Evaluating textbooks for primary grade reading instruction: A usable heuristic for L1 education

Abstract

Across a large number of countries, reading textbooks is widely used in primary grade reading instruction. In Denmark, a quantitative study has shown that one single reading textbook (The first reading) strongly dominates the primary grades classrooms. The first reading presents itself as a learning material that covers all aspects of reading instruction, and that is based on recent research on primary grade reading. This article presents a set of criteria for the analysis and evaluation of textbooks for primary grades reading instruction, based on an overview of recent research studies on reading instruction showing that a balanced approach is the most successful (i.e. a combination of technical and meaning-oriented elements). The criteria are exemplified by analysing The first reading with the purpose of answering the question of whether it is actually research based as claimed. The analysis shows that the technical elements are systematically supported by The first reading, whereas the meaning-oriented elements are either left out or treated in an overridingly drill-based manner. In conclusion, it is argued that the set of evaluative criteria might constitute a helpful professional tool for teachers in relation to the challenging task of using textbooks as part of a balanced reading instruction.

For what benefit? Grammar teaching materials in upper primary Danish L1

“…Working with morphemes and phonemes also supports students' reading skills when the work takes place independently of the reading class; the positive effect seems to be more manifest than when students are taught to identify words or parts of words in the reading class alone. The meta-analysis recommends viewing writing and reading as complementary processes with the potential to strengthen one another, a view considered in more depth by Bremholm (2020). Here, additionally, the result suggests a connection between a grammar teaching that focuses on particular morphological aspects of language and students' spelling skills at primary level-albeit an indirect connection mediated through reading -as a number of other studies suggest a connection between students' reading and spelling skills at primary level (Calmar Andersen et al, 2018).…”

“…This article is part of the aforementioned collaborative mixed methods study (Bremholm et al, 2017;Bremholm et al, 2020;Kabel, 2017), and my choice of learning materials for analysis is informed by the representative survey of learning materials used in primary and lower secondary Danish L1 (special issue author A et al, 2017, 2020). One finding from this survey is that learning materials concerning grammar are more dominant in upper primary (grades 4-6 in Denmark) than in lower primary (grades 0-3) and lower secondary (grade 7-9), the three stages included in the survey and the three stages that make up compulsory education in Denmark.…”

“…The three learning materials are the most popular at this stage of school. However, what actually takes place and is ascribed value in a classroom depends on the interpretation of and use of the learning material (Bremholm et al, 2020). On a more concrete level, the analysis undertaken aims to explore what grammar teaching looks like in the chosen learning materials and it therefore focuses on the main pedagogical categories of why, what and how (Elf, Gilje, Olin-Scheller, & Slotte, 2018;Rättyä et al, 2019).…”

Læreres redidaktiseringsstrategier

“…På baggrund af undersøgelsen foretager en raekke forskere kvalitative undersøgelser af de mest udbredte laeremidler til forskellige områder af danskfaget. Bremholm (2017Bremholm ( , 2020 undersøger laeremidler til begynderundervisning, Kabel (2017Kabel ( , 2020 2020) konkluderer, at der kun findes få danske empiriske studier i brug af laeremidler, hvilket således også gaelder for danskfagets laeremidler. Her skal dog naevnes nogle af de mest relevante.…”

Undervisning med litteraturlæremidler på mellemtrinnet

“…Flere danske laeremiddelforskere har udviklet analytiske tilgange til og erkendelser om danskfagets didaktiske laeremidler (Berthelsen & Tannert, 2017Bremholm, 2017Bremholm, , 2020Bremholm, Bundsgaard, Fougt & Skyggebjerg, 2017a;Bundsgaard, 2013;Bundsgaard, Buch & Fougt, 2017Carlsen, 2017;Carlsen & Hansen, 2009;Gissel & Hansen, 2019;Hansen, 2012a, Hansen, 2015Kabel, 2017Kabel, , 2020Kristjansdottir, 2017;Matthiesen, 2017;Oksbjerg, 2013;Rørbech, 2017;Rørbech & Skyggebjerg, 2020;Skyggebjerg, 2013Skyggebjerg, , 2017Skyggebjerg & Oksbjerg, 2020). Flere af de naevnte studier udspringer af forskningsprojektet Laeremidlernes danskfag fra 2017 (Bremholm, Bundsgaard, Fougt & Skyggebjerg, 2017a).…”