ESL Materials and Gender Representation: A Corpus-Based Study of Secondary School Textbooks in Punjab, Pakistan

Introduction

The textbook plays a significant role in ESL education. It orients the students to their target language (TL) and its cultural values. In fact, students consider text-books as something of an authority. Therefore, the textbooks’ ideas, information, images, and religious and socio-cultural contents shape the learners’ basic thought-patterns (Mustapha, 2013). It is generally believed that instructional contents depict women as derogatory beings (Bahman & Rahimi, 2010). This derogation, according to Rahimi and Sahragard (2006), is commonly observed in the texts. In the view of Hartman and Judd (1978), whatever is taught to students in an ESL classroom, including grammar, lexicon, and individual topics, carries cultural connotations. That is why different behaviors and characteristics are expected from each of the sexes based on the cultures they live in. Thus, as we learn about cultures from research (see Bahman & Rahimi, 2010; Dworkin, 1989; Hanna, Talley, & Guindon, 2000; Mills, 1995; Minow, 2000; Phillips, 1998; Stopler, 2003; Sue, 1978; Vogel, 2013), particularly in relation to language, it becomes clear that men and women are unequally treated in most cultures and this unequal treatment permeates every aspect of human life. From Mills’ (1995) point of view, it is always the language that shapes the ideas. Therefore, if the language treats men and women unequally, there is a possibility that it might affect the ideas of ESL learners also (Bravo Ibarra, Enache, Fernández Alarcón, & Simó Guzmán, 2010).

Different studies have investigated the question of gender from different perspectives. Thorne, Kramarae, and Henley (1983) studied gender with the help of different terminologies and found that male terms like master, bachelor, and lord have positive implications as compared to female terms like lady, mistress, and spinster. Porreca (1984) adds that the terms associated with men show respect and seriousness, whereas the terms related to women depict disparaging values. According to Thorne et al. (1983) and Weatherall (2002), linguistic terms ignore and belittle women and Baskan and Erduran (2009) add that the said terms represent women as inferior creatures.

Similarly, other studies by Bauer, Holmes, and Warren (2006), Lakoff (1973), and Thorne and Henley (1975) investigated gender through male-female title words. In English, the title used for a man is Mr. This title is used for a man whether married or unmarried. In contrast, the titles used for women are quite different. Miss is used for an unmarried woman whereas Mrs. is used for a married woman. Later on, Ms. was introduced as a title equivalent to the male title Mr. Yet, according to Bauer et al. (2006, p. 164) “Ms. is frequently interpreted as title [sic] for divorced, separated or widowed woman.” In the views of Lakoff (1973) and Thorne and Henley (1975), sexist language emerges in response to societal gender discrimination. Hence, as long as the distinction between unmarried and married women is present in human societies, recognition of titles like Ms. appears almost impossible. For, according to Thorne and Henley (1975, p. 29), “language and society cannot be easily separated.” Still another study (see Weatherall, 2002) investigated gender bias through male-generic items such as he, man, and mankind. According to some researchers like Bauer et al. (2006), Kramer (1974), and Parks and Roberton (2004), male generic items seem to refer to both genders but, in fact, they make woman indiscernible. To eliminate this difference, Kramer (1974) suggested using human beings instead of men and Graham (1974) proposed replacing man with person.

Poynton (1989) and Weatherall (2002) analyzed gender disparity through the main characters depicted in textbooks and stories and observed that such characters were usually male. It was interesting to note that even the toys had male names like “Thomas, the Tank Engine” and “Mister Train.” A dog was also found to have a male name i.e. Joey. Thus, Poynton (1989) added that EFL materials present things of interest to boys in the belief that boys will not tolerate things of interest to girls. Some researchers highlighted the concept of “firstness” to analyze gender bias. Firstness means placing male items before female ones. When gender-related terms appear in academic texts, the male terms usually precede the female terms. According to Mills (1995), the appearance of male terms before female ones is another example of unequal treatment which seems to prioritize men over women. In the view of Goddard and Patterson (2000, p. 57), the English language uses a fixed number of collocations “where the male referents occur first as in ‘he or she’, ‘husband and wife’, ‘men and women.’” Hartman and Judd (1978) add further that such an automatic ordering (with men appearing first) might be a trivial thing, yet it highlights the second-place status of women.

