Gender discourse in english language teaching (ELT) coursebook

Abstract

Learning a second language can be crucial for many. In this stage the textbook becomes one of the most important aspects of the target language. However, in a country like Bangladesh where the necessity of learning English has been eminent for many years now due to various social and economic reasons, it is noticed that the way the textbooks of English are designed follow a certain pattern. Although there are many changes happening over the years in the education sector and new concepts are being introduced by the government to develop the teaching and learning experience, how much it is being effective to bring a change in the mindset and portray an actual picture of the different genders being present in the society, is a question that needs attention. The research looks at ELT textbook English for Today, available and pre-dominantly used in the Bengali medium schooling system of Bangladesh specifically in grade 9 and 10 to identify whether there is an evidence of any discourse which varies in terms of style and representation of different genders. Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 7 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1.Introduction: Textbook is one of the most crucial elements in language learning. It can help the learner get to know about the language in a detailed manner. Thus, it is also predominantly important that the materials that are being presented to the learners are appropriate and serve the purpose. Since language learning does not happen in isolation and as it incorporates many aspects of the society in the process, gender is one of them which are largely present in textbooks. How the portrayal of gender is in the assigned NCTB textbook of class 9 and 10 named English for Today is the main concern of the study. Therefore, this research tries to identify the gender discourse that is present in English language teaching course book of the focused grade with the help of relevant literature, survey results along with researcher’s own evaluation of the book. 1.2.The problem defined: From the very beginning of a person’s life they are differentiated based on their gender. To some extent these instructions of how to behave and what to do based on their gender might not seem problematic at all. However, when the same person is in the process of growing up especially when they enter in the teenage years they start to develop their understanding of the world and that particular understanding might even persist in the later years of that person’s life. It might partly be based on what they were told to do or might also largely be from the education he or she is receiving from institutions such as school. Therefore, the materials that are being used in educational system plays a vital role on shaping those perspectives of the students. As English is taught as second or foreign language in Bangladesh everyone who is enrolled in school have to follow certain textbooks to fulfill their language learning criteria. When these Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 8 students are being taught about the language, they are also directly or indirectly being taught about their position in the society as the textbook assigned for them are bringing in variety of social matters and showing how it is dealt with. Hence, it is indispensible to show the real picture of the society to the students instead of presenting something that would contradict their understanding of the world later on. As a result, English language textbook can be a common ground for all the learners for presenting the idea of gender discourse. 1.3.Central Research Questions: a) What aspects are being shown for certain gender in the NCTB textbook of ELT for class 9 and 10? b) What is the social construction that is being built on basis of these portrayals of gender in course books? c) Does the textbook shape the idea of how a person should be treated in a society depending on their gender? 1.4.Significance of the study: It is really important to understand the role of textbooks which are representing gender through its materials. The way certain ideas are presented in a textbook, it molds the mind of the learners very quickly and leaves an imprint for the rest of their life. As this study focuses on learners who are at their teenage years, it tries to show how their course book shapes their perspective. It is also crucial to take into account that nowadays there are many social issues which are on the rise and coming to light through different media. Such issues can include violence against women, early marriages and most importantly the distinction between superior and inferior gender, to name a few. These issues are gradually increasing rather than decreasing Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 9 whereas the society is becoming more educated. This indicates the education which is being provided is not really helping the overall society to transform into a better one where such issues will not prevail. Since learning a second language which is English, is a common subject for each and every class of Bengali medium schooling system of Bangladesh, learners are constantly being exposed to the norms and culture of the society through the materials presented in the assigned textbook. Therefore, evaluating the English language teaching textbook will open a path to address such issues and might make it possible for the learners of targeted group to learn their mandatory second language communicatively along with becoming a better human being instead of just following whatever is presented to them. In the field of Applied Linguistics, the more concentration is given how to make the language learning of the language learners better. To do so, different learning methods are tested and some of them are widely accepted as well. Such language teaching methods include Grammar Translation Method (GTM), Suggestopedia, Audiolingual method and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), to name a few. It is true that for a person to have good command over a certain language, he or she needs to have the four skills of language which includes listening, speaking, reading and writing. While the most focus nowadays is on incorporating communicative materials in the language learning textbooks to develop learners proficiency level and overall understanding of a particular language, what is being ignored is the fact that how those materials are truly being presented. The materials might develop a good language learner but is it promoting something negative about a certain group of people based on their biological distinction, which is an issue that is being constantly overlooked. Although there are constant researches on the basis of how the new version of ELT textbooks are better than the previous ones and how the materials can be made even more suitable for the learners, there is hardly any Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 10 research done on the issue of looking at ELT materials from the perspective of gender discourse especially in Bangladesh. Therefore, this particular study attempts to delve into the issue of gender discourse to identify the areas where it might be present and point out what social construction is being built by examining the ELT textbook of class 9 and 10 of Bengali medium schooling system. 1.5.Methodology: The research methods that were implied for this study include The researcher incorporated both primary and secondary research data in this study. It is a combination of looking at existing data on similar concept with the help of library and internet research and also data collected through primary research for the study purpose.  Different stakeholders such as teachers and learners responses who are engaged in the focused area of the study were also looked at.  Qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. Here, the quantitative data were collected through yes or no and with multiple choice questions along with quantitative data which were collected through different open-ended questions for the purpose of the study. 1.6.Limitations of the study: Since the research focuses on finding out not only what is presented in the assigned textbook but also on the responses from the learners and instructors, collecting these stakeholders response was one of the crucial stages for this research. Therefore, the researcher needed to visit multiple institutions to get permissions. One of the most problematic situations was the non-cooperative behavior of some school authorities. As many of the institutions declined to allow the researcher Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 11 to do survey, only a few schools could be looked at for the research. In addition, getting a good number of students was also a challenge. The selected institutions only allowed researcher to do the survey after the half yearly exam was over. As a result some students were absent from each of the focused classes. Also, because of the limitation of time and resource researcher could not reach out to other institutions for the survey. 1.7.Conclusion: This chapter gives an insight of the overall research. It defines the research questions that are being answered through this research. It also highlights the methods, significance and limitations of the study, giving the reader an idea of how the research was conducted and what the elements were included in this study. Gender Discourse in English Language Teaching (ELT) Coursebook 12 Chapter 2: Literature Review 2.1.Importance of textbook: One of the crucial steps of a curriculum is finding a good textbook and in case of second or foreign language learning, it is sometimes more difficult as many different factors need to be taken into account. That is why it is not an easy task to assign a proper textbook which will meet all the criteria of the students’ needs. Textbook serves as the basis for not only lan