Browsing by Subject "Textbooks"
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ItemA study of reading genres and questions in Thai and English textbooks for O-NET examinationsReading is one of English skills that students have to learn since in primary school until university. However, the result of the national examination in Thailand for English subjects seems unsatisfied, which reading part occupies the largest portion. This study aims to find out the differences and similarities in reading sections of English textbooks and O-NET and GAT examinations in terms of genre and type of questions. Reading passages and questions were analyzed based on Derewianka's linguistic features of genres and Nuttall's taxonomy of questions. Text organization and linguistic features were shown in each text on the right and left respectively to identify the genres. The findings show the dominance of information report in the textbooks and examinations. Although literal comprehension questions are dominant in the textbook, reinterpretation questions also appear in the examinations. Therefore, materials writers should develop materials to help students improve their ability in reading a range of texts for their future education and functional roles in their lives.
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ItemA study of reading questions in high school English textbooks and national testsThe lack of English language proficiency of Thai students has been acknowledged for years, and this is reflected in the national test scores i.e. O-NET, GAT, and GET, all of which fall below 50%. The question of concurrence between testing and teaching was raised when the revision of national curriculum (B.E. 2551) was implemented in prototype schools in 2009. Reading comprehension skills, in particular, were given attention as it contributes to other skills and overall learning. The aim of this study is to seek the connection between reading questions in the tests and textbooks in Thai schools. For this purpose, Barrett’s taxonomy (Pearson, 2009) was adapted. The findings indicate that Inferential Comprehension is dominant in the tests, but Literal Comprehension is dominant in the textbooks. However, there is a partial agreement between the tests and textbooks in terms of high-order questions such as Inferential Comprehension, Evaluation, and Appreciation. The findings imply that the design of tests and textbooks should be reviewed to reflect the effectiveness of the curriculum and learning, which will possibly improve test scores in the national tests. Textbooks are the most reliable source of learning English for non-native English speakers. Therefore, they are widely used by schools. Nowadays, there are plenty of commercial English textbooks that are produced for English language education worldwide. However, it is generally agreed upon that learning a second language pedagogy is influenced by the socio-cultural frame of reference of the learners, and the objectives of learning vary from place to place according to curriculum design. Selecting a good textbook that suits the learning context and curriculum is challenging for schools. This study provides further information to people who are involved in the textbook selection of all levels of educational supervision.