Work

Analysing and evaluating the bilingual adaptation of English graded readers in China: A social semiotic multimodal discourse study

Year: 2024

Type: article

Abstract: International English-graded readers have been increasingly adapted, rewritten, and localised to cater to the specific needs of learners in different regions. This cross-cultural adaptation of materials has not attracted much scholarly attention, although it is an essential dimension of research on materials for language learning and teaching. The present study explores the textual transformations that occur in the bilingual adaptation of Cambridge English Readers, a series of original fiction books for learners of English, by a Chinese publisher. The analysis is underpinned by social semiotic multimodal discourse theory. Based on the analysis, the study evaluates the pedagogic potential of the bilingual edition of Cambridge English Readers as materials for English language learning and teaching. In doing so, it demonstrates a novel approach to evaluating bilingual adaptations of graded readers. It also shows that the original and bilingually adapted editions reflect different cultures of learning.

Source: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-024-03027-z

Author: Kunkun Zhang

Institution: Xiamen University

Language: English

Topic: Discourse Analysis in Language Studies

Subfield: Literature and Literary Theory

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,690