This paper examines the extent to which the intercultural speaker is promoted through intercultural contacts in five Tunisian EFL textbooks produced in five different periods in the history of ...English language teaching in Tunisia. Using content analysis, the study evaluated the textbooks' representation of intercultural contacts in texts and activities. The results revealed that intercultural contacts were limited in frequency and variety in both contents and activities, and that textbooks were mainly meant to teach language forms and language skills. Despite being designed in different periods and using different teaching methods, textbooks did not differ in their representation of contacts and their potential to develop the intercultural speaker's competencies in learners. It is suggested that more importance should be given to intercultural contacts in the current textbook series to make them more responsive to learners' increasing needs for intercultural communication skills.
This study employs textbooks and legitimacy theories to examine the complexity of legitimizing China's textbook reform, planned since 2012, for three ideologically-laden subjects (Chinese language, ...History, and Morality and Law). Specifically, it explores why, to whom, and how China's Ministry of Education legitimized this textbook reform, which conflicted with previous textbook policy and official knowledge but echoed changes of governance during President Xi Jinping's terms. These questions were answered with a documentary analysis drawing on public primary and secondary resources. The study argues that the textbook reform was more for political than educational purposes. Specifically, to justify these changes, the Ministry addressed concerns about textbook quality to gain public acceptance and showed political correctness to seek Xi's endorsement. However, the Ministry used coercion to subordinate the former to the latter when promoting and implementing new textbooks highlighting Xi's vision for and views on China's development. This suggests that displaying political loyalty and correctness trumps public accountability in China's governance and education.
Reading is an integral part of chemistry education. The language of chemistry plays a major role when reading chemistry texts and textbooks. Reading textual and non-textual explanations impact ...students' understanding of chemistry texts and textbooks. In our review we outline the importance of reading texts and textbooks in chemistry education. We offer different points of view to look at textbook research (conceptual, socio-historical, textual, non-textual) and reading research (readability and comprehensibility) and focus on reading research on textual and non-textual explanations. We point out two major shifts in research interests on texts, textbooks and reading: from readability to comprehensibility and from textual to non-textual explanations. We consider research from the 1950s until today and analyse literature concerning elementary, secondary and tertiary science and chemistry education. Finally, we review ideas for encouraging reading and conclude by presenting recommendations for chemistry education researchers and chemistry teachers on how to improve reading in chemistry education.
The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) textbook serves as a comprehensive resource for bariatric surgery, covering recent advancements and clinical questions. Testing ...artificial intelligence (AI) engines using this authoritative source ensures accurate and up-to-date information and provides insight in its potential implications for surgical education and training.
To determine the quality and to compare different large language models’ (LLMs) ability to respond to textbook questions relating to bariatric surgery.
Remote.
Prompts to be entered into the LLMs were multiple-choice questions found in “The ASMBS Textbook of Bariatric Surgery, second Edition. The prompts were queried into 3 LLMs: OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4, Microsoft’s Bing, and Google’s Bard. The generated responses were assessed based on overall accuracy, the number of correct answers according to subject matter, and the number of correct answers based on question type. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the number of responses per LLMs per category that were correct.
Two hundred questions were used to query the AI models. There was an overall significant difference in the accuracy of answers, with an accuracy of 83.0% for ChatGPT-4, followed by Bard (76.0%) and Bing (65.0%). Subgroup analysis revealed a significant difference between the models’ performance in question categories, with ChatGPT-4's demonstrating the highest proportion of correct answers in questions related to treatment and surgical procedures (83.1%) and complications (91.7%). There was also a significant difference between the performance in different question types, with ChatGPT-4 showing superior performance in inclusionary questions. Bard and Bing were unable to answer certain questions whereas ChatGPT-4 left no questions unanswered.
LLMs, particularly ChatGPT-4, demonstrated promising accuracy when answering clinical questions related to bariatric surgery. Continued AI advancements and research is required to elucidate the potential applications of LLMs in training and education.
The history of science has a unique value to teaching, and textbooks play an important role in permeating the history of science in science courses. This study aims to compare the presentation of ...history of science in two versions of high school physics textbooks in China. We selected the 2019 edition of the national and local textbooks as samples. The revised Leite’s checklist is used to conduct statistics and comparative analysis on the history of science content in the two versions of textbooks, referred to as the PEP and Luke versions described in more detail in the paper. The results show that, in terms of the quantity and presentation of the history of science, the PEP version contains more history of science, while the Luke version presents the historical content more intuitively. In terms of the type and organization of the history of science, the Luke version describes scientists and the type of evolution in more detail. In the presentation of the history of science, both of the two versions of textbooks are mainly based on texts written by textbook authors, supplemented by pictures of scientists and instruments. In the description of the contexts of the history of science, both tend to use the scientific context to present the history of science. In terms of the status of the history of science content, it mostly acts as a fundamental role in the Luke version while plays a complementary one in the PEP version. As for the learning activities related to the history of science, both tend to set up normal-level activities. The two versions of textbooks are relatively poor in the internal consistency of the textbooks with respect to the historical information and interdisciplinary activity design. Only Compulsory Book 1 of PEP version has the content of history of science as bibliography, and both of the two versions of textbooks seldom have history of science books as its bibliography.
