Towards a Zero Tolerance on Gender Bias in the Moroccan EFL Textbooks: Innovation or Deterioration?

Abstract

Gender discriminatory discourses and practices have been a worldwide concern. The present paper addresses a major feature of gender depiction in the Moroccan English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks officially approved by the Ministry of Education and compulsory for high school students. Adopting a feminist theoretical approach, the study has quantitatively and qualitatively processed the gendered dialogues along with the related illustrations embedded in four EFL Moroccan textbooks, in addition to the gender roles assumed throughout different contexts (occupational/family roles, interests, activities). The textbooks were selected on the basis of their common themes and the different publication dates, starting from 1990 to 2005. The main aim is to see whether the English textbook designers adopt a gender-based approach as a preliminary initiative for pedagogical innovation, or they implicitly and explicitly use them to disseminate discriminatory discourses. The study reveals that women’s positive representation is persistently deteriorated in the Moroccan EFL textbooks. This stands against all steps towards pedagogical innovation and reinforces the traditional gender ideology. It suggests the urgent need for more pedagogical improvement at the level of gender representation in the Moroccan EFL textbooks. More importantly, is the need for all teacher training centres to prepare new teacher generations ready to use sexist texts constructively. The results’ implication is instrumental to the learning materials’ revision. It is also useful for all English language practitioners, textbook designers, and pedagogical experts addressing the challenge of adopting a gender-based approach as a way to open all avenues for pedagogical innovation.