Browsing by Author "Inkiläinen, Essi"

This thesis examines how the diversity of gender and sexual orientation is represented in a recent English as a foreign language (EFL) textbook series, New Insights, intended for general upper secondary education in Finland. As the series has been created with the intention to follow the current National Core Curriculum for General Upper Secondary Education (NCC), this thesis additionally seeks to find out whether the contents of the textbooks conform with the NCC in terms of its assertion of upper secondary education recognising the diversity of gender and sexual orientation. Although the curriculum does not explicitly dictate the contents textbooks should include, the materials are nonetheless expected to reflect its key contents and values. Acknowledging the central part textbooks play in the teaching process as well as learning, it is necessary to research the framework these materials provide to their users, especially considering the potential influence textbooks may have on the knowledge and attitudes learners take on. The theoretical background of this study is based on the fields of applied linguistics in the matter of textbook research, as well as gender studies regarding gender and sexuality in language. Previous research on EFL textbooks has observed problematic portrayals of LGBT+ topics and a lack of representation of these minorities, which is highly concerning given the harmful consequences such invisibility has been shown to have on LGBT+ students. Additionally, in the language classroom themes related to everyday life and human interaction are already a constant, which is why including not only diverse but fair representations is important. The material for the study consists of two electronic copies of the printed textbooks, New Insights 1-2 and New Insights 3, as the following textbooks in the series are yet to be published at the time of conducting this study. A combined methodology of qualitative content analysis and discourse analysis is employed in order to to examine the manner of representations within the textbooks. The study is solely concerned with the written and visual texts, and any audio-visual or spoken materials are disregarded. The found instances are categorised into three types. Regarding gender, those categories are direct representations of gender diversity, gender-exclusive vs gender-inclusive language, and third person singular pronouns; in terms of sexual orientation, the categories are direct mentions of sexual orientation, references toward romantic relationships, and diversity of sexual orientation in family structures. With these methods, the study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) How is the diversity of gender represented in the New Insights series? 2) How is the diversity of sexual orientation represented in the New Insights series? 3) How do the findings of questions 1 and 2 correlate with the general objective of recognising the diversity of gender and sexual orientation mentioned in the current NCC? The results of this study are in accordance with previous research, as limited representation of diversity is observable in the contents, and while certain positive portrayals are also present, several instances nonetheless contain problematic characteristics. Hence, the most obvious finding to emerge from the results is that while New Insights includes some references that suggest a progressive direction in terms of recognising the diversity of gender and sexual orientation, several instances that disregard that notion altogether are simultaneously present. A combination of contradicting contents and limited representation throughout the textbooks provides support for the conceptual premise that while New Insights attempts to be more aware of and acknowledge this diversity, the incoherence leads one to speculate whether the textbooks genuinely advocate for inclusivity or if such contents have been included merely to fulfil the standards set by the NCC. All in all, it seems that there is still much room for improvement for the forthcoming textbooks within the series as well as future EFL textbooks in general. Acknowledging the findings of this study, it is necessary to note that those responsible for producing textbooks need to challenge the implicit heteronormativity and gender normativity in their materials. The present study provides additional evidence regarding how diverse genders and sexual orientations are represented in educational materials along with adding to a growing body of literature within the field gender studies regarding gender and sexuality in language.