Family Portrayal in Two Elementary Reading Series
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FMILY PORTRAYAL IN TWO ELEMENTARY READING SERIES1 CANFIDIAN VERSUS TEXTBOOK REALITIES Patricia Louise Swenson B.A., Simon Fraser University, 1980 A THESIS SUMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF McSSTER OF ARTS (EDUCATION) in the Faculty of Education @ Patricia Louise Swenron 1985 SIMON FWSER UNIVERSITY November 1785 All riphts reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part , by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name : Patricia L. Swenson Degree : Master of Arts (Education) Title of Thesis: Family Portrayal In Two El ementary Readi ng Series : Canadian Versus Textbook Realities Examining Commi ttee Chairperson: K. Egan R. W. Marx Senior Supervisor R. Lorimer Associate Professor Dept. of Communication Faculty of Education Simon Fraser University External Exami ner Date approved z 5/!& d / 8J- PARTIAL COPYRIGHT LICENSE I hereby grant to Slmon Fraser University the right to lend my thesis, project or extended essay (the title of which is shown below) to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. I further agree that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by me or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without my wr tten permission. Title of Thes s/Project/Extended Essay FAMILY PORTRAYAL IN TWO El EMFWUSFflLFS: CqC38aLAN VERSUS TEXTBOOK REALITIES Author: (signature) Patricia L. Swenson ( name 1 (date) Abstract Accurate portrayal of families in stories read by school children could provide students with information about the society in which they are learning to function. Studies have shwn that chi ldren's readers contain stories inaccurately portraying characteristics related to gender, occupations, ethnic minorities, elderly, disabled, one parent families and Canadian content. The purpose of this study is to examine demographic and psychosocial information on families portrayed in two basal reading series used in British Columbia and much of the rest of Canada, and to compare these variables, where data are avai lable, to Canadian fami 1ies reported in the 1981 census. Tho entire population of stories for grades one through seven was examined, with data coded on 267 families from 28 books. Coding categories were: location, ethnicity, adults present, ages and sexes of children, main character, family neighborliness, affective and physical interactions and occupations of adults. The modal family was almost identical for the two series. Characteristics as categorized in this study were: a three person family, located in a non-specified setting typical of North herica and no ethnicity identified (i.o., an anglicized family with North American mannerisms and speaking English). Conspicuously absent frm both series was any reference to Francophone families, although this group constitutes 26.+/: of the Canadian population. The modal family had an adult female and adult male present and the children were generally in the age category 6-14 years. The family iii members experienced neutral relationships with people in their environment and neutral relationships with each other. They often demonstrated physical affect ion, usual ly between chi ldrrn and adults or between children and animals, but rarely showed aggression. For the majority of adults, occupations were not mentioned, but when they were, females tended to be hanemakers or farm workers and males farm workers or fishermedhunters. In contrast, modes for the Canadian population, not mentioned in the stories, were clerical worker for women and rdmini strat ive for men. More accurate portrayal would include variability in locations specified, describing a Canadian context, ethnicity representing mu1 t i-cul tural and bi-1 ingual diversity, fami ly relationships modelling socially adaptive behaviors and occupations that represent potential roles available in society. Dedication To my daughter Missr Stone who studied many of these books with enthusiasm and trust during her first seven rears of school. Acknwl edgemen t s Thank you to Ron Marx for his expert supervision, consistent availability and research skills. Ron has the abi 1i ty to make a1 1 students feel that the learning process is a valuable and satisfying experience. Thank you to Roly Lorimer for shari ng his expertise as a supervisor and for his interest in this topic. I have been fortunate in working with the pioneer in the area of this study. An overdue thank you to Jack Martin and Bryan Hiebert for the opportunity of working toward my career goal, and to Stanley Auerbach for initially providing me the chance to work with and became interested in the reading series. John Ellis is remembered for his involvement during the early stages of planning a research topic. Wendy Oallagher contributed much time and energy in designing the coding system and in doing the reliability checks. Susan Hargraves offered motivation and assistance from the beginning to the end of this study. Thank you to Jupian Leung for his statistical and cmputer skills, taking the raw data and producing the resul ts. The Schou Education Center in Burnaby, B.C. made available to me the reading series and a1 1 other materials. Thank you to the Financial Aid department of S.F.U., Derek and Elizabeth Shackleford and Michael Manley-Casimir for their support when it was most needed. David Bell and the Learning Resource Center of the Education department provided a supportive atmosphere where countless hours were spent working on the computers. v i A final thank you to my daughter Missy Stone for her patience during the time of my study, for her companionship and for motivating me in every area of my life and to my parents for always encouraging ma to value education and for their continual support. TABLE OF CMENTS Approval ................................................ ii Abstract ...............................................iii Dedication ...............................................v Acknowledgements ........................................ vi List of Tables ...........................................x List of Figures......................................... xi CHAPTER ONE Introduction Background ..........................................1 Statement of the Problem ............................3 Overview ............................................4 Organization ........................................5 CHAPTER TWO Review of the Literature Introduction ........................................6 Stereotyping of Sex Roles........................... 9 Summary .........................................23 Presentation of Special Groups .....................25 The Disabled.................................... 25 The Elderly .....................................28 One Parent Families............................. 30 Ethnic Groups ...................................33 Canadian Content ...................................36 Families........................................... 40 CHAPTER THREE Me thodol ogy Sources of Data ....................................44 Curriculum textbook data ........................44 Census data .....................................45 Development of the Coding System ...................46 Reliability Procedures ..........................46 Coding Procedures ..................................49 CHAPTER FOUR Results and Discussion Frequency of Main Characters .......................50 Types of Families.................................. 53 Locations of Families.............................. 53 Ethnicity of Families.............................. 56 Summary of portrayal of ethnicity ..............61 Adults in Families................................. 62 Step-parents ...................................67 Grandparents ...................................67 Age Groups of Children at Hme .....................68 Numbers of Persons in the Families................. 68 Rating of Family Social Situation ..................72 Rating of Family Members' Interactions............. 72 Physical Affection and Aggression ..................75 Occupations of Adults in the Story Families and in Canadian Families................7 8 Occupations for females .........................78 Occupations for males ...........................79 Unemployment versus employment ..................79 Comparisons of occupations of Canadian and story males and females .....................84 Sumary .........................................85 The Disabled as Portrayed in the Stories........... 85 CHAPTER FIVE Sumary and Conclusions Modal Family .......................................87 Areas of Concern ...................................88 Context of This Study ..............................93 Appendix A Books ......................................95 Appendix 8 Description of Criteria for the Coding System ............................94 Appendix C Coding System .............................105 Appendix D Total Number of Stories per Book and Number Coded ........................109 Appendix E Census Ethnicities for each Coding Category ................110 Appendix F Adults in Family in Relation to Family Social Situation .................111 Appendix G Adults in Family in Relation to Family Members' Interactions............ 112 References ...........................................113