Gender Construction in Visual Images in Textbooks for Primary School Students

Abstract

Abstract:In the Indonesian context, little has been done to raise awareness of political correctness in gender matters in school textbooks. As an attempt to fill this gap, I conducted a textual analysis on four English language textbooks used in Indonesian primary schools. The focus of the study was on the pictorial texts accompanying the linguistic ones. The ‗Visual Grammar', developed by Kress and van Leeuwen, was used as the framework of analysis. The results showed that the illustrations accompanying linguistic texts fortified the representations of gender asymmetry. Females were depicted more dependent than males and were also construed to be admirers of an action carried out by the males. The study recommended conscious efforts to value both genders equally in visualization as meaning construction is multimodal. Keywords: gender construction, visual grammar, pictorial texts, EFL textbooks KONSTRUKSI GENDER DALAM CITRA VISUAL PADA BUKU TEKS UNTUK SISWA SEKOLAH DASARAbstrak:Di Indonesia, upaya penyadaran pentingnya isu penyetaraan gender dalam buku ajar sekolah masih belum banyak dilakukan. Untuk itu, penelitian ini dilakukan sebagai salah satu cara penyadaran isu gender dengan menginvestigasi representasi gender dalam buku ajar. Penelitian ini menggunakan analisis teks terhadap empat buku ajar yang digunakan di sekolah dasar. Fokus analisisnya adalah pada gambar ilustrasi yang menyertai teks tertulis seperti bagian bacaan. Gambar tersebut dianalisis dengan menggunakan teori ‗Visual Grammar' yang dikembangkan oleh Kress dan van Leeuween. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa gambar-gambar tersebut merepresentasikan ketidaksetaraan gender. Perempuan digambarkan sebagai sosok yang tergantung pada orang lain dibandingkan laki-laki yang mandiri dan mereka berlaku sebagai pengagum pekerjaan yang dilakukan laki-laki. Berdasarkan hasil temuannya, penelitian ini merekomendasikan upaya yang lebih serius dalam menampilkan peran gender yang seimbang dan tidak hanya ditampilkan dalam teks tulis namun juga dalam gambar karena pada dasarnya makna dikonstruksi secara multimodal.Katakunci:konstruksi gender, visual grammar, teks gambar.In the Western context, the consciousness of political correctness in gender matters in school textbooks and teaching materials has been progressively endorsed since

English language education in Indonesia: A review of research (2011–2019)

“…Some researchers are interested in unravelling the sociolinguistic nature of textbooks in supporting pedagogy (e.g. Sari, 2011; Hermawan & Noerkhasanah, 2012; Damayanti, 2014;). For example, Sari (2011) conducted critical discourse analysis to investigate the underlying ideology behind gender representation in a primary school textbook, Learn English with Tito .…”

“…This male domination underlying ideology was found to be prominent, which the editor admitted to be the case in a follow-up interview that Sari conducted. Taking a similar departing point, Damayanti (2014) employed a textual analysis on four English textbooks: Go with English, Learning by Doing, Grow with English and Fokus. The findings of her study demonstrate that ‘the illustrations accompanying linguistic texts fortified the representations of gender asymmetry’ (p. 100) with female characters being depicted as more dependent and passive than males.…”

“…In recent years, interest in English language teaching and learning in the country has demonstrated an upward trajectory at three levels of education: primary (e.g. Damayanti, 2014; Hawanti, 2012; Prastiwi, 2015; Zein, 2016a, 2017a), secondary (e.g. Sukyadi, 2015; Sundayana, 2015; Putra & Lukmana, 2017; Widodo, 2016) and tertiary (e.g.…”

Representasi Gender dalam Buku Teks Bahasa Inggris Kelas X SMA di Indonesia: Analisa Linguistik Fungsional Sistematis

“…Dalam menanggapi masalah gender dalam materi buku teks, peneliti Indonesia (Ariyanto, 2018;Damayanti, 2014;Emilia et al, 2017;Ena, 2013;Sari, 2011;Yonata & Mujiyanto, 2017) juga melakukan penelitian untuk mengungkapkan gender representasi dalam buku teks EFL. Penyelidikan mereka menunjukkan bahwa buku teks Indonesia lebih memprioritaskan pria daripada wanita, peran gender disediakan secara tidak seimbang, dan ada bias gender atau stereotip gender dalam konten buku teks.…”

Multimodal literacy: Unfolding reading path in children’s picture book and its potential for EFL classrooms

“…Multimodal literacy has gained more attention amongst literacy educators, researchers and curriculum authorities (Unsworth, Cope, & Nicholls, 2019;Damayanti, 2014;Hermawan & Sukyadi, 2017). As students' interactions with multimodal texts in recent years are increasingly pervasive, the focus of literacy in school can no longer be limited to reading and writing of printed texts such as the school textbooks.…”