GENDER REPRESENTATION IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS: MULTIMODAL DESCOURSE ANALYSIS

Komang Satria Wirasa, I Gusti Bagus Ari Permadi

Abstract


Abstract
One of nowadays concern in junior high school English material such as textbooks is lack of fair and inclusive gender representation, which can influence students' point of view of gender roles from an early stage. UNESCO (2020) emphasised that the representation of women in school textbooks in several countries is still limited, and when the characters are represented, it is often limited to domestic jobs, thus strengthening gender bias in formal education material. Textbooks, as one of multimodal educational tools, build meanings not only through written language but also through visual image that show characters’ identities, activates, and roles. This research examines how gendered identities are represented in the English for Nusantara textbooks used for seventh grade students based on Indonesia’s Merdeka Curriculum. These textbooks were chosen since the book have wide circulation in junior high schools and its intensive use of character-based dialogue accompanied by images, offering a valuable source of data for analysis. Using the Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2006) framework, the research examining how male and female characters are visually portrayed in the textbook. Based on the analysis of comic strips in the English for Nusantara textbook for seventh grade students, the number of male and female character show diverse according to activity. Conversing is the most frequent, with males that have more representation than females, while studying shows equal participation. Other activities are more specific in gender such as; men are dominant in hobbies and cooking, while women are dominant in teaching. Passive participation occurs in both genders, with men slightly more dominant.
Keywords: Multimodal discourse, gender representation, English textbook, educational instrument.

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References


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