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Gender Representation in Hong Kong Primary English Language Textbooks: a Study of Two Widely-Used Textbook Series

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Gender Representation in Hong Kong Primary English Language Textbooks: a Study of Two Widely-Used Textbook Series Gender Representation in Hong Kong Primary English Language Textbooks: A Study of Two Widely-used Textbook Series Chi Cheung Ruby YANG (08346569) BEd; MEd; MA in Applied Linguistics (HKU) Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Linguistics and English Language Lancaster University 2014 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to the following people. Without any one of them, I could not have achieved the goals. First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Jane Sunderland, my supervisor. To be honest, I was inspired by her Gender and Language course to choose gender as my research area. Dr. Sunderland is the most responsible supervisor I have ever met. She has never delayed my email enquiries. The life as a part-time PhD student is tough and I sometimes sent her despairing email. However, she is always patient and has never failed to give me the most useful and insightful advice for improving my earlier drafts. I am sure I would not have been able to survive in the whole PhD journey and complete this thesis without her continuous support and enormous help. It is my greatest honour to have Dr. Sunderland, but not others, to be my supervisor. My special thanks also go to Prof. Paul Baker who helped me in both pre- and post- confirmation panel meetings, and has given me advice on corpus analysis and the calculation of log-likelihood (LL) values; Prof. Elena Semino to be the chairperson in my confirmation meeting, who has given me suggestions to improve my research; Dr. Andrew Wilson for giving me advice on statistical analysis for corpus linguistics; and Ms. Elaine Heron for her administrative support in my five-year PhD study. In addition, I have got invaluable insights about my research from informal talk with Dr. Cheung Kwai Mun Amy (Senior Manager - Assessment Development, Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority), Dr. Chow Wai Alice (my former teacher and my colleague at Department of English Language Education, The Hong Kong Institute of Education), and Dr. Luk-Fong Yuk Yee Pattie (my former teacher and former Associate Professor at Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Hong Kong Institute of Education). I benefited tremendously from their expertise in primary English Language education and gender/sexuality. Finally, I dedicate this thesis to my father Mr. Yang Kai Mou. He is the greatest father in the world. In my five-year part-time study life, I did not have much time to be with him but he has never complained. I would like to give my heartfelt thanks for his understanding, and unconditional love and support. Declaration I declare that this thesis represents my own work, except where due acknowledgement is made, and that it has not been previously included in a thesis, dissertation or report submitted to this University or to any other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification. Signed: _______________________ Abstract Gender equality has long been an issue for gender and language research from as early as the 1970s to the contemporary era in the 2010s, and gender stereotyping in textbooks is an issue in many different countries (Davis, 1995; see also Blumberg, 2007, 2008). While secondary English Language textbooks published in Hong Kong have already been investigated by Lee and Collins (2008), primary English Language textbooks have rarely been investigated (but see Au, 1992; Au, 2004). Therefore, the present study investigates gender representation in two widely-used primary English Language textbook series, Step Up and Primary Longman Express , by examining two subgenres that can be widely found in all language textbooks: reading passages and dialogues, and visuals. In other words, textual (lexis and grammar), discourse and visual representations of gender are analysed. A combination of different methods is used in this study. First, to answer the research question of how gender is represented in the reading passages in the Step Up and Primary Longman Express series in terms of lexis and grammar (Research Question A), content, linguistic and discourse analyses are conducted. Then, pragmatics and conversation analysis are used to analyse how the discourse of male and female speakers is represented in the dialogues in the two textbook series (Research Question B). Finally, to analyse the representation of gender in the visuals in the two textbook series (Research Question C), the method of visual analysis is used. To make sure that the quantitative results obtained are significant, the chi-square test is also used and log-likelihood values are calculated. The results of this study