It is generally known that textbook is the first and the most vital tool for teachers to proceed with successful English language teaching activities. Hence, it is indispensable for all language teachers to evaluate books critically and choose a suitable textbook. This article aimed to explore the different features of two famous college English textbooks utilized in the researcher’s school of Wenshan University, Yunnan, China, in alignment with the China Standards English framework, and whether the two books satisfied local students’ needs and proficiency. It is hoped to provide an empirical example of textbook evaluation from a Chinese context and inspire local teachers to make possible improvements during evaluating and selecting a textbook. To achieve the objective, a checklist aligned with the framework and a questionnaire was utilized for the collection of comparable data. Moreover, content analysis and percentage were used during the analysis of the two textbooks and students’ perception about the textbooks, respectively. Results of the evaluation indicated that the two books are not aligned with the China Standards English framework suggested levels. Both textbook levels tend to be lower than the framework demanded levels, namely level five and six. Students also implied that the textbooks are accessible and seem not to help their language skills improvement. The recommendation is that these textbooks need to be adapted and modified for the English educational practices to suit local students’ needs and English proficiency to achieve the China Standards English suggested levels.
At present, the phenomenon of weakening of labor education in higher vocational colleges still exists, which is prominently reflected in the lack of labor opportunities, lack of labor awareness, weak labor ability, short working hours, superficial labor cognition, and single form of labor education, leading to the phenomenon of students neglecting labor, rejecting labor, and not cherishing the results of labor, which is far from the requirements for the comprehensive development of morality, intelligence, physical education, art, and labor. This project uses empirical research methods and takes students from higher vocational colleges in Guangdong as the research object to explore the connotation and status of labor education in the context of the new era, the main dilemmas faced and solutions. The project has obtained 1121 valid samples and 5 interview samples. After data analysis, the following conclusions are drawn: First, most students lack labor awareness and have not established correct labor values. (1) Half of the students have relatively short working hours; (2) More than half of the students believe that labor has a punitive meaning; (3) Some students are more utilitarian in labor; (4) Nearly half of the respondents have superficial work cognition; Second, the school's labor teaching system is not comprehensive, and the curriculum is not smoothly launched. (1) The teaching method is dull and boring, and some schools do not combine theoretical education with practical education; (2) At present, there are problems such as single form of labor education in higher vocational education; (3) There is no clear teaching purpose. Based on data analysis and discussion, the project team made the following suggestions: The first is to improve the school's labor curriculum system and increase the resource input of labor education; the second is to cultivate the emotional foundation of labor education; the third is to establish a sound labor education management system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.