City Research Online

Abstract

The language classroom offers a rich environment for deconstructing language- and culture-specific gender and sexuality models in action. The present study responds to calls for diachronic textbook studies and classroom based research in this area. We first examine gender and sexuality in text (types and tokens) and images in ‘family’ chapters in 15 Dutch language textbooks published between 1970 and 2018. Second, we examine under-explored ‘teacher talk around gendered text’ through observation of 32 Dutch language lessons in high schools in Germany and interviews with 9 participating teachers. Results show few changes in gender representations in textbooks over the past 50 years; and significant discrepancies between teachers’ self-articulated gender ideologies (e.g., gender equality is important) and teacher talk in class, which mostly ignores gender-biased representations in texts. We aim to further debate in this area, by extending an existing theoretical model on ‘teacher talk around gendered text’ and discussing implications for inclusive language education.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	© 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Publisher Keywords:	Classroom-based research, Gender linguistics, Teacher discourse, Textbook research, Second and foreign language teaching, Sexuality
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HM Sociology L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools P Language and Literature > P Philology. Linguistics
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences > Language & Communication Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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