Gender Representation in an English Textbook “When English Rings a Bell” for Eighth Graders of Junior High School
| Main Author: | Gilang Dwi Ramadhan |
|---|---|
| Format: | PeerReviewed |
| Bahasa: | ind |
| Terbitan: |
, 2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
http://karya-ilmiah.um.ac.id/index.php/sastra-inggris/article/view/70613 |
Daftar Isi:
- ABSTRAK Ramadhan, Gilang Dwi. Gender Representation in an English Textbook “When English Rings a Bell” for Eighth Graders of Junior High School. Thesis, Department of English, Faculty of Letters, State University of Malang. Advisors: (I) Nur Hayati, S.Pd, M.Ed. (II) Drs. Andi Muhtar, M.A. Key words: Textbook analysis, gender representation, Junior High School In relation to English language teaching, students learning the language through the textbook are exposed to language as a set of ideas. English textbooks, therefore, can serve as hidden curriculum. In other words, the textbooks can be a powerful tool shaping the students’ perspectives about particular beliefs. One important issue deals with representation of women and men in the textbook which is unequally treated. This study is aimed at investigating gender representation in an English textbook used in Indonesia. To conduct the study, an English textbook published by the government was analyzed in terms of five aspects of gender representations that include sex visibility, firstness, gender generic terms, occupations, and activities. “When English Rings a Bell”, an English textbook for eighth graders of junior high school, was chosen for the study. As such, this study used content analysis that belongs to qualitative study. First, in terms of sex visibility, the findings showed that the visibility of males is bigger when compared to that of females with the gap by 6%. Male characters also appear more frequently in the images when compared to female characters. In terms of firstness, the gender representation is also not well-balanced as male first pairs outnumber female first pairs. Next, in terms of gender generic terms, there are only two occurrences found in the textbook which are problematic: policemen and chairman. The terms could have been replaced by more neutral terms, namely, police officers and chairperson. For the occupations, there are only eight occupations presented in the textbook, six of which are addressed specifically for men. In terms of activities, there are 49 activities in total for females and males in which 49% for females resulting in the gap by 2%. All in all, from the five aspects of gender representations, the four aspects that include sex visibility, firstness, gender generic terms, and occupations show imbalanced portion of gender representation that favors men. For the aspect of activities, the gender representation is equally balanced. The findings indicate that the government, textbook writers, teachers and other stakeholders still have to promote the awareness of gender equality in the education, especially in ELT. The imbalanced gender representation to some extent indicates or reflects what happens in the society and the attitudes towards the treatment of both genders. Education should become a means of eradicating the inequality. The textbook, which plays an important role for both teachers and students, should take part in the effort. Therefore, the design of the content should be taken seriously to consider the balanced treatment of both genders. For future researchers interested in conducting research on this topic, it is suggested that they investigate the currently used textbooks published by the government for different levels of education and make comparisons.