| Abstract [eng] |
The aim of this master's thesis is to find out what gender representation according to professions is revealed in the textbooks of Lithuanian as a foreign language, and what is the attitude declared by teachers towards it. The study examines gender representation in the following textbooks for beginners (levels A1–A2) used in Vilnius, Vytautas Magnus and Klaipeda universities: “Aš kalbu lietuviškai: A1 (1) lygis” (2017), “Learn and speak Lithuanian” (2020), “Nė dienos be lietuvių kalbos” (2020), “Langas į lietuvių kalbą” (2021), and in parts 1 and 2 of “Sėkmės” (2021). A text corpus was drawn up of these textbooks. Professions in the textbooks are analysed in a quantitative and qualitative manner using the methods of corpus linguistics and content analysis. The study material also consists of three interviews taken from Lithuanian as a foreign language teachers working in Vilnius, Vytautas Magnus and Klaipeda universities. The interview data is analysed using the method of thematic analysis. The results of the study performed confirm tendencies noticed by previous scientists (see e.g. Klein 2019; Koster 2020). Quantitative gender representation by professions in the corpus shows women’s underrepresentation meaning that names of professions expressed in the masculine form, compared to the feminine forms, dominate in the textbooks. Based on the results of the content analysis at the vocabulary level, it is noticed that names of professions are consistently presented in masculine and feminine forms, except in the case of housewife as a profession (no masculine form is shown). The examination of texts designed to develop reading skills shows a tendency to portray men in “masculine” and women in “feminine” professions. The motif of a man who works a lot and spends little time with his family is repeatedly used in the textbooks, and women are tended to be depicted as housewives. The task level analysis reveals that the tasks can both encourage stereotypical thinking about professions assigned to women and men, and challenge this thinking, depending on the teachers' attitude and behavior towards the given tasks. Quantitative analysis of illustrations of professions reveals that men are seen twice as often as women in illustrations of professions. The thematic analysis of the interviews shows a unified attitude of teachers towards gender representation – the informants claim to notice stereotypical representation of genders in relation to professions in textbooks. According to the informants, they usually react non-verbally to gender stereotypes in the textbooks, for example, showing gender stereotypes to students by changing the intonation of the voice or through the use of humour. On the one hand, the results of the conducted study reveal that gender stereotypes in the field of professions, traditional gender roles are supported in the textbooks. However, on the other hand, as admitted by informants of the study, the textbooks also aim to reflect the changing gender roles in terms of gender equality. This thesis has its limitations. After examining the topic of professions in more detail in all sections of the textbooks, a more diverse representation of genders possibly would be revealed. It is conceivable that if teachers (more than 3 female informants) of different ages, working at different universities, and of different genders would be included in the study, it may be possible to observe a bit different attitude towards gender representation in the textbooks. However, despite its limitations, the methods used in this master's theses help to depict gender representation in different aspects. This study is valuable for applied linguistics, especially for the field of teaching Lithuanian as a foreign language. Also, this master's thesis, and especially the recommendations it contains, can be useful for teachers and textbook developers who aim to improve gender representation in textbooks. |