Research on language teaching materials reported biased and less representation of women (see Litosseliti, 2014). For example, Sigley and Holmes (2002) reported unequal use of collocates for boys and girls which further revealed women designated as male dependent (for emotional and financial needs), submissive, weak, and objects of male desire. Later, Lee and Collins (2009, 2010) analyzed English-language textbooks used in Australia and Hong Kong. They found that while women were associated with sickness, men were associated with national identity, politics, and success. Yang (2014) calculated 522: 733 as the ratio of female: Male tokens, further reflecting the greater visibility of males in primary textbooks in Hong Kong. Similarly, Litosseliti (2014) observed the poor representation of women in terms of visibility and their negative representation in terms of professional as well as personal roles (e.g., housewife, nurse, secretary) in contrast with men who were overrepresented in textbooks and associated with diverse and powerful roles (e.g., bank manager, doctor, school principal) in the same materials. In fact, there has been a long history of depicting women and men in stereotypical ways in school textbooks (see, e.g., Bazzul & Sykes, 2011; Leo & Cartagena, 1999; Macleod & Norrby, 2002; Ullah & Haque, 2016). In Blumberg’s (2008) view, studies highlighting the existence of gender bias in textbooks started shortly after the emergence of the Second Women’s Movement in the 1960s.

Turner-Bowker (1996) opines that textbooks teach learners about which behavior is inappropriate or appropriate for them. In addition, they work as a source from which learners acquire gender stereotypes. These stereotypes of both women and men can clearly be seen in different domains such as economics and politics. Many measures have been taken to try and bridge the gap between male and female stereotypes. For example, suggestions were offered (see Florent, Fuller, Pugsley, Walter, & Young, 1994) to ensure gender equality in educational materials. However, it is evident from the observations of experts (see Litosseliti, 2014; Mustapha & Mills, 2015) and the results of a number of studies on gender, e.g. Hamdan and Jalabneh (2009), Islam and Asadullah (2018), Mahmood and Kausar (2019), and Shteiwi (2003), that this gap has not so far satisfactorily been bridged in EFL/ESL textbooks (Bahman & Rahimi, 2010; Brusokaitė, 2013; Foroutan, 2012; Lee & Collins, 2009, 2010; Ndura, 2004; Nofal & Qawar, 2015; Siren, 2018; Stockdale, 2006).

Designing a textbook, especially an ELT textbook, requires consideration of a large number of different factors, such as ethnicity, age, class, mental level, gender, and purpose. However, a close examination of any textbook can unveil the patterns according to which its contents were included, or reveal what was excluded, to hide or highlight any particular factor. Thus, in light of the gravity of the claims contained in the above research findings, this study aims to apply a content analysis approach to examine the representation of men and women in ESL textbooks used in all public and some private schools to teach the students of Grades 9 and 10 in the Province of Punjab, Pakistan. “Representation” here means the signification of practices and symbolic systems to produce meanings (Woodward in Mustapha & Mills, 2015). It is done “with a level of intentionality or at least consciousness” in spoken, written, or visual materials by someone against something/someone else. It is deliberate and thus “can be seen as a matter of selection from a pool of possible choices being filtered through ideology.” It is often seen as stereotypical i.e. limiting, traditional, and unnuanced (Mustapha & Mills, 2015, p. 20).

Aim

This study aims to explore:

∙ Whether ESL materials taught in different public and private schools in Punjab, Pakistan represent males and females equally or not.

Research Question

∙ Have both genders been equally represented in the ESL textbooks for Grades 9 and 10 used in public and private schools in Punjab, Pakistan?

Literature Review

A large number of studies have been conducted on school textbooks around the world employing content analysis to investigate stereotyping and gender imbalance in texts and illustrations. One of these studies on English language textbooks was conducted by Durrani (2008) to explore the ways by which textbooks as well as the national curriculum constructed Pakistani identities and gender reciprocally. She approached her study through the representation of a particular version of Pakistani identity. Her research revealed multi-dimensional aspects, including national identity, inequality, power, and socio-cultural heterogeneity. Gender discrimination was also the focus of her study and she observed that men were shown in superior roles regarding military and leadership whereas women were limited to subjugated ones. Moreover, girls were represented through two female icons only, whereas boys were represented through many religious reformers, conquerors, and martyrs. In addition, females were found to be excluded from paid jobs and their role was limited to being ideal women for care and nurture.

