HIGHER-ORDER THINKING SKILLS IN THE ENGLISH TEXTBOOK AT THE INTERMEDIATE LEVEL

Abstract

The present study focuses on evaluating two textbooks to examine the effectiveness of Higher Order Thinking skills (HOTS) through theory-driven content analysis. The worldwide emphasis on inclusion of HOTS in education and curriculum is the driving force of this research. According to this study, the inclusion of HOTS in textbooks is not a testimony for higher-order thinking; higher-order thinking which is also dependent on the quality of instructional design and External Cognitive Load (ECL) by using the theory of content analysis. The research utilizes quantitative analysis by exploiting Bloom's Revised Taxonomy and Cognitive Load Theory. Firstly, the instructional tasks of the 9th-class Federal Board English textbook (FBET) and the O-level Cambridge system English textbook (OLET) are categorized using Bloom's revised taxonomy (BRT). Secondly, the categorized HOTS are further coded for the presence of ECL through Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). The findings reveal that FBET contains 54.1% lower order thinking skills (LOTS) and 45.9% HOTS. In contrast, the OLET contains 8.3% LOTS and 91.7% HOTS. Moreover, FBET contains 53.3% ECL, and the OLET contains 5% ECL. The study concludes that the textbook evaluation extends beyond measurement of cognitive domains to include analysis of instructional design quality.  The findings suggest that textbook developers, curriculum designers, and educators create textbooks that are cognitively aligned and instructionally sound to promote learning and improve education.