An analysis of the cognitive rigour of questions used in secondary school English language textbooks in Singapore

Abstract

Textbooks are an essential component in the classroom, making it extremely crucial to regularly evaluate textbooks used in schools so that their pedagogical contributions towards the teaching and learning processes can be guaranteed.The study aimed to identify and analyse the cognitive levels of questions available in Secondary Three All About English textbooks, which have been used in Singapore since 2013.The objective of carrying out the analysis was to determine the overall cognitive rigour of questions, using a matrix superimposing two taxonomies: Revised Bloom's Taxonomy and Webb's Domain-of-Knowledge (DOK) model.The sample of this study consisted of questions from the Express and Normal Technical (NT) English language textbooks published by Hodder Education, where 346 questions were analysed in total.The cognitive rigour matrix was used in the classification of the questions.The results revealed that in the Express level textbook, most questions were within the cell [2,3] (35.9%), consisting of Understand and "Strategic Thinking" questions.In contrary, for the Normal Technical level textbook, most questions were within the cell [5,4] (17.6%), consisting of Evaluate and "Extended Thinking" questions.Overall, there was a good mix of Lower-order thinking skill (LOTS) and Higher-order thinking skill (HOTS) questions.However, not all cognitive levels were clearly varied, with an overemphasis on Understand and Evaluate questions, neglecting Remember and Apply questions.In light of the results, it is recommended that coursebook writers should incorporate questions of varied cognitive demands.We recommend that teachers should regularly evaluate the effectiveness of school textbooks so that there is closer alignment between the curriculum and the textbooks that teachers use in the classroom.