Gender roles in ELT textbook Empower B2: A critical discourse analysis

Date

2023-12

Author

Küçükhayrat, Özge

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Textbooks, which are in a reciprocal relationship with society, are known to be the sources of the representation of gender roles and gender stereotypes. Through hidden curriculum, the roles attributed to both genders in society are latently transmitted to learners. In this qualitative study, it was aimed to analyze an ELT textbook Empower B2 in terms of the gender roles embedded in it with the help of critical discourse analysis. The study also aimed at exploring the implications of the gender roles in the textbook on the part of students. Semi-structured individual interviews with 9 students and Fairclough’s three-dimensional model for critical discourse analysis of the textbook were used to obtain data in the study. The analysis of the textbook was conducted under 8 main categories, and students’ answers from the interviews were categorized under 4 main codes. The categories used to examine the gender roles in the textbook are characters, social and domestic roles, gender representation, titles, order of appearance, masculine and generic constructions, activities, and jobs/occupations. In the study, it was revealed that the textbook contributes to maintaining and reproducing the gender roles existing in society. In the textbook, the dominance of male characters is seen through the distribution of the characters, and the order of appearance of the characters. The prioritization of males is also realized in titles, social and domestic roles and gender representations. It is seen that the activities and occupations which males and females are engaged in also promotes the gender roles, stereotypes, and traditional occupational roles in society. The only category where male characters are not valued compared to females is generic constructions, which means the analysis of the pronouns used for the characters who gender is not specified. Regarding the student interviews, it is concluded that the textbook caused students to be influenced by the gender roles transmitted in the textbook, and caused them to have a negative representation of females in their minds.

Subject Keywords

Gender roles, Textbook, Hidden curriculum, Critical discourse analysis

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107677

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis