Luận văn thạc sĩ a critical discourse analysis of gender discrimination in using pictures in upper secondary school english textbooks ( tiếng anh 10, tiếng anh 11, tiếng anh 12)

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION
IN USING PICTURES IN UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH
TEXTBOOKS (TIENG ANH 10, TIENG ANH 11, TIENG ANH 12)

PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGƠN PHÊ PHÁN VỀ SỰ KÌ THỊ GIỚI TÍNH TRONG
CÁCH SỬ DỤNG HÌNH ẢNH TRONG CÁC SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG
ANH THPT (TIẾNG ANH 10, TIẾNG ANH 11, TIẾNG ANH 12)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201

HANOI - 2017

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VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

TRẦN THỊ BÍCH NGỌC

A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF GENDER DISCRIMINATION

IN USING PICTURES IN UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH
TEXTBOOKS (TIENG ANH 10, TIENG ANH 11, TIENG ANH 12)

PHÂN TÍCH DIỄN NGƠN PHÊ PHÁN VỀ SỰ KÌ THỊ GIỚI TÍNH TRONG
CÁCH SỬ DỤNG HÌNH ẢNH TRONG CÁC SÁCH GIÁO KHOA TIẾNG
ANH THPT (TIẾNG ANH 10, TIẾNG ANH 11, TIẾNG ANH 12)

M.A. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Supervisor: Dr. Huỳnh Anh Tuấn

HANOI - 2017

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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the thesis, entitled “A critical discourse analysis of
gender discrimination in using pictures in upper-secondary school English
textbooks (Tieng anh 10, Tieng anh 11, Ttieng anh 12) has been carried out in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Art at the
University of Languages and International Studies. This work is original and all the
sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means
of complete references.
Hanoi - 2017

Trần Thị Bích Ngọc

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the period of completing the Master thesis, the author has received
the support of a great number of people.
First and foremost, I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Dr. Huynh Anh
Tuan, my supervisor, who has generously given me insightful guidance and
valuable feedback during the process of carrying out the thesis, without which this
thesis would be far from completed.
I would also like to give my sincere gratitude to all of the lecturers at ULIS VNU, Hanoi for their scholarly knowledge and enthusiasm in their lectures.
My profound thanks are also to all my friends and classmates in the cohort
23, who have always stayed by my side, given me constructive comments and
perked me up every time I need.
Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my family for their
immeasurable support and continual encouragement.
The Master thesis could not have been fulfilled without them.

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ABSTRACT
The study is an attempt to investigate the manifestation of gender
discrimination in the national English language teaching textbooks, namely, Tieng
Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, Tieng Anh 12. For this study, the researcher focuses on
analyzing the non-linguistic features - visual images in terms of gender

representation in an effort to extract the ideology behind their constructions. The
research approach is based on critical discourse analysis in combination with
methods of quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The results reveal that
these textbooks present a gender discriminatory attitude mainly toward women, in
which male characters are over-presented visually. The proportion of females to
males in illustrations is 1:2. Furthermore, regarding social plus domestic settings,
men monopolize and dominate more social roles than women do. In contrast,
domestic roles are profoundly demonstrated by females. In addition, males often
take a center position in drawings, which is considered important. It is suggested
that gender equality is still a controversial issue in Viet Nam‟s society and
Vietnamese culture mirrors the way gender represented in the textbooks.

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LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES

Table 1. Distribution of males and females in illustrations ......................................29
Table 2. Males and females in occupational roles ....................................................31
Table 3. Males and females in family roles ..............................................................35
Table 4. Activities performed by males and females ................................................36
Table 5. Colors applied to males and females ..........................................................42
Table 6. Blumberg‟s criteria of obstacles to gender equality and evidences in
textbooks ...................................................................................................................47

Figure 1. Analytical framework of the study ............................................................27

