A Literature Review on Studies of Cultural Contents in English Textbooks for Chinese Senior High School from 2003 to 2018

Since the trial implementation of the English Curriculum Standards for Senior High School in 2003, which lists cultural awareness as one of the five vital objectives in English instruction, studies on cultural contents in English textbooks have increased greatly. The release of the five key competencies which includes cultural awareness in the 2017 edition of curriculum standards led to another surge of textbook research on cultural contents. This study reviews studies of cultural contents in English textbooks for Chinese senior high school from 2003 to 2018 and finds that the studies mainly focus on the compilation and selection of cultural contents in English textbooks. The generalized deficiencies of previous studies like leaky classification framework and loose statistical analysis can offer some enlightenment to future researchers.