Using Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy to Evaluate Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in Tasks From an 8th Grade English Language Textbook in Japan

Abstract

This study evaluated higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in tasks from an 8th grade English language textbook in Japan entitled New Horizon 2. Two hundred and ninety-three tasks were classified using the revised Bloom’s taxonomy and by calculating the percentages of the tasks that fall into the six cognitive levels of the taxonomy: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, and Create (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). The results showed that the tasks in the textbook covered all six cognitive levels; however, 97.3% of the tasks focused on lower order thinking skills(Remember, 42.7%; Understand, 14.7%; Apply, 39.9%), while only 2.7% focused on HOTS (Analyze, 0.7%; Evaluate, 0.3%; Create, 1.7%). Findings from this research have implications for both teaching and material development as the imbalanced distribution among the six cognitive levels suggests that this English textbook may not adequately prepare students to analyze, evaluate, or create using previously learned knowledge, all of which are closely linked with the goals of the new curriculum guidelines for middle schools in Japan for students to “think, make judgements, and express themselves.” This research was limited to one textbook, so further research examining English textbooks is needed.