(De)Construction of Gendered Identities in ELT Materials: A Systemic Functional View

Abstract

With an ever-increasing abundance of English Language Teaching materials, there is always a need for research to unearth the possible gendered discourses in/around them. This investigation sought to uncover patterns a Systemic Functional Linguistic reading of Ministry-produced textbooks for the Iranian schools might yield vis-a-vis gender representation. To this end, all the clauses in the Vision series, containing references to males and females, were analyzed in terms of their Transitivity System elements. Subsequent to this phase, which rendered an imbalanced view of gendered identities, van Leeuwen’s categories of Identification and Functionalization were applied to fine-tune the subjectivities arrived at. The study found men as transacting in more domains of life, as being more rational and vocal, and as being described more fully and attributed more lifelike qualities. As for van Leeuwen’s resources, in addition to men being rendered in more occupations, they were displayed as being more innovative and technological.

Keywords

• Systemic Functional Linguistics
• ELT materials
• van Leeuwen
• the Vision Series
• gender analysis