A GENDER-BASED STUDY OF ENGLISH TEXTBOOKS PRODUCED BY PUNJAB TEXTBOOK BOARD AND OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS FOR ELEMENTARY LEVEL

Abstract

Thesis Title: A Gender-Based Study of English Textbooks Produced by Punjab Textbook Board and Oxford University Press for Elementary Level Gender as a social and cultural phenomenon, rather than a biological one, is instituted in children in early stages and textbooks play an imperative role in shaping up such gender related views and attitudes. Following these lines, the focus area of this research is gender depiction in the English textbooks produced by two different publishing companies (namely, Punjab Textbook Board and Oxford University Press) for elementary level in Pakistan. It aims to make a comprehensive comparison between the gender images as displayed in the two sets of textbooks as well as the variety of gender ideas their respective readers have. To meet the objectives, the study is divided in to two phases: Firstly, the textbooks by both publishing companies are analyzed and in the second phase their respective readers’ conceptions regarding gender are gathered ad analyzed. The study reveals the presence of biased attitude towards gender in both sets of textbooks but at the same time, it is also discovered that Oxford Modern English has improved gender images , in ratio as well as in presentation, than the textbooks by Punjab textbook board. It is also found that students have partially fixed ideas about the attributes, occupations and activities as suitable for the members of both genders. Finally, the study reveals that gender images of the readers of Oxford Modern English are slightly improved than the readers of the other publishing company. This is an important finding as it suggests that textbooks can play a crucial role in shaping up gender ideas of the children and thus can be used as an effective tool to encourage positive gender roles among children. The study recommends a gender-based test of the textbooks prior to publication, guidelines for the writers while creating text for children and some tips for the teachers to handle gender partial text.