A Study of Gender Roles in the English Textbooks of Junior High School

• Main Authors: Ming-te Yang, 楊明德
• Other Authors: 林麗菊
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/82571327186735075782

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 外國文學所 === 93 === Abstract Textbooks in junior high schools are crucial media in the process of gender recognition for the students of high schools. The gender roles appear in the titles, illustrations and discourse affect directly the recognition and realization of gender. This study is to explore the presentation of gender roles in the titles, illustrations and discourse. This study uses discourse analysis and content analysis to examine the gender roles in the five volumes of the textbooks published by National Institute of Compilation and Translation, abbreviated as NICT (國立編譯館). The data is collected from the titles, illustrations, and the discourse in the subject. The collected data is analyzed to reveal the presentation of gender roles in the titles, illustrations and discourse. The results indicate that men and boys are portrayed to conduct typical masculine behaviors such as settling the bill, playing basketball, not fond of doing housework and occupying a larger proportion, while women and girls are silent, voiceless, presented in simplified figures, such as teachers, housekeeper. The invisibility of women and girls often occur in various parts of the textbooks. Stereotypes of gender roles are presented continuously in the texts. The description on women and girls tends to be mono-dimensional and traditional, in lack of diversity. The stereotypes referring to career and activities of both genders are still emphasized in the texts. Two implications are provided for the selection of teaching materials, the awareness of gender balance and fairness in curriculum development and the guidelines for publishers and instructors to follow; suggestions on possible directions for further research are the elements in the illustrations, the analysis of the dialogue in details.