Corpus-based Readability Assessment of Chinese Cultural Textbooks for Middle School Students from an English Glocalization Perspective

The localized English version of Chinese cultural material has played an essential role in spreading Chinese culture worldwide. However, insufficient attention had been paid to the readability of Chinese cultural reading materials, and far less to the readability of Chinese cultural reading materials for middle school students. The readability of Chinese cultural reading materials was calculated based on a self-created corpus, considering various factors such as vocabulary, sentence structure, and comprehensive indicators to analyze the readability of these materials in English quantitatively. Two questions were addressed: 1) To what degree are the current Chinese stories in English readable to middle school students; 2) What readability of Chinese stories in English is ideal for middle school students? The results indicated significant variations in readability among the five sets. It also recognized the need for further adjustments and development of the textbooks to better align with students’ grade levels and curriculum requirements. Moreover, it is crucial to enhance students’ engagement with Chinese culture via textbooks. It helped demonstrate the lack of sufficient attention to the readability of Chinese stories in English, and it inspired future Chinese cultural texts designed for middle school students to possess good adaptability in terms of readability.