Gender Representation in Learning Materials

Representations of gender in learning materials convey an implicit message to students about attitudes towards culturally appropriate gender roles for women and men. This collection takes a linguistic approach to exploring theories about gender representation within the sphere of education and textbooks, and their effects on readers and students within an international context.

In the opening section, contributors discuss theories of representation and effect, challenging the conventional Althusserian model of interpellation, and acknowledging the challenges of applying Western feminist models within an international context. Following chapters provide detailed analyses focusing on a number of different countries: Australia, Japan, Brazil, Finland, Russia, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Germany, Qatar, Tanzania, and Poland. Through linguistic analysis of vocabulary associated with women and men, content analysis of what women and men say in textbooks, and discourse analysis of the types of linguistic moves associated with women and men, contributors evaluate the extent to which gendered representations in textbooks perpetuate stereotypical gender roles, what the impact may be on learners, and the ways that both teachers and learners interact and engage with these texts.

Sara Mills is Research Professor in Linguistics at Sheffield Hallam University. She has published in the areas of feminist linguistics and politeness research, for example on language and sexism, gender and politeness. Her books include Gender and Politeness (2003) and Language, Gender and Feminism (with Mullany) (2011).

Abolaji S. Mustapha is Senior Lecturer at Lagos State University, Nigeria. He has published in the areas of gender, language policy, politeness, and multilingualism. His publications include Gender in Language Use (2010) Compliment response patterns in Nigerian English (2010) and The hegemony of the English language in Nigeria (2014).