EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 English Education Journal http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/eej Multimodal Representation of Gender in Two Senior High School English Textbooks Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati Universitas Negeri Semarang, Indonesia Article Info ________________ Article History: Recived 09 December 2019 Accepted 18 February 2020 Published 15 March 2020 _______________ Keywords: Multimodal, gender representation, English textbook ____________________ Abstract ___________________________________________________________________ The urgency in revealing multimodal gender representation in education is the background of this study. Two English textbooks for Senior High School students entitled “Talk Active” and “Pathway to English” were used as the subjects of the study. The objectives of the study are to explain multimodal representation of gender through its typical roles, conversational roles, and semantic representation found in the aforementioned English textbooks. In gathering the data, Brugeilles and Cromer‟s (2009) gender representation analysis was adapted as instruments to gain the data for gender typical roles, Francis and Hunston‟s (2002) analysis was employed to get the data for gender conversational roles, and lastly, Mills‟ (1995) feminism language was used to collect the data for gender semantic representation. The findings revealed that in both textbooks males have typical roles as breadwinners in dometic sphere and leaders in social and occupational spheres, whereas females have nurturing roles in domestic phere, followers roles in social sphere and subordinates in occupational spheres. With regard to gender conversational roles, the findings shown that in “Talk Active” males are the dominant speakers and females are the deferential speakers, while in “Pathway to English”, the opposite happened. Lastly, the finding of gender semantic representation analysis told that both textbooks represent both gender equally, although some sexist „man‟ affixes were found. © 2020 Universitas Negeri Semarang  Correspondence Address: Kampus Universitas Negeri Semarang, Kelud, Semarang, 50233 E-mail: dasriyama@yahoo.com p-ISSN 2087-0108 e-ISSN 2502-4566 Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 116 INTRODUCTION Gender is a social and cultural construct, which distinguishes differences in the attributes of women and men, and accordingly refers to the roles of men and women (UNESCO, 2009). The aforementioned roles reflect society‟s economic, cultural, religious, and political beliefs. Society assigns these roles to its member based on its needs and perception. For example, the roles of caregivers, in many societies, are given for women since the societies believe that women are more nurturing and caring in nature than men, thereby they are more capable in taking care of the children, the sick, and the elders. These belief, then, lead societies to teach young girls how to do domestic duties such as cooking, managing the houses, taking care of their young siblings and many more. On the other hand, the roles of chief are given to men since societies believe that men are more capable in leading the tribes and making important decisions. Thus, from early age, boys are taught to be competitive, independent, and strong both mentally and physically as societies expect them to be competent leaders. Connel (1987) states that the assigned gender roles often determine and contribute to power dynamic within a particular society, which in turn raising issues in equality and equity between sexes. This is in line with the study by Lakoff (1973) which revealed that women are more likely to be in lower social status positions than men. These are proven by the use of tag questions and politeness expressions in women utterances that reflects their dependency. Women use them in their sentences to avoid commiting conflicts and leave the decisions open. They do not impose their minds, views, as well as claims on anyone or anything. They simply let the men take decisions for them. These findings of Lakoff shows gender disparity in society. Years after Lakoff‟s study, gender disparity and inequality still exist in many countries around the world. UNESCO takes great concern on the isuues of gender parity and equality. In 2000, UNESCO held Dakar Convention in Senegal and proposed Education for All (EFA). They suggested equality for all genders in every aspect, especially in education, to the open State Members. One of the proposed goals is eliminating gender disparities in primary and secondary education in 2005 and achieving gender equality in education in 2015, with a focus on ensuring girls‟ full and equal access to and achievement in basic education of good quality (UNESCO, 2015). Many efforts had been done to achieve the goals, such as holding campaign to promote positive values and attitudes to girls‟ education, providing incentives opportunity costs for offset schools, and tacking early marriage and adolescent pregnancy. To achieve full success of gender parity in education, equality is needed not only in the access, but also in learning process. In order to improve the quality of learning in school, UNESCO (2008) identifies three set of essensial provisions. The provisions are teachers‟ quality and quantity enhancement, curriculum reform, and gender sensitive training in every classroom. Furthermore, in order to achieve the goals, curriculum and learning materials also needed to be gender-responsive (Brugeilles & Cromer, 2009). Textbooks are one of the important components in teaching and learning. They represent social behaviours, norms, and values in societies through their learning matterials. The ways these behaviours, norms, and values are represented will promote children self-esteem and encourage their engagement and expectations. Thus, “textbooks must encourage equality of people, the maintenance of peace, human rights, and the need to eliminate discrimination, such as racism and sexism” (Brugeiles & Cromer, 2009). English teaching and learning in Indonesia cannot be separated from the use of textbooks. Many textbooks are published to fulfill the needs. All these textbooks represent Indonesian beliefs, norms, and values through the pictures and texts in them, while at the same time they shape students‟ beliefs, norms, and values as well. Good textbooks must promote equality, including but not limited to gender Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 117 equality, thus the textbooks must be gender neutral. There should be no strereotypical depictions of men and women. Men should be depicted not only as breadwinners and financial backbones of families, but also as family men by doing domestic and nurturing roles. As for women, they should also be portrayed as strong, brave, determined, independent, and skillful as men. There should be balance number of women representations as capable leaders, competent workers in various ranges of professions, and caring mothers. Constant exposure to such representations of gender will lead to students adopting and internalizing these messages as true and natural. In a long run, they will have the idea that both gender have the same rights, responsibilities, and opportunities in society. Gender representation in textbooks can be seen multimodally in its typical roles, conversational roles, and semantic representation. The typical roles are shown by the characters‟designations, attributes, actions, settings they set in, and their postures. Meanwhile, gender conversational roles can be seen by the characters‟ choices of moves in conversations. Their move choices tell their roles in conversation, whether they are dominant or deferential speakers. Lastly, the semantic representation is shown by the use of generic nouns, generic pronouns, and gender-free language. This study investigates the multimodal representation of gender in reading passages, conversational texts, and images in two senior high schools English textbooks. Theoretically speaking, there is no in depth study focuss in multimodal gender representation through its typical roles, conversational roles, and semantic representations. This study fills the gap. For the sake of clarity, this study aimed to answer research questions namely: (1) How is gender multimodally represented in its typical roles in both English textbooks? (2) How is gender multimodally represented in its conversational roles in both English textbooks? (3) How is gender multimodally represented in its semantic representation in both English textbooks? METHOD This study is a descriptive qualitative research which aimed to explain multimodal gender representation in two English textbooks. The gender representation theory developed by Brugeilles and Cromer (2009), power in conversation by Francis and Hunston (2002), feminist language by Mills (1995), and visual grammar by Kress and Leuwen (2006) have grounded the descriptive qualitative analysis in this study. The analyses of multimodality focus on verbal and visual semiotic resources as I analysed the reading passages, conversational texts, and their respective illustrations. As the study concerns gender, the contents being analysed are everything related to gender issues found in the textbooks. However, the findings are not intended to be generalized since the textbooks are unique and might be different from other textbooks. The instruments of data collection consist of three parts. The first is typical roles instrument adapted from Brugeilles and Cromer (2009) instrument. It provides checklist of characters‟ sexes and designations, as well as simple and brief descriptions of their actions, attributes, and settings. The second one is conversational roles instrument adapted from Francis and Hunston‟s (2002). The last one is semantic representation instrument adapted from Mills‟ (1995) feminist language theory. The data analysis involves several steps. First is organizing the data. They are organized into typical roles, conversational roles, and or sematic representations. After being organized, the data then are coded into some categories. After putting all the data into categories, the data then are being compared or contrasted, then are synthesized by relating them to theories. The result of the data interpretation, then are used to draw conclusions of multimodal representation of gender in the two English textbooks for senior high school students. Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 118 RESULS AND DISCUSSION Typical Roles Representation Gender typical roles are represented through the character‟s designations, the actions they do, the attributes they possess, their posture in illustrations, and the settings they are set in (Brugeilles & Cromer, 2009). I categorized the interpretation of typical roles into three spheres, namely domestic, social, