The reading abilities of trade and industrial education students enrolled in the six trade and industrial education courses of automotive mechanics, building construction , drafting, electronics , machine shop, and welding in the six high school s of Granite School District were studied in relation to the rated readability of basic textbooks used in those courses . Additional relationships were studied between student reading abilities and intelligence, between course grades and intelligence, and between course grades and reading abilities. The mean reading ability of the 388 trade and industrial education students included in the study assessed by administering the California Reading Test for grades nine through 14 , was found to be 10.8 for the eleventh grade students, 11. l for the twelfth grade students, and 11.0 for all students included in the study . These abilities ranged from ~grade six to grade 15. Electronics students had the highest average reading ability measured at 12. 4, while the average welding student was reading at grade 10 . 3. Thece weJ' <= h4 . -J percent or 87 eleventh grade students reading below their assigned grade level and 60. 1 percent or 137 twelfth grade students reading below their assigned grade level. Little relationship was found between average student grades and their intelligence quotients, or between average student grades and reading level , while the correlation between Intelligence quotient and average reading ability was relatively high. The rated readability of basic textbooks used by the students in the six courses was obtained through the application of both the Dale -Chall, and the SMOG formulas. A significant difference was found between the average reading ability of students and the readability of the basic textbook they were using. Reading abilities of average students in automotive mechanics, electron ics, and welding courses were below the rated readability of the corresponding textbooks . Reading abilities of average students in building construction, draft ing, and machine shop courses were above the rated readability of each of the corresponding textbooks . The following conclusions were drawn from the data analyzed In the study: 1. The reading grade level of students in trade and industrial educ ation courses is more important as a factor in determining a suitable level of read ability for a basic textbook than the usual criterion of the assigned grade level of a course or a student's grade placement. 2. A basic textbook should have the capacity to interest the more able students as well as the slower readers . 3. More effort must be expended to help less able readers understand and relate the vocabulary of a technical type course . 4. Teachers should take into consideration the individual reading ability of students in planning their instruction rather than assume all students to be read ing at grade level. 5. Of the factors used in assessing the rated readability of textbooks, vocabulary was more important than sentence length. 6. None of the basic textbooks analyzed exhibited a progression of read ing difficulty from easy material at the beginning of the textbook to more difficult material towards the end of the textbook. 7. Although there was a wide variation in the mental abilities of students, generally students with high mental ability had a high reading ability. 8. The results of applying a one-way analysis of variance to student reading data from two of the courses , building construction and electronics , which were taught in a ll six high schools, indicated the reading grade level of students was not affected by the geographical area in which the student resided.

During the 1960s, anthropology was an important part of the social studies curriculum. This study explores the question of whether twenty years later, anthropology is still an important part of primary and secondary school curricula and textbooks. To answer that question, the author used content analysis to analyze 13 sixth grade social studies textbooks for their anthropological content. Results of the research indicate that there is very little anthropology in the texts, the same topics and concepts are covered in most of them, and that most of the anthropological material is narrative or descriptive in form rather than theoretical. The exclusion of anthropology from the textbooks would seem to be tied in with the process of textbook production, publishing, and adoption. If anthropologists wish to see more anthropology in textbooks, then they will have to involve themselves in the textbook process.

This historical survey of speech journals and sixty-one textbooks covers seventy years of the treatment of the concept of impersonation within the Art of Oral Interpretation, from 1916 to 1985. The purpose of the study is to investigate the concept of impersonation, synthesize the material for the benefit of contemporary thought, provide clarity for the student, surveying scrutiny for the curious, and finally, provide additional contemporary knowledge in the light of' "a gradual evolution of teaching methods." The essential questions are: 1. How has the concept of impersonation within the Art of Oral Interpretation been treated in the past? 2. How is the concept of impersonation within the Art of Oral Interpretation treated in the present? 3. How should the concept of impersonation within the Art of Oral Interpretation be treated?

Throughout the past decade, numerous texts have been published which claim to be ideally suited for use in a basic, introductory nonverbal communication course. Many authors state that their text will comprehensively cover all aspects of the field of nonverbal communication. Unfortunately, many of the texts cover only a portion of the concepts which have been deemed as essential for inclusion in a beginning nonverbal communication course. With the plethora of material relating to this topic on the market, there is a need for a comprehensive evaluation form by which an elevator could determine the specific method of layout (manner of organization and construction) as well as the content (nonverbal material) contained in each text under scrutiny. This thesis will examine criteria for evaluating texts in addition to listing the proposed method for constructing a textbook in terms of the order in which the various parts of the work are to be organized. The purpose of the thesis is to: (1) identify the specific nonverbal communication components which are necessary for inclusion in a basic, introductory text, (2) identify the general elements of an effectively constructed nonverbal communication text in terms of (a) Content, and (b) Layout; (3) identify the specific nonverbal components which must be included in a comprehensive nonverbal communication text; (4) determine which text, if any, comes closest to meeting the ideal requirements as determined by the evaluation form. The evaluation form is divided into two parts. Part 1 includes material relating to general textbook construction, organization, and layout. Part 2 contains material relating to the nine components of nonverbal communication.