Figure 2. Procedure of the analysis ...........................................................................28
Figure 3. Future jobs, english 12 (basic) ...................................................................32
Figure 4. Future jobs, english 12 (advance) ..............................................................33
Figure 5. Women in society, english 12 (basic) ........................................................38
Figure 7. Home life, english 12 (basic) .....................................................................38
Figure 6. Home life, english 12 (advance) ................................................................38
Figure 8. Recreation, english 11 (basic) ...................................................................39
Figure 9. Recreation, english 11 (basic) ...................................................................40
Figure 10. Asian games, english 11 (basic) ..............................................................40
Figure 11. Asian games, english 11 (basic) ..............................................................41

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION ....................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..................................................................................... ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. iii
LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ...................................................................... iv
PART A ......................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................1
1. Rationale of the study..............................................................................................1
2. Objectives of the study ............................................................................................2
3. Research questions: .................................................................................................2

4. Scope of the study: ..................................................................................................3
5. Method of the study: ...............................................................................................3
6. Structure of the study ..............................................................................................3
PART B ......................................................................................................................5
DEVELOPMENT .....................................................................................................5
CHAPTER I. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................5
1. Review of theoretical background ..........................................................................5
1.1. Critical discourse analysis ....................................................................................5
1.2. Fairclough‟s three-dimension model ...................................................................6
1.3. Multimodal critical discourse analysis .................................................................6
1.4. Visual images .......................................................................................................7
1.4.1. Definition ..........................................................................................................7
1.4.2. Roles of visual images ......................................................................................8
1.4.3. The three metafunctions of meaning .................................................................9
1.5. Grammar of visual images .................................................................................11
1.5.1. Color ................................................................................................................11
1.5.2. The meaning of composition...........................................................................11
1.5.3. The information value of centre and margins .................................................12
1.6. Gender discrimination ........................................................................................12
1.7. Gender issues in the school textbooks ...............................................................15
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2. Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis ...................17

2.1. Studies of gender discrimination in textbooks in the world ..............................17
2.2 the studies of gender discrimination in textbooks in vietnam.............................20
3. Summary of the chapter ........................................................................................21
CHAPTER II. METHODOLOGY ........................................................................22
2.1. Research questions .............................................................................................22
2.2. Research setting .................................................................................................22
2.3. Research approach .............................................................................................23
2.4. Data collection ...................................................................................................23
2.5. Research method ................................................................................................25
2.6. Analytical framework.........................................................................................26
2.7. Research procedure ............................................................................................28
2.8. Summary of the chapter: ....................................................................................28
CHAPTER III. FINDINGDS AND DISCUSSIONS............................................29
3.1. Findings and discussions of research question 1 ...............................................29
3.1.1. Distribution of different genders in pictorial representations .........................29
3.1.2. Gender representation in occupational roles ...................................................30
3.1.3. Gender representations in family roles ...........................................................34
3.1.4. Gender representations in different activities .................................................36
3.1.5. Gendered attributes in terms of colors ............................................................41
3.1.6. The placements of males and females in drawings .........................................43
3.2. Findings and discussions of question 2 ..............................................................44
3.3. Summary of the chapter: ....................................................................................47
PART C ....................................................................................................................48
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................48
1. Recapitulation .......................................................................................................48
2. Limitations of the study ........................................................................................51
3. Suggestions for further studies ..............................................................................51
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................52
APPENDICE ............................................................................................................. I
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PART A
INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Viet Nam‟s education in certain respects is not different from that of other
countries around the world in such a way that there still exists problems within its
own system no matter how well-constructed it used to be; as a result, there is an
urge to reform the education system to meet the expectations of the society. It is
undeniable that the innovation should be comprehensive as each part of the
educational system is of equal importance and they are mutually related. Therefore,
the change in the curriculum should go with the alteration in teaching
methodologies as well as textbooks (Markee, 1997). In the process of innovation in
2001, the national textbooks for all the three levels including primary, lower and
upper secondary especially the implementation of new English textbooks had
received the great concern of the government and the public. The English textbooks
for upper secondary school students also had undergone significant reforms ranging
from the syllabus to the topic.
Textbooks belong to education and education is heavily involved in the
ideological development of one person; therefore textbooks with the knowledge
they contain could affect individuals‟ perception. It is apparent that linguistic
features are not the sole components of one textbook; there appears the contribution
of non-linguistic elements such as images or pictures. The visual images utilized in
textbooks not only are meant to delight the lesson, to assist the reading passages or

