Gender bias through pictures in the new english textbook set for vietnamese primary schools a critical discourse analysis

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG GENDER BIAS THROUGH PICTURES IN THE NEW ENGLISH T

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG

GENDER BIAS THROUGH PICTURES IN THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK SET FOR VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS:

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Sự kì thị giới qua hình ảnh trong bộ sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh mới dùng cho bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam qua góc nhìn phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán

M.A MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

HÀ NỘI - 2019

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

NGUYỄN THỊ NHUNG

GENDER BIAS THROUGH PICTURES IN THE NEW ENGLISH TEXTBOOK SET FOR VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLS:

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

Sự kì thị giới qua hình ảnh trong bộ sách giáo khoa Tiếng Anh mới dùng cho bậc tiểu học tại Việt Nam qua góc nhìn phân tích diễn ngôn phê phán

M.A MAJOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201.01

Supervisor: Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HÀ NỘI - 2019

DECLARATION

I hereby state that the thesis, entitled “Gender bias through pictures in

the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools: A critical

discourse analysis” was carried out in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of Master of Art at the University of Languages and

International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi This work is

original and all the sources that I used in the paper were documented by

means of references

Hà Nội, 2019

Nguyễn Thị Nhung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To complete this scientific research, I owe profound indebtedness to many people for their tremendous support during the conduct of my study

First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude towards

my devoted supervisor, Dr Huỳnh Anh Tuấn for his intellectual consultancy and constant encouragement, which were the decisive factors in the completion of this paper

Second, my sincere thanks go to all of the lecturers at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi for their invaluable lessons that have established a solid base for my research work

Last but not least, I would like to thank all of my beloved family members and friends for their tremendous love, care and support during the time of conducting this research paper

ABSTRACT

The attempt to combat gender inequality in textbooks has recently attracted a lot of researchers’ concern However, it is worth noticing that research to date has tended to focus on gender bias in textbooks represented through linguistic rather than other non-linguistic features such as visual design Educationalists have become gradually aware of the increasing role of visual communication in learning materials of various kinds since they believe that pictures and photographs present meanings of their own Among

such attempts, this research investigates gender bias through pictures in the

new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, which aims to

1/ examine how different genders are represented via pictures in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, 2/ find out whether gendered visual representations illustrate gender bias in this textbook set In

so doing, qualitative and quantitative content analyses were adopted, in light

of multimodal critical discourse analysis to study images involving men and/or women from three English textbooks By analyzing 1,534 images, the research showed that there was a clear females’ visibility in the workplace and social activities Nonetheless, there appeared hidden manifestations of gender bias, mainly towards women in their family roles as mothers, occupational roles, domestic tasks, contribution to the education of children, leisure activities, color representations, and positions of females in illustrations

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii

ABSTRACT iii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi

LIST OF TABLES vii

LIST OF FIGURES viii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study 1

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 4

1.3 Research questions 4

1.4 Scope of the study 4

1.5 Method of the study 4

1.6 Significance of the study 5

1.7 Structure of the study 5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7

2.1 Review of theoretical backgrounds 7

2.1.1 Critical discourse analysis 7

2.1.2 Fairclough’s three-dimention model 8

2.1.3 Multimodal critical discourse analysis 9

2.1.4 Visual images 10

2.1.5 Social semiotics 11

2.1.6 The grammar of visual images 13

2.1.7 Gender bias in school textbooks 20

2.2 Review of related studies 39

2.2.1 Review of related studies worldwide 39

2.2.2 Review of related studies in Vietnam 43

2 3 Summary of the chapter 46

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 47

3.1 Research questions 47

3.2 Research setting 47

3.3 Sampling 48

3.4 Research approach 49

3.5 Research design 50

3.6 Data collection 50

3.6.1 Data collection instrument 50

3.6.2 Data collection procedure 51

3.7 Data analysis 51

3.7.1 Analytical framework 51

3.7.2 Data analysis procedure 54

3.8 Ethical issues 54

3.9 Summary of the chapter 55

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS, FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 56

4.1 Frequencies of different genders in illustrations 56

4.2 Gender representations in social references 60

4.2.1 Family status 60

4.2.2 Level of employment 63

4.2.3 Occupations 65

4.3 Gender representations in activities 71

4.3.1 Domestic tasks 73

4.3.2 Contribution to children education 76

4.3.3 Leisure activities 78

4.4 Compositional values 82

4.4.1 Colors 82

4.4.2 Positioning 85

4.5 Summary of the chapter 87

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 88

5.1 Recapitulation 88

5.2 Pedagogical implications 88

5.2.1 For educational authority 89

5.2.2 For textbook writers and publishers 89

5.2.3 For teachers 90

5.3 Limitations of the studies 91

5.4 Further research 92

REFERENCES 93 APPENDICES I

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

MCDA : Multimodal Critical Discourse Analysis MOET : Ministry of Education and Training