Ram (2008) examined gender biases in primary school textbooks used in public sector schools in Pakistan. He conducted a content analysis of textbook illustrations and the results indicated a reflection of gender bias as found in Pakistani culture. The proportion of female images (30.1%) was considerably lower compared to male images (69.9%) and women were presented in traditional professions (see 5.1). Khurshid, Gillaniz, and Hashmi (2010) conducted another study to examine gender representation in secondary school-level textbooks through image analysis and similarly noted that there were fewer images depicting women and that they were represented in a discriminatory fashion. So far as the activities were concerned, women were shown to be involved in religious and domestic activities.

Shah (2012) conducted research to explore gender inclusion in English language textbooks used at secondary school level (grades 9 and 10) in Punjab, Pakistan. Using content analysis techniques to examine textbooks, as well as interviews and questionnaires, she observed that gender inclusion in the said books was almost indiscernible. Female representation was not equal in proportion to male representation, female roles appeared to be orthodox, and most of the female role models depicted in the textbooks were associated with Islam. On the basis of these findings, she concluded that although women formed more than half the total Pakistani population they were almost completely ignored.

Similarly, Ullah and Skelton (2013) studied gender bias in textbooks for different subjects, including social studies, Urdu, and English, used to teach students of Grades 1–8 in Pakistani schools. Their study revealed that these textbooks were full of stereotypical representations and gender-biased messages. Through this study, they invited concerned persons to focus their attention on the issue of gender- blinded curriculum and textbook design. Azhar, Khalid, and Mehmood (2014) conducted a corpus-based comparative stylistic analysis of British as well as Pakistani English fiction books with the aim of examining gender representation in terms of attitude and status. They based their corpus on the instances of she is and he is in connection with the complements coming after them. Using a corpus analysis process with the help of the AntConc software package, they found that gender depictions were relatively characteristic of the cultures they were related to. The appearance of he is and she is in British English fiction was balanced whereas the representation in Pakistani English fiction was based on the inferiority of women and the superiority of men.

In another study, Ullah and Haque (2016) analyzed 24 Grade 1–8 textbooks for Social Studies, Urdu, and English from a feminist point of view, particularly in the light of a social constructionist theory of “gender,” to study the representation of girls and boys. With the help of qualitative content-analysis technique, they reached the conclusion that the said school textbooks were replete with illustrations of gender bias which might adversely affect the children’s identity formation process. In her article reviewing various studies and reports, Masud (2017) concluded that the textbooks used in Pakistani schools were not presenting men and women in equal proportion. She regarded it a matter of serious concern that needed to be immediately addressed in the larger interest of posterity and suggested some measures in this regard (see 5.3).

Agha, Syed, and Mirani (2018) explored the depiction of men and women in the Sindhi textbooks used with primary (grades 1–5) school students in Sindh, Pakistan by applying thematic coding techniques. Textual and pictorial analysis revealed patriarchal dominance in the textbooks; women were shown as secondary citizens, weak, less adventurous, male dependent, and inferior creatures born to perform familial duties (e.g., serving men and raising their children). Similar findings were reported in another study (Syed & Agha, 2019) on gender and citizenship in secondary-level (grades 9–10) Sindhi textbooks.

The study by Ahmad and Shah (2019) investigated the representation of female and male genders in an ESL textbook for 5^th grade students employing critical discourse as well as content analysis approaches. This textbook was also prepared by the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) for all public and some non-elite private schools in Punjab, Pakistan. Results showed that the textbook represented women much less than it did men. The study concluded that the textbook was highly gender-biased and appeared to reflect male dominance, explicitly and implicitly. The study warned that unequal representation of female and male genders might cause gender discrimination in real life and suggested that the two genders should be portrayed equally.

In the light of the above literature review, it is evident that the topic of gender representation has been attracting increased research attention for the last couple of decades. The studies conducted in this area focused on analyzing and investigating gender representation in school textbooks with the aim of exposing the presence of gender inequalities in order to make people aware of this issue and, as a result, decrease imbalanced gender representation in textbooks. Our current knowledge of gender representation in Pakistani textbooks has come from the above studies, which have highlighted the issue with great care. However, a gap exists in the above literature in that none of the above studies in a Pakistani context have approached this issue by discussing its effects, its contributing factors, and ways to control it.

