Values incorporated in the stories of three basal reader series grades one through three: A modified content analysis
Abstract
This study examined the stories students encounter in their basal readers specifically to identify, categorize, and tabulate values included in stories in the three most popular state adopted basal reader series, grades one through three, in Tennessee public schools. To accomplish this, a modified content analysis was employed. The following most frequently adopted basal readers for the years 2004-2007 were the object of this study: Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Scott-Foresman. No contact was made with students. Rather, their daily reading basal textbooks, totaling 28 basal texts and 348 stories, with eleven duplications. The Josephson Institute’s six pillars of character: trustworthiness, responsibility, fairness, caring, respect, and citizenship were used as a guide to locating values and stories. Eight hundred sixteen incidents of values were noted across all stories. Findings indicate that students in Tennessee Public Schools, grades 1-3 for the years 2004-2007, were exposed to values in their basal readers. There was not a significant difference in the type of values to which students were exposed, but a significant difference in the number of values to which students were exposed was found. Scott-Foresman yielded the highest percentage of values per story with 2.43 percent, followed by McGraw-Hill with 2.13 percent per story, and Harcourt with 2.40 values per story. The value occurring most often was caring, with 283 instances from all companies. The value occurring least often was fairness, with a total of 65 instances. Most values were implied, few were stated.
Subject Area
Early childhood education|Literacy|Reading instruction|Curriculum development
Recommended Citation
Sherry Armstrong,
"Values incorporated in the stories of three basal reader series grades one through three: A modified content analysis"
(2009).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3369964.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3369964