The Application of Functional Linguistics in Exposing Gender Bias in Iranian High School English Textbooks

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to find out whether Iranian high school English textbooks are sexist textbooks which discriminate between male and female students based on their sex. Halliday's systemic-functional linguistic theory was used as an innovative framework to language gender bias studies. To this end, four English textbooks currently taught in the Iranian high schools were chosen as a sample of this study. The linguistics analysis revealed that there were more males in the Theme and Rheme position. In other word, males had dominated the communicative positions of the clauses in the textbooks. Also the outcome of the participant role analysis showed that the frequencies of males for different participant's roles were more than that of females. Thirty males played the role of actors where as only twenty females were in the position of actor throughout the text of these textbooks. Eleven males were found in the role of senser in all clauses of the textbooks. The finding may be attributable to the writer `s attitude, culture, and traditional patriarchal system of Iranian society. Yet another reason why men are more visible than women may be related to the power of the influential policy makers (mostly men) who make curriculum decisions that favor boys and men.

Linguistic Sexism in the Iranian High School Efl Textbooks

“…The roles of females and their realistic contributions to the society are not well represented in the textbooks because there is an imbalance in gender representation. Although this study showed improvement to some areas of the textbooks when compared with the results of the previous researches (Feiz Mohammadpour, 1999;Mousavi, 2012a and2012b) which examined the same textbooks (1999 edition), there are still further for improvements in order to avoid negative impacts of Hidden Curriculum and to provide an equal learning opportunity for all students. According to HC theory as the textbooks present students with texts which emphasize on males importance and more This indoctrination of a false belief can affect students massively on their decision making about their desired study field or a favored job (Vahdatinejad & Bahiyah 2017a).…”

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

“…Dalam mengevaluasi buku teks terutama untuk buku teks bahasa Inggris, hal yang harus dievaluasi tidak hanya berfokus pada topik berbasis bahasa seperti tenses, kata sifat, kata kerja, tetapi juga harus memperhatikan aspek sosial. Dari banyak sumber yang disintesis dari sepuluh aspek evaluasi buku teks, salah satunya adalah masalah gender dalam pendidikan, seperti memeriksa beberapa implikasi gender dalam bahan dan interaksi kelas (Sunderland, 2000), meneliti efek stereotip gender dalam sastra anak-anak (Bowker, 1996), meneliti representasi laki-laki dan perempuan dalam buku teks (Sari, 2011), mencari tahu perbedaan antara laki-laki dan perempuan dalam buku teks bahasa Inggris (Gharbavi & Ahmad Mousavi, 2012) Analisis buku teks dari perspektif gender adalah penting. Karena buku teks adalah sebagai sumber belajar terutama dalam konteks di mana penilaian umumnya sangat terfokus pada menghafal, buku teks dapat dengan mudah menjadi alat untuk mempromosikan bias, termasuk bias gender atau mengekspos stereotip gender (Loan et al, 2010).…”

“…Penelitian tentang representasi gender dalam buku pelajaran bahasa Inggris telah muncul sejak tahun 1970-an (Hartman & Judd, 1978;Lakoff, 1973) sejalan dengan kesadaran kesetaraan gender dalam pendidikan. Setelah itu, studi gender menjadi semakin populer di kalangan peneliti baik dari negara-negara barat (Bowker, 1996;Clark, 1990;Hellinger, 1980;Kingston & Lovelace, 1977;Porreca, 1984) atau negaranegara Asia (Bakar et al, 2015;Ebadi & Seidi, 2015;Esmaeili & Arabmofrad, 2015;Gebregeorgis, 2016;Gharbavi & Ahmad Mousavi, 2012;Jannati, 2015;Jean & Yuit, 2012;Lee, 2014Lee, , 2019Salami & Ghajarieh, 2016;Toçi & Aliu, 2013;Yasin et al, 2012) karena mereka percaya bahwa isu-isu gender dapat memengaruhi proses belajar mengajar dalam praktik kelas melalui penggunaan buku teks.…”

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