TEXTBOOK

ASSESSMENT
Kaitlyn Smoot
Read 440
Dr. Dredger

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Arreola et. al (2009). McDougal Littell World Geography, Student Edition. Holt McDougal, A
division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Overview on the Context:
The textbook I have chosen is designed for 9th- 12th grade world geography classes. The
reason I decided to assess this book is because I would love to teach world geography or human
geography when I become a teacher. I also thought it would be a good idea to review how world
geography textbooks are written and formatted to fit into the classroom. The price of this
textbook new is $78.95.
Readability Text: When reviewing the text I noticed that this
textbook does a really pleasant job on balancing the qualitative
and quantitative areas in readability. Readability describes the
ease with which a document can be read and uses mathematical
formulas to determine the suitable age for a reading (Stephens,
2014).The textbook provides a diverse reading range for
students who will be taking this course as it
tries to satisfy the needs for both of the
higher level and the lower level readers. As
there are varies word lengths and
complexities throughout each unit so that
its not too easy for some students but not
overwhelming for other students with lower
vocabulary. The reading level is for 9-12th
grade with a score of 7-8 on Dale Chall and

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a 1030 on Lexile. There has been some controversy with readability scores and they dont
actually determine the suitability range for readers but the qualitative elements are what should
be considered (Alvermann, 2012). The qualitative element for this book when reading was well
thought out as each unit was in the same format and colored coded. As shown by figure 1 each
subheading was in a different colors where red was human geography, yellow was environment,
and green was economics and at the end of the reading provides a summary for each division. I
saw this as very helpful when reading as it allows the reader to know exactly which topic of
geography they were reading about before jumping into the text. Having the summary of what
Figure 1

they read at the end of the unit in the same color coded grouping
was very helpful when trying to understand the meaning of the text. The text attempted to reach
their intended audience of 9th-12th graders by incorporating the text with a lot of pictures and
cartoons to help relate text to images. They would also include current events throughout each
unit and sometimes even shocking images to help grab the students attention when reading.
Figure 2 is a great example where they highlight the borders with bright red with a bold heading
and displaying a starving child on the front. This may question the suitability for the age range
by displaying semi-disturbing photos but I felt like this allows the book to be suitable for 9th
grade and up by understanding what will get students focused on the reading. At this age students
will be becoming more aware of what is happening in their world and having bold images with
short and to the point text will help them understand the main points of the unit. This textbook
has good knowledge of who their readers are by organizing it in color code and providing a
diversity of readability for advance and average readers.

Figure 2

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Content: The content in this textbook connects with the world geography very efficiently
especially focusing on the S.O.L. curriculum standards. They make sure to cover every continent
in the globe and provide geographical, economic, environmental, and cultural information on
each area. It doesnt just have a chum of information on each section but has a flow and
purpose for each unit of new content (Ansary, 2004). The information laid out in the textbook is
current and up to date and provides modern issues for the students to analyze such as
environmental pollution, natural disasters, and economic
differences between nations. This textbook has a respectable
range of content as they provide a bit more detail on topics
that a teacher may not have the chance to teach based on
their lesson choices but it isnt so deep in content that it
becomes overwhelming for the students. Generally
throughout each unit they include a content based reading
and have an activity or reflection on the next page so they
are able to take in the knowledge they just read. They also
integrate different themes within each unit such as region,
place, human-environment interaction, and movement. In
figure 3 it displays the theme of movement and is focused
on the European Unit with their big influence of trade on the globe. This helps the reader
understand the big picture of the unit or chapter if the content becomes too heavy for some
readers. Each unit provides many new vocabulary terms for students to learn especially in the
beginning units where they start to learn geography terms. The Units tend to build off each other
by referencing previous knowledge of what the reader should have picked up on previous units.

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This could be a problem if the students are jumping around each unit instead of the intended
order and is something the teacher would need to notice before assigning readings.
Format: The format of this textbook has a lot of abundant qualities that help make the reading of
world geography a lot more
beneficial than compared to
others with more basic
formats. This book has a
balance of graphics where
there are plenty of picture
examples of the topic they are
writing about without it being
distraction or useless. As seen
in figure 4 it talks about the
different resources that are
used in the diverse geographical climate zones in
Figure 3

Latin America. The

graph is sorted in altered colors with pictures for each climate allowing students to get an overall
summary of this chapter in an organized chapter. The pictures are also useful for ELL students as
they are able to associate words with the drawings. The units are also divided into colored coded
chapters where they begin with an introduction of the overall unit. The chapters then follow the
same order for each unit by addressing the geographical, environmental, and human geography
of the content they are covering. Figure 5 is an example of how the textbook is divided with the
color coded headings at the top of each paragraph and a description of the headings. This makes

