A Variety of Cultures Represented in English Language Textbooks： A Critical Study at Saudi University

Textbooks material is one of the important issues that are worthy to investigate in order to enrich student＇s engagement and interaction in EFL （English as a Foreign Language） classrooms. In this study, the author argues that textbooks materials used in academic institutions may well take a significant part in generating an active environment in EEL classrooms. It is believed that more opportunities will be created for students to be more involved, active, and able to understand the content being addressed more effectively. Yet, by looking at the textbooks being utilised （at a university context where the author teaches）, one can notice that student＇s culture （Eastern） is to a large extent missing in these textbooks, most of these books instead represent dominantly ＂Western＂ culture namely American and British cultures. This can deafly be depicted by topics discussed, pictures, clothing, names, and many other issues portrayed in these textbooks. This study is an attempt to challenge and problematize such domination of Western cultures portrayed in the content of English textbooks used in academic institutions not merely within Saudi Arabia but also extended to other countries and nations in the world.

A Comparative Study Of New Criticism&Semiotic Criticism——In Terms Of Their View Of The Relationship Between The Fictional World&The Real World

As we know,new criticism is the post—world school of critical theory insists onthe intrinsic value of work of art and focusses on the individual work alone asan independent unit of meaning.It is opposed to the critical practice of bringing histori-cal of brographical data to bear on the anterpretation of a work.To the new critocs,poet-.ry was a special kind of discourse,a means of communicating feeling and thought thatwould not be expressed in any other kind of language.It differed qualitatively from thelanguage of science,or philosophy,but it converyed valid meanings.Such critics set outto define and formalize the qualities of poetic thought and languagege,using the techniqueof close reading with special emphasis on the implicative values of works and on the vari-ous function of figurative language—imagery,metaphor and symbol—in the work.

The Latest Development of Ethical Literary Criticism in the World

The series A Study on Ethical Literary Criticism exhibits key achievements in the major program of national social sciences by scholars headed by Professor Nie Zhenzhao,who are devoted to the research of foreign literatures,studies in philosophy and social sciences,and interdisciplinary study of world literature,who dedicated themselves to the construction of the ethical literary critical theory and methodology with the application of ethical literary criticism in practice.This series organically combine the generality of ethical literary criticism with the individuality of specific writers and combine the theoretical guidance with realistic practicality in academic research,which will be conducive to the development of world literary criticism and region and country-specific studies in the new era.

Intersectionality and the invisibility of transgender health in the Philippines

Transgender(trans)Filipinos are disproportionately vulnerable to health problems because of the inaccessibility of essential healthcare services resulting from the invisibility and exclusion of trans health in Philippine health and related social institutions.Because of the institutional prejudice and discrimination against trans Filipinos in Philippine society,an intersectional approach presents an opportunity to analyze the invisibility and potentially elucidate the unique health needs of trans Filipinos.This article elucidates how the invisibility of trans Filipinos in health is a product of co-existing and interacting prejudiced and discriminatory institutions,such as the law,education,and medicine,where the historical experiences of colonization,the hegemony of cisgenderism,and the impact of capitalism remain salient.By elucidating these co-existing and interacting structures and forces,this article highlights the gaps in the Philippine healthcare system,such as the lack of affirming and protective policies for trans health and the limited cul-tural competence of healthcare providers.In light of these,future research and policy work must work towards inte-grating gender-specific and gender-inclusive approaches,centering the voices of trans Filipinos in health discourses,and decolonizing and expanding the local understanding of trans health among Filipinos.

CHINESE JURISTS＇ MISCONCEPTIONS OF CRITICAL LEGAL STUDIES

Critical Legal Scholarship was first introduced to Chinese legal academia in late 1980＇s, and gained great attentions in the following decade. Later on, however, Chinese jurists showed little interest in exploring more of Critical Legal Scholarship because of their oversimplification of Critical Legal Scholars as indeterminists, deconstructionists, extremists and nihilists. This article points out the typical, gross misconceptions of Chinese jurists to Critical Legal Scholarship, and explores the reasons of such misconceptions. The author of this article hopes that his representation of Critical Legal Scholarship would help to reopen the door for further communications between the Critical Legal Scholarship and their audiences in China. Remarks on how to approach Critical Legal Scholarship further from a Chinese perspective are provided at the end of this article.

Eco-ableism and access circularity in natural building

The climate crisis disproportionately impacts disabled people. Yet climate-related advocacy, planning, and policymaking often neglect to thoughtfully include disabled people. Responding to this gap, disabled and neurodivergent environmental activists coined the term eco-ableism to describe discrimination and silencing toward disabled and neurodivergent people (i.e., ableism) arising in environmental spaces (i.e., eco-ableism). Relatedly, building operations and construction practices contribute a significant percentage of global, energy-related CO_(2) emissions annually, which calls into question the relationships between the impending climate crisis, disability justice, and architecture. Climate-specific, natural building materials and methods present a potential pathway toward a more sustainable built future: low-carbon, locally sourced, minimally processed, and nontoxic materials. Despite a critical overlap, there is little published research on material access in the production phase and human access in the occupation phase of natural buildings. Applying eco-ableism and material circularity in an architectural framework, this research aims to investigate the gaps and possibilities of access, natural material applications, and resulting US natural buildings informed by scholarship in critical disability studies and semi-structured interviews with natural building professionals.

Is colonial heritage negative or not so much?Debating heritage discourses and selective interpretation of Kulangsu,China

Heritage is in essence dissonant,especially colonial heritage in postcolonial nations.Via questionnaire surveys and inter‑views,this study investigates Kulangsu in Xiamen,China,a colonial heritage site mainly developed in the 19th and 20th centuries,to unveil the local government’s authorised heritage discourse(AHD)of the site and how tourists perceive the colonial past of Kulangsu and construct their own heritage discourse(s).Results show that,when considering the colonial history of the site,neither the AHD promoted by the authorities nor the tourists’lay discourses are necessarily negative.However,tension implicitly arises between the tourists’demand for comprehensive heritage information and the authorities’selective interpretation of the site.Although the AHD afects lay discourses to some extent,most tourists expect the authorities to present more complete and neutral information about heritage so they can refect and forge their own conception of colonial legacies.From a critical heritage studies perspective,this tension refects the power imbalance between the authorities and the tourists and reminds the authorities and heritage experts to rethink heritage tourism and conservation in terms of heritage interpretation.This paper,therefore,calls for additional refection on the legitimacy of selective interpretation,which implicates a complex process of intricate reasoning that is underpinned by the power imbalance between the authorities and the tourists,ultimately resulting in an AHD.