臺灣高中英文教科書文化內容之分析研究

Abstract

隨著全球化的發展，英語學習不僅僅只是局限於記憶單字與理解文法而已，特別是當英語的地位已從國際語言成為全球的語言。此外，文化知識的學習在跨文化溝通中扮演重要的角色，而教科書又是傳遞知識的主要工具。但在臺灣，僅有少數的研究從文化的觀點來分析教科書內容。 本研究目的在分析臺灣高中英語教科書中文化內容。為了瞭解不同課綱下所撰寫的教科書文化內容是否有所不同，針對95課綱以及99課綱所編寫的高中英語教科書中的課文與會話部分為本研究的分析範圍，包括了95及99龍騰版、95及99南一版、95及99三民版。會話方面，由於南一版會話的呈現方式不全然是以對話呈現，因此南一版的會話部分不列入分析。 本研究從兩個層面來分析文化內容，一是宏觀文化，指的是文化所屬的國家，包括五類: 中華文化、英美文化、非英美之外國文化、跨文化、共通文化；二是微觀文化，指的是文化主題，包括了七類：自然現象與生活環境、產品、人物與國家認同、發現與工程成就、語言與文學、價值觀與習俗、其他類。 課文分析的結果顯示英美文化在95課綱及99課綱的教科書中，平均來看都佔了最高的比例，但在99課綱的教科書中，由於其他國家的文化比例增加，導致英美文化的比例較95課綱下降。而語言與文學類則是在所有的教科書中佔的比例最高。會話分析結果顯示，共通文化與其他類在95課綱及99課綱的教科書中都佔了極高的比例，95課綱與99課綱會話內容分析結果差異不大。 總結分析的結果，課文部分不管是在宏觀文化或是微觀文化中，所包含的文化類別較多，並隨著課綱不同有所變化；但會話部分並未隨著課綱不同而有較大差異。最後，作者針對研究結果提出建議給高中教師及教科書編寫者與未來相關學術研究。Learning English requires more than merely memorizing vocabulary and comprehending grammar, especially in the era of globalization when the role of English has evolved from an international language to a global English. In addition, the acquisition of cultural knowledge also plays a vital role in the process of cross-cultural communication. Textbooks are regarded as major instructional tools to transmit knowledge. However, in Taiwan, only limited studies have been conducted to evaluate the textbooks from the cultural perspectives. The purpose of the current study is to investigate the cultural content of the EFL textbooks from a historical point of view. In order to observe the evolvement of the cultural content in the EFL textbooks, textbooks based on two curriculums proposed in different periods were analyzed. The reading sections and the conversation sections in the senior high school English textbooks based on “95 Curriculum” and “99 Curriculum” were analyzed. The textbooks under analysis were 95 Nan-I& 99 Nan-I, 95 Lung-Teng & 99 Lung-Teng, and 95 San-Min & 99 San-Min. The conversation sections in 95 Nan-I and 99 Nan-I did not completely take the form of dialogues, so the conversation sections in 95 Nan-I and 99 Nan-I were excluded from the analysis in the present study. The instruments designed to analyze the cultural content in the senior high school textbooks included two coding schemes. One was employed to examine Macro Culture categories, meaning “the target nations of cultures” (Cho, 2002), which consisted of five subcategories: Chinese Cultures, English-speaking Cultures, Non-English-Native Foreign Cultures, Multiple Cultures, and Universal Cultures. The other coding scheme was utilized to evaluate Micro Culture categories, meaning the types or aspects of cultures, which comprised seven subcategories: NPLS (Natural Phenomena and Living Surroundings), PD (Products), PNE (People, National Identity, and Ethnicity), DEE (Discoveries, Events, and Engineering Accomplishments), LLPS (Language, Literature, Proverbs and Sayings), VBCM (Values, Beliefs, Customs, and Manners) and O (Other miscellaneous topics). Based on the results of the reading sections, on average, English-speaking Cultures comprised the largest proportion in the textbooks based on 95 Curriculum and 99 Curriculum, but the average proportion of the English-speaking Cultures of the 99 series decreased significantly, which indicated that cultures in countries other than English-speaking Cultures began to receive more attention in textbooks based on 99 Curriculum. “LLPS” accounted for the highest percentage in the six series of textbooks. With respect to the conversation sections, Universal Cultures and “O” accounted for a significant percentage in the textbooks under analysis, and there was not much difference between 95 Curriculum and 99 Curriculum. In conclusion, reading sections contained various types of cultural content in both Macro Culture categories and Micro Culture categories, and the variation in the textbooks for different curriculums followed the change of the world. However, there was little difference in the conversation sections between textbooks for 95 Curriculum and 99 Curriculum. Finally, implications for high school teachers and textbook writers are provided, and suggestions for future research are made as well.