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Objectives

UNICAMP Universidade Estadual de Campinas São Paulo – Brazil Doctorate Program in Applied Linguistics Representation of gender in Brazilian textbooks for EFL teaching Ariovaldo Lopes Pereira. Objectives.

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Objectives

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  1. UNICAMP Universidade Estadual de CampinasSão Paulo – Brazil Doctorate Program in Applied LinguisticsRepresentation of gender in Brazilian textbooks for EFL teachingAriovaldo Lopes Pereira

  2. Objectives • To identify how gender is represented in textbooks for EFL teaching used in public elementary schools in Brazil • To perceive how these representations influence classroom discourses of teachers and learners • To find out the relation among the representations of gender, classroom discourses and gendered discourses circulating in Brazilian society

  3. 2. Research questions • How is gender represented in Brazilian textbooks for EFL teaching used in public elementary schools? • What is the influence of these representations in classroom discourses of teachers and learners • In which way are these representations of gender and classroom discourses related to gendered discourses circulating in Brazilian society?

  4. 3. Steps of the research • CDA of texts based on Fairclough 1989; 1992; Pennycook 2001: post-structuralist view of discourse and discourse analysis – critique to structuralist neo-Marxist view; Kress and Leeuwen 1996: multimodality: meanings realized through more than one semiotic code 2. Field research: class watch / Debate with learners / Interviews with teachers • Areas: 1.family and housework / 2.Jobs and occupations / 3.Sports and leisure activities / 4.Love relationships

  5. 4. Theoretical support • Coates 1993; Cameron 1999;Crawford 1995; Louro 1999; Moita Lopes 2002: sex = biologically determined; gender = socially constructed category based on sex; multiple ways of being men and women; manifestations of gender may be different in different contexts • Howarth 2000: Discourse in Foucault’s (1972) view: connection between discursive practices and wider sets of non-discursive activities and institutions • Gee 1996: Discourses are ways of being in the world; “a Discourse is a socially accepted association among ways of using language, other symbolic expressions, and ‘artifacts’ of thinking, feeling, believing, and acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or ‘social network’, or to signal (that one is playing) a socially meaningful ‘role’”

  6. Sunderland 2004: “Discourse analyses have shown the extent to whixh discourse is gendered”; “post-structuralism and CDA see gendered discourses as positioning women and men in different ways, i.e. as constitutive” • Sunderland 1992, p. 85: “Discussion of course books has focused not so much on `sexist language` as on the more subtle image questions of (i) relative invisibility of female characters; (ii) stereotypes in gender roles greater than stereotyping in society in occupations, relationships, actions, and age, shown by visuals as well as text; and (iii) language as discourse” • Ideology: Howarth 2000; Gee 1996; Vincent 1999; Eagleton 1997 • Representation: Hall 1997; Kress e Leeuwen 1999; 1996

  7. Text analyzed • English Clips • 8th grade • P. 45 • Homework

  8. Watched class: 8th grade elementary • Teacher (woman) considered only structural aspects of text (preposition), with fast reference to illustration: “people” and animals in the picture

  9. Debate with learners (2 boys, 2 girls) • Noticed presence of women in the picture, although distant, maybe due to their “shyness” or “timidity”/ one student: “They (women) seem to feel a little opressed” • Students thought it was a “normal” situation being in a small town; “in big cities reality is different” • Women can participate in all activities as men, BUT some activities and sports are men`s favorite, others are women`s favorite

  10. They did not agree with the reality reproduced in the picture since nowadays “women have conquered their own place in society” • Nevetherless, they think that some activities are appropriate for men (more physical contact and requiring physical strenght) and other for women (more fragile and delicate), but it is a question of option and preference • “The text does not mention women in the scene because they are distant, their presence is almost unnoticeable”

  11. Preliminary conclusions • Although not mentioned by the teacher, question of gender was present in text (in image as well as in written text) • “Invisibility” of women in text led to same attitude by the teacher and consequently by learners (no one raised the question) • Learners did not find anything “uncommon” in the way women are represented in text

  12. For students situation of marginalization of women is “normal” since it was part of a reality “different” from theirs • Although students agree that men and women should have the same opportunities to participate in leisure activities, they recognize that outdoor activities are “more common for men” and indoor activities are “more appropriate” for women

  13. Representation of gender in course books may lead to attitudes of assimilation or resistance by students (questioning) depending on how it is dealt by teachers

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