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CHAPTER SIX
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
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(2013) as very important sources which assist learners in gaining relevant information about the topics from the curriculum content. Textbooks are further seen as being responsible for quality lesson and serves as support structures which guide in terms of assessment. As commonly used educational tools, textbooks play the role of being the primary vehicle for educational content knowledge delivery in many classroom settings. Textbooks are referred to as being a systematic publication of well-structured activities, information and background on the content to be taught in certain subject (DoE, 2014).
As the main used educational resource, textbooks are there to organize and deliver quality lessons in schools. Textbooks have both advantages and disadvantage. Some of the important advantages of using textbooks are that they provide one with additional and supporting educational resources such as visuals, videos, readings, activities, tasks, and illustrations that accommodate all learners. On the other hand, the major disadvantage noticeable is that textbooks are written with writer agendas and according to the economic demand at the time, so they may contain content and illustrations not relevant and significant or applicable to the crowd of learners using them.
The chapter further goes on to discuss the importance of textbooks in Business Studies. The subject Business Studies is a very demanding subject which also ever-changing. It is one of the twenty-nine FET subjects and falls with the Business, Commerce and Management studies. It deals with topics and content covering the business world. Just like other subjects, Business Studies has a variety of textbooks which contain business related educational content suitable for a certain group of learners. In using the Business Studies textbooks, it is expected that learners and teachers are exposed to five essentials of the subject. Through those essentials, it is hoped that learners are motivated in their journey into and around the business world.
Business Studies textbooks, just like other textbooks, have been a significant part of the teaching and learning of the subject for over many years in Western education (Mirkovic &
Crawford, 2003; Nicholls, 2006). Textbooks are seen as the main variable that drives the process of teaching and learning in Education. The role that is played by Business Studies has a great impact in the South African and global business industry since it produces some of the best businesspersons. Furthermore, as a result of the heavy reliance of teachers on textbooks, they are seen as the most important teaching and learning material in the Business Studies classroom. The subject Business Studies is one that is inter-related and interlinked to other
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subjects. Given the nature of Business Studies, teachers with the assistance of Business Studies textbooks can achieve the goal of producing strong business-minded grown -ups from learners.
The chapter went on to discuss teachers’ perceptions on the quality of textbooks. Literature based on teachers’ perceptions of the quality of Business Studies textbook is very scarce.
However, there has been research that has been conducted based on the teachers’ perceptions of the quality of the new expressive Arts textbooks in Malawi. The study revealed that teachers believed that quality textbooks have a great impact on quality education implementation in schools. Teachers also indicated that with the use of textbooks, time and money are saved and effective teaching is also achieved. Textbooks are seen to be very important teaching aids in the teaching process. According to (Bano, 2005 & Mahmood, 2009), textbooks are considered by teachers as the sole and legitimate source of knowledge and emphasise the significant role they play as the transporters of content knowledge. Evidence of the scarcity of literature based on the Business Studies teachers’ perceptions of the quality of textbooks, is seen in the literature on Art.
Finally, this chapter discussed the study conceptual framework. The conceptual framework was developed by combining Aggarwal (2001), the South African Department of Basic Education framework for analysing textbooks and basic attributes of quality textbooks, as postulated by Abadzi (2006), for this study. Guidelines for evaluating the quality of textbooks were part of the conceptual framework. As per this framework, there are a number of features identified to declare the qualities of a textbook, namely, selection of content, organization of content, presentation of content, verbal communication (language) and visual communication (illustration). Therefore, this study declares quality textbooks as being user-friendly instructional materials, with appropriate level of language, and suitable for suggested teaching, learning and assessment methodologies and resources, with clear illustrations that have the ability to support the text.
Chapter Three focused on the research design and methodology of the study to address the research questions. In the pursuit of gaining an in-depth understanding of the teachers’
perceptions of the quality of the prescribed Grade 12 Business Studies textbooks, I adopted an interpretive paradigm using a qualitative approach. This chapter also adopted the research strategy of a case study to help explore teachers’ perceptions of quality Business Studies textbooks.
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Data collection occurred through face-to-face interviews. The use of face-to-face interviews was complemented by the initial interviews, with the analysis instrument based on the conceptual framework. Teachers kept the analysis instrument based on the conceptual framework for two weeks as a guide and additional data for the study to investigate teachers’
perceptions of the quality of the Grade 12 Business Studies prescribed textbooks.
The selection of the schools was conveniently chosen because of access to the schools, as I was a part-time student doing a full thesis as a full-time teacher. The selection of the teachers from each school was purposive as the results attainable from those teachers would be of particular structures which would enable detailed examination and understanding of the dominant research questions that the researcher anticipated.
The transcribing of interviews was done to analyse and interpret data and together identify emerging themes. The analysis instrument based on the conceptual framework were utilised as an enhancement to the interviews. Ethical considerations and trustworthiness of the research were also observed.
Chapter Four presented the research findings for this study. This was in the form of key themes based on the teachers’ perceptions of the quality of Grade 12 Business Studies textbooks. The key themes which emerged in the data in this study were as follows:
• Alignment of Business Studies textbooks with the curriculum.
• Guidance and support provided by the textbooks in learning new knowledge.
• Guidance and support provided by textbooks in terms of assessment tasks.
The findings of this study revealed that although there are mostly points of agreement among the perceptions of teachers, there were slight differences, as a result of the working environment, the type of learners teachers work with and the prescribed textbooks available to them.
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Chapter Five presented a detailed discussion of findings of the study. The chapter discussed each of the three themes highlighted in Chapter Four and supported the findings with prevailing literature and a conceptual framework.