Critical Discourse Analysis of Gender Equality in English Textbooks

Abstract

Textbooks are recognized worldwide as one of the most widely used and important teaching materials in formal instruction. In alignment with their significance, they are often evaluated and examined in terms of many elements such as content, method, achievements, and skills. Recently, they have also been scrutinized from a more socio-cultural perspective, considering gender representations, equity, racial inclusivity, and cultural diversity. Within this tendency, this study aimed to investigate the status of gender and gender equality in two English textbooks used in tertiary-level English courses offered for the first-year students of a state university in Turkey within quantitative and qualitative perspectives by using Fairclough’s (1989) model of critical discourse analysis. Of the two English textbooks, one was published by a national publishing house and the other by an international one. Female and male representations in visuals and written texts were investigated and the equality of genders was analyzed with a critical viewpoint. The results indicated that there exists approximate equality in gender representation in visuals and texts of the textbooks within a quantitative perspective; however, the qualitative analysis of gender representation according to the values of firstness, titles, and occupational roles yielded a gender bias in favor of men. Consequently, this study made suggestions for enhancing gender equality within English language textbooks.