Gender In Textbooks Research Articles

GENDER REPRESENTATION IN AN INDONESIAN GOVERNMENT-ENDORSED ENGLISH TEXTBOOK

This study aims to identify the representation of gender in Indonesian government-endorsed English textbooks Specifically, the representation of gender in the textbook was essential because it depicted how society treats gender in a certain region. This study is based on a content-analysis investigation of gender representation in When English Rings the Bell SMP/MTs Kelas VII that the Indonesian government endorsed under the ministry of education. The whole data was collected through the instrument and was specified based on the need for gender representation that was made by Porrecca and was analyzed using Krippendorf's framework. This study reveals that man's representation was depicted as a strong character by depicting man as an outdoor worker with more choices of type of work. The woman's representation is depicted as a domestic worker, such as a chore. In addition, the male gender is represented as a masculine character, which is associated with types of nouns that were frequently associated with strength, wildness, and activeness, while the female gender was presented with typical nouns that were associated with beauty and passivity. The study still needs more exploration with other approaches to discover how gender is represented in the textbook.

Analysis of Arabic Textbook Lisānul Jāmi’ah: Gender Perspective

In the preparation of textbooks, it is necessary to pay attention to the content of the material so that it is in accordance with socio-cultural elements without causing multiple interpretations and an imbalance. The issue of gender is one of the social elements that can be influenced by the educational environment. This includes the learning process and Arabic language textbooks. While Arabic is one of the foreign languages whose language system is very gender biased. So in the preparation of Arabic textbooks, you must be more careful in order to minimize the existence of gender bias in textbooks. This also applies to the Arabic language textbook Lisanul Jami’ah I. This research is entitled Analysis of the Lisānul Jāmiʻah I Textbook Gender Perspective with the formulation of the problem how to analyze the gender perspective in the Lisānul Jāmiʻah I Arabic textbook and how the content of gender bias in the Lisānul Jāmiʻah I Arabic textbook I. The purpose of this research is to find out the analysis of the Arabic language textbook Lisānul Jāmiʻah I from a gender perspective to determine the content of gender bias. The purpose of this research is to provide contributions, references, considerations and insights related to gender in textbooks. This type of research is library research with data sources taken from primary and secondary data sources. Sources of data collected by documentary and interview techniques. While the data analysis using content analysis techniques. The results of this study indicate that most of the contents of the Lisānul Jāmiʻah I textbooks have shown to be gender sensitive. However, the content of gender bias is also quite a lot, although not as much as the content of gender sensitive. In this textbook, gender-neutral content of the textbook is also found.

Gender Representation in English Textbooks: A Qualitative Synthesis of Current Research in China

Textbooks are not only the main carrier of knowledge but also the major vehicle that embody the social culture, values and ideology. The presentation of gender in textbooks can play an important role in the formation of individual gender perceptions. In the past two decades, studies on gender representation in English textbooks were found conducted vastly across the globe, and nearly all of which have revealed gender stereotypes and gender bias as well as their further impact on students' gender value. This review was conducted in December 2021 using CNKI database. In this review, eleven studies focused on gender representation in English textbooks that conducted in the Chinese teaching context were identified. Research subjects, the theoretical foundations, the research designs, findings and suggestions were analyzed. Suggestions as well as implications related to future research were provided. It is recommended first that the scope of research objects should be expanded, covering English textbooks for childhood education, higher education and vocational education and so forth. Further, researchers shall conduct more comparative studies, including comparison of different versions of textbooks published in China as well as the comparison of different textbooks at home and abroad. Finally, it’s highly suggested to collect data from decision-makers as well as stakeholders in the educational process.

Are Progressive Texts Necessarily Disruptive? Investigating Teacher Engagement with Gendered Textbooks in Ugandan Classrooms

Background Undergirding the dominant research focus on gender representation in textbooks is the assumption that making texts progressive in their construction of gender is a panacea for equality in the classroom. As this study demonstrates, however, textbooks containing traditional representations of gender can be used to challenge biases, while textbooks with progressive representations can be undermined. This suggests that “fixing” gender in textbooks to make them progressive does not guarantee how teachers enact them in the classroom. Indeed, the predominant focus on texts, rather than teachers’ gender knowledge base, has had little impact on classroom practice. This justifies the shift to “teacher talk around the text,” which, as scholars argue, should be the focus of research. Purpose and Research Questions This study, which goes beyond the dominant focus on textbooks to draw attention to how teachers take them up, was guided by the following research questions: How do teachers use gendered textbooks in the classroom? What discourses and practices circulate? What informs teacher selection of textbooks? Is gender one of the considerations? Context The study was situated in Uganda, a multiethnic patriarchal developing country in East Africa. Research Design A qualitative case study approach was taken up with two cases, specifically an affluent girls’ single-sex school and a less affluent mixed school. This illuminated how gender is constructed in relation to other socially constructed categories. Data Collection and Analysis The investigation involved textual analysis, classroom observations, and interviews, which were analyzed using feminist poststructural discourse analysis to identify and name discourses and discursive practices cited during the classroom interactions. Findings/Results Overall, the teachers’ use of textbooks in both cases challenged previous research, which assumed that teachers necessarily take up gender as constructed in textbooks. This overlooked teachers’ gendered truths, which, as shown in my study, informed how they took up and/or rejected both traditional and transgressive texts. Traditional gendered texts, which illuminated dominant realities, surprisingly offered more disruptive potential for engaging with gendered hierarchies than did progressive texts, which constructed marginal realities and/or realities incongruent with dominant truths. Conclusions/Recommendations The study has implications for teacher education in Uganda, which should prepare teachers by unsettling the taken-for-granted gender knowledge base, through disrupting traditional gendered ways of thinking/discourses. This will create possibility for producing teachers who can critically navigate gendered texts, by deconstructing gendered power relations during classroom engagement with texts. Indeed, as research has indicated, teachers are capable of challenging gender bias if well prepared. It will also be useful for researchers to observe lessons in which expert teachers engage with gendered textbooks, providing a model to inform teacher education.