any kinds of activities but also affect the students‟ awareness of specific issues
(Fang, 1996). Pictures and photographs present meanings of their own (Kress &
Leeuwen, 1996); therefore the misapplication of them could lead to the negative
effects such as showing the discrimination of race, sex, religion and so on. Looking
back at the book of “Sự kì thị giới tính trong ngơn ngữ” (Sexism in language) by
Trần Xuân Điệp, the author discussed the phenomenon of sexism in teaching
materials and exposed that the discrimination against women appeared in both
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linguistic and non-linguistic levels. Nguyễn Thị Hương, 2014 also confirmed in her
study that gender stereotypes existed in the verbal and non-verbal form in the
Vietnamese language textbooks for primary level.
It is also noticeable that textbooks play a key role in transmitting knowledge
including gender role information to students at all levels. Accordingly, evaluating
English textbooks in terms of gender representation is a must in order to provide
both teachers and learners with the critical outlook of gender discrimination. The
aforementioned issues are some incentives to study the series of domestic English
textbooks designed to teach upper-secondary school students, namely Tieng Anh 10
(basic), Tieng Anh 11 (basic), Tieng Anh 12 (basic), Tieng Anh 10 (advanced),
Tieng Anh 11 (advanced), Tieng Anh 12 (advanced).
2. Objectives of the study
The study aims at:
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Investigating gender representations via pictures utilized in the upper
secondary school text books Tieng Anh 10 (basic), Tieng Anh 11 (basic),
Tieng Anh 12 (basic), Tieng Anh 10 (advanced), Tieng Anh 11 (advanced),
Tieng Anh 12 (advanced) in Viet Nam.

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Scrutinizing whether these representations promote or challenge gender
equality in education.

3. Research questions:
The study will be addressed by the following questions:
(1) How are different genders demonstrated via pictorial representations in the
series of national English textbooks Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11 and Tieng
Anh 12?
(2) To what extent do these gender representations promote or challenge the
gender equality in education?

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4. Scope of the study:
The Vietnamese upper secondary English language textbooks, entitled as
Tieng Anh 10 (basic) , Tieng Anh 11 (basic), Tieng Anh 12 (basic), Tieng Anh 10
(advanced), Tieng Anh 11 (advanced), Tieng Anh 12 (advanced) are chosen as the

data of this study. In fact, linguistic features of these English textbooks will not be
analyzed. The researcher focuses on examining non-linguistic ones - visual
presentations to extract the ideologies embedded in these productions. The three
national textbooks from basic set Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, Tieng Anh 12
(basic) were written by Hoang Van Van et al and three others from the advanced
set: Tieng Anh 10, Tieng Anh 11, Tieng Anh 12 (advanced) were written by Tu
Anh et al. Both of the two sets were published by MOET in 2006, 2007, 2008
respectively.
5. Method of the study:
The methodological approach is built entirely on the foundation of discourse
analysis. The research method involves a quantitative and qualitative content
analysis. Within this area of investigation, the three dimension model given by
Fairclough (2001) will be combined with the grammar of visual image by Kress &
van Leeuwen (2006) and analysis technique employed by Esmaili, F & Amerian, M
(2014).
6. Structure of the study
The organization of this thesis is presented as follows.
Part A: Introduction
This part presents an overview of the research in which the rationale, the
aims, the research questions, the scope as well as the organization are shortly
expressed.
Part B: Development
Chapter I: Literature Review (This section provides basic concepts,
theoretical framework and related research of the study).
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Chapter II: Research Methodology (This part presents a detailed description
of methodological choices for the study: data collection procedures and data
analysis procedures.)
Chapter III: Findings and Discussion (This sector gives the findings and
discussions of the study).
Part C: Conclusion
The last part summaries the study, gives some conclusion points to the study,
and discusses the limitations of the study as well as suggestions for further research.

