The Quality of structures of explanations in Saudi Arabian history textbooks

Abstract

The study considered a critical problem in the history curriculum in the Saudi Arabian middle or intermediate schools, i.e. the school serving students in grades seven to nine. The problem of comprehension posed by the structure of text offers an important perspective for judging the quality of a textbook. Four aspects of text structures were used to evaluate Saudi Arabian textbooks. The results of the evaluation revealed that texts do not provide adequate historical explanation according to the goal-plan-action outcome frame suggested by Armbruster and Anderson on 1984. Sug-gestions about some ways in whcih text explanations might be improved were offered.