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the reading far more organized and easier to read with short paragraphs instead of a page full of
text with no breaks. Each unit also provides maps for students to interpret and are displayed
throughout the unit again and relating it to the chapters topic. Such as figure 5 where it discusses
the geographical range of Africas plateaus, basins, and rivers and provides a map for students to
compare text to image while reading side by side. The only critique about the format for this
textbook would be the index and glossary. Both the index and glossary is placed at the very end
of the book and is printed in very small text and pushed together to fit the pages. There is a lot of
information to put in this book but looking through the glossary I felt overwhelmed and confused
and couldnt imagine how a 9th grader would feel looking through it.
Utility: The utility of this textbook varies within the book
where it
provides

Figure 4

Figure 5

good opportunity for students to interpret, evaluate, and

apply the content in activities but some are too low level
thinking for the age range. Figure 6 is an example of
section assessments that the textbook provides but its all
based on memory and not interpretation. A lot of the
answers for this assessment a student could just look for
the answers straight from the text which wont give teachers a fair assessment making them
question if the students truly knows the answers or is just copying the text. The textbook does
provide other forms of interpretation for the students to develop their critical thinking skills. At
the end of each unit there is a comparison section where they give the students an opprotunity to
compare and contrast different cultures they have discussed in the previous unit. This provides

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higher order thinking for students as they must recall previous information and build a
comparison of the opposing cultures. Figure 7 displays different religious architecture between
Mexico, Turkey, and China and students get to form their own original conclusions on the
comparison with the informational text that is provided. It would have been nice to have evoking
questions especially for students who have trouble analyzing and developing their own questions
this way they would know what to look for within the text when trying to answer the questions.
Style: The style of the writing in this textbook has a clear objective and allows the reader to
know exactly what they about to read before each new topic. The readability of the text varies at
different levels having

Figure 6

more descriptive

words sprinkled throughout each chapter giving the opportunity to challenge the students. It also
incorporates smaller,
less complex words in
the vast majority of the
text so it has both
intricate and lively
writing without it
being overbearing and
intimidating for
students at lower levels.
Strengths:
The overall strengths of this textbook is that it has a understanding of its audience and
knows theres a lot of information given in this textbook but organizes it so students are able to
Figure 7

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pick up the patterns. Each unit has the same format but with slightly different activities allowing
students to follow these patterns but not becoming bored with the same thing. It has a lot of
interesting pictures and current issues embedded throughout the units, connecting to the students
and making it more interesting as they read. It provides many useful tools such as an abundance
of global maps and Atlases in the beginning and the basic introduction of what is geography
allowing the reader to develop basic skills before advancing throughout the unit.
Weaknesses:
A major weakness for this textbook is the little accommodation for ELL students. The
book does provide pictures to go along with the text but most of the time you have to read the
text to understand what the pictures are about. In order to supplement this in my classroom I
would provide English to Spanish dictionaries to the students so they will have a better chance of
understanding the words used in the textbook by referring to their first language. The textbook
does have advanced/new vocabulary and the students have to go to the back of the book to know
what it is and if youre ELL that makes it twice as difficult. This weakness effects everyone so I
would assign a pre-reading activity where we would learn prefixes, suffixes, and root words of
geography terminology so students will be able to figure it out on their own. Another way to
supplement the vocabulary would to search the definition of the new terms before reading so
they arent constantly flipping back and forth. Another weakness for this textbook is that it
doesnt show students how to actually read maps and the meaning behind the symbols. A way to
supplement this weakness I would provide maps of the area of study to the students before the
reading. We would go over it as a class and discover how to analyze the different meanings on
map labeling. The textbook is also large and heavy making it difficult for students to carry it
home along with their other textbooks, so it would probably be best suited for the classroom

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only. If the students had to do a reading for home I would print off the pages from their text
book to take home and that way they can actively read. If the textbook had an online option that
would have been helpful as well to bring the book home for students so they have a reference to
look at when studying.

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Reference
Alvermann, Donna E. (2012). Content Area Reading and Literacy: Succeeding in Today's
Diverse Classrooms (7th Edition). New York: Pearson
Ansary, Tamim. (2004). A Textbook Example of What's Wrong with Education Edutopia.
Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/textbook-publishing-controversy
Arreola et. al (2009). McDougal Littell World Geography, Student Edition. Holt McDougal, A
division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company
Stephens, Cheryl. (2014). All About Readability.