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PART B
DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER I. LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter discusses linguistic theories consisting of critical discourse
analysis (CDA), multimodal discourse analysis (MDA). The researcher also
mentions the concept of visual images including pictures. Furthermore, in this
chapter is the discussion of gender as a concept as well as gender discrimination.
Additionally, it provides the previous related studies from research experts in the
world as well as in Vietnam.
1. Review of theoretical background
1.1. Critical discourse analysis

Critical discourse analysis (henceforth CDA) is “a type of discourse
analytical research that primarily studies the way social power abuse, dominance
and inequality are enacted, reproduced, and resisted by text and talk in the social
and political context” (Van Dijk, 2001:352). Another view of critical discourse
analysis is “an approach to language analysis that considers texts as parts of specific
social practices” (Gee, 2004:32). It studies how texts represent and construct reality
with a specific ideological system via implicit message on the basis of what is said
(Heroes, 2009). Critical discourse analysts are not only interested in social goals of
language and discourse but also social maintenance and change (Bloor & Bloor,
2013). Critical discourse analysis for Fairclough is an approach that investigates the
relationship between discursive practices and the social structures. Fairclough‟s
model of critical discourse analysis is the cornerstone of CDA field. His model is
based on the assumption that language is a part of social life. The relation between
language and social reality is recognized via social events, social practices and
social structures (Fairclough, 2003). In general, CDA is probably the most
comprehensive attempt to develop a theory of the inter-connectedness of discourse,
power and ideology. CDA research specifically analyses institutional, political,
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gender and media discourses which „testify to more or less overt relations of
struggle and conflict‟ (Wodak 2001:2).
1.2. Fairclough’s three-dimension model
Fairclough‟s framework consists of three sections of description,
interpretation and explanation.

Firstly, the descriptive dimension examines the basic formal properties of the
discourse. In other words, the description stage presents text analysis. It is crucial
that Fairclough‟s brainchild is applicable to any kinds of text. The term text could
refer to both verbal texts and visual texts. The semiotic indications including images,
signs, colors, sounds are also seen as text (Janks, 1997). However, within this
research, the texts are special text - pictures therefore, the “Grammar of visual
image” by Kress and Leeuwen (2006) and the analytical tool by Amerian & Esmaili
(2014) are incorporated in this stage for this study.
The following dimension is the processes by which the object is produced
and received by human subject (Janks, 1997). At this stage, a text is seen not only as
a result of process of production and also as a resource in the act of interpretation.
The features of text and context serve as cues for being interpreted on the basis of a
background of common-sense assumptions.
Finally, the explanation dimension attempts to find the relationships between
interaction and social context (Fairclough, 2001). As the third dimension involves
the socio-historical conditions that govern the process of production, it can be
illustrated as the power behind discourse. At this stage, there is an effort to answer
questions like how the discourse change or sustain certain social relationship in
social structure or what kinds of social practices the object of investigation is
interrelated.
1.3. Multimodal critical discourse analysis
More recently there has been a new extension of critical discourse analysis multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA). It is seen as “one of the most
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influential and visible branches of discourse analysis” (Blommaert & Bulcaen,
2000) whose typical representatives are Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen.
While the traditional CDA has been focusing on verbal mode, the new extension
has moved towards broader multimodal conceptions by incorporating visual images
into concepts of discourse. (Kress & Leeuwen, 1996).
So far after the new trend of critical discourse analysis - MCDA was
introduced by Kress and van Leeuwen (1996), more and more researchers have
examined non-linguistic semiotic elements consisting of photographs and other
graphic elements (e.g. Kress & van Leeuwen, 2006; Jewitt, 2009). The importance
of considering the visual components such as facial expression and gesture in the
analysis of conversations is highly recognized by Fairclough (1989). Furthermore,
van Leeuwen highlighted the value of investigating visual elements of images, for
instance color, frame and composition, showing that those non-linguistic elements
convey meaning and it is worth to examine them. Considering as one branch of
critical discourse analysis, multimodal critical discourse analysis also aims at
investigating how the visual components are used to construct and express social
power plus ideologies. Ideological views of one text can be expressed in the choice
of different vocabularies as well as different grammatical structures; visual
structures in the form of images do convey ideological meanings too.
1.4. Visual images
1.4.1. Definition
Visual images in this thesis are seen as pictures. There are a variety of ways
in which pictures can be defined. The definition of picture in the Merriam Webster
English Dictionary is a design or representation made by various means such as
drawing, painting and photography. Also stated in The Oxford English Dictionary, a
picture is a visual representation of a person or scene as in a photograph or painting.
From these definitions, it can be inferred that a picture is a reproduction of image
including not only drawings and paintings but also photographs.

