Previous studies have shown that many English textbooks used in senior
high school are dominated by learning tasks that focus only on lower-level
thinking skills. This condition creates a gap between the educational goals
that demand critical thinking development and the actual materials provided in
the textbooks. In vocational education, students are expected to develop the
ability to think critically, solve problems, and apply knowledge in real-life
and work-related situations. Addressing this issue, this study aimed to examine
the distribution of cognitive levels in reading tasks found in an English
textbook entitled “Smart Path to Learning English” used by tenth grade
vocational high school students. This study employed a qualitative approach
using deductive content analysis to categorize reading tasks according to the
revised version of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The data were collected through a detailed
examination of reading tasks across all six units in the textbook and were
verified through audit trail to ensure the trustworthiness of the analysis. The
findings revealed that all six cognitive levels were present in the textbook,
with a relatively balanced distribution between lower and higher-order thinking
skills. However, it was found that reading tasks which promoted higher-order
thinking skills were limited to only one type of task, namely analytical
reading. In light of these findings, it is recommended that future textbook
development incorporate a more diverse range of reading task types that encourage
higher-order thinking, in order to better support the development of critical
and creative thinking skills among vocational students.