Research shows that pupils experience difficulties with the word problems in their mathematical textbooks. The forms of representations are made visible through the word problems and are vital elements considering the pupils’ understanding of the basic idea of important concepts. The purpose of this study is to provide knowledge about how word problems in mathematical textbooks and their forms of representations can be used by pupils’ as a linguistic tool. Moreover, this research has used a quantitative content analysis where two different textbooks, their word problems and the forms of representations have been analyzed and quantified. The result shows that almost every word problem uses the representation of symbols. Furthermore, the majority of the word problems use the representation of real situations while the representation of picture is less evident. The result also shows that mathematical textbooks can be seen as a linguistic tool for the pupils since mathematical concepts often are expressed through different forms of representation. As a suggestion, teachers’ can complement their mathematical textbooks with external assignments based on the representations of picture situations to develop the pupils’ understanding. / Forskning visar på att elever har svårigheter med läroböckers textbaserade uppgifter. I textbaserade uppgifter synliggörs representationsformer som kan koppla samman med elevers förståelse för matematiska begrepp. Arbetet syftar till att bidra med kunskap kring hur tryckta läroböckers textbaserade uppgifter och deras representationsformer kan ses som ett språkligt stöd i elevernas lärande. Genom en kvantitativ innehållsanalys har två tryckta läroböckers textbaserade uppgifter och deras representationsformer analyserats och kvantifierats.Resultatet visar att nästintill alla de textbaserade uppgifterna använder sig av representationsformen symbol. Majoriteten av de textbaserade uppgifterna använder verkliga situationer. Medan färre textbaserade uppgifter använder sig av den bildliga representationsfomen. Läroböckerna kan ses som ett språkligt stöd för eleven där matematiska begrepp ofta uttrycks genom olika representationsformer. Förslagsvis kan lärare komplettera läroböckerna med egna bildliga representationsformer för att öka elevernas förståelse.

A thesis submitted to the faculty of humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of philosophy Johannesburg, 26 May 2017 / The reality of South African education leaves little doubt that the school science textbook is the primary means by which the „what is taught and learnt‟ in science classrooms is determined. Reports from different countries suggest the same trait. The possibility that not all learners‟ „naïve ideas‟ originate in everyday life has also emerged in the literature along with allusions to the quality of textbooks. If school textbooks are to be blamed, even partially, for learners‟ naïve ideas, a systematic analysis of their subject content becomes requisite. The present study is a systematic content analysis of presentations of foundational aspects of Electrostatics, in approved South African physical sciences textbooks in use after the first democratic elections of 1994, thus representing and addressing three curricula school education has gone through since. The study was perceived as a first step to an anticipated analysis of the entire topic Electromagnetism to which Electrostatics is part of, given its difficulty as has been widely reported in the literature and its status in school curricula. Using the conceptual framework of the Classical Electromagnetic Theory, six foundational aspects of Electrostatics were demarcated for the analysis, targeting the concept charge, its origins, transfer and conservation, the distinction between conductors and insulators, the attraction between charged and uncharged objects, as well as global perceptions of Electrostatics and its place within Electromagnetism. Categorisation tables with theoretically grounded indicators were developed as the primary constructs against which texts were analysed, but inductive categorisation tables emerged from the texts as well. An additional construct was necessitated and developed, the “Organisation of the science educator‟s thought”, based on the notion of a scientific explanation and the nature of scientific models, for analysing links between macro and micro. The analysis revealed that the subject matter content of Electrostatics in South African textbooks is of major concern, giving learners no reason to make sense or develop an appreciation for science, physics in particular. In fact it is not science. The analysis suggests that the long lists of problems revealed, have their origin in two main drawbacks: Firstly, inadequate author understanding of the concept charge, disregarded or misused in the texts, and secondly, author unawareness of the inferred nature of science models, affecting purpose of accounts, explanations and reasoning. Furthermore, certain unprofessional author practices are suggested, such as lack of familiarity with curricula and the content of other topics (not a single link was found), lack of research, and general disregard for learners‟ difficulties, while misconceptions identified in the literature are all communicated in the texts, most explicitly so. The findings suggest that science textbook authors are in need of training. / MT2017

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Although the field of Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL) is still a relatively emerging one, its history runs much longer than we expect. As early as the mid to late 19th Century, Chinese was being shown in way that had not been done before – as textbooks. More importantly, these textbooks were created by non-native speakers. Yet their value as historical documents and as foundation pedagogical resources has not yet been fully recognized. The present study is an initial conversation of four late 19th century textbooks and how they pioneered presenting Chinese to a Western audience. After discussing the theoretical differences between China and the West that led to the need for textbooks, the four textbooks will be compared on how they addressed the aspects of pronunciation, tones, characters and the skills of reading, writing and speaking to their respective audiences. Such comparisons should reveal that by understanding the learner’s perspective and utilizing non-native knowledge, these textbook authors were able to teach Chinese as a pedagogically progressive, learnable language. This study should not only add depth to our knowledge of the historical foundations and teaching precedents, but will also highlight the ways Chinese was instructed and how this can positively impact our modern teaching.

This study is concerned with the methods of textbook selection used in the different states together with the history of textbook adoptions in Indiana.

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