An Investigation and Assessment of the Readability Level of the 6th-Grade Social Studies Textbook

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Bachelors student, Department of Elementary Education, Farhangian University, Ardabil, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

A textbook is a tool that teachers use to stimulate their students and offer them maximum awareness, understanding, and perception about an issue or topic; thus, textbooks are among the main elements of transmitting educational messages in the process of education. A fundamental characteristic of textbooks is that the content developed for each grade should match its audiences’ cognitive development.The present study aimed to analyze and assess the readability level of the 6th-grade social studies textbook using the formulas proposed by McLaughlin and Gunning Fog. The content analysis method implemented in the present study processed the difficult words in the beginning sections of the chapters and lessons and the total difficult words in the 6th-grade social studies textbook by adopting objective-qualitative approaches and using the Shannon entropy. The study was applied in terms of purpose, and the population included the total content of the 6th-grade social studies textbook. The findings showed that the texts that were analyzed using the methods proposed by McLaughlin and Gunning Fog were above the 6th-grade students’ capabilities. Evaluating the content of textbooks is effective in both increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the books and desirably fulfilling educational goals.

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