Comparative Study of Images and Texts in Two Books of Religious Teachings in Grade Four of Primary School in 1360 and 1394 SH, with an Stress on Theology

The present article aims at investigating the following question: how much do the images in lessons related to books of Religious Teachings in grade four of primary school serve to state the concepts pertaining to theology expressed in the textbooks, and how much have they been changed in those two periods of time? The benefit of this research is identifying the weaknesses and deficiencies of the images as far as correspondence with the text is concerned, and preparing the background for modifying and improving those images. The main hypothesis is that illustrators have not paid deep and scrutinizing attention to the text, and they have done imaging mostly according to their personal taste. The research method is analytical-comparative. The sample studied consists of eight lessons related to the concept of theology from the two books of religious teachings in grade four of primary school in Iran in 1360 and 1394 SH. The statistical population was the experts in imaging available including 52 professors, graduates and MA students of visual arts in Tehran and Neyshabur. The process of research was as follows: a questionnaire was prepared according to the high-level documents of the Ministry of Education, containing a table of comparison for 11 indices common between the texts and the images, and the level of correspondence between the images and the related texts as well as the high-level documents were examined.
The findings showed that imaging of the lessons pertaining to theology in books of Religious Teachings in grade four of primary school, altogether, corresponded to the texts 46%. This was 49% for 1360 SH and 41% for 1394, showing that the illustrators’ attention to the text, especially its content themes, is not sufficient, and they have not well depicted the concept of theology hidden in the text as the main goal of the lesson.