curriculum-design
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- PaperEdArXiv (OSF Preprints)20 Jul 2026
Beyond the Average: Analyzing Heterogeneity and Latent Profiles of Cognitive Involvement in Iranian Senior High School History Textbooks
Hossein Talebzadeh
Analyzed cognitive involvement profiles in Iranian senior high school history textbooks using the Coefficient of Variation and K-means clustering. Found that internal content dispersion, especially in higher grades, poses a greater pedagogical challenge than low average involvement. Only 11.5% of lessons were structurally balanced.
Original abstract
Previous evaluations of school textbooks have predominantly focused on aggregate overall averages, thereby overlooking critical intra-textbook heterogeneity. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of cognitive involvement and assess the instability of instructional design within Iranian senior high school history textbooks. Utilizing a secondary data analysis of datasets derived from the Comparative Adjudication Protocol (CAP)—encompassing 61 lessons across 4 core textbooks—cognitive involvement indices for text, images, and questions were calculated using the William Romey (1968) method. To quantify internal heterogeneity, the Coefficient of Variation (CV) and Levene’s test were utilized, while K-means clustering with Euclidean distance (Hair et al., 2010) was employed to uncover latent profiles. The findings revealed that the History 3 textbook exhibited the highest instructional irregularity ("CV"=144.50% in the question component), whereas the Contemporary History of Iran textbook possessed the most uniform structure ("CV"=81.58%). Levene’s test confirmed a statistically significant difference in variances across the textbooks specifically within the question component (p<0.01). Furthermore, cluster analysis uncovered four distinct structural profiles, revealing that a meager 11.5% of the analyzed lessons fell into a structurally "balanced" cluster. These findings demonstrate that internal content dispersion, particularly in higher grade levels, poses a more severe pedagogical challenge than low average involvement. Consequently, future curricular interventions must prioritize variance reduction over a simple inflation of baseline averages.
- PaperLanguage Teaching Research16 Jul 2026
Transforming Traditional Translation Training: The Role of Policy, Practice, and Institutional Support in Student Skill Enhancement
Kang Gao, Wenjing Dong
This study examines how English education policies at national, institutional, and classroom levels affect translation training, using a mixed-methods design with interviews and surveys. Results show that translation training is significantly associated with policy, and positively related to innovative training models, career readiness, perceived training quality, practical skill acquisition, and intercultural competence. The findings highlight the importance of policy-practice alignment for preparing translation students for global professional contexts.
Original abstract
Globalization has revolutionized translation training, and English education policies have encouraged more practical, innovative, and, in this regard, oriented teaching approaches. This study investigates the multi-level effects of English education policies on translation training at the national (macro), institutional (meso), and classroom (micro) levels, with particular attention to how policy influences the adoption of innovative instructional models and students’ perceived learning-related outcomes. Using a mixed-methods design, qualitative data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with 78 respondents, including policymakers, administrators, instructors, and students, whereas quantitative data were collected through a survey of 436 translation students (undergraduate and postgraduate). Qualitative data were analyzed using NVivo, and SPSS and SmartPLS were used to analyze quantitative data. The results indicate that translation training (β = .373, p < .001) is significantly associated with English education policies. Moreover, translation training is positively related to innovative training models (β = .302), career readiness (β = .268), perceived training quality (β = .318), practical skill acquisition (β = .292), and intercultural competence (β = .285), all at p < .001. These findings illustrate the focal point of translation training as one of the critical mechanisms through which policy is connected to various perceived academic and professional outcomes. University cooperation and pedagogical development at the institutional and classroom levels are also associated with perceived quality and applicability of translation training programs. Its uniqueness lies in that it combines several dimensions of outcomes in one analytical framework and provides a clear understanding of policy–practice alignment. The results suggest that translating students need effective policy–practice integration to be associated with students’ perceived preparedness for global professional contexts.