高中英语教科书阅读短文难易度评价研究An Evaluation of the Difficulty Levels of Reading Passages in Senior High School English Textbooks开题报告

1. 研究目的与意义（文献综述包含参考文献）

an evaluation of the difficulty levels of reading passages in senior high school english textbooks高中英语教科书阅读短文难易度评价研究1.introduction 1.1 research backgroundenglish curriculum is the main way to acquire basic english knowledge and improve the english level of all citizens. in the process of english learning at all stages, teaching materials are not only one of the basic tools for teachers to guide and teach students, but also a direct way for students to learn english knowledge, so its research has practical significance. there are many versions of english textbooks in china. in the research of college english textbooks, qi (2014) found that the domestic research on the evaluation of college english textbooks has achieved fruitful results, and many scholars have begun to use quantitative methods to evaluate textbooks. as for senior high school english textbooks, most of the domestic studies on them are comparative researches between different versions. for example, ma (2014) compared and analyzed the cultural orientation in the reading parts of advance with english published by the yilin press and english textbooks edited by the beijing normal university publishing house. however, studies on the comparison of difficulty level among english books at different levels of the same version are fewer than that between different versions of textbooks. for example, guo (2016) analyzed the readability of reading texts in 5 compulsory books published by chongqing university press and found that the compilation of textbooks generally follows the principle from easy to difficult. shu (1996) pointed out that foreign language textbooks should be compiled according to the principle from easy to difficult. reasonable difficulty level is closely related to students efficient learning. if the content of the textbook is too simple, students will not be able to make progress. on the contrary, if it is too difficult, it will frustrate their learning enthusiasm. faced with such situation, this study takes the compulsory parts 1 to 3 of advance with english as an example to explore whether the difficulty level of the reading part is reasonable. 1.2 aim of the studyin order to make the research results scientific and visual, this study analyzes the reading texts in the three compulsory english textbooks of advance with english from the perspectives of lexical diversity, lexical sophistication and text readability. in addition, the study uses spss to draw a bar chart, which intuitively shows the difference in difficulty level among the three books, and discusses whether the different level among books conforms to the principle from easy to difficult. finally, the study also provides some feasible suggestions for textbook editors to choose better materials and teachers to fully understand and make use of reading passages.1.3 structure of the thesisthis thesis consists of five chapters, the specific contents are as follows:the first chapter introduces the research background, research aim and the overall framework of this paper. the second chapter reviews the relevant literature. the third chapter depicts research methodology, focusing on the four aspects of research questions, corpus of the study, research methods and research process. the fourth chapter describes and explains the research results in detail. the fifth chapter summarizes the main findings of this paper. it reviews the whole research and explains the research results for each research question. this chapter also discusses the limitations of this study, as well as suggestions for the use of senior high school english textbooks.2. literature reviewthis chapter first reviews the previous studies on efl textbook evaluation at home and abroad from the tow aspects of evaluation criteria and evaluation method in chronological order. on this basis, studies on reading passages in efl textbooks at home and abroad are also introduced. finally, the research gaps are summarized.2.1 previous studies on efl textbook evaluation the research on english textbooks at home and abroad has achieved fruitful results, mainly reflected in two aspects. first, the criteria of textbook evaluation. second, the method of textbook evaluation. the following reviews the research process of textbook evaluation by scholars at home and abroad from these two aspects.2.1.1 evaluation criteriamany scholars at home and abroad have conducted in-depth discussion on the criteria of textbook evaluation. foreign scholars divide the evaluation criteria of textbook mainly according to the design and the users of teaching materials. seaton (1982) first proposed more than ten items related to textbook evaluation. but due to too detailed and disorderly differentiation, it leads to heavy workload, difficult operation and lack of practicability. david wiliam (1983) presented a list of textbook evaluation standards. his scoring items include speech, reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary and so on, based on which the value of a textbook can be judged by the total score. breen candlins (1987) evaluation of teaching materials combines various elements such as students learning methods, skill training and classroom learning, expands the evaluator from teachers to students, and the evaluation subject has changed. ellis (1997) put forward the detailed rules from the perspective of student. however, according to ellis s standards, too much emphasis is placed on the status of students, and the needs of teachers are ignored. cunningsworth (2002) pointed out four criteria for textbook evaluation: first, textbooks should meet learners learning needs and goals. second, textbooks should help learners learn language in a real context. third, textbooks should pay attention to learners learning process and should not instill any learning strategies into learners arbitrarily. fourth, textbooks should embody a clear supporting role to promote learners language learning. tomlinson (2012) emphasized that second language materials should be created not only by the author, but also by teachers and learners in a creative process. thus, foreign scholars