Evaluating Curriculum Materials: Do Greek Children Understand Their History Textbooks?

Abstract

Summary This paper assesses the level of language difficulty of two Greek primary history textbooks. Data was gathered by means of cloze tests administered to nine and ten year old students. The findings were correlated with pupil ability and background and suggest that the two textbooks differ significantly in terms of pupil comprehension. The level of comprehension of the pupils is closely related to their prior level of achievement. Low achievers in both year groups demonstrate considerable difficulty in comprehending the textbook. The implications of the findings for primary teaching in Greek schools are discussed.