LIST OF TABLES Page

Table 1 Visual social semiotics (Adapted from Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) 15

Table 2 An analytical checklist for the identification of sexism (Adapted from

Table 3 Detailed information about English 3, 4, 5 textbooks 49

Table 4 Distribution of gender representations in illustrations 58

Table 6 Females and males in occupational roles 65

Table 7 Females and males in different activities 72

LIST OF FIGURES Page

Figure 2 Fairclough’s three dimensional framework (1992) 9

Figure 3 The dimensions of visual space (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996) 19

Figure 4 Sexist and non-sexist illustrations (UNESCO, 1986) 38

Figure 6 Data analysis procedure (Adapted from UNESCO, 1986 & Kress &

Figure 8 Distribution of gender representations in illustrations 56

Figure 9 Examples of pictures representing genders in English 3, 4, 5 58

Figure 10 Examples of pictures depicting family roles in English 3, 4, 5 61

Figure 11 Females and males’ level of employment 64

Figure 16 Females’ contribution to the education of children 77

Figure 17 Females’ participation in games, sports, travelling and exploration 79

Figure 19 Colors attached to females 84

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of research problem and rationale for the study

Sociologists assert that the perception of gender is gradually developed through observation and is predetermined by “gender agents” (Brym & Lie,

2007, p 97), one of which is textbooks Gender manifestation in textbooks mirrors the attitude of a particular society towards gender that is subconsciously acquired by learners and is likely to cause long-term negative effects on their performances and social behavior Considering the number of 264,000,000 children still having no access to schooling (UNESCO, 2017), it seems that sexism in textbooks is not a critical educational issue However, the topic has grown in significance in light of recent studies, which have proven the existence of gender inequality in numerous investigated ELT textbooks all over the world (e.g Sleeter & Grant, 1991; Sunderlan, 1992; Jones, Kitetu & Sunderland, 1997; Ma, 1998; Cook, 2005; Paivandi, 2008; or Nguyễn Thị Hương, 2004) As Blumberg (2009, p 346) puts it, “this is an important, nearly universal, remarkably uniform, quite persistent but virtually invisible obstacle camouflaged by taken-for-granted stereotypes about gender roles” Indeed, students devote about 80 to 95% of their classroom time using textbooks and a majority of teachers’ instructional decisions are based on textbooks (Sadker & Zittleman, 2007) One’s perception and ideological development is heavily affected by education, with textbooks as its integral instructional medium Even if largely unnoticed, needless to say, the influence

of sexism in textbooks can be a profound hindrance on the road to gender equality in education More importantly, exposure to ESL/EFL textbooks that fail to correctly portray the movement toward gender equality in the society students are part of and which contain elements that re-enforce sexism would

be greatly unfair to students

American activists and educators during the 1970s were the pioneers to systematically document gender bias beneath the camouflage in textbooks by means of content analysis and other more qualitative methodologies Their attempt to combat gender inequality in textbooks soon attracted other researchers’ interest, including Alrabaa (1985); Kalia (1986); Baldwin & Baldwin (1992); Ross & Shi (2003); Clark & Mahoney (2004); Ahmed (2006); or Blumberg (2007)

Nonetheless, it is worth noticing that research to date has tended to focus

on gender bias in textbooks represented through linguistic rather than other non-linguistic features such as visual design Educationalists have become gradually aware of the increasing role of visual communication in learning

materials of various kinds Kress and van Leeuwen’s book entitled Reading images: The grammar of visual design builds on its reputation as the first

systematic and comprehensive account of the grammar of visual design, examining the ways in which images communicate meaning The authors assert that they see images of whatever kind as entirely within the realm of the realization and instantiations of ideology, as a means for the articulation

of ideological positions of complex and potent kind To put it differently, pictures and photographs present meanings of their own This view is supported by Fang (1996) who believes visual images utilized in textbooks not only are meant to delight a lesson, to assist a passage or any kinds of activities but also hold the transformative power to shape children’s attitudes, beliefs and values Therefore, misapplication of images in textbooks may result in negative impacts on the ideological development of both teachers and students, especially students at primary level whose cognitive development is largely influenced by input data and critical thinking mindset has started to be shaped Despite Viet Nam’s progress to eliminate gender disparities and achieve gender equality in education, gender discrimination

