Gender Representations in the Dialogues of a Textbook of Italian as a Foreign Language

The present study analyses gender representations in the dialogues of a textbook of Italian as a foreign language (IFL). While many studies focus on gender representations in textbooks of English as a foreign language, it appears that no studies have been done on these representations in textbooks o...

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Autores:: Marinari, Greta

Tipo de recurso:: Article of journal

Fecha de publicación:: 2013

Institución:: Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Repositorio:: Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Idioma:: spa

Description
Summary:	The present study analyses gender representations in the dialogues of a textbook of Italian as a foreign language (IFL). While many studies focus on gender representations in textbooks of English as a foreign language, it appears that no studies have been done on these representations in textbooks of IFL. Based on a quantitative discourse analysis of the dialogues in the IFL textbook -number of words, turns, starting and ending sentences, characters, roles, and language functions for female and male characters- a short qualitative interpretation of gender biases is provided. The findings highlight that, despite a balanced character and role distribution between female and male characters, the distribution of words and language functions between the sexes remains biased. In particular, the large use of expressive language functions by female characters reinforces the stereotypical ideas about women as emotional, fragile beings. On the other hand, the directive, informational and phatic language functions performed by male characters depict them as active, more assertive, decision-taking and well-informed. The study presents a discussion on the pedagogical implications that gender-biased representations in textbooks might have on the students’ learning process. In conclusion pedagogical implications of the gender biases in the dialogues analysed in this study can only be predicted. Empirical research in needed to disclose how teachers and students actually address gender biases in foreign language textbooks.

Gender Representations in the Dialogues of a Textbook of Italian as a Foreign Language

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