Cultural content in English textbooks for Chinese higher education: Content analysis, teacher and student perceptions, and classroom consumption

This study investigates how cultural content in the Chinese tertiary-level English textbook series Communicative English for Chinese Learners: Integrated Course Books 1-4 (CECL) (Li & Zhong, 2015, Book 1; Zhong & Li, 2016a, Book 2; Zhong & Li, 2016b, Book 3; Zhong & Li, 2017, Book 4) is represented in the textbooks, interpreted by teachers and learners, and pedagogically enacted in classroom practice. Drawing on Harwood’s (2014, 2022) framework of textbook studies with Production-Content-Consumption perspectives, and on intercultural and critical perspectives on culture in ELT, the study develops a situated understanding of these processes in one tertiary English-major context in China.

Framed as a qualitatively driven mixed-methods case study within an interpretivist paradigm, the research combines textbook content analysis of four volumes of CECL textbooks, classroom observation and interviews. Classroom observations involving 14 teachers were conducted, followed by post-observation semi-structured interviews with 14 teachers and 16 learners.

The textbook analysis shows that CECL provides broad coverage of practical and relatable cultural knowledge, often through personal stories and everyday scenarios. However, its cultural representation is uneven: while some units integrate multiple perspectives and invite reflection on contemporary issues, others rely on static depictions, binary East-West comparisons or insufficiently scaffolded theoretical content. Interview findings indicate that teachers and learners generally value CECL’s cultural breadth and pedagogical potential, although learners find abstract or culturally distant texts challenging. Classroom data show that teachers adopt, add, modify and delete content, exercising context-bounded professional agency while negotiating learner engagement, assessment pressures and ideological risk.

The study argues for more dynamic and inclusive cultural representation, better-scaffolded intercultural tasks, participatory textbook development, and teacher education that supports intercultural literacy and teaching of sensitive cultural content. It highlights cultural learning in ELT as an emergent process negotiated among textbooks, teachers, learners and sociopolitical environments.