Research Methodology

Corpus Development

To develop the corpus, the data was retrieved from the English 9 textbook available online on the PCTB official website. However, English 10 was not available online. Therefore, a hard copy was scanned and then processed using OCR to Word 7.8.1 software, thereby converting the scanned version of the textbook into MS Word. Both textbooks (English 9, and 10) contained a variety of different units, theme-based texts of varying page lengths. English 9 contained 12 units (2 poems, 10 prose lessons) while English 10 consisted of 13 units (3 poems, 10 prose lessons). Each lesson (in both textbooks) was followed by exercises based on different language skill activities. As mentioned earlier, the PCTB revises its textbooks from time to time, and these two textbooks were last revised in 2012.

This study focused on the text of the main chapters/units/lessons as well as the exercises given at the end of the chapters. Additionally, the “Dengue Fever Awareness Campaign” as well as the “Introduction” sections from English 10 were included in the study’s corpus. The Introduction section included a number of sub-topics, including grammar, guidelines for teachers, oral communication skills, pre-reading, reading comprehension, reading material, writing skills, vocabulary, while-reading, and conclusion. Similarly, the “Dengue Fever Awareness Campaign” consisted of a comprehensive essay which discussed control, dengue vectors, the dengue virus, diagnosis, government’s effort to control dengue, history, patient management, preventive measures, and symptoms, followed by the chapter review exercise.

The distribution and length of the corpora is given in Table 1. It should be noted that this study sets itself apart in considering certain sections (e.g., index, introduction, and exercises) for analysis purpose, sections left unexamined by all previous studies. This study is, therefore, unique. However, it was difficult for the researchers to process the images contained in the textbooks. Therefore, the images were omitted from this study.

Table 1

Corpora Distribution and Length

The corpora arrangement involved five stages: (i) it was collected in electronic version, (ii) it was recorded in Microsoft Excel, marking file number, word types, and token types; (iii) the files were renamed; (iv) the corpora files were converted into Notepad for processing; and (v) the corpora were arranged in two separate folders named as “Compiled up Files” that were further arranged into “One File.” The corpora saved in Notepad files were later analyzed using AntConc 3.4.4.0 by (a) tagging through a CLAWS tagger to obtain grammatical terms via tags i.e. proper nouns (Car, Ali, London), reflexive nouns (herself, himself), and personal pronouns (he, his, him, she, her, hers); and (b) observing grammatical terms through the tags like reflexive pronouns (PNX), proper nouns (NP0), and personal pronouns (PNP). Finally, the frequencies were counted manually and interpreted, as described in the Results section.

One limitation of the study is that the analysis is based on only two English language textbooks taught at secondary level in Punjab province. Therefore, its results are not necessarily generalizable to the entirety of teaching/learning materials in Pakistan.

Results

The major findings of the study are given below.

Features Representing Genders

After the analysis, it was observed that both of the textbooks, i.e. English 9 and English 10, contained features representing both genders. However, there were considerable differences in their representation in that male references exceeded female references. English 9 used 17 male and 13 female features. Similarly, English 10 used 15 male and only 8 female features. As a whole, both of the textbooks represented women less than men through the features representing both genders, though the difference was significantly greater in English 10. Table 2 presents the clear picture of the representation of both genders through features.

Table 2

Frequencies of Female and Male Cluster Types and Tokens in English 9 and 10

Discussion

Conclusion

Gender representation in textbooks, particularly ESL textbooks used to teach Grade 9 and 10 students in public and private schools in Punjab, Pakistan, is not equal. Men are over-represented, women under-represented. All of the features i.e. titles, tokens, nouns, pronouns, inclusion and exclusion, similarly reflect male over-representation in the textbooks. This indicates an intentional or subconscious manipulation of the textbook contents in a way that favors men. As clearly shown earlier, (see 5.2) a myriad of factors are responsible for this outcome. However, this practice (unequal presentation) undermines the principle of fair treatment of the genders. Therefore, special measures should be taken to eliminate this gender bias from textbooks to help create a sound society where the genders are treated equally. This might be achieved by eliminating bias, career-role restrictions, and stereotypes from ESL materials. Furthermore, gender bias might also be eliminated by replacing male-female terms like man and woman with human beings or persons as well as by increasing the number of female authors represented and raising awareness among both students and teachers.

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