still remains prevalent in certain different forms, one of which is through textbooks Authors Trần Xuân Điệp (2005) and Nguyễn Thị Hương (2006) were among the Vietnamese pioneers to confirm gender disparity in both verbal and non-verbal forms The most recent study focusing on the non-linguistic features in English the national English teaching textbooks for upper-secondary schools was carried out by Trần Thị Bích Ngọc (2017) Following the critical discourse approach, the study also reveals that these textbooks present a gender discriminatory attitude towards women However, one of the limitations with this study is that it has been not carried out in the new set of English textbook, under the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project where marked renovation in curriculum design and textbook development is claimed to be made in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning foreign languages in general and teaching and learning English

in Vietnamese schools in particular

This motivates me to conduct a research paper entitled “Gender bias through pictures in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary

schools: A critical discourse analysis” to fill in the identified gaps in the local

literature This study focuses on primary school level because according to Kohlberg’s stages of gender development (1966), at the age around six and seven, which is approximately the start of school age for Vietnamese children, children reach the stage of gender consistency This phase can be seen as a chance to introduce non-stereotyped female and male images as well as unconventional behaviors Early intervention in the development of gender bias can save effort in reducing their negative impacts later in life of children (Zemore, Fiske & Kim, 2000)

1.2 Aims and objectives of the study

The research attempts to detect the presence of gender bias as a social phenomenon through pictures in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools in order to extract the ideology behind their constructions To

be specific, it 1/ examines how different genders are represented via pictures

in the new English textbook set for Vietnamese primary schools, and 2/ finds out whether gendered visual representations illustrate gender bias in this

textbook set Based on the results, implications for combating gender inequality in textbooks’ pictures were drawn out

1.4 Scope of the study

The data for this research were taken from three textbooks (English 3, 4, 5) in the new set of English textbooks for primary schools under the Vietnamese’ National Foreign Languages 2020 Project This primary textbook set was completed by Hoàng Văn Vân et al in 2012 and have been undertaken the latest revision This study focuses on the investigating visual presentation involving females and/or males appearance

1.5 Method of the study

The methodological approach was guided entirely by the foundation of critical discourse analysis (CDA) The research method involved quantitative

and qualitative content analysis Within the scope of this study, the dimension model proposed by Fairclough (1992) was combined with the gender identification framework of UNESCO (1986) and the grammar of visual design by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006)

three-1.6 Significance of the study

Once completed, the study would bring about certain benefits to teachers, education planners, and other researchers who share the same interest in this topic The research findings promise to offer teachers and education planners

a closer look at gender bias in textbooks for an appropriate approach to combat gender inequality Besides, researchers who take interest in the same topic can refer to this paper as a source of updated and reliable information

1.7 Structure of the study

The study includes five chapters, including this introductory section

Figure 1: Organization of the study

First, Chapter 1 - Introduction will state the research problem, the rationale

for the study as well as the research aims and objectives, the RQs, the method, the significance, and the scope of the study Moreover, the RQs are also

clearly stated to act as the parameter for the whole paper Chapter 2 - Literature review will provide definitions of key concepts and lay the

theoretical background for the study and a thorough review of related studies

worldwide and in Vietnamese context Chapter 3 - Methodology will then

describe the research setting, research approach, data collection, and data

analysis procedure in full detail Chapter 4 - Data analysis, findings and discussions will present, analyze, synthesize and discuss the findings revealed from the collected data according to the two RQs Finally, Chapter 5 - Conclusion will encapsulate the main issues discussed throughout the paper,

draw out several pedagogical implications, acknowledge the limitations of the study, provide and some suggestions for further studies This part will be

followed by the References and Appendices

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Chapter 2 - Literature Review - provides the theoretical background for the whole paper, in which the key concepts are thoroughly elaborated Besides, the review of related studies worldwide and in Vietnam will help to point out the gaps that this study aims to bridge

2.1 Review of theoretical backgrounds

2.1.1 Critical discourse analysis

CDA is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse that has rapidly expanded in the 20th century as a theoretical framework to question the status quo, by detecting, analyzing, and also resisting and counteracting enactments of power abuse as transmitted in private and public discourses

What makes CDA different from other traditions in discourse analysis is that

it regards discourse as a social practice, and it should aim to explore and uncover hidden power relations, ideologies as expressed in discourse Critical discourse analysts not only care about social goals of language and discourse but also social maintenance and change (Bloor & Bloor, 2013) According to Van Dijk (1998), CDA studies the way social power abuse, dominance, and inequality are enacted, reproduced and resisted by text and talks in the social and political context CDA for Fairclough is an approach that investigates the relationship between discursive practices and social structures His model of CDA is the cornerstone of CDA field This model is based on the assumption that language is part of social life The relationship between language and social reality is recognized via social events, social practices and social structures (Fairclough, 2003) In general, CDA is considered one of the most comprehensive attempts to develop a theory of the inter-connectedness of discourse in order to uncover how language, power, and ideology are related

to each other and how these dependent relations are represented through texts

Often, CDA deals with language, text, or discourse in many ways However, we had to wait for the various contributions in critical linguistics and social semiotics, first and primarily in the United Kingdom and Australia

to get a more detailed view of the other side of the relationship, namely an analysis of the structures of texts and images (Fairclough, 1989; Fowler et al., 1979; Hodge & Kress, 1988)