believe that the criteria of textbook evaluation mainly depends on the rationality of textbook design and whether it can meet the needs of teachers and students.the evaluation of english textbooks by chinese scholars focuses on the national syllabus. hu (1995) pointed out that we should pay attention to the consistency between textbooks and syllabus, and evaluate them by whether the teaching reaches the final effect of syllabus. zhou (1996) believed that teaching materials should reflect the latest achievements in teaching theory research and meet the needs of learners. gao (2002) proposed that the key to establishing the textbook evaluation system is to establish a professional intermediary organization and build a national evaluation network through it. sun (2006) pointed out that the evaluation standard of teaching materials should be based on the actual situation of our country to see whether the textbooks meet the requirements of the curriculum standards, whether they contain advanced teaching theories, and whether they organize the teaching contents scientifically. cheng (2011) believed that teaching materials should be evaluated according to the principles of effectiveness and efficiency. the effect principle refers to that the teaching materials should achieve the expected effect of the textbook editors and the effect of meeting the learning needs of students. efficiency principle means to evaluating whether teaching materials can meet learners needs more effectively than others according to the expected effect. by comparing the research on efl textbook at home and abroad in the past 20 years, hui (2020) proposed that the textbook evaluation from the perspective of teachers and students should not only involve their views on the whole set of teaching materials, but also take into account the performance of teachers and students in the classroom, emphasizing the actual use of textbooks. it can be seen that domestic scholars fully considered the actual situation of our country, and attached great importance to the national syllabus.in short, the background of english teaching at home and abroad is different, and the evaluation criteria of teaching materials are also different. chinese scholars did not copy the existing foreign theories, but summarized the standards in line with china's national conditions.2.1.2 evaluation methodscholars at home and abroad have put forward various evaluation methods. in foreign countries, linguist harmer (1983) pointed out that the method of evaluating teaching materials is to see whether it can meet the needs of learners, which is the basis and premise of judging teaching materials. grant (1987) proposed the method of combining preliminary evaluation, detailed evaluation and in-service evaluation to evaluate teaching materials. hutchingson waters (1987) presented a comparison method, which means the textbook is compared with the subjective requirements of the evaluator one by one, and then evaluated. sheldon (1988) used the method of combining overall impression evaluation and qualitative evaluation to evaluate teaching materials. mcdonough, shaw and masuhara (2013) believed that evaluation textbooks should combine external evaluation, internal evaluation and overall evaluation. forman (2014) analyzed the teaching strategies of three thai college english teachers on culture, lexical semantics and grammar through classroom observation and interview.based on the research results of foreign scholars, domestic scholars have also put forward very valuable textbook evaluation methods. on the basis of extensive reading of foreign theories, qian (1995) introduced the checklist of materials evaluation designed by hutchingson and waters to domestic scholars. she also proposed the following steps to evaluate teaching materials. first, investigate a textbook according to the syllabus. second, collect the opinions of teachers and students using the textbook through questionnaires and interviews. third, compare the advantages and disadvantages of different textbooks. fourth, conduct experimental research on the use effect of the textbook. qiao (2002) evaluated the textbook from both macro and micro aspects with the perspective of textbook compilation, paying attention to the authenticity of material selection and the evaluation of language knowledge. in 2006, huang, cheng and chern in taiwan, china, analyzed the students preferences in using 3 different english teaching materials in eap english classroom by using questionnaires and tests. wang (2006) combined the evaluation of the textbook itself with the evaluation in use to evaluate the textbook, and the former can be divided into macro and micro evaluation. cheng (2011) classified the methods of textbook evaluation into two categories: ad hoc impressionistic evaluation and systematic evaluation. the latter is divided into internal evaluation and external evaluation. lu (2012) suggested to sort out the triangular relationship between syllabus, teaching materials and testing, and build an evaluation method consistent with the objectives of syllabus on the premise of paying attention to cross-cultural communication.generally speaking, there are various methods of textbook evaluation. the methods of foreign scholars on it provide a reference for domestic research, and promote the development of materials evaluation theory in china.2.2 previous studies on reading passages in efl textbooks 2.2.1 research abroadforeign scholars have adopted different research methods in the study of reading passages in english textbooks.arda (2008) made a qualitative and quantitative analysis of different topics of reading passages in 15 different english textbooks, discussing whether they meet students learning needs through the applicability and relevance between topics and students needs. willy (2015) explored whether the english extensive reading textbooks of chinese universities match the evaluation criteria of teaching materials with the text analysis method. lia zeynep (2016) also used text analysis method to analyze more than twenty english textbooks in order to find out the cohesion features in esl reading passages.it can be seen that foreign scholars research on reading texts in english textbooks mostly adopts the