WOMEN’S REPRESENTATIONS IN ENGLISH COURSE-BOOKS IN ITALY. A diachronic survey from the 50s to the 80s (original) (raw)
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Gender Representations in the Dialogues of a Textbook of Italian as a Foreign Languagex
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The present study analyses gender representations in the dialogues of a textbook of Italian as a foreign language (IFL). While many studies focus on gender representations in textbooks of English as a foreign language, it appears that no studies have been done on these representations in textbooks of IFL. Based on a quantitative discourse analysis of the dialogues in the IFL textbook -number of words, turns, starting and ending sentences, characters, roles, and language functions for female and male characters- a short qualitative interpretation of gender biases is provided. The findings highlight that, despite a balanced character and role distribution between female and male characters, the distribution of words and language functions between the sexes remains biased. In particular, the large use of expressive language functions by female characters reinforces the stereotypical ideas about women as emotional, fragile beings. On the other hand, the directive, informational and phatic language functions performed by male characters depict them as active, more assertive, decision-taking and well-informed. The study presents a discussion on the pedagogical implications that gender-biased representations in textbooks might have on the students’ learning process. In conclusion pedagogical implications of the gender biases in the dialogues analysed in this study can only be predicted. Empirical research in needed to disclose how teachers and students actually address gender biases in foreign language textbooks.
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This article analyzes the depiction of famous women and men in textbooks of Italian as a foreign language. The textbooks are employed in the specific educational context that involves teaching of Italian to undergraduate students at the University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina. We interpret textbooks from a constructivist point of view as cultural artefacts that contain not only knowledge and facts related to the specific subject that they are created for, but also dominant ideologies (Curdt-Christiansen 2017). In order to examine the relevance attributed to women in the sociocultural panorama we use quantitative content analysis to calculate and determine the overall number of male and female representatives in different professional spheres and the diversity of professions they occupy. Afterwards, we employ Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the ideological implications beneath the portrayal of famous women and men and the power relations that shape it. The results demonstrate that the exclusion of Vučenović ________________________________________________________________________________________ 174 women is a commonplace in all textbooks-even those published in a more recent period don't manifest progressive tendencies regarding gender equality. The sociocultural narrative shaped through textbooks reflects power-structured relations typical for the traditional patriarchal conception of society in which gender inequalities are naturalized and masked as a non-ideological common-sense (Fairclough 1989). Hence, textbooks are recognized as instruments that reinforce patriarchal ideologies and legitimize unequal relations of power.
Matices en Lenguas Extranjeras, 2013
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Subliminal Sexism in Current ESL/EFL Textbooks
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Feminine-specific job titles: a research on sexism in the Italian language
Modern Italy, 2021
This article analyses the instruction on non-sexist use of the Italian language given by Italian language teachers at different levels of education (Nitti 2018). The objective of the research is to evaluate, via language models presented in class, the preparation of materials, and attitudes to correction, the level of engagement in the use of non-sexist language by teachers who transfer their personal orientation into their teaching practice. The survey was conceived as a follow-up to the Conference on Italian Language and Sexism, held at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia on 30 March 2017. Questions were formulated following Raccomandazioni per gli usi non sessisti della lingua by Alma Sabatini (1986) and proposals by academic institutions and territorial and legislative bodies. The research falls within the study of educational linguistics, and its aim is to approach contemporary linguistic phenomena through specific theoretical-applicative tools and paradigms of socioling...
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENTIFIC RESEARCHES, 2022
The aim of this study is to decipher the sexist codes that construct the discourse of "women on the stage of history" as a narrative on a linguistic basis in social studies and history textbooks. Document analysis, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the study. The documents of this study are seventeen textbooks, five social studies textbooks published between 2006 and 2022 and twelve history textbooks published between 1930 and 2022. The criterion sampling method was used to select the textbooks. Textbooks were scanned, texts (paragraphs and sentences) on history were identified and recorded according to the criteria determined by the researcher. The data were analyzed using the discourse analysis method and the deconstruction approach of feminism, taking into accounts the determined categories and themes. It has been determined that the linguistic fiction of the textbooks, including misogyny and subalternity, is generally derived from the academic sources (secondary historical sources) that the authors make use of. It has been found that the discourse, which was articulated with national identity in the 1930s, in a high tone and articulated with national identity, especially for the women of the palace, where the misogyny theme was common, diverged from the national identity codes in the following years and continued to exist until today, although in a very low tone, indirectly and in a few books. Another finding obtained in this study is that even when women's roles and positions in history are being explained, women's own voices are not heard and they are represented by a masculine voice spoken on their behalf. Based on the findings presented within the scope of the study, the language/discourse in some social studies/history textbooks is structured with masculine codes that subordinate female subjects, suppress female subjectivity, silence female subjects by positioning the male as the superior/dominant subject by centered on the gender hierarchy and it was concluded that it was constructed in a structure that reproduces a maledominated historical narrative. It is suggested that the works of historians, in which women's own voices are heard more, and who focus on history from a women's point of view, should be reflected in textbooks.
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