A Portrait of Gender Bias in the Prescribed Indonesian ELT Textbook for Junior High School Students

Abstract

In recent decades, gender in language education has been discussed and studied. Textbooks play a critical role in canalizing particular gender ideologies or values. ELT textbooks are no exception. In response to this, this paper reports on a critical discourse study that examines how females and males are represented in the prescribed Indonesian ELT textbook published by the Ministry of National Education. Critical micro-semiotic analysis indicates that the ELT textbook depicts gender bias or stereotypes in which these stereotypes are presented through visual and verbal texts. This finding implies that gendered texts and discourses in the textbook inadequately depict gender equality. The textbooks also showcases stereotyped gender differences. For this reason, language textbook writers and language teachers need to take into account the interplay between gender and language use when designing and using any ELT textbooks.