Perpetuation of gender bias in New Headway: a multimodal critical discourse analysis with a diachronic lens

• Published in: Pedagogy, culture & society Vol. 31; no. 3; pp. 379 - 401
• Main Authors: Keles, Ufuk, Mansouri, Behzad, Yazan, Bedrettin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 27.05.2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Bias; Caregiver Role; Children; Content Analysis; coursebook analysis; Critical discourse analysis; Diachronic analysis; Diachronic Linguistics; Discourse Analysis; ELT coursebooks; English (Second Language); English as a second language; Females; Gender Bias; Gender Differences; Gender Discrimination; gender representation; LGBTQ People; LGBTQ+ representation; Men; multimodal critical discourse analysis; New Headway; Second Language Instruction; Second Language Learning; Sex discrimination; Sex Role; Sex Stereotypes; Sexism; Sports; Stereotypes; Textbooks; Women
• ISSN: 1468-1366; 1747-5104
• DOI: 10.1080/14681366.2021.1913442

Framed by MCDA, our study examines diachronic changes in gender representation in five New Headway Elementary (NHE) editions. Our findings demonstrate that NHE's gender representation is established on heteronormative binaries indicating bias against women in recreational, domestic, professional, and educational spaces despite few important attempts by the coursebook writers to address gender bias. Gender representation in recreational spaces is built on stereotypical discourses. At home, women mostly have nurturing roles while men are depicted as relaxing or playing with their children. At work, men's professional representation focuses solely on their professional career, whereas women are represented with reference to their domestic and caregiving roles. At school, men are presented as teaching and learning various subjects and sports, while women are mostly associated with teaching and learning languages and art only. In closing, we offer teachers three activities to develop learners' critical awareness against gender discrimination while using NHE.