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The notion of style in physics textbooks
Author(s) -
Strube Paul
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.3660260403
Subject(s) - readability , style (visual arts) , character (mathematics) , linguistics , mathematics education , writing style , science education , computer science , psychology , literature , philosophy , art , mathematics , geometry
In what sense can a work of nonfiction be said to have a style? Is there such a thing as “textbook” style? The language of science textbooks has often been characterized as difficult and formal, yet those terms have never been carefully defined outside of readability demands. This article makes a first attempt at generating workable criteria for assessing the stylistic character of textbooks. This is done using passages from current physics textbooks, which are analyzed for prose structure, word choice, and literary characteristics.