are encouraging in that males and females are represented similarly and fairly, and show an improvement over previous textbook studies in gender representation. In textual representation of gender, at the lexical level, though males were represented more often than females in terms of having a higher frequency of occurrence of node words, nomination, and pronouns when counted as ‘tokens’ in the two series, both males and females were portrayed as having jobs outside home and engaging in household chores (even if only playing a supportive role for males). At the formal grammatical level, the ‘generic’ use of masculine pronouns to refer to human beings in general could not be found in the two textbook series either. As regards gender representation in dialogues, the results vary between the two textbook series and across different dialogue subgenres. Male/female invisibility and domination in dialogues do not exist, and there are no instances of gender stereotyping in the analysed dialogues of the two series. Finally, in visual representation of gender, though males were represented more than females in the illustrations in the two textbook series, the phenomenon of gender stereotyping in terms of occupations and activities engaged in the illustrations in the selected books of either textbook series is not prominent. Table of Contents Chapter 1 Introduction Page No. 1.1 Background to the study 20 1.2 Purpose of the study 25 1.3 The importance of English in Hong Kong 27 1.4 Significance of the study 30 1.5 Research questions 30 1.6 Structure of the thesis 33 Chapter 2 Literature Review 2.1 Introduction 37 2.2 Gender 37 2.2.1 Sex and gender 37 2.2.2 The origin of gender: Theories 40 2.2.3 Gender representation 42 2.2.4 Gender stereotyping 43 2.2.4.1 Different theories explaining the origin of gender 45 stereotypes 2.2.4.2 Gender stereotyping in classroom materials 46 2.2.4.3 The potential influence of gender stereotyping 47 2.3 Sexist language: Invisibility, asymmetry, male firstness, and 48 derogatory language 2.4 Teaching materials 54 2.4.1 Print and non-print teaching materials 55 2.4.2 Texts, textbooks and their potential influence 56 2.4.3 Second/Foreign language textbooks and ESL/EFL 58 textbooks 2.5 Gender representation in textbooks and subgenres within 59 Foreign Language (FL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks: Previous frameworks of evaluation 2.6 Findings of previous studies on gender representation in 61 EFL/ESL textbooks 2.6.1 Content analysis 62 2.6.1.1 Frequency of occurrence of male and female 62 characters 2.6.1.2 Occupational and domestic roles 64 2.6.1.3 Characteristics/Traits 65 2.6.2 Linguistic analysis 66 2.6.2.1 Frequency of occurrence 66 2.6.2.2 Adjectives 67 2.6.2.3 Sexist language 67 2.6.2.3.1 ‘Generic’ masculine pronouns and man 68 compounds 2.6.2.3.2 Order of mention 69 2.6.3 Discourse analysis 69 2.6.4 Visual analysis 72 2.7 Gender and language studies in Hong Kong 73 2.8 Conclusion 76 Chapter 3 The Present Study: Research Design and Methods 3.1 Introduction 77 3.2 Data needed: Primary EFL/ESL textbooks in Hong Kong 80 3.2.1 Data selection I: Textbooks 80 3.2.2 Data selection II: Textbook subgenres 86 3.2.2.1 The importance of reading passages 88 3.2.2.2 The importance of dialogues 89 3.2.2.3 The importance of illustrations 92 3.3 Data preparation 92 3.4 Building and analysing a small specialised corpus 93 3.5 Research ethics 95 3.6 Methods of data analysis 95 3.6.1 Content analysis 96 3.6.2 Linguistic analysis 96 3.6.3 Corpus analysis 97 3.6.4 Discourse analysis 100 3.6.4.1 Pragmatics 105 3.6.4.2 ‘Conversation analysis’ 107 3.6.5 Visual analysis 110 3.6.6 Statistical analysis: Chi-square test and log-likelihood 113 3.7 Reliability and validity of the study 116 3.8 Insights of the pilot study for the main study 118 3.9 Conclusion 120 Chapter 4 The Main Study: Textual Representation of Gender - Lexis and Grammar in Reading Passages 4.1 Gender representation in lexis 123 4.1.1 Frequency of occurrence (number of ‘tokens’ and 123 ‘types’) of males and females 4.1.1.1 Frequency of occurrence of males and females 123 in Step Up 4.1.1.2 Frequency of occurrence of males and females 127 in Primary Longman Express 4.1.2 Names and titles, or ‘nomination’ 134 4.1.2.1 ‘Nomination’ in Step Up 134 4.1.2.2 ‘Nomination’ in Primary Longman Express 136 4.1.3 Pronouns 139 4.1.4 ‘Categorization’ (family relationship and occupational 141 roles) 4.1.4.1 ‘Categorization’ in Step Up 142 4.1.4.2 ‘Categorization’ in Primary Longman Express 147 4.1.5 Associated adjectives 151 4.1.5.1 Associated adjectives in Step Up 153 4.1.5.2 Associated adjectives in Primary Longman 159 Express 4.1.6 Associated verbs or ‘social action’ 164 4.1.6.1 Associated verbs or ‘social action’ in Step Up 165 4.1.6.2 Associated verbs or ‘social action’ in Primary 167 Longman Express 4.2 Gender representation at the level of formal grammar 173 4.2.1 The ‘generic’
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