Gender, Language and Second Language Education - a Study of Swedish EFL Textbooks

Abstract: The aim of this study is to examine whether gender stereotypical language can be found in textbooks used in the course English 5 in the Swedish upper-secondary school. Several researchers have previously found that women and men tend to use certain aspects of the English language to a different extent and previous research has also shown that material used in EFL (English as a foreign language) textbooks portrays stereotypical notions of gender. In this, study the theory of discourse analysis is used to examine extracts from three different textbooks, and the data is analyzed and presented using qualitative and quantitative approaches. The analysis focuses on the six linguistic features hedges, uncertainty verbs, tag questions, slang words, judgmental adjectives and directives. The findings of this essay show that while there are some indications of gender stereotypical language being used, it is sometimes hard to conclude whether or not the gender of the speaker is the only decisive factor causing the use of certain linguistic units in Swedish EFL textbooks.