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1.4.2. Roles of visual images
There is no doubt that images powerfully express a message and none of
them are created without purposes. Furthermore, we live in a time when most of us
are surrounded by visual images, both static and moving, in different forms of the
mass media; it means images exist in a wide range of language use including
textbooks.
Various researchers have discussed the roles of images as discussed below.
Kress & Leeween (2006: 30) share the following regarding pictures:
“…Pictures always have great impact on the reader. In newspapers or
magazines, where there are pictorials, people usually look at the pictures
first before starting to read the content…”
Photographs are perfect illustrations of reality and obviously bring the
messages itself. Barthes wrote:
“…Certainly, the image is not the reality but at least it is its perfect
analogon and it is exactly this analogical perfection which, to commonsense,
defines the photograph. Thus can be seen the special status of the
photographic image: it is a message without a code...” ( Barthes, 1977:17)
He also extends his argument to other pictorial modes such as drawings and
paintings. These two analogical reproductions of reality develop the messages in
their own style though they could be less naturalistic than photographs.
The importance of visual images are also stated briefly in the saying “the
image is no longer an illustration: the image carries the meaning, the words come
second” (Kress & Leeuween, 2006: 26). By examining Dick Bruna‟s On My Walk a part of a series of Bruna‟s Books which use clear pictures and bold colours to help

young learners to build their vocabulary, the authors indicate that distinguished
parents could tell different stories of the same pictures to their children. That is a
turning point from the “one verbal text, many images” to “one image, many verbal
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texts” (Kress & Leeuween, 2006). The era of a new mode controlling over meaning
- visual image commences as the image becomes a more powerful and rigorously
codified language rather than just a record of the world around. Consequently,
visual communication is seen as a transparent of information and it presents a direct,
psychological impact on the emotions of the masses (Kress & van Leeuween, 2006).
1.4.3. The three metafunctions of meaning
The three metafunctions of meaning by Halliday, 1985
The visual modes like others semiotic modes must serve several
representational and communicational requirements. Halliday (1985) developed the
framework for analyzing the fundamental functions of language to communicate
meanings called “three metafunctions of representation of meaning”. There are
three metafunctions: the ideational, the interpersonal and the textual metafunctions
and they are clarified as following:
The ideational metafunction: It is the function of using language to describe
our experience of the world including describing events, states and the entities
involved. In other words, it has to be able to express how people see the world and
what they consciously know.
The interpersonal metafunction: The function that language serves as a
medium between people. Individuals utilize language to interact, establish and

maintain relations with one and another.
The textual metafunction: The function that explores how language is
employed to relate the speech acts. When language is in use, playing the above two
functions, it naturally forms a text (Kress and Leeuwen, 2006).
These metafunctions defined above can apply to not only written text but
also images because of semiotic change and there is an emergence of new type of
text to mediate communication - multimodal text which is moving from textual to
more displaying, visual representations (Kress & Leewen, 2006). Hence, the