2.1.2 Fairclough’s three-dimention model

Based on his assumptions that critical analysts should not only focus on the texts, the process of text production and interpretation of the texts, but also look into the interrelationship among texts, production processes, and their social context, Fairclough (1989, 1992, 2003) developed his three-dimensional framework Accordingly, every communicative event comprises three dimensions: 1/ the micro dimension which is the spoken or written text (artifact), 2/ the meso dimension which deals with the processes of interaction, i.e., production and consumption of that text (artifact), and 3/ the macro dimension, which deals with the context, i.e., larger socio-cultural, political and economic environment of dimensions With these three dimensions, Fairclough (1992) suggests that discourses can be analyzed at

three levels: 1/ description, 2/ interpretation, and 3/ explanation His

framework for analyzing discourses and discourse instances is illustrated in

the following figure

Figure 2: Fairclough’s three dimensional framework (1992)

At the first level, the analyst focuses on a discourse dimension and describes its genre, type, category, or quality At the second level, the analyst directs the attention at interpreting and making meanings and inferences from the genres, types, categories, or qualities of a discourse dimension Finally, at the third level, attention is devoted to explaining and making connections and understanding implications of a discourse dimension for social practice

2.1.3 Multimodal critical discourse analysis

So far, the term CDA has often been confined to language, manifested in verbal texts or verbal section of texts that also use other semiotic modes Multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA) is a relatively new extension

of CDA, which has been called “one of the most influential and visible branches of discourse analysis” (Blommaert & Bulcaen, 2000, p 447) After Kress and van Leeuwen extended the CDA notion of text (which Fairclough (1992) had initially used to refer primarily although not exclusively to spoken

or written language) to include and at times even to prioritize non-linguistic semiotic elements, researchers began to use CDA methods to examine a much

wider range of linguistic and non-linguistic semiotic components in a practice known as MCDA The research field has collectively been called

“multimodality”, where “multimodal” typically refers to the multiple modes (e.g spoken, written, printed and digital media, embodied action, and 3-D material objects and sites) through which social semiosis takes place Considered as one branch of CDA, MCDA also purports to investigate how visual components are used to construct and express social power and ideologies Ideological views of one text can be expressed in the choice of different vocabulary as well as different grammatical structures Visual structures in the form of images do convey ideological meanings, too

By linking the key principles of CDA with social semiotics theory, researchers outside the specialty field of linguistics now have a valuable theoretical and methodological tool to help them better understand how language and other types of semiotic signs are used together to construct, express, and challenge social power

2.1.4 Visual images

Within the frame of this research, the term visual images will be used to refer to pictures As stated in the Oxford English Dictionary, a picture is a visual representation of a person or scene as in a photograph or painting The history of visuality as a subject of scholarly enquiry can be traced to the “late 1980s and 1990s when a number of authors who had been working

in linguistics began to realize that meaning is generally communicated not only through language but also through other semiotic modes” (Machin & Mayr, 2012, p 6) The fact that the overdependence on verbal expression of the past is being jettisoned for multimodal communication has given birth to a new dimension for communication in the modern world Communication is hence becoming increasingly multimodal across different contexts since text

producers make use of semiotic resources for meaning projection This supports Natharius’s claim that “in human history, the visual image has never been more dominant than it is now” (2004, p 2) In this multimodal society, people always communicate and pass on information through the co-employment of semiotic resources Without doubt, the popularity of visuality

in contemporary human communication has contributed to the growth of scholarship in visual communication Pictures always have a profound impact

on the reader In newspaper or magazines, where there are pictorials, people usually look at the pictures first before starting to read the content (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) Apparently, images powerfully express a message and none of them are created without purposes The significance of visual images can be briefly stated in Kress & van Leeuwen’s book “the image carries the meaning, the words come second” (2006, p 26) With their irrefutable roles

to play, visual images have become an indispensible element in different communication channels, including textbooks

2.1.5 Social semiotics

2.1.5.1 Definition of social semiotics

Social semiotics is a branch of semiotics coined by renowned linguist

Michael Halliday In his book, Language as Social Semiotics, Halliday (1985)

defends the conventional view of separation between language and society by exploring the implications of the fact that the “codes” of language and communication are formed by social processes Therefore, social semiotics is

an approach to communication that seeks to understand how people communicate by various means in specific social settings Halliday sets out five premises of his linguistic theory, one of which refers to three purposes (or metafunctions) of language, which will be thoroughly discussed in the following section

