Esta dissertação de mestrado, como indica o próprio título, tem como objetivo pesquisar, descrever e analisar a concepção de literatura presente nos discursos dos manuais didáticos produzidos entre os anos de 1970 e 1990. Dentro do corpus selecionado ¾ manuais didáticos do ensino médio ¾, o enfoque da pesquisa se dará nos capítulos em que estes procuram conceituar a literatura. Dessa forma, este trabalho ¾ não pressupondo a existência de uma concepção de literatura fixa, natural e estável, como se esta pudesse ser anterior a qualquer discurso e independente da contingência histórica ¾ parte da hipótese de que tal concepção seria antes uma construção discursiva em que outros discursos são retomados, simplificados, aglutinados, generalizados, etc. Nesse sentido, a perspectiva teórica da análise do discurso, especificamente a que pode ser depreendida da obra de Michel Foucault (A ordem do discurso e A arqueologia do saber), fundamentará esta análise. / This dissertation aims at discussing the concept of literature that can be found in High School textbooks produced between the years 1970 and 1990. The main trait of this research is to analyze the chapters that try to define what literature is. This work - not assuming the existence of a rigid, natural and fixed concept of literature, as if this notion could exist apart from any discourse and from any historical contingence - assumes that this concept would be a discoursive construction in which others discourses are retaken, simplified, agglutinated, generalized, etc. Therein, the theoretical perspective of the analysis of the discourse, specially the one that derives from the work of Michel Foucault ( The Discourse on Language and The Archaelogy of Knowledge ) will lay the foundation of the present analysis.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / Teachers, during various seminars, workshops and departmental meetings, continuously complained about the inadequacy of the grade 9 biology textbook used in the Eritrean secondary schools. Among others, the teachers concerns has provided a necessary stimulus for embarking on this research which sought to determine the role, quality readability and relevance of the Eritrean grade 9 biology textbook, based on the teachers' and students' perceptions. Interviews, questionnaires, Cloze test and Word Difficulty Index were used to collect the data. The interview and questionnaires provided information on how the textbook was being used by both teachers and students. In addition they provided information about quality of the textbook and its relevance to the daily life experiences of the students. Moreover, Cloze test and Word Difficulty Index provided information on the readability of the textbook. The finding of this study reveals that both teachers and students use the textbook as the major source of information. Also, the factors that determine quality of the textbook were found to be poor except the physical features and organisation. With respect to relevance, very limited attempts were made to link biology to the daily life experiences of the students. The Cloze test and Word Difficulty Index show that the students clearly experience difficulty in understanding what they have read. In conclusion, this study makes some recommendation to writers on how to improve the quality of the textbook. The results obtained in this study are by no means exhaustive. Finally, areas warranting further investigation are suggested.

This study examined questions embedded in four high school world geography textbooks to evaluate the degree to which the three components of spatial thinking were incorporated: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking to assess the questions was developed and validated via a survey of a group of spatial thinking experts. The spatiality of the concepts featured in 3,010 questions sampled from the textbooks was analyzed. The degree to which spatial representations and stimuli for reasoning were presented was also measured. Every question was compared against the taxonomy and coded. Inter-coder reliability was measured on about one percent of the sample questions. The results indicated that most questions that required knowledge about spatial concepts could be answered by knowing only simple concepts, such as location and place-specific identity, rather than complex concepts that require the identification of spatial patterns and associations. Not many questions asked students to incorporate spatial representations to answer the questions. Few questions did require creating a new representation. Students were asked to recall memorized geographic knowledge and terms rather than to infer, hypothesize, and generalize. Little difference was found among the four textbooks in that they rarely integrated the three components of spatial thinking into the questions. The research found that page-margin questions involved aspects of spatial thinking more than section- and chapter-assessment questions. Relatively simple concepts and lower level cognitive processes, however, were required in most questions that integrated the three components. The development of questions to help students practice complex processes of spatial thinking is necessary. The taxonomy developed in this research can be used as a guide to design curricular, instructional materials, and questions that incorporate aspects of spatial thinking.

