Exploring Gender Bias in Junior High School English Textbooks in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Yin, Chuan-Chun, 殷銓均
• Other Authors: Huang, Mei-Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2018
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/g9vy3d

碩士 === 國立彰化師範大學 === 英語學系 === 106 === Gender equity has received remarkable attention in all fields of education during these decades. Instructional materials and instructors, serving as the transmitter of equal-gendered messages, play a critical role in achieving gender equality in education. Therefore, this study is designed to investigate the extent to which gender bias is presented in current junior high school English textbooks in Taiwan and how English teachers project gender bias in their language instructional encounter. Both content analysis and semi-structured interviews were employed in this study. Three series of junior high school English textbooks with 150 lessons in total were selected and analyzed based on a modified coding scheme. To investigate EFL teachers’ views toward gender equity realization in textbooks and classroom practice, 12 junior high school English teachers were recruited for the interview. The major findings indicate that improvement has been made in presenting gender equity in junior high school English textbooks in Taiwan though gender biases could still be identified. Gender biases were revealed in the category of language use, including speech sentences, use of interrogatives and pronouns. In addition, there were linguistic bias and gender stereotypes shown in occupation, adjective, and activities. In spite of those gender biases appearing in the written text in junior high school English textbooks, certain categories such as title, theme, and occurrence of speaker show balance and similar visibility in presenting different genders. As for teacher’s interviews, it is found English teachers seem lack of techniques in implementing gender equity in their regular classes although they teachers were aware of and willing to exercise gender equity education. It is suggested that textbook editors be more aware of linguistic bias and gender stereotypes in designing junior high school English textbooks and English teachers take into account the integration of gender equity issues into language instruction.