Recentresearch studies in ESL/EFL contexts worldwide have shown a gap between the findings of pragmatics research and how the English language is actually taught and learnt in EFL classrooms, as well ...as a paucity of pragmatic information provided in ESL/EFL textbooks. Utilizing content analysis, this study explores the provision of pragmatic content in the current national EFL textbook series, which was first published in 2012 and has been used nationwide for Vietnamese upper-secondary school students since the school year 2018-2019. These materials include the aim of facilitating the development of students' communicative competence in English in their overall objectives, which, as we will argue in this paper, implies that pragmatic competence is also a goal. However, results from this study show that this series includes quite a low level of explicit information about pragmatics, which is present in only 5.5% of pages in the student books and does not appear at all in the teacher manuals. In addition, the explicit presentation of different elements potentially contributing to the learning of pragmatics was found to be quite infrequent. These findings suggest that there is a need for supplementing these EFL textbooks with additional materials and activities, for considering pragmatics as part of the textbook design process, and for enhancing teachers' ability to incorporate pragmatics in their classroom practices.
Textbooks are the primary materials for teaching in the Greater China Region, including the teaching of Chinese as a second language. This qualitative study examined how two teachers of first to ...fifth grade students in an international school in Macao selected, used, and adapted textbooks to teach Chinese to non-native Chinese speakers. It also examined the beliefs that drove teachers’ decisions and actions. Multiple forms of evidence were analyzed, including responses to interview questions posed at multiple points, responses to a questionnaire administered at the beginning of the study, school documents, and content analyses of lessons in the selected textbook series and materials teachers made to accompany textbook lessons. The two teachers in this study made a conscious decision to continue using two textbook series selected by others and used the year before. The selection and use of these textbooks were underpinned by a set of interrelated beliefs, including their views on effective instruction (e.g., clearly presented topic, appealing and motivating materials, effective learning activities, focus on Chinese culture); their students’ needs and motivations; their own teaching capabilities and attitudes; their epistemological beliefs about learning and knowledge; and the importance of local, national, and international standards and assessments. The two teachers devoted considerable effort to adapting the textbooks by developing their own materials that added, reduced, deleted, restructured, replaced, and re-ordered textbook learning activities. These adaptations were driven by specific teacher beliefs (e.g., the need for more meaning focused activities). Recommendations for future research and implications for teaching are offered.
Nation-building in modern China at the beginning of the twentieth century had to manage the strain between ethnic nationalism and the claim of a multi-ethnic national identity. This study focuses on ...how history textbooks defined China and addressed this paradox. Based on the qualitative content analysis of eight popular middle school history textbooks about imperial China, this paper demonstrates how Han nationalism and the multi-ethnic nationality of China evolved in the textbooks. While these two features of national concept contradict each other, the thesis of Hanhua may serve as a bridge between them within the symbolic framework of Chinese nationalism.
Neoliberal ideologies, evidenced in locally developed and internationally published imported English Language Teaching (ELT) textbooks, are compared in the context of Malaysia, an outer circle ...country. Historically, locally developed ELT textbooks have been used to teach English but recently imported books have been prescribed following the adoption of the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR). This move has met with criticisms from many who are concerned with the culture and ideologies reproduced in imported texts. The current study addresses this concern through the thematic content analysis of locally developed and imported textbooks used in Malaysian classrooms. It is found that the neoliberal values demonstrated in imported textbooks outweigh those in locally published ones. This necessitates a critical reading of imported ELT textbooks by local educational authorities before they are prescribed for use. This is particularly important in outer- and expanding-circle countries where local cultural values and beliefs may be different from the Western, neoliberal values reproduced in imported materials.
Features of eighth-grade history textbooks were examined through replication of a 20-year-old study that investigated “considerateness” of textbooks. Considerate texts provide clear, coherent ...information and include features that promote students’ comprehension, such as explicit use of organizational structures, a range of question types dispersed within and at the end of chapters, and highlighted new vocabulary. Conversely, inconsiderate texts can impede student learning because comprehension is influenced by coherence and clarity between and among new vocabulary, sentences, paragraphs, and passages at macro and micro levels throughout texts’ chapters. Results of this study indicate areas where today’s texts are more clear and coherent than those 20 years ago, and areas where improvements within textbooks are still needed. Implications for practice are discussed.