Gender representation in EFL course books explored through a corpus-based study: A case study

Introduction. Through this corpus-based case study, the authors examine gender representation in four English as a Foreign Language (ELF) course books, “Exploring English”, through a grammatical perspective. Particularly, the study observes the frequencies of pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’, the association of fourteen action verbs with a certain gender, and differences in gender representation between Course book 3 and 4. To analyse the issue, a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) corpus is compiled with texts selected and stored individually from each course book. Materials and Methods. A mixed approach is used to collect and analyse the data for this study. By using AntConc, the study firstly retrieves the numerical data which are further analysed and interpreted qualitatively. Results. The findings suggest underrepresentation of women. In addition, certain actions were associated with a particular gender. More specifically, noticeable was the positioning of feminine pronouns with domestic activities or chores such as cooking, while masculine pronouns were linked with actions such as paying bills or repairing cars. Although both genders participated equally in dialogues, the contextual analysis of pronouns suggests that the order of mention in sentences reflects masculine supremacy. Nevertheless, the last two levels of the course books suggest a similar representation of gender as hypothesised. Conclusions. The pronoun and verb analysis in this study revealed the uneven and biased representation of gender in textbooks which is concerning for the future of education. Yet, this is only a case study and findings cannot be generalized. Lastly, the authors consider that further analysis on gender representation in the course books from other grammatical aspects would provide even more comprehensive results. Keywords Gender representation; DIY corpus; EFL course books; Pronouns; Action verbs

Representing Women ‘Our Way’: An English Language Teaching Television Programme in Sri Lanka

Research on gender representation in English textbooks reveals that messages about gender roles and gender identity transmitted through texts affect the future behaviour of children as they formulate their own roles in society. There is a limited number of studies on visual analysis of gender in textbooks and a dearth of such research on teaching materials in Sri Lanka. This study analyses a TV programme produced to teach school children English in order to uncover the ideological assumptions related to gender and gender roles embedded in the programme.

GENDER’S VISIBILITY IN TEXTBOOKS

Abstract: The problems of gender are occurred in almost all aspects of social real-life. In fact, discourse is also reflected in textbooks used by schools. In a specific talk, there are various perspectives presented to address gender particularly gender bias in textbook suchas through typology (initiated dialogues, turn-taking, number of characters, word used, and by analyzing text, illustration and pictureswhich coin with gender representative available in textbooksinvolving gender visibility (male or female) and gender stereotype. Accordingly, this paper is aiming at presenting and elaborating on kinds of over-representation of female and male characters that might be occurred and its pedagogical impact after understanding the issue of gender in textbooks. Key words: Gender bias, stereotype, characters, textbooks

Gender in Textbooks

Scholarly works of education in Hungary usually fail to do gender- sensitive research. 'Gender studies' as a scientific field, approach or perspective is highly neglected in the field of education in Hungary. There have been several research studies focusing on gender roles in textbooks, too. The absence of research and available scientific data on gender issues in education, combined with a lack of gender awareness, knowledge and openness towards gender theory as a means of social criticism applicable in the fields of social sciences and pedagogy, allows actors in the field of education to claim that there are no gender inequalities and discrimination in schools and that the gender dimension is irrelevant in education. There have been several research studies focusing on gender roles in textbooks in Hungary. Researchers have shown that textbooks mostly represent the experiences of men and boys, which are considered as the norm in them. The experiences, ways of thinking and knowledge of girls mean something 'different' from that. This is problematic, because in this way very little and limited space is ascribed to women and girls, which also mean rendering invisible a large part of people's experience that is usually associated with women, though could be with both genders. My paper addresses the gendered dimension of textbooks as parts of the 'hidden' curriculum in the process of the formation of subject-specific skills and identities, focusing especially on elementary level textbooks, and particularly how the world represented in textbooks render prescribed, divided and unquestionable spheres for both boys and girls in the process of learning and knowledge production. Besides drawing on the relevant Hungarian and mostly English literature I argue that though there are some 'alternative' examples of gender representations in textbooks, which aim to differ from mainstream representations, these cannot be considered as a general and conscious practice yet. Traditional approaches of gender roles, the family and the educational situation dominate the textbooks. Gender as a point of view and analytical category is not integrated in the pedagogical canon in the Hungarian context. My paper focuses on one field of education, namely textbooks in general, and five Hungarian grammar textbooks in particular, and addresses the question of equality/inequality of genders concerning the knowledge produced in them. The paper emphasizes the role of textbooks as parts of the 'hidden curriculum' in the process of the formation of subject-specific skills and identities, focusing especially on how education is highly gendered, and particularly how the world represented in textbooks related to subjects render prescribed, divided and unquestionable spheres for both boys and girls in the process of education.