Analysis of the Content of Sociology Textbooks for Second Grade of High School based on Romey's Model

The present study aims at analyzing the text content, images, and self-tests of the Sociology textbooks of the Second Grade of High School in Iran education system in order to determine the central issue and the mental involvement of these texts based on Romey's (1968) model. The statistical population of the study is the following textbooks: Sociology(1), Sociology(2), and Sociology(3) published in 2021. The data were collected using researcher-made content analysis form based on William Romey's model. In the analysis of the texts, the questions, and the images of Sociology(1), 1,222, 154, and 194 terms were analyzed and the engagement rate of the texts, the questions, and the images were 0.122, 0.619, and 0.590, respectively. In the analysis of the text, the questions, and the images of Sociology(2), 1057, 77, and 212 terms were analyzed, and the engagement rate for them were 0.036, 2.27, and 0.341, respectively. Regarding the analysis of the texts, the questions, and the images of Sociology(3), 1,048, 136, and 201 terms were examined and the mental engagement were calculated as 0.085, 0.250 and 0.477, respectively. These results indicated the passivity of the text of Sociology(1), the text and images of Sociology(2), and the text and questions of the Sociology(3). In the overall evaluation of the three textbooks, by examining 4,301 terms, the mental involvement rate of the entire content under investigation was calculated as 0.122. Therefore, it can be concluded that the texts of Sociology textbooks of the tenth grade in Iran are constructed passively.