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theorists realize the need for extending the work of Halliday (Halliday, 1985) to
create the new and suitable theories of representations. Furthermore, Halliday
emphasized in his work the importance of metafunctions that they could be
applicable across semiotic modes (Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006). Many linguists
including Iedema (2000b), van Leeuwen (2005), Kress and van Leeuwen (2006)
share the consensus that meaning making appears simultaneously via all three
metafunctions.
The three metafunctions of meaning by Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006
Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) expanded Halliday‟s metafunctions to
multimodal text, specifically; the meaning represented through three metafunctions
is extended.
The ideational metafunction is about the world around and inside us across
several semiotic modes; in other words any semiotic mode is able to represent

aspects of the world as humans experience it.
The interpersonal metafunction is the function that projects the social
relation between the producer, the viewer and the object represented.
The textual metafunction represents the way in which semiotic modes cohere
into the kind of meaningful whole called “text”.
So far, written language has been the most highly valued mode of communication
and knowledge transmission; however as mentioned above there has been changing
in favour of other multiple means of representation (Kress & Leeuween, 2006).
Visual image is of concern and it is time for educationalists to have a think on what
should be included in the curricula of literacy along with “what should be taught
under its heading in school” (Kress & Leeuween, 2006: 34).
Like sentences and words, images also express meanings as discussed in the
foregoing part. In this thesis, pictures including photographs and drawings are

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visual images. They are taken from the course-book to analyze and the ideologies,
specifically gender ideologies embedded in those pictures are expected to be found.
1.5. Grammar of visual images
1.5.1. Color
Colour could be seen as a resource for the representation of social pratices.
Among three levels of metafunctions, colour can be used at the representational
level or ideational function to denote people, places, things and general ideas as
well as classes of people. (Kress and Leeuwen, 2006). The meaning produced via

colour can be communicated and the colour can carry meanings which are about
classification of people.
Color can also express the ideas, for example white color is representing for
purity, red is for brave and black is referring to death. Furthermore, color is used to
convey „interpersonal‟ meaning. While the language has speech acts, colour has its
own „colour acts‟. It can be and is used to do things to or for each other, for
example to impress or intimidate through „power dressing‟, to warn against
obstructions and other hazards by painting them orange, or even to subdue people.
1.5.2. The meaning of composition
When it comes to the grammar of visual image, it is worth mentioning the
composition of visual texts. The composition presents the representational and
interactive meanings of the image through three interrelated systems: information
value, salience and framing.
Information value: It is the placement of elements or participants that relate
them to each other and to the viewer. Their placement endows them with the
specific informational values attached to the various “zones” of the image: left right, top - bottom, centre - margin. (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006). It means that
different positions of the participants in one image refer different meanings.

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Salience: The elements or participants are made to draw the attention of the
viewer to different degrees, as recognized by factors such as placements in the
foreground or background, relative size, contrasts in tone value, differences in
sharpness (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006).

Framing: The presence or absence of framing devices, for example diving
lines or actual frame lines. They disconnect or connect elements of the image,
indicating that they belong or do not belong together in some sense (Kress &
Leeuwen, 2006).
1.5.3. The information value of centre and margins
Visual composition may also be constructed along the dimensions of centre
and margin (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006). The most typical example of this type can be
found in children‟s drawings. In the centre - margins composition, one element is in
the middle and the other elements are around. The central element is called “centre”
and others are “margins”. While the “centre” is the nucleus of the information to
which all the other elements are subservient, the “margins” are dependent elements.
The composition of centre - margin is not popular in contemporary Western
visualization; however it is relatively common in the visualization of Eastern artist,
specifically Asian designers (Kress & Leeuwen, 2006). The reason for this trend is
the great impact of Confucian thinking in eastern countries that makes centering a
fundamental organizational principle in the visual semiotic of their culture.
1.6. Gender discrimination
For the past decades, the topic of gender and gender discrimination has been
of great interest to researchers in a wide range of fields such as psychology,
sociology, economy, especially in recent years, gender discrimination has gained its
attention to many linguists.
According to Carole Brugeilles and Sylvie Cromer - authors of “Promoting
Gender Equality through Textbooks”, while sex is a universal concept referring to