2.1.5.2 The three metafunctions of meaning by Halliday (1985)

Michael Halliday asserts that a language evolves in response to specific demands of the society in which it is used The nature of the language is; therefore, directly related to the functions it has to perform simultaneously Corresponding to that, central to Halliday’s framework of systemic functional grammar (1985) is the concept of “metafunction” to analyze three fundamental functions of language to communicate meaning

1) Ideational metafunction: Language is used to talk about people’s

experience of the world, including the world in our minds, to describe events and states and the entities involved in them To put it differently, language has

to be able to express how people see the world and what they consciously know

2) Interpersonal metafunction: Language is also a medium for people’s

interaction to establish and maintain their relationship, to influence their behaviors, to express personal viewpoints on things in the world, and to elicit

or change theirs

3) Textual metafunction: Last but not least, in using language, people

organize their messages in a way that shows how they cohere with other surrounding messages and with the broader context

In other words, every sign simultaneously tells people something about

“the world” (ideational meaning), position people in relation to someone or something (interpersonal meaning) and produces a structured text (textual meaning) (Halliday, as cited in Bezemer & Jewitt, 2011)

2.1.5.3 The three metafunctions of meaning by Kress and van

Leeuwen (1996)

Thibault (1991) points out that social semiotics focuses on social meaning-making practices of all types, whether visual, verbal or aural in

nature Accordingly, social semiotics field witnessed a shift from the emphasis on language to other semiotic modes The first serious discussions

and analyses of this emerged in the works of Hodge and Kress - Social semiotics (1988) and Kress and van Leeuwen - Reading images: The grammar of visual design (1996, 2006) In their volumes, which have led to

the subsequent emergence of multimodality, the principles developed with regards to language were also applied to other different communicative systems Language represents the narrative world, while images illustrate the displayed world Kress and van Leeuwen (1996) propose that similar to language, visual images and other semiotic systems can be used to serve the

three foregoing metafunctions In the first edition of their book Reading images: The grammar of visual design (1996), the two authors quote the

theoretical concept of “metafunction” from Halliday and put forward three corresponding metafunctions in Visual Grammar (VG), namely

representational, interactive and compositional meaning Specifically,

when being applied to visual systems, the representational metafunction organizes the way that represented participants’ relate to each other to represent the world around them The interactive metafunction controls the interaction between the represented participants and the viewers; and the compositional metafunction represents the way in which semiotics modes cohere into the kind of meaning whole called “text” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996)

2.1.6 The grammar of visual images

Because of the importance of visual literacy (the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information shown in the form of an image), it is essential to understand visual language in order to be critically literate There are few agreed methods for articulating the way images and

composite texts are read (Anstey & Bull, 2000; Unsworth, 2004) This is unlike the case for verbal texts where there have been several agreed ways of breaking down verbal meanings According to Thibault (1991), the primary mission of social semiotics is to establish analytical and theoretical frameworks that are able to explain meaning-making in a social context

In response to this call, Kress and van Leeuwen are the pioneers to develop a methodological tool named “The grammar of visual design” to decode the messages behind the images “Just as grammar of language describe how words combine in clauses, sentences and texts, so our visual grammar will describe the way in which depicted elements – people, places and things – combines in visual statements of greater or lesser complexity and extension” (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006, p 1) This (VG) is claimed to be “a usable description of major compositional structures which have become established in the course of the history of Western visual semiotics, and to

image-makers” (p 1) The authors have a number of key assumptions:

o The grammar of visual design plays a vital role in the production of meaning

o The visual means of communication are rational expressions of cultural meanings

o Visual language is culturally specific (no universal grammar)

o Visual communication is amenable to rational accounts and analysis

Leuwen, the grammar of visual design can be summarized in the following table:

Table 1: Visual social semiotics (Adapted from Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006)

2.1.6.1 Representational metafunction

As can be seen from table 1, the first metafunction – representational has

to do with the way experience is visually encoded, to put it differently, the way participants, events (processes), and their associated circumstances are realized (Bezerra, 2011) The visual encoding is shown either by narrative and/or conceptual process Narrative process is related to ongoing actions or events, in which actors are represented by vectors (either real or imaginary), meanwhile conceptual process has to deal with classification or analysis of participants in terms of their stable and timeless essence (e.g graphics,

diagrams, etc.)

