In this diploma thesis I look at the Analysis of selected textbook health education through the eyes of teachers who use it in their lessons. The theoretical part of this thesis serves as an introduction to the complex topic of textbooks and lays out the criteria according to which a textbook is chosen. In the practical part I carry out a didactic analysis of the textbook and I present a summary of experience of teachers who have worked with it. The practical part shows that teachers's experience does not differ significantly from the findings of the didactic analysis. The textbook's unusual approach to teaching health education is prominent in both surveys. This thesis aims to help junior health education teachers decide whether and how this particular textbook will benefit their own teaching method. KEYWORDS analysis of textbooks, teaching resources, textbooks, function and structure of textbooks, textbook evaluation

This dissertation discusses the development of alternative science curriculum materials for a secondary schooling context where English, the medium of instruction, is a second language for both teachers and students. The research is located in an interpretative ethnographic framework and the data gathered during the classroom-based trialing of the materials highlights the vital role of language in the teaching and learning of school science. An interactive reading model coupled with a discourse approach to text analysis explores some of the language difficulties which black students experience with their science textbooks. That many students fail to develop adequate reading strategies is identified as lying at the heart of many learning problems. It is suggested that the key to comprehension is instruction from a base of more accessible text materials. Furthermore, although science practical work does not automatically advance students' knowledge and understanding, relevant and contextualised learning activities do equip students to become more self-directed and reflective learners of science.

This basic interpretive qualitative study was conducted to discover why e-textbooks had not been adopted extensively in K-12 education as a replacement for printed textbooks. The objective was to determine the barriers and challenges being confronted by state educational technology directors when introducing this innovative technology in a formal learning environment that could greatly impact teaching, learning, and creative analysis. This research was based on diffusion of innovation theory using a Delphi method of inquiry. The Delphi panel consisted of 12 experts who had knowledge of digital text technologies and were the most influential when making purchasing decisions when introducing new technologies into a K-12 instructional setting. The Delphi questionnaire consisted of 2 initial rounds and the final consensus round (for a total of 3 rounds) that determined the panel's reasoning for the late adoption of e-textbooks in K-12 classrooms. The results of this study clearly identified cost and equipment management in addition to the lack of supportable funding to sustain e-textbook technologies as the major reasons hindering their adoption. This study promotes positive social change by providing decision-makers an opportunity to reflect on the challenges impacting their adoption of e-textbooks in K-12 education so they can work towards a solution. This can be accomplished by appointing visionary leaders on the state and local levels who can develop a strategic plan to initiate the transition from printed materials to digital content that are relevant, flexible, and educational. Thus, new policies could be implemented that would provide funding flexibility to finance the acquisition of devices to support digital content and allocate funding that can help to sustain them.

Teaching the cultural aspect of foreign language education is a complex and sometimes difficult task, especially since English has become an international language used in different settings and contexts throughout the world. Building on the idea that the spread of the English language and its international status in the world has made English an important school subject to develop students’ cross-cultural and intercultural awareness, this paper has studied what research reveals about the influence this has had on cultural representations in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. Findings from a systematic literature review that analyzed four different international studies on the topic are presented. The study showed that EFL textbooks often present stereotypical and overgeneralized representations of culture and that the cultural aspect of EFL education is not adequately addressed since focus tends to lean towards language proficiency. Results also indicated that though steps are made to include cultural representations from different international contexts, the target culture of countries where English is the first language remains dominant in EFL textbooks. The findings are discussed in correlation with the Swedish national curriculum and syllabus.

The Swedish Curriculum for the upper secondary school states that teachers should “ensure that teaching in terms of content and its organisation is typified by a gender perspective” (Skolverket 2011, p. 9). Considering that there is no further information regarding what a “gender perspective” means in reality, this sentence could be interpreted in many different ways. This study aims to explore how EFL teachers deal with linguistic gender equality, and which strategies they use to maintain a gender inclusive language in their classroom. Six interviews were conducted with EFL teachers at upper secondary schools in Stockholm, Sweden. The results indicated that the teachers thought this was an important issue to consider in teaching, andthat they had well-reasoned strategies for maintaining a gender perspective. The most prominently discussed strategies were encouraging reflection and discussion on these matters, and choosing appropriate literature that either would show a variety of different perspectives, or else would question the social norm. However, concerning their own language production, some of the teachers lacked explicit strategies for maintaining a gender inclusive language, which could derive from a lack in knowledge. Thus, this essay proposes that gender inequality in language needs to be more explicitly explored, both in teacher education and in further education for employed teachers. The teachers displayed an ambition to maintain a gender equal language teaching; and would benefit from more explicit tools to realize that.

