address their students’ diverse needs.
The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.
The studies involving humans were approved by East China Normal University Human Subjects Protection Committee. The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
YM: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. YQ: Data curation, Investigation, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Methodology.
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that Generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
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