A Longitudinal Document-based Analysis of the Turkish Reading Curricula Regarding Embedded Intellectual Demands

Abstract

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to critically evaluate the updated Turkish reading curricula to determine whether they enable teachers to design instructional sequences that are highly cognitively demanding. This study was designed as a qualitative inquiry using document analysis to estimate the pedagogically oriented intellectual demands of the reading field’s curricular objectives. A total of 1,542 reading objectives were thoroughly examined and the generic picture of the longitudinal analysis shows that the objectives at the understand level dramatically dominate (49.3%) the reading instruction at the elementary and middle school levels. Approximately one-third of the objectives in the curricula were categorized at the remember level, indicating that the intellectual demands of the reading curricula predominantly focus on lower-order cognitive skills from elementary to middle school. None of the 1,542 reading objectives were classified at the create (0%) level. Only 9.26% of all objectives could potentially be utilized to design educational sequence requiring higher cognitive processing, such as at the analyze level. Similarly, only 3.04% of all objectives could be translated into instructional episodes that necessitate cognitive processes at the evaluate level by teachers. Educational recommendations are offered to teachers, curriculum developers, and educational policymakers.