o Narrative process: The presence of a vector is the distinctive feature of

a narrative process A vector is seen as an oblique line formed by arrows, bodies, limbs or tools, which connects participants and expresses unfolding actions or events Participants in narrative patterns are labeled

as “Actor”, the participant from whom the vector emanates “Goal” is the participant at whom the vector is directed (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) This is also called a transactional process

o Conceptual process: In the conceptual process, where the vector is

absent, participants are represented as static or as their generalized essences in terms of class, structure or meaning Subsequently, such conceptual relations are realized in three types of process, namely classification, analytical and symbolic (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006) Classification processes “bring different people, places or things together

in one picture, distributing them symmetrically across the picture space to show that they belong to the same class” (Jewitt & Oyama 2001, p 144) Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) refer to this as a “kind of” relation Analytical processes relate participants in terms of a part-whole structure,

in which a concept or entity is defined by showing how it is made up out

of which parts This process involves two kinds of participants: one Carrier (the whole) and any number of Possessive Attributes (the parts) Finally, symbolic attributive processes define the meaning or identity of a participant (Carrier) through the participant that represents the meaning or identity itself (Symbolic Attribute)

Like simple or complex sentences in language, narrative and conceptual structures may appear individually or together When they appear together, embedding takes places The distinction between major and minor processes

in visuals is determined “by the relative size and conspicuousness of the elements” (Kress & van Leeuwen 2006, p 107)

o Contact is related to the gaze direction of the represented participants

Demand and offer are two categories of contact The difference between these two categories depends on whether or not there is eye contact between represented and interactive participants Demands establish an imaginary relation with the viewer because they address her/him directly Meanwhile, offers, indirectly address the viewer It is notable that the choice of contact can entail different relations between participants, such

as engagement or detachment

o Social distance determines the distance existing between represented

participants and interactive participants Social distance is influenced by different sizes of frame, including close-up, medium or long These sizes apply to humans, buildings, landscapes, and objects alike

o Point of view/ perspective: There are two types of images: subjective

(presenting everything from a particular perspective, dictated by the image-producer), and objective (depicting all there is to know about the

involvement/detachment and power Horizontally, the designer can present represented participants from frontal point of view to the viewer (to make involvement), or from oblique point of view to the viewer (to make detachment) Vertically, the designer intends to suggest three

possible levels of power: viewer superiority, viewer inferiority, and viewer equality The vertical angle can be either high – bird’s eye view to assign power to the viewer, or low – ant’s view to make represented participants more powerful, or eye level to maintain equal relations between the participants and the viewer

o Modality: This dimension, which includes colors and contextualization

as two modality markers, refers to the normality of images Contextualization means a scale running from absence of background to the most fully articulated and detailed background Color saturation, color differentiation, and color modulation are three scales of color Color saturation is defined as the scale that begins with full color saturation and finishes with the absence of color as in black and white Color differentiation is the scale beginning with a maximally diversified range

of colors and finished in monochrome Last but not least, color modulation scale begins from fully modulated color to unmodulated or flat color (e.g different shades of green)

2.1.6.3 Composition metafunction

The last metafunction refers to the meaning of composition, combining all the aforementioned information into one textual whole Regarding this metafunction, meaning is communicated by three interrelated systems:

information value, salience and framing Additionally, these three systems

apply not only to single pictures but also to composite visuals that involve text, images and/or other graphic elements, and their layouts

o Information value: In an image, information value refers to the relative

position of different elements to each other Information value is associated with three main visual areas: left and right; top and bottom; and center and margin (see figure 3)

Figure 3: The dimensions of visual space (Kress & van Leeuwen, 1996)

Information can be structured along a horizontal axis, with the left and

right composition The left side introduces given information, which is

assumed to be familiar and accepted as a point of departure for the

message by the viewer On the contrary, the right side focuses on new

information, to something unknown or requiring special attention

In another case, along a vertical axis is the top and bottom composition

The information at the upper part of the image is considered ideal,

illustrating a “promise” whereas the lower part represents the product

itself, by real or more specific and practical information

In the remaining kind, different values are attributed to the information following a center-margin alignment The elements located at the center

of the image are conceived by the artist to be the main message or the nucleus of information By contrast, the margins are reserved for ancillaries

o Salience: Another indispensible system in the composition of visual meaning is salience This indicator allows viewers to evaluate how

important certain elements are, in comparison with others in visual design The degree of saliency is realized by size, color contrast, tonal contrast,

and sharpness of focus To be more specific, larger objects are most salient than smaller ones The contrast that exists between highly saturated colors and softer colors The tonal areas are more salient than other areas, for example, black borders are placed on white spaces Objects which are more easily noticed by the eyes are more sharply focused and most salient than other objects

o Framing: Framing is another system that determines the degree of

connection or disconnection of the verbal and visual layers The elements

in an image or page can be either connected or disconnected by frame lines, discontinuity of shape or empty space between elements

