A History Textbook by George Lee: Disadvantages and Advantages Essay

Fry’s Readability Assessment

The Fry’s test involves taking three random quotes from a book, 100 words each, and counting the average number of sentences and syllables in them; the results are then assessed according to a table (Schrock, 2016).

The First Passage

In Europe, radical movements were spreading, and violence was threatened by communists, syndicalists, and anarchists. A few were in America, but their approach was favored by only a tiny percentage of the people. Instead of overthrowing capitalism, Americans preferred to restrict those who abused the system. In the Midwest, where farmers were powerful, some states began to pass the “Granger laws” that set limits on what railroads and grain storage companies could change. In Munn vs. Illinois, the U.S. Supreme Court said that where the public has a definite interest in a business, the state can regulate it. In 1886, the… (Lee, 2006, p. 28)

The Second Passage

Farmers sympathized with workers whose strikes against big businesses were being beaten down by courts, militia, and on occasion by federal troops. One man wrote: “We have so much regard for the rights of property that we have forgotten the liberties of the individual.”

After the Civil War, farm protest movements emerged. The first was the Patrons of Husbandry (1867), created by O.H. Kelley. Usually called the Grange, it got control of some state legislatures and pushed through the “Granger laws,” which restricted rates charged by railroads and grain elevators. These were later ruled unconstitutional. Many Grangers eventually joined the greenback… (Lee, 2006, p. 30)

The Third Passage

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, long lines gathered in front of recruiting stations, and in Washington, FDR gave an eloquent speech to Congress proclaiming December 7 a “date which will live in infamy.” By a unanimous vote, the Senate voted for the war, and only one House member voted against the war. The debate over whether the United States should enter the war was over, and very few Americans did not give it full support. As Japanese Admiral Yamamoto had feared when the government decided to attack Pearl Harbor, “we have only awakened a sleeping giant, and his reaction will…” (Lee, 2006, p. 74)

Assessment

Thus, the first passage contains 164 syllables and ≈5.2 sentences; the second passage has 160 syllables and ≈6.5 sentences; the third passage includes 163 syllables and 4.8 sentences (note: in the third passage, the last sentence containing the long quote was counted as two sentences because the quote distinctly stands out from the rest of the sentence). The average number of syllables in 100 words is 162.3, and the average number of sentences is 5.5. This corresponds to the 12^th grade (Schrock, 2016).

Cloze Passage

The Cloze Test Based on Lee (2006, p. 16)

Choose one word from the list for each gap:

1. The Native Americans hunted (buffalos), but the Native American boy knew that white-skinned men did not do so.
2. In Native American tribes, (chiefs) were the most important people, but they were not in control of the tribes.
3. Native Americans did not know how to make (rifles), and these weapons, which they called “firesticks,” from Whites.
4. According to the rulings of the White people, Native Americans had to live in (reservations) – limited territories that were assigned to them by the Whites.
5. Whites often massacred Native Americans to conquer their territories. But when a white captain boasted that he could wipe out the Sioux people with 80 men, the Native Americans set a (trap) for him. He fell into it and was defeated.
6. Whites often made Native Americans sign (treaties); but eventually, Whites always violated their conditions.
7. Because of the injustice of the White people, Native Americans had bitter feelings, and a serious (conflict) was developing among the races.

Words: note, conflict, clock, kangaroo, treaty, rocket, rifle, buffalo, reservation, president, farm, chief, trap, debate.

Results

The first student answered the questions 2, 3, 5, and 7 correctly; 4 correct answers out of 7, or ≈57%. The second student answered the questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 correctly; 6 correct answers out of 7, or ≈86%. On average, the number of correct answers is 72%, which falls into the category “independent.”

Discussion

Cloze Test and Fry’s Assessment

The results from the cloze assessment and Fry’s test are very different; the administration of the cloze to the 8^th-grade students demonstrated that they can show quite high performance when taking the cloze test based on Lee (2006), whereas, according to the Fry’s test, Lee (2006) can be recommended only to 12^th-grade students. Simultaneously, the cover of the textbook states that the book can be used for 6^th-grade students and higher.

The discrepancy can be explained by the fact that the evaluated samples are small, which causes low statistical credibility; the results could have been obtained by chance. Also, both tests are rather approximate.

Assessment According to Garinger (2002)

The evaluation of the textbook according to Garinger (2002) can be found in the figure below. 11 positive and 5 negative answers were obtained in the assessment, making the book a choice which is perhaps better than average.

Content, Format, Utility, and Style

Various tools can be used to analyze a textbook (Morgan & Henning, 2013); in this section, the content, format, utility, and style of the textbook will be assessed. The content of the book is simple, which can be useful in 8^th grade; however, it is often somewhat primitive and one-sided, which negatively affects the possibility to engage in critical thinking, in particular, in synthesis and evaluation (Fathnejat, 2014).

The first passage is an example: anarchist movements and syndicates are viewed as a dangerous and purely European phenomenon, whereas the existence of a major force such as IWW, which was founded in Chicago, is ignored. This may simplify the students’ understanding of social resistance (Fine, 2006)

The format of a textbook plays a crucial role in students’ understanding (Harniss, Caros, & Gersten, 2007). The format in Lee (2006) is rather simple; short texts describing events are followed by a timeline demonstrating key events; then, several activities, topics for essays, questions related to the topic, and national standard correlations, as well as links to additional materials are provided. This allows for effective usage of the provided materials and further exploration of the topic.

The utility of the book is rather high; the information is presented effectively, further information can easily be found, and it is convenient to organize the lessons based on the book. Furthermore, the book is cheap and can be partially reproduced for students, which allows for its use in the situation when there is a dearth of financing.

The style of the textbook appears quite simple, despite the results of Fry’s test. The texts are rather interesting and should be easy to understand for the students.

Conclusion

Thus, the textbook by Lee (2006) has some disadvantages: somewhat primitive content; the recommended use for the 12^th, not 8^th, grade, according to the Fry’s test; only 11 positive marks (out of 16) in the test by Garinger (2002), etc. However, the book also appears to have several significant advantages that may justify its use in the classroom, although it should be recommended to use additional materials as well.

References

Fathnejat, Z. J. F. (2014). Content analysis of guidance school history textbooks based on Bloom’s classification of cognitive domain. Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 5(9), 296-308.

Fine, M. (2006). Bearing witness: Methods for researching oppression and resistance–a textbook for critical research. Social Justice Research, 19(1), 83-108.

Garinger, D. (2002). Textbook selection for the ESL classroom. Web.

Harniss, M., Caros, J., & Gersten, R. (2007). Impact of the design of U.S. history textbooks on content acquisition and academic engagement of special education students: An experimental investigation. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 40(2), 100-110.

Lee, G. (2006). U.S. History: People and Events: 1865–Present. Grades 6+. Quincy, IL: Mark Twain Media.

Morgan, K., & Henning, E. (2013). Designing a tool for history textbook analysis. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 14(1), 1-21.

Schrock, K. (2016). Readability information and resources. Web.