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the biological characteristics between men and women which differentiate humans
as males and females, gender refers to social attributes which are time-specific and
changeable. The term gender, rather than being biological related, concerns the
characteristic which are socially expected. Therefore it relates to socially given
attributes, roles, activities and responsibilities connected to being men and women.
Gender determines what is expected, allowed and valued in a female or a male in a
given context. In most societies there are inequalities between women and men in
responsibilities assigned, activities undertaken as well as decision-making
opportunities.
Discrimination occurs in various forms in everyday life. It is defined as any
distinction or preference made on the basis of race, sex, religion or national
extraction which has the effect of impairing inequality of opportunity (UNESCO,
1960). Discrimination psychologically implies the unfair treatment toward one
subject. It is generally understood as biased behavior that can directly disadvantage
one group.
One of the most prevalent fields of critical research on discourse is gender
discrimination in other words sexism. Gender discrimination or sexism refers to
both males and females; however the discrimination is more toward women.
UNESCO, 1960 explained that sexism entailed the practice of various forms of
discrimination based on sex. Gender discrimination is an attitude which underrepresents and stereotypes people on the basis of gender.
Gender discrimination is defined in the dictionary for gender of World Food
Program, 2000 as the act against women or men based on the recognition that one
type of gender does not have equal rights as the opposite one. This definition
emphasizes that the act of discrimination results from the misleading consciousness.
In other words, the deceptive truth about the differences between two genders is the
foundation of the long-term discrimination. However, discrimination against one
thing does not always mean the visible action.

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According to The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of
Discrimination Against Women, 1979, “Discrimination against women shall mean
distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the purpose
of impairing of nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women,
irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of
human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural,
civil or any other field”. The bottom lines is this definition highlighting one truth
that is direct or indirect discriminatory acts with or without purposes make great
harm to women and equal gender development.
Furthermore, The Law on Gender Equality issued in 2006 stated gender
discrimination is the act of restricting, excluding, not recognizing or not
appreciating the role and the position of man and woman leading to inequality
between man and woman in all fields of social and family life. It marks the broader
scope for viewing gender discrimination; as a result sexism could be seen as
negative perceptions, negative attitudes or bias appreciation toward males or
females.
Regarding this issue, Vũ Hồng Anh - the author of “Hiện tr ng B t b nh Đ ng Giới
trong c ng ồng ngư i dân t c thi u s ” - The 2010 report on sexism among ethnic
minorities - stated her view on gender discrimination, which is the inequality in
comparing the role, the position and the voices between men and women. It is the
value attached to the roles of males and females, which is socially recognized that
decides how their voices will be heard.

It is worth to note that the concept of gender discrimination is controversial
to many researchers. Sexism, however, is defined whether as the discriminatory acts
or misperceptions toward the object, shares one thing in common - it is the foreseen
consequences of gender discrimination. Eventually, from the above definitions it
can be referred that gender discrimination is the negatively imposed viewing toward
one gender group that possibly cause the threat to gender equality.

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1.7. Gender issues in the school textbooks
The study relating to gender remains worth the effort as it can provide with
countless accounts about power in discourse. “Gender remains highly salient, not
only in terms of the public identities women and men construct for themselves, but
also in terms of how they are perceived and judged by others” (Walsh, 2016:208).
It is undeniable that concept of gender is embedded in every aspects of life, in the
family and in the school. It is a crucial component in the way people perceive the
world and it exists in every discourse, in the texts we write and in what we say.
What is of interest for the researchers is that discourse might be loaded with
ideologies, especially if discourse has been established within powerful institutions
(Widdowson, 2007), for example educational institutions like schools.
In schooling, textbooks play an important role in influencing people‟s values
and attitudes, “what the students learn from other contexts will be reinforced and/or
transformed with what is conveyed in textbooks” (Luk, 2004:3). The involvement
of textbooks in the construction of students‟ gender identities is obvious. As Mc