Beyond any doubt, Reading images: The grammar of visual design has

offered a comprehensive and systematic account of VG Built on a strong foundation of social semiotic theory, it does serve as insightful notions and detailed information on how to understand visuals Although Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) resitrict their investigation in Western visual communication, the authors also note that their works would “provide some ideas and concepts for the study of visual communication in non-Western forms of visual communication” (p 4) This motivated me to adapt Kress and van Leeuwen’s framework for the context of Vietnam’s Oriental culture However, it is not possible to analyze all the three metafunctions in a paper of this limited length Additionally, gender representations might be best signified in the composition of different constituent elements Within the

frame of this modest research, the composition theory of Kress and van

Leeuwen will then be the framework guiding the rest of this paper

2.1.7 Gender bias in school textbooks

2.1.7.1 Gender

First and foremost, it is essential to get a thorough understanding of the

term “gender” Sociolinguistically, gender is defined as a socially constructed perception of attributes that are ascribed to members of each sex According

to Holmes (2007), gender is a social construction established in a social environment Additionally, the fact is that social environment is greatly dependent on and is shaped by its culture (social roles and norms) It can therefore, be inferred that gender construction may differs in different cultures

as the comprehension and treatment of gender vary from society to society The features of social interaction outline the behavior patterns that must be followed in order to be gendered With regard to gender roles, Macionis and Plummer (2008) define it as learning and performing the socially accepted characteristics for a certain sex Furthermore, the genders attached to women and men are usually the conventional structured features associated with social roles (Chafetz, 2006) Hence, social roles, norms, and behavior patterns are an inseparable part of gender identity

Some people have a tendency to use the two terms “sex” and “gender” interchangeably In fact, there is a fine distinction between them According

to the World Health Organization, “sex” is a universal concept referring to the biological and physiological characteristics that define women and men

Gender and gender roles are socially and historically constructed notions Socially, gender has to do with the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, attributes, and responsibilities that a given society considers appropriate for women and men Gender determines what is expected, allowed, and valued in a female or a male in a given context The perception

of gender and gender roles varies across cultures since each society has its unique social structure Even for each individual, these concepts can be understood differently Historically, the way genders and gender inequality are perceived has evolved during the course of history For example, in

feudalism, the monopoly of men and the extremely low visibility of women in social activities were not considered gender bias because almost everyone took it for granted for the expected roles of women at home and men at work Nonetheless, together with the growing global movement for gender equality,

a lot of such roles or attributes are now labeled sexist when people are more and more aware of gender bias The danger here is that if gender division is regarded as something natural, but not gender bias, this will put the inferior gender at a constant disadvantage Therefore, the job of critical discourse analysts is to deconstruct the taken-for-granted ideology of gender roles and reconstruct better images of genders, with a view to ultimately creating a better society where everyone is treated equally, regardless of their sexes

2.1.7.2 Gender bias

Definition of gender bias

For the past few decades, gender bias has attracted mounting concern of researchers from various fields such as psychology, sociology, economy, and linguistics One of the most prevalent fields of CDA is gender bias Gender

bias, (also known as gender discrimination or sexism in this paper) is used

to denote the unequal treatment of gender, which leaves members of one sex

at a disadvantage In that, women are represented as subordinate to men (Mishra et al., 2012, p 46) Male dominance or male centeredness is still evident in a number of spheres in many cultures What is highlighted in this definition is that gender discrimination subject to either males or females; nonetheless, it is more towards women

Explaining for the culprit, Mineshima (2008) affirms that sexism is a matter learnt from childhood and expresses the ways in which some unconscious cultural biases are communicated to females and through which some negative traits are ascribed to females and the stereotyped roles are

reinforced for female characters

In conclusion, within the frame of this research, any direct or indirect, intentional or unintentional discriminatory act against one gender, underrepresenting and stereotyping people on the basis of sex, is considered gender bias

Classification of gender bias

Bisaria (as cited in UNESCO, 1986) assigns sexism into two categories: explicit sexism, and implicit sexism Explicit sexism exists when females and males are exclusively depicted in fixed, stereotyped conventional roles, without taking into consideration the diversity to be found in the real world Meanwhile, implicit or latent sexism denotes a real society where females are treated as inferior to males, and make no attempt to challenge this alleged inferiority or to introduce children to situations (however rare they still may be) where women and girls prove that they are equal to men and boys

Effects of gender bias on students

According to Davies (1955), gender bias is likely to cause long-term negative impacts on boys as well as girls although the latter are more seriously affected since they are portrayed as being the inferior sex First, gender bias prevent girls and women from developing their full intellectual, emotional and volitional potential by refusing to recognize them as human beings in their own right, equal in dignity to boys; and they deny them a harmonious relationship with men, and prohibit them from making a full contribution to the development of the society in which they live Secondly, the biased ways in which sexes are presented affects not only learners’ perception of gender identity but also limits his or her understanding of the other sex making it inferior or superior

