engleski

Representations of professions in EFL coursebooks

The paper presents the distribution of culture over cultural topics in primary coursebooks for learning English that were used in Croatian schools over a period of sixty years, focusing on the category of professions. The results of a content analysis of Croatian EFL coursebooks reveal that this category, although not usually present among the most frequently represented categories in the analysed coursebooks, provides relevant information about the distribution of professions between men and women. It reveals stereotypes about male and female jobs, with particular reference to the trend of feminisation of the teaching profession in recent years, which has been reflected in the image of teachers and the teaching profession presented. The presented research is part a comprehensive investigation of representations of culture in EFL coursebooks over the period from 1950 to the present day. Insights from socialisation theory, cognitive psychology and stereotype theory provide the context for the analysis of cultural contents. The investigation was carried out by means of mixed content analysis. The instrument was specially designed for the investigation. In the final part of the paper it is concluded that representations of professions changed over time with respect to gender roles, to the selection of represented professions and the presentation of the teaching profession. In the case of the teaching profession, coursebook representations reflect the current situations in society during the analysed periods and do not attempt to raise awareness regarding the issue of its increasing feminisation in recent decades.

culture representations; primary coursebooks of English; stereotypes; professions; gender roles; mixed content analysis

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