Evaluation of learning objectives in Iranian high-school and pre-university English textbooks using Bloom's taxonomy

TLDR

The study examined the distribution of Bloom’s taxonomy learning objectives in Iranian senior high‑school and pre‑university English textbooks. Three high‑school and one pre‑university textbook were coded using a Bloom‑based scheme, and frequencies and percentages of each objective level were computed. Lower‑order objectives dominated all grades, but the pre‑university textbook contained significantly more higher‑order objectives, suggesting implications for teaching and material design.

Abstract

This paper reports a study that investigated the types of learning objectives represented in Iranian senior high school and pre-university English textbooks using Bloom’s taxonomy of learning objectives. Three high-school textbooks and the sole pre-university textbook were included in the analysis. To codify the learning objectives, a coding scheme was developed based on Bloom’s (1956) taxonomy of learning objectives. The exercises and tasks of the textbooks were codified and the frequencies and percentages of occurrence of different learning objectives were calculated. Results of the study indicate that in all grades lower-order cognitive skills were more prevalent than higherorder ones. Furthermore, the difference between the senior high school and the pre-university textbooks in terms of the levels of the taxonomy were significant insofar as the pre-university textbook used some degrees of higher-order learning objectives. Results of this study have implications both for teaching and materials development.