Gender representation in Japanese EFL textbooks - a corpus study

This paper seeks to investigate whether the Japanese government's attempt to promote a 'gender-equal' society in recent decades and the improved status of women are reflected in patterns of gender representation in Japanese English as a foreign language textbooks. The study made an an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Gender and education 2018-04, Vol.30 (3), p.379-395
Main Author: Lee, Jackie F.K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Computational Linguistics
Content Analysis
Corpus analysis
Corpus linguistics
Education authorities
Educational materials
English (Second Language)
English as a second language
English language
Equality
Fairness
Females
Foreign Countries
Form Classes (Languages)
Gender
Gender Differences
Gender stereotypes
Gender-inclusive language
Guidelines
Instructional Materials
Japan
Japanese language
Language textbooks
Language Usage
Males
Men
Second Language Instruction
Second Language Learning
Sex Fairness
Sex Stereotypes
sexism
Stereotypes
textbook
Textbooks
Titles
Vocabulary
Vocabulary Development
Women
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Summary:This paper seeks to investigate whether the Japanese government's attempt to promote a 'gender-equal' society in recent decades and the improved status of women are reflected in patterns of gender representation in Japanese English as a foreign language textbooks. The study made an analysis of four popular series of English language textbooks published in 2011 for local Japanese students with corpus linguistic tools (e.g. concordancing, keyword in context) to investigate the ratio of female-to-male appearances, the extent of use of gender-neutral and gender-marked constructions, the common adjectives associated with women and men, the common address titles for reference to women, and the order of appearance of women and men. The findings revealed some evidence of gender equity, including common use of gender-inclusive vocabulary (e.g. salesclerk, waitperson) and the neutral address title Ms for women. The 'male-first' phenomenon, however, is still prevalent in contemporary Japanese textbooks, suggesting the secondary status of women. Variations were found in different series of textbooks pertaining to the representation of women and men in the domains of quantitative balance and gender stereotyping. It is suggested that specific guidelines be compiled by the education authorities to help textbook authors write educational materials that help promote a gender-fair society in Japan.
ISSN:0954-0253
1360-0516
DOI:10.1080/09540253.2016.1214690