The purpose of this research is to define racialized textbook bias, conduct a content analysis of Georgia history textbooks, and answer the following question: how is race framed in contemporary Georgia history textbooks? A content analysis of nine Georgia history textbooks was completed for grades two and eight. A Du Boisian theoretical framing of race prejudice as the macro-social condition of the micro-social process of race was an integral component of the content analysis. The findings revealed the existence of racialized textbook bias in the form of marginalization, compartmentalization, and omission suggesting the continuation of White supremacy and Black oppression in the process of education in Georgia public schools.

This study examined questions embedded in four high school world geography textbooks to evaluate the degree to which the three components of spatial thinking were incorporated: concepts of space, tools of representation, and processes of reasoning. A three-dimensional taxonomy of spatial thinking to assess the questions was developed and validated via a survey of a group of spatial thinking experts. The spatiality of the concepts featured in 3,010 questions sampled from the textbooks was analyzed. The degree to which spatial representations and stimuli for reasoning were presented was also measured. Every question was compared against the taxonomy and coded. Inter-coder reliability was measured on about one percent of the sample questions. The results indicated that most questions that required knowledge about spatial concepts could be answered by knowing only simple concepts, such as location and place-specific identity, rather than complex concepts that require the identification of spatial patterns and associations. Not many questions asked students to incorporate spatial representations to answer the questions. Few questions did require creating a new representation. Students were asked to recall memorized geographic knowledge and terms rather than to infer, hypothesize, and generalize. Little difference was found among the four textbooks in that they rarely integrated the three components of spatial thinking into the questions. The research found that page-margin questions involved aspects of spatial thinking more than section- and chapter-assessment questions. Relatively simple concepts and lower level cognitive processes, however, were required in most questions that integrated the three components. The development of questions to help students practice complex processes of spatial thinking is necessary. The taxonomy developed in this research can be used as a guide to design curricular, instructional materials, and questions that incorporate aspects of spatial thinking.

The purposes of this research were¡G¡]1¡^to understand the aims of learning content of different textbooks.¡]2¡^to uncover learning content of different textbooks.¡]3¡^to offer feasible suggestions according to the results. This research adopted content analysis approach and interview to analyze the volume 5-8 learning content of different textbooks ¡]Kaohsiung Chien-Kou textbooks , Nani textbooks , and Kingan textbooks¡^censored from Ministry of Education in 2006. The conclusions of this research were as follows¡G 1. Education aims¡G¡]1¡^Chien-Kou textbooks¡GThey put emphases on communication,ethnicism,multi-culture,localism,and culture learning.They should add ability targets in the teacher guidebook.¡]2¡^Nani textbooks¡GThey put emphases on communication,language cognition, and tender regards.They should add multi-culture, localism,and ethnicism.¡]3¡^Kingan textbooks¡G They put emphases on communication and decompressing learning.They should add multi-culture,localism,ethnicism ,and edit language with academic attitude. 2. Education content¡G¡]1¡^Chien-Kou textbooks¡G They put emphases on literature and objectivity.They should enhance teaching aids, and decrease quantity and difficulty.¡]2¡^Nani textbooks¡GThey put emphases on literature,proverbs,songs,pictures,and sentence patterns.They should enhance conversation,nativism, multi-culture,vocabulary,and life practicality.¡]3¡^Kingan textbooks¡GThey put emphases on life practicality,timeliness, pictures,songs, and variety.They should strengthen sentence patterns,multi-culture,and proverbs edited in lessons. 3. Education organization¡G¡]1¡^ Chien-Kou textbooks¡GThey put emphases on mentality,concentric circles rule, and ranking.They should enhance to discriminate difficulty among Grade 3-4,and variety.¡]2¡^Nani textbooks¡GThey put emphases on mentality ,ranking,timeliness,and integration.They should enhance continuation,large unit integration,and variety.¡]3¡^Kingan textbooks¡GThey put emphases on ranking,continuation,horizontal integration,and mentality.They should enhance variety, difficulty link among Grade,and large unit integration. 4. Education methods¡G¡]1¡^Chien-Kou textbooks¡GThey put emphases on steady language teaching.They should enhance multi-alacrity, connection with home and school,and teaching aids.¡]2¡^Nani textbooks¡GThe best character is written by on-the-job teachers. They put emphases on connection with home and school,adaptive learning, and systematic language learning.They should enhance teaching aids and words.¡]3¡^Kingan textbooks¡GThey put emphases on multi-alacrity.The best parts are decompressing and natural learning.They should enhance connection with home and school, and dynamic teaching games. 5. Education assessing¡G¡]1¡^Chien-Kou textbooks¡GThe best character is to combine teaching with assessing.They put emphases on cognition.They should enhance mentality,diagnosis,alternative assessing,the teacher guidebook edition,and add some easy assessing.¡]2¡^Nani textbooks¡GThe best characters are multi-adaption,cooperation between teachers and parents, and formative assessing.They put emphases on mentality.They should enhance diagnosis,alternative assessing,and design techniques to complete assessing easily.¡]3¡^Kingan textbooks¡G Having no pressure and learning easily are the greatest characteristics. They put emphases on technical ability.They should enhance mentality,diversification,diagnosis,alternative assessing, and improve the degree of difficulty. In accordance with the results of this research, suggestions concerning aspects of the textbook publishers,authorties,schools and teachers were put forward. Follow-up studies were also proposed.

