National Consciousness in Intercultural Communication Textbooks: Taking Intercultural Communication: A Comparison of Chinese and English Cultures as an Example

The Implementation Plan for the Construction of National Planning Teaching Materials for Undergraduate Courses in General Higher Education in the 14th Five-Year Plan formulated by the Ministry of Education in 2023 emphasizes the importance of national consciousness in textbooks. Under this background, this study draws on the analytical framework of national cognition and national identity proposed by Zhao and Shen. Through content analysis, this study analyzes the national consciousness in the textbook- Intercultural Communication- A comparison of Chinese and English Cultures, with the aim to deeply understand the role of national consciousness. The study finds the following characteristics- reasonable proportion of traditional Chinese culture, diversified Chinese cultural elements, large proportion of English translation of names observing the Chinese traditions, and abundant English expressions with Chinese characteristics about traditional Chinese culture. However, there are also some deficiencies, including the uneven distribution of cultural elements, insufficient content about modern Chinese policies and a lack of common culture. The researcher offers the following suggestions- increasing the number of Chinese cultural figures and cultural products, improving the comprehensiveness of culture, increasing the English expressions with Chinese characteristics related to modern Chinese policies, and enhancing the common culture.