2.1.7.3 Gender bias in school textbooks

An overview of gender bias in school textbooks

Gender bias in education can be divided into gender-biased curricula, gender-biased teacher’s treatment of students and gender-bias in textbooks A lot of research on curricula and teachers’ behavior has been

carried out since they are directly related to teaching content, which is tangible and problematic especially in low-income countries (Aikman, Unterhalter & Challender (2005); Kotecha (1994) and Pandor (1994)

On the contrary, far too little attention has been paid to textbook content Moreover, it is frequently neglected in the policy debate However, this deserves a serious concern given the evidence that students spend the majority (80% - 95%) of their classroom time using textbooks (Sadker & Zittleman, 2007) and the average teacher uses textbooks for 70 to 90% of classroom time (Baldwin & Baldwin, 1992) According to Blumberg (2007), gender bias in the textbook is one of the hardest budge rocks in the road to gender equality

in education and is geographically more widespread than the gender gap in school enrolment

Textbooks do not simply contain mere facts and figures that should be learnt at school Beyond that, they have the great transformative power to instill the values, beliefs and attitudes of students, especially the young ones Brusokaite (2013) uncovers two reasons why such education materials are successful in shaping the ideologies in the minds of young students First, most students accept what is imposed on them and are less critical about it Second, in Asian countries, where textbooks play a significant role in the education system, the widely held perception is that whatever is included in the textbook must be practiced

Sexism in textbooks can also be called hidden or unseen (the “hidden

curricula”) because it is placed “between lines” (Lee, 2014) In other words, the biased elements are not explicitly connected to the content of the subject Instead, they have a strong relationship with the implied meaning that could

be extracted for background analysis Therefore, gender bias in textbooks is regarded as subtle sexism

At this point, it is pivotal to distinguish between conscious and unconscious learning Conscious learning is related to learning something consciously, i.e planning and eager to do something By contrast, unconscious learning is taking up things subconsciously, without realization (Williams, 2011) By this definition, gender bias is instilled in learners’ mind through unconscious learning via textbooks materials because gender roles, occupations, appearances, behavior patterns are hidden in the content of textbooks The unconscious influence of sexist textbooks on students at the age when their value systems are developed is immeasurable (Sakita, 1995) Language textbooks are models for students and require students to practice the sexist use of the language At the same time, sex-role stereotyping affects and distorts students’ view of the world Hence, the only way to combat biased textbooks is to minimize the representations of gender bias and teach individuals not to think in a biased manner

Guidelines for identifying gender bias in school textbooks

With a view to facilitating gender bias detection, UNESCO (1986) develops an analytical checklist by presenting an exhaustive summary of studies about gender bias in different countries: Norway, France, Peru, Zambia, Ukraine, the United States (US), and seven Arab states (Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, and Democratic Yemen) Those studies investigates textbooks at different levels of education, and in different subjects: science, mathematics, language, history, and literary The

book departs with an overview of the issue, continues with methods to identify sexism and ends with actions to eliminate them It is apparent that this book possesses several strong points First, the logical sequence of the books’ contents gets readers well informed with comprehensive understanding of the negative effects of sexism in textbooks and how to fight them back Second, the book offers readers a sense of the big picture of gender stereotypes in textbooks thanks to a rich pool of empirical data from worldwide research Third, the criticism against sexism and a fighting spirit for gender equality is present throughout every single page of the book, which

is persuasive and inspirational for the readers Fourth, the book, as can be seen from the very headline, is a slogan urging readers to take action against sexism Last but not least, one more good point of this book is its practical guidelines, which are made ready to use, promising high applicability

The checklist of sexism identification is based on two basic criteria The first sign of sexism in textbooks is the representations of genders in

“stereotyped activities that do not accurately reflect the diversity of their roles” It is the “refusal to acknowledge the social reality and the diversity of situation, resulting in a caricatural depiction of male and female roles”

UNESCO (1986, p 48) The second evidence is the silent acceptance of

sexist situation without criticism and offer of any alternative, and thus serving

to strengthen them

The checklist involves three parts namely quantitative analysis of content, qualitative analysis of content, and analysis of sexism inherent in the language Below is the table summarizing UNESCO’s three suggested

aspects for evaluation:

Table 2: An analytical checklist for the identification of sexism (Adapted from UNESCO, 1986)

By taking all these three aspects of sexism into consideration, this analysis should bring about a comprehensive evaluation of sexism in any kind of publication, including textbooks It is those proposed criteria and guidelines that support me to build my own criteria for data analysis However, the author notes that sexism in a textbook does not necessarily occur in all three categories of this checklist in order for the book to be described as sexist The approach to this framework can thus vary from study to study, depending on the content of the work under consideration For this reason, the third part (analysis of language) will be out of focus for this discussion, leaving the

emphasis on qualitative and quantitative analysis, which will be more