Study of Taiwanese ¡§National¡¨ Curriculum in Japanese Colonial Period ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to discuss the foundation and influence of elementary school curriculum in Japanese Colonial Period in Taiwan and to provide further explanations for the manipulation from the power relationships at that time. First, this paper critically reviews those contributions from Marx, Gramsci and Apple to build up the analysis scaffold of national curriculum principles. Then it discusses the role of dominant structures and elementary schools through Taiwanese economic evolution in that period. Further more, it shows the knowledge features of elementary school textbooks by the content of subjects such as Japanese, Moral, Geography and History courses. The results confirm that national curriculum in Japanese Colonial Period in Taiwan provides a platform for ideology manipulation from the dominant, it is not only a set of knowledge content but also something which hiding with the figure of national power at it¡¦s back. Keywords: Hegemony, National curriculum, Elementary school, Textbook

This study aims to investigate various and multiple viewpoints of scholars, textbook editors, elementary school teachers, and student parents on the connection issue between different editions of elementary school textbooks, so as to submit our conclusions and suggestions. The concrete purpose of this study is double: a) What are the multiple voices of the connection issue of different textbooks? b) How are these voices formed? In order to reach the above purpose, the research method is mainly qualitative method, complementing by quantitative method. The study subjects are three scholars, three editors of school textbooks, 18 elementary school teachers, and five student parents. We adopt interview method of qualitative research. According to the introductory interviews, the researchers compile preliminary questionnaire, which is distributed to 160 elementary school teachers in all the 16 counties and cities in the Taiwan area. The last open-end question allows the answerers to write down their opinions, which are then used as one part of data analysis of this study. Finally, we conduct our analysis and discussion by means of incessant comparative analysis and type analysis. Synthetically, we then produce the conclusions and suggestions of this study. The following are the conclusions we reached: 1. The connection between the formal outlines and the temporary ones of the nine-year-through consistent policy causes various connection problems of different editions years ago. Take math course for example. This course is being narrowed and regulated owing to the formal outlines' annual details, which, though brings out a converging agreement, still causes some connection problems, though fewer. Even though connection problems remain, teachers should manage to reduce the problems to the minimum when conducting their teachings, so as to make the teachings more favorably. 2. Because of poor understanding towards the present nine-year-through consistent policy curricula outlines, elementary school teachers can not explain the connection problems to the student parents clearly, which makes the latter take dubious stance towards this issue. The nature of elementary school curricula is of the class of starting point of Burner's spiral curriculum; furthermore, the teaching units are circular through the six years. Thus, the negligent and omitting elements can be redressed to some point. On the other hand, whether students' learning contents are negligent or not will be redressed by the "feedback loop" to rectify the teaching objects and complement the teaching materials. 3. Elementary school teachers with teaching experience less than five years are mostly inexperienced teachers who don't understand the curricula outlines. From our interviews we realize that all kinds of selection tests almost never touch issues concerning curricula outlines. Under this vein, the chance to understand the curricula outlines is relatively meager, which is a warning and chasm for elementary teaching staff cultivation curricula. 4. The connection problems of different elementary textbook editions have something to do with the natures of curricula or fields. Curricula of artistic ability have less connection, which might have something to do with having no tests. "Having tests" tops all the connection issues of different elementary school textbooks. 