method of text analysis. these studies enrich the field of textbook evaluation.2.2.2 research at home the research of foreign scholars on reading passages provides references for chinese scholars. but different from the foreign scholars, chinese scholars mainly analyze the reading texts in english textbooks from the perspective of teaching.ma (2014) adopted both qualitative and quantitative method to compare the cultural orientation of reading passages in senior high school english textbook published by the yilin press and by the beijing normal university publishing house. he learned that although the presentation methods are different, both sets of textbooks reflect the requirements of cultural diversity. zhou (2014) explored whether the reading materials in the senior high school english textbooks edited by the peoples education press are authentic, and found that 80% of the reading passages are from the editors writing, and almost no materials are from native english speaking countries. wang (2015) found that the readability of high school english textbooks published by the peoples education press is generally good, but there are too many super syllabic words and polysyllabic words. guo (2016) analyzed whether the reading passages of senior high school english textbook published by chongqing university press is easy for students to read from four aspects: vocabulary, grammar, topic and readability. she concluded that the difficulty level of the reading passages is in line with the actual situation of students. the difficulty content of reading is basically from easy to difficult, but the difficulty is not considered in the arrangement of the unit. du (2020) found that the reading passages of senior high school english textbooks of the foreign language teaching and research press did not edit new words according to the principle of from easy to difficult through the statistics of new word rate, and put forward suggestions for modification.to sum up, domestic scholars research on the reading passages in english textbooks mainly focused on whether the content arrangement is suitable for teaching, and fully considered the students acceptability in learning. scholars also payed attention to the rationality of reading exercises and the new curriculum standard.2.3 research gapbased on the research on the evaluation of english teaching materials at home and abroad, it can be seen that the domestic qualitative research accounts for a large proportion and the quantitative research is less. it is not common in china for researchers to use data processing software such as r and spss to combine text analysis technology with materials evaluation to achieve a more scientific and digital evaluation result. in addition, the domestic research on senior high school english textbooks mostly focuses on the comparison between different versions, but there is a lack of comparative research on the difficulty of reading passages in different grades between the same version. therefore, referring to the theories of textbook evaluation at home and abroad, taking the three compulsory parts of advance with english compiled by the yilin press as an example, this study uses r4.1.1 to analyze the lexical diversity, lexical sophistication and text readability in the reading texts of different modules, and explores whether the difficulty level is reasonable according to the comparison of grades. referencesarda, a. (2008). topics of reading passages in elt coursebooks: what do our students really read? reading matrix: an international online journal, (2), 70-85.breen, j., candlin, c. (1987). which materials? a consumers and designers guide. london: modern english publications.cunningsworth, a. (2002). choosing your course book. shanghai: shanghai foreign language education press.williams, d. (1983). developing criteria for textbook evaluation. elt journal, 37 (3), 251-255. ellis, r. (1997). the empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. elt journal, 51, 36-41.forman, r. (2014). how local teachers respond to the culture and language of a global english as a foreign language textbook. language, culture and curriculum, 27 (1), 72-88.grant, n. (1987). making the most of your textbook. new york: longman group uk limited.harmer, j. (1983). the practice of english language teaching (4th ed.). new york: pearson longman elt.huang, s. c., cheng, y. s., learner choices and the underlying learner characteristics. journal of english for academic purposes , 5 (3), 193-206.hutchingson, t., waters, a. (1987). english for specific purposes: a learning-centred approach. uk: cambridge university press.lia, p., zeynep, b. (2016). cohesion features in esl reading: comparing beginning, intermediate and advanced textbooks. reading in a foreign language, (1), 79-100.mcdonough, j., shaw, c., masuhara, h. (2013). materials and methods in elt: a teachers guide (3rd ed.). uk: john wiley 教材教法》，26（4）：49-55。

王蔷（2006），《英语教学法教程》。

北京：高等教育出版社。

2. 研究的基本内容、问题解决措施及方案

4.Research MethodologyThe main purpose of this thesis is to explore the difficulty levels of reading passages in the compulsory modules 1 to 3 of Advance with English. In order to achieve this goal, this study uses the data package related to text analysis in R 4.1.1 to analyze the reading part. Firstly, it compares the specific indicators of the reading texts in the three compulsory books in terms of lexical diversity, lexical sophistication and text readability, and uses SPSS to draw a bar chart to intuitively reflect the difference in difficulty levels among the three books. Secondly, the study will explore whether the difficulty cohesion between modules meets the requirements of the new curriculum standard for students reading. Finally, the study provides some feasible suggestions for its writers to choose materials and teachers to make use of the textbook.Based on the research objectives, the problems to be solved in this research are as follows:(1)Does vocabulary diversity in the reading passages across the three books increase from easy to difficult?(2)Does lexical sophistication in the reading passages across the three books increase from easy to difficult?Does text readability level in the reading paragraphs across the three books increase from easy to difficult?