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Textbook Use

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The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies

Abstract

This chapter presents key studies on methodologies of and theoretical approaches to research into learning materials, with a particular focus on textbooks in use. Based on a few major reviews supplemented with systematic database searches as well as studies of selected journals, it draws a general picture of the research field. The vast majority of research into textbooks consists of theory-driven text analyses, but there are also some interesting trends relating to mixed methods approaches to studying textbooks as multifaceted and polysemantic artefacts. The chapter thus concludes with a reflection upon innovative research potential and an articulation of a dual epistemology which conceptualises textbooks and learning materials as mediating artefacts that cannot be adequately described from either a purely subjective or a purely objective perspective.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A special thanks to the late Mike Horsley, who generously helped me with inspiration and feedback on this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Education and Social Sciences, University College Lillebaelt, Odense, Denmark

    Thomas Illum Hansen

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  1. Thomas Illum Hansen
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Georg Eckert Institute - Leibniz-Institute for International Textbook Research, Braunschweig, Germany

    Eckhardt Fuchs

  2. Georg Eckert Institute - Leibniz-Institute for International Textbook Research, Braunschweig, Germany

    Annekatrin Bock

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Hansen, T.I. (2018). Textbook Use. In: Fuchs, E., Bock, A. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Textbook Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53142-1_27

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53142-1_27

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-53141-4

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