5. The connection issues of different elementary school textbooks manifest the loose joining of "theory and practice" of teaching, which is the chief cause of the long-term negligence of the outcry of elementary school teachers who really do the teachings. On the one hand, the low professional status and image of elementary school teachers partly contribute to the above phenomenon. On the other hand, many elementary school teachers hold the belief that politics is behind education. In the long run, they feel inactive to all the educational issues. 6. Transfer students have to face horizontal transfer of different editions of their textbooks. Various levels of transfer problems occur because of different transfer times during the semester. But connection problems are not unsolvable. The joint cooperation between elementary school teachers and the publishers of elementary school textbooks still can patch up the chasm of connection.

While debates rage over the relevance and worth of school history, history has been one of the five compulsory subjects up to Ordinary Level in Zimbabwe. However, far away from the corridors of power, it is essential that research be conducted on what school history is for and what represents that which the learner of school history acquires through at least eleven years of school history studies in Zimbabwe. Using the concept of historical literacy as its framework, this study is an analysis of three Ordinary Level history textbooks in Zimbabwe to explore how historical literacy manifests itself in Zimbabwean school history textbooks. In a context of increased government concern over what and how school history should be taught, the study explains how the textbooks that were produced more than ten years ago can still be turned into resources for the propagation of patriotic history, which emerged in the last decade. While conceptualisations of historical literacy continue, I argue for multiple historical literacies, that is, historical literacy which actually takes different forms in different times, spaces and contexts. Thus, what is represented as historical literacy in Zimbabwean history textbooks is not necessarily what historical literacy is elsewhere. This research is a qualitative textual analysis which was conducted in an interpretivist paradigm. I employed historical discourse analysis, question analysis and visual analysis as the analysis methods. The analysis was conducted through an instrument created from the benchmarks of the conceptual framework. The study concluded that despite attempt to push for an activitybased curriculum, historical knowledge, especially the nationalist narrative, is still the dominant benchmark of historical literacy in Zimbabwean textbooks. As a result, the current textbooks can be used, not only for a state sanitised version of historical literacy, but also a version of political literacy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The purpose of this essay is to examine whether the descriptions of Stalin's terror in history textbooks for high school changed from the 1950s until the 2010s. Since previous research shows that textbook content is influenced from different directions and that it dominates in teaching, therefore I want to find out what similarities and differences that exist in the textbooks. The survey is based on a qualitative approach because I want to have a profound picture of the descriptions of Stalin's terror. The results of the survey show that the number of casualties and the descriptions on the famine has changed over time. Furthermore, textbooks also found it difficult to distinguish between terror, politics and ideology. The analysis of the results linked to the theoretical bases, historical consciousness model and history didactic model. The analysis shows that the result always ends up in historical consciousness as the basis for reproducing change and continuity, but in some cases the result has also been connected with historical consciousness of identity formation. In the history didactic model, the result has fallen into the material history teaching subcategories, objective, purpose and classically purpose.