In this work, we developed an ontological tool, based on the scientific realism of Mario Bunge, for the analysis of the presentation of natural processes in science textbooks. This tool was applied to analyze the presentation of the concept of osmosis in 16 chemistry and biology books at different educational levels. The results showed that more…

The authors evaluated principles of macroeconomics textbooks for readability using Coh-Metrix, a computational linguistics tool. Additionally, they conducted an experiment on Amazon's Mechanical Turk Web site in which participants ranked the readability of text samples. There was a wide range of scores on readability indexes both among…

An electronic textbook (e-Textbook) is a digitized (or electronic) form of textbook, which normally needs an endorsement by the national or state government when it is used in the K-12 education system. E-Textbooks have been envisioned to replace existing paper-based textbooks due to its educational advantages. Hence, it is of paramount importance…

This article describes ten of what the author considers to be the most important references in the field of literacy education based on their influence on teaching practices and educational theory.

Compares nine beginning textbooks for use in teaching English as a foreign language on the basis of their treatment of negation in English. (DD)

Reports that variation in textbook prices is not correlated with textbook quality as judged by instructors and that university faculty are less price conscious when selecting textbooks than are community college faculty. States that, if faculty had greater access to price information, textbook prices would decrease. Makes recommendations for…

Surveys eleven currently available undergraduate textbooks on industrial organization. Concludes that some texts have an economics emphasis and others a policy emphasis. Rates the content of each text according to established criteria. (JDH)

Compares professors' ratings of the pedagogical quality of 43 introductory psychology texts with measures of 29 objective features such as manuscript length and number of references. Regression analysis showed that the 29 features predicted substantial portions of the variance in the professors' ratings. States that the comparative data may be…

Argues for a more principled and careful consideration of composition handbooks. Discusses the values and measures used to evaluate handbooks, what constitutes the act of writing, what constitutes good writing, and who writes and why. Lists questions to serve as a guide for instructors in handbook selection. (TB)

Defines textbook genre as the manner of presentation of material and implied relationship between the author and reader. Describes a method of objectively dividing textbooks into moves separated by shifts in emphasis, and gives a genre analysis of an exemplar textbook to demonstrate how the technique might be useful in evaluating textbooks for…

Addresses the evolution of the most authoritative and widely used textbook in world literature courses in the United States, "The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces." Questions if the "Norton Anthology" has provided educators who are committed to the teaching of world literature from non-Eurocentric perspectives with a…

Notes the readability level of many high school chemistry textbooks is far above students' reading levels. Conducts two separate studies, making every effort to keep the two classes as similar as possible in all aspects except text. Finds strong evidence that changing the chemistry textbook resulted in an increase in student achievement. Suggests…

Reports on the evaluation of readability levels of 16 public speaking textbooks and 7 skills-oriented interpersonal communication textbooks. Finds sizable differences among public speaking textbooks. Advocates using readability data in the process of textbook selection and suggests how to do so. (SR)

Focuses on books, booklets, and position papers that would be useful reading for educators involved in making decisions about selecting materials for schools. Discusses guidelines for judging and selecting textbooks and studies and readings on textbooks. (PRA)

Presents criteria to help teachers choose textbooks for English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) composition students, based on how well each text teaches users to write argumentative essays (a form foreign to many ESL students). Evaluates 14 textbooks using these criteria. (SR)