Η παρούσα εργασία έχει ως κύριο στόχο να αναδείξει την επιρροή των σχολικών βιβλίων στη διδασκαλία και τη μάθηση των μαθηματικών, μελετώντας ως κύριο θέμα την παρουσίαση της έννοιας του ορίου. Προς το σκοπό αυτό αξιοποιούνται τρία σχολικά βιβλία που διδάσκονται σήμερα (2012 – 2013) στα ημερήσια γενικά λύκεια και στα ημερήσια επαγγελματικά λύκεια (ΕΠΑ.Λ.) της Ελλάδας και ένα ακόμη που διδασκόταν μέχρι τα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1990, στα γενικά λύκεια της Ελλάδας. Η εργασία χωρίζεται σε τρία κύρια μέρη. Στο Α΄ μέρος παρουσιάζεται ένα πείραμα μικρής κλίμακας, με σκοπό να αναδειχθεί η δύναμη επιρροής των σχολικών βιβλίων στη διαδικασία της μάθησης. Περιλαμβάνεται επίσης και μία σύντομη ιστορική αναφορά στην εξέλιξη των επ’ άπειρον διαδικασιών στα Μαθηματικά. Στο Β΄ μέρος παρουσιάζονται κάποια από τα ερευνητικά θεωρητικά σχήματα μέσω των οποίων μελετάται η κατανόηση μαθηματικών εννοιών, καθώς και η επίδραση του ανθρώπινου παράγοντα (πεποιθήσεις, κοινωνικό περιβάλλον της τάξης, «διδακτικό συμβόλαιο») κατά τη διδασκαλία και την πορεία προς την κατανόηση. Ακόμη αναφέρονται κάποιες ειδικές παρατηρήσεις επί της διδασκαλίας της έννοιας του ορίου. Το Γ΄ μέρος περιλαμβάνει την παρουσίαση της γενικής φιλοσοφίας που διαπνέει τα σχολικά βιβλία εστιάζοντας στην παρουσίαση της έννοιας του ορίου. Το τελευταίο τμήμα αυτού του μέρους περιλαμβάνει επίσης σχολιασμό της παρουσίασης των βιβλίων, αξιοποιώντας το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο του Β΄ μέρους της εργασίας. / This dissertation’s main purpose is to point out the influence of school books in the teaching, and the learning of mathematics. It focuses on the presentation of the limit concept. For this purpose three school books that are in use today (2012 – 2013) in “general high schools” and in “professional high schools” of Greece are utilized. Also another one that was used until the late 90’s in “general high schools” in Greece. This dissertation is divided in three main parts. In part A΄ a small scale experiment is presented, in order to mark out the influence of school books in the teaching and learning of mathematics. In this part a brief historical reference is also included on the evolution of Calculus. In part B΄ research theoretical frameworks that analyze the conceptual understanding are presented, as well as the influence of social factors (beliefs, social classroom environment, “didactical contract”) in the reality of the mathematical classroom. In addition some specific observations related with the teaching of the limit concept are mentioned. Part C΄ refers to the general philosophy that governs the presentation in school books and the limit concept in particular. The last section presents the books through the lenses of the theoretical background in part B΄ of this dissertation.

Anti-racist legislation and education reforms for the past two decades in Brazil have required that curriculum in all basic education combat prejudice and racism and promote critical thinking of the nation's past and current ethnic-racial relations in an effort to construct a society that is more democratic, equal, and just. In response to the reforms, textbooks have been rewritten. This study analyzes one high school history textbook series that was approved by Brazil in 2012, and asks: How, and to what extent, do these new high school history textbooks address critical reflection on race and racism in Brazil? Using qualitative content analysis, I coded the above series for its attention in these matters. My findings reflect that though there are a number of cases where racism in Brazil was admitted, more explanation on the content on racism is needed, the content was too vague, or it lacked necessary details to make its analysis more informed for student reflection.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Linguistics / Master / Master of Arts in Applied Linguistics

Learning Mathematics in English is proved to have posed considerable challenges for many Hong Kong students who enroll in an EMI (English as the medium of instruction) curriculum. Solving Math word problems in English, still less, poses even greater challenges due to the high language demand involved for ESL students to understand the verbal text and conduct problem solving. Studies have shown that students generally perform worse in solving Math word problems than in solving problems with purely mathematical form. And this difficulty is even more pronounced for English learners. To help Hong Kong ESL students enhance their Math problem-solving skill in English, the current study conducts a genre analysis of the Math word problems chosen from four EMI mathematics textbooks most widely used in junior secondary classrooms. The analysis is a corpus-based one consisting of a linguistic analysis of the language moves and linguistic features in verbal text and a visual analysis of the Math visual presentations as to how they work with verbal text in meaning making. In the study, the linguistic analysis identifies 6 language moves and move patterns commonly used in the word problems, with move-specific linguistic features also examined to help students better distinguish each move. Since linguistic features vary greatly among content areas, linguistic features associated with each content area are also examined to cater to content-based difference. On the other hand, the visual analysis identifies 5 types of visual presentations in the word problems examined. By quantitatively calculating the number of each visual type, the study identifies the dominant visual type(s) in different content areas and further investigates each visual type’s visual-linguistic relationship according to the extent to which these visual take on the role of verbal text in meaning making. With the above findings of the linguistic and visual analysis of Math word problems, the study generates important pedagogical implication for the EMI Math learning and teaching in the junior secondary context and contributes to the development of language across curriculum in Hong Kong schools. Limitations of the study are discussed at the end of dissertation, followed by a list of implications for future research. / published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

Over the years there have been many criticisms of the contents of basal reading series. This study sought to describe the contents of basal readers by analyzing the student reading materials contained in the books for grades one, three, and five of three current basal readers, published by D. C. Heath, Houghton Mifflin, and Silver, Burdett, and Ginn. It determined the amount of material written for the basals and the amount of material originating in other literature sources. It also described the amount and types of adaptation to the text and visual displays in material that originated elsewhere. Further, it calculated the amount of material that was classified into each of seven literature genres and six writing types using number of selections, pages, and words as units of analysis. While other researchers have each investigated some of the points examined here, none has explored all and none has used all three units of analysis to describe the contents of basal readers. Each of the student reading selections was analyzed as to the number of pages and words and then classified into the following categories: written for the basal or taken from other literature sources, one of seven literature genres or an added reading instruction category, and one of six writing types. Material that had its origins outside the basal reader was located and compared to the basal version with notations for each adaptation to text or visual display. The adaptations were classified into twenty two different types of text adaptation or six different types of visual display adaptation. While less than half of the reading material was created expressly for the basal readers examined, most of the material from other literature sources was adapted in some way. The largest category of adaptation was deletions. Overall, while there were selections in each of the categories for literature genre and writing type, the distribution was uneven. For almost all of the points examined, individual differences were found among the three reading series and the grade levels in all of the means of analysis.