Evaluation of reading comprehension questions in ELT Moroccan textbooks
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol8.iss6.2420Keywords:
Bloom’ taxonomy, Morocco, questions, Reading comprehensionAbstract
It has been well-documented that traditional teaching that emphasizes rote memorization is unable to meet the 21st-century challenges. Learners of today need to learn how to think for themselves and voice out their opinions. This can be achieved only by providing learners with teaching materials that promote skills of analysis, syntheses, and evaluation. The objective of this paper is to evaluate reading comprehension questions of Moroccan ELT textbooks, entitled Ticket to English 2 and Gateway to English 2. This paper seeks to examine the extent to which higher-order questions that stimulate thinking are infused in reading comprehension texts. The study adopted the descriptive quantitative method using a checklist. The checklist is used as an instrument to collect the data using Bloom's taxonomy to investigate the frequency of questions. The results obtained show that 77% of the questions in the first textbook and 84.12% of the questions in the second textbook are classified as being low-order questions. The questions that emphasize high cognitive skills are 23% and 14.78 respectively. Hence, it has been deduced that the two textbooks failed to promote skills of higher-order thinking skills through reading comprehension questions.
References
Anderson, R.C., Pearson, P.D., (1984). A schema-theoretic view of basic processes in reading
Comprehension. In: Pearson, P.D. (Ed.), Handbook of Reading Research. Longman,
White Plains, NY, pp. 255–291.
Bloom, B. S. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational
GoalsNew York: Longman, Green
Brown, D (2001). Teaching by principles an interactive approach to language pedagogy. White
Plains , Longman. NY.
Cooper, P.J., & Simonds, C.J. (1999). Communication for the classroom teacher (6th ed.). Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Davies. F, (1995). Introducing Reading. UK: Penguin Books,
Es-Salhi. A & El-fatihi. M (2019). Evaluating Critical Thinking Skills in Moroccan EFL
Textbooks: Gateway to English 2 as a Case. Higher Education of Social Science. Vol. 17, No. 1,
, pp. 13-22 DOI:10.3968/11284
Harris, T. L., Hodges, R. E., & International Reading Association. (1995). The literacy
Dictionary : The vocabulary of reading and writing. Newark, Del: International Reading
Association
High Council of Education, Training and scientific Research. The Strategic Vision for the
Reform (2015-2030). Retrieved from
https://www.men.gov.ma/Ar/Documents/Vision_strateg_CSEF16004.pdf
Ibrouk A, (2016) Learning Achievement in Morocco: a Status Assessment. OCP policy center.
retrieved from https://www.policycenter.ma/sites/default/files/OCPPC-PB1614vEn_1.pdf
Igbaria, A (2013). A Content Analysis of the WH-Questions in the EFL Textbook DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v6n7p200
Horizons. International Education Studies; Vol. 6, No. 7;
Jabbour, M, (2016 Critical Thinking In The Moroccan Textbooks Of English Language:
Ticket To English As A Case Study. Journal of Teaching and Education. (75-90).
Karns, J., Burton, G., & Martin, G. (1983). Learning objectives and testing: An analysis of six
principles of economic textbooks using Bloom’s taxonomy. Journal of Economic
Education, 14(3), 16-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220485.1983.10845021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220485.1983.10845021
Kurnia, A (2019). Using Revised Bloom's Taxonomy to Evaluate high order thinking skills
(HOTS) In Reading Comprehension questions of English Textbooks for year X of
high school. English Educational Journal. Retrieved from
http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej
Lewis, K. (2015). Developing questioning skills. Retrieved from
https://inside.trinity.edu/sites/inside.trinity.edu/files/file _attachments/6056/gravett-
questioningskillswithattachment.pdf
Llorente-Bedmar1, V, (2015). Dysfunction and Educational Reform in Morocco Asian Social DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n1p91
Science; Vol. 11, No. 1 retrieved from URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n1p91 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v11n1p91
Long, H.M. & Sato, C. (1983). Classroom foreigner talk discourse: forms and functions of teachers’ questions. In H.W. Seliger & M.H. Long (Eds.), Classroom Oriented Research in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge: Newbury House Publishers, Inc. Pp: 268-286.
Mrah, I. (2017). Developing High Order Thinking Skills: Towards a Rethinking of EFL DOI: https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v2i3.79
coursebooks in Moroccan high schools. Journal of English Language Teaching and
Linguistics. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v2i3.79 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21462/jeltl.v2i3.79
Nappi, J S. (2017). The Importance of Questioning in Developing Critical Thinking Skills. International Journal for professional Educators. Retrieved from https://www.dkg.is/static/files/skjol_landsamband/bulletin_grein_jona.pdf
Nunan, D (1991). Language Teaching methodology. A textbook for teachers. Prentice Hall, New York.
Ouakrime, M.(1991). Teaching learners or helping them to learn: that is the question? English language teaching in the Maghreb. Focus on the learner. Proceedings of the 12th Mate Annual conference, Tetouan, 43-50.
Resnick, L. B. (1987). Education and Learning to Think. Washington DC: National Academy Press.
Redfield, D. L., & Rousseau, E. W. (1981). A meta-analysis of experimental research on teacher questioning behaviour. Review of Educational Research, 51, 237–245. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543051002237
Riazi, A. & Mosallanejad ,N . (2010). Evaluation of learning objectives in Iranian high-school
and pre-university English textbooks using Bloom’s Taxonomy. The Electronic
Journal for English as a Second Language, 13(4).1-11.
Smith, F. 1994. Understanding reading. 5th ed. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Sousa, (2001). how the brain learns, Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin Press,
Tienken, C. H., Goldberg, S., & DiRocco, D. (2010). Questioning the questions. Education
Digest: Essential Readings Condensed for Quick Review, 75(9), 28–32.
Tomitch, L. M. B. (1991). Schema activation and text comprehension. Fragmentos:
Revista de Língua e Literatura Estrangeiras, 3(2), 29-43.
Wilen. W. (1991) Questioning skills for teachers. what research says to the teacher. Third Edition. Washington DC: National Education Association
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 Jillali Nakkam, Abdesselam Khamoja
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyrights for articles published in IJIER journals are retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. The journal/publisher is not responsible for subsequent uses of the work. It is the author's responsibility to bring an infringement action if so desired by the author for more visit Copyright & License.
How to Cite
Accepted 2020-06-02
Published 2020-06-01