Cabe et al (2011:200) argues, “the consistently unequal pattern of males and
females in children‟s books thus contributes to and reinforces children‟s gender
schemas and identities”. What mentioned here focuses on young learners only as
many people believe that early education is of importance in shaping ideologies.
However, “the gendered portrayal of the sexes does not stop at childhood” (Luk,
2004:4); when they grow up, their ideologies, specifically understandings of gender
identities continue to grow.
Gender development from social learning standpoint involves the
interactions of many social factors consisting of individuals and social encounters.
According to a sociologist - Erving Goffman, gender role is a socially-shared
concept which is constructed within individuals resulting from socialization and
correlated with biological sex. The representation of gendered roles and gender
preferences are both consciously and unconsciously built and reinforced by

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language as well as images via a variety of media including learning and teaching.
Textbooks have a major socialization role in the development of children (ZinecAninma, 2002) as they convey messages to the young on how relations in society
are to be organized and which value system they should adopt (Mutekwe & Modiba,
2012). Once the ideologies are constructed, it takes the consistent effort to change
dominant cultural messages (Bem, 1983). Hence, it is of importance that textbooks
should be reviewed with the gender perspective in an effort to provide a balance and
gender-sensitive education (Mutekwe & Modiba, 2012). This also means that the
issue of gender discrimination and how to minimalize its manifestation in the

textbooks has been concerned by numerous educationalists.
In the paper “Education for All by 2015: will we make it” by UNESCO
(UNESCO, 2008), it pointed out the reason why textbooks cannot be ignored in the
process of striving for gender equality in education by mentioning the following
statistics. First of all, the students spend 80 to 95 percent of classroom time in using
textbooks and the teachers also use the textbooks for 70 to 90 percent of their time
in class. Moreover, the teachers make a majority of their instructions based on the
textbooks (Sadker and Zittleman, 2002: 144). Consequently, stereotypes that persist
in learning materials and teachers‟ expectations of girls and boys are two issues that
negatively affect gender equality. Maintaining gender discrimination in textbooks
causes the invisible obstacle in the road to gender equality in education as
proclaimed in Blumberg, 2007. The full gender equality in education would not
only imply that girls and boys are offered the same chances to go to school but also
enjoy teaching methods, teaching materials, curricula and academic orientation
unaffected by any gender discrimination.
The issue is not only regional but also international as Jassey, 1998 stated “it
seems gender biased images remain strongly present in school textbooks throughout
the world” (Jassey, 1998:88) so that it is time to strip the camouflage off the hidden
obstacle of gender discrimination in learning materials including textbooks. The
textbooks consist of not only linguistic features (words, paragraphs, dialogues…)
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but also non-linguistic features (pictures and photographs). They are utilized to
delight the lesson and have an influence on the students‟ awareness of specific

issues (Fang, 1996) such as gender issue. Images have their own meanings therefore
inappropriate application of them could result in a consequence of gender
discrimination. A great number of researchers have investigated the issue of gender
discrimination via pictorial representations in teaching materials containing
textbooks. It will be discussed further in the next part.
2. Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis
The issue of gender discrimination in textbooks has been of a great deal of
interest to researchers in the world however not many researchers in Vietnam have
studied the phenomenon. In this part, a review of previous studies regarding gender
discrimination in textbooks will be discussed globally and locally.
2.1. Studies of gender discrimination in textbooks in the world
As indicated earlier, textbooks play a key role in educating younger
generations. Textbooks provide not only ideological but also cultural function so
that gender ideologies constructed in textbooks by language and visual pictures
present a great impact on learners.
Analysis of “gender relations”, “gender stereotypes” or “sexism” in
textbooks has begun since 1970s when educators mainly in the US started to
document them. After their pioneering effort to expose the gender discrimination in
textbooks, the movement has spread rapidly around the world.
Sterns (1976) investigated twenty-five foreign language teaching textbooks
published after 1970 and utilized in America at the moment then she found out that
there were few pictures of women attaching to each unit. Moreover, if it happened
to have women‟s images, their outstanding roles portrayed were mainly the care
giver or the domestic housewife and most of them were physically described. This
is an evidence of discrimination toward women.

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