Representation of Women in English for Today: A Critical Discourse Analysis

Abstract

Majority of students in Bangladesh studies in public Bengali medium schools. In most of those schools, the only English language textbook is English for Today. Young learners, studying in primary level, are prone to accepting and internalizing concepts and ideas from textbooks without question. Therefore, stereotypical or discriminatory representation of gender may affect the mindset of young learners negatively. In order to investigate how women are portrayed linguistically and semiotically through the content of the English for Today books for primary level, this study employed critical discourse analysis as the framework for data analysis. The findings of this qualitative content analysis reflected traditional, stereotypical, and in some cases even impractical representation of women in the English for Today books for Classes I-V both linguistically and semiotically. This study hopes to make writers, illustrators, evaluators, publishers, syllabus designers and curriculum developers aware about the inappropriate representation of women in the primary level English for Today books.