Adopted vs. Adapted EFL Textbooks in Iranian Context: Focusing on Gender Representation and Teacher Beliefs

چکیده مقاله

Abstract—Gender, as a socially constructed variable, seems to spread in to every corner of the language
classroom including the syllabus. Studies show that most of textbooks are biased in a way that they present
stereotypical female images. A gap in literature is disfavoring women by under-representing or linguistically
marginalizing females. In the light of this gap, this study has an analytic quantitative comparison of discursive
features of conversations in Interchange series (as authentic textbook series) with a nationally produced
centralized syllabus for a semi-state control language education in the Iranian context. Results showed an
encouraging level of gender fairness in each series and comparing to each other. The EFL teachers’ perception
about gender representation in the textbooks has been studied in the form of correlational KAP (i.e.
knowledge, attitude, practice) survey and the result showed that female teachers scored better in knowledge
items and that teachers’ overall practice in the classroom is correlated to their attitude more than their
knowledge. Implications of the study are discussed