The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Female teachers' professional identity and gender representation in EFL textbooks in Saudi Arabia

Female teachers' professional identity and gender representation in EFL textbooks in Saudi Arabia
Female teachers' professional identity and gender representation in EFL textbooks in Saudi Arabia
Research on teachers’ professional identity has received considerable attention over the last three decades. Research studies (e.g. Cammack & Phillips, 2002; Han, 2017; Khoddami,2011; Nagatomo, 2012c, 2012a, 2012b; Park, 2009; Simon-Maeda, 2004) showed that sociocultural discourses, in general, and educational discourses, in particular, shape the professional identity of female teachers. Female teachers reported a lack of confidence, and feelings of marginalization within academia due to gendered discourses in educational institutions (Cammack & Phillips, 2002; Han, 2017; Khoddami, 2011; Nagatomo, 2012c,2012a, 2012b; Park, 2009; Simon-Maeda, 2004). Textbooks also play a prominent role inconstructing identities and normalizing gendered discourses. In fact, gender representation in textbooks constitutes powerful discourses of masculinity and femininity (Butler, 2011; Sunderland, 2004). Such discourses about gender construct roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women (Butler, 2011; Sunderland, 2004). Numerous studies (e.g. Al-Taweel, 2005; Eslami et al., 2015; Gharbavi & Mousavi, 2012; Moore, 2007) concluded that gendered textbooks have a deleterious effecton the learners’ identities, including feelings of exclusion, devaluation, alienation, and lowered-expectations. Although teachers are direct consumers of textbooks, no study has been conducted so far exploring teachers’ professional identity negotiation with gendered representation in textbooks. Therefore, this study tries to bridge this gap by exploring Saudi female EFL teachers’ negotiation of their professional identity in relation to the gender representation in EFL textbooks. In this study, qualitative data was collected and analysed in two phases. In Phase I, the researcher focused on collecting data related to gender representation in EFL textbooks which are specifically adapted to suit the context of Saudi Arabia. Thus, data was collected from an adapted edition of an international EFL series by using the principles of critical discourse analysis as an analytic lens. In Phase II, the researcher explored how Saudi female EFL teachers negotiate their professional identity in relation to gender representation in the sample EFL series. Thus, data was collected from six Saudi female EFL teachers using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The data frominter views were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the sample series was biased in terms of gender representation. The series systematically privileged male characters, while female characters in the series were disadvantaged, excluded and disempowered. Such a hegemonic masculinity discourse promoted theideology that men are superior to women. More importantly, the data from the interviews revealed that all participants were fully aware of the patriarchal discourses in the series, and they experienced feelings of frustration toward the gendered images as a result. Also, the results displayed that participant teachers’ care about their students motivated them to resistthe institutional policy and personalize the gendered images for their students. These resultsindicate that participant teachers’ professional identity was a mediation between three dimensions: their emotions, cognition, and the teaching context. The results of the study contribute to an understanding of the dynamic nature of teachers’ professional identity by shedding light on the normalized discourses that shape Saudi female teachers’ professiona lidentities. Practical suggestions for pedagogy and future research were also identified in this study.
University of Southampton
Sulaimani, Amjjad, Osama
7d3da449-72bc-4200-9691-3ef23806acdd
Sulaimani, Amjjad, Osama
7d3da449-72bc-4200-9691-3ef23806acdd
Campmas, Aude
daa31e5c-71b6-4148-8877-f51cb998106a
Patino, Adriana
6a3c90b1-c110-4c9e-8991-afb409e76ef7

Sulaimani, Amjjad, Osama (2022) Female teachers' professional identity and gender representation in EFL textbooks in Saudi Arabia. University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis, 358pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Research on teachers’ professional identity has received considerable attention over the last three decades. Research studies (e.g. Cammack & Phillips, 2002; Han, 2017; Khoddami,2011; Nagatomo, 2012c, 2012a, 2012b; Park, 2009; Simon-Maeda, 2004) showed that sociocultural discourses, in general, and educational discourses, in particular, shape the professional identity of female teachers. Female teachers reported a lack of confidence, and feelings of marginalization within academia due to gendered discourses in educational institutions (Cammack & Phillips, 2002; Han, 2017; Khoddami, 2011; Nagatomo, 2012c,2012a, 2012b; Park, 2009; Simon-Maeda, 2004). Textbooks also play a prominent role inconstructing identities and normalizing gendered discourses. In fact, gender representation in textbooks constitutes powerful discourses of masculinity and femininity (Butler, 2011; Sunderland, 2004). Such discourses about gender construct roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women (Butler, 2011; Sunderland, 2004). Numerous studies (e.g. Al-Taweel, 2005; Eslami et al., 2015; Gharbavi & Mousavi, 2012; Moore, 2007) concluded that gendered textbooks have a deleterious effecton the learners’ identities, including feelings of exclusion, devaluation, alienation, and lowered-expectations. Although teachers are direct consumers of textbooks, no study has been conducted so far exploring teachers’ professional identity negotiation with gendered representation in textbooks. Therefore, this study tries to bridge this gap by exploring Saudi female EFL teachers’ negotiation of their professional identity in relation to the gender representation in EFL textbooks. In this study, qualitative data was collected and analysed in two phases. In Phase I, the researcher focused on collecting data related to gender representation in EFL textbooks which are specifically adapted to suit the context of Saudi Arabia. Thus, data was collected from an adapted edition of an international EFL series by using the principles of critical discourse analysis as an analytic lens. In Phase II, the researcher explored how Saudi female EFL teachers negotiate their professional identity in relation to gender representation in the sample EFL series. Thus, data was collected from six Saudi female EFL teachers using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. The data frominter views were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings of the study revealed that the sample series was biased in terms of gender representation. The series systematically privileged male characters, while female characters in the series were disadvantaged, excluded and disempowered. Such a hegemonic masculinity discourse promoted theideology that men are superior to women. More importantly, the data from the interviews revealed that all participants were fully aware of the patriarchal discourses in the series, and they experienced feelings of frustration toward the gendered images as a result. Also, the results displayed that participant teachers’ care about their students motivated them to resistthe institutional policy and personalize the gendered images for their students. These resultsindicate that participant teachers’ professional identity was a mediation between three dimensions: their emotions, cognition, and the teaching context. The results of the study contribute to an understanding of the dynamic nature of teachers’ professional identity by shedding light on the normalized discourses that shape Saudi female teachers’ professiona lidentities. Practical suggestions for pedagogy and future research were also identified in this study.

Text
Submitted thesis_Sulaimani - Version of Record
Restricted to Repository staff only until 28 February 2025.
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.
Text
Permission to deposit thesis-Amjjad Sulaiamani (2)_APPVD_DGS
Restricted to Repository staff only
Available under License University of Southampton Thesis Licence.

More information

Submitted date: September 2021
Published date: 2022

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 454704
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/454704
PURE UUID: b9fc0d95-e07d-443b-9030-2ace6295660f
ORCID for Amjjad, Osama Sulaimani: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9668-8043
ORCID for Aude Campmas: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6662-2476
ORCID for Adriana Patino: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1950-3954

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 Feb 2022 17:43
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:31

Export record

Contributors

Author: Amjjad, Osama Sulaimani ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Aude Campmas ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: Adriana Patino ORCID iD

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×