THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF COMPULSORY ENGLISH TEXTBOOK EVALUATION BASED ON BYRAM’S INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE (ICC) IN ALIGNMENT WITH CHINESE ENGLISH CURRICULUM STANDARD (CECS) EDUCATIONAL POLICY

This paper aims to clarify the theoretical framework of compulsory English textbook evaluation based on Byram’s intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in alignment with the Chinese English Curriculum Standard (CECS) educational policy. The prospect of English language education has undergone significant transformations recently by reflecting the evolving demands of an increasingly interconnected world. Particularly in the context of globalization, English language education has evolved from being primarily focused on language competency to covering broader competencies. As one of the most outstanding opponents in this globalized context, China acknowledges the important role of English proficiency in areas such as international economics and intercultural communication. To highlight these demands, the Chinese English Curriculum Standard (CECS) was developed as a comprehensive framework that governs English language instruction across the nation’s education system (Wang & Liu, 2019). At the same time, Byram's intercultural communicative competence (ICC) is an important global cross-cultural theory, where the cross-cultural understanding is consistent with the intercultural content in the CECS framework.