Affiliation:
1. BURDUR MEHMET AKİF ERSOY UNIVERSITY
2. IZMIR DEMOCRACY UNIVERSITY
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.
Publisher
Korkut Ata Turkiyat Arastirmalari Dergisi
Reference86 articles.
1. Acar, S. C. (2021). An investigation into gender representations in an English coursebook. Focus on ELT Journal, 3(2), 51-64.
2. Agha, N. – et al. (2018). Exploring the Representation of Gender and Identity: Patriarchal and Citizenship Perspectives from the Primary Level Sindhi Textbooks in Pakistan. Women’s Studies International Forum, 66, 17-24.
3. Ahour, T., & Zaferani, P. (2016). A Critical Visual Analysis of Gender Representation of ELT Materials from a Multimodal Perspective. The Journal of Applied Linguistics, 9(18), 78-98.
4. Amalsaleh, E. – et al. (2010). The Power of Language and ELT Textbooks. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 2052-2056.
5. Anker, R. (1998). Gender and Jobs: Sex Segregation of Occupations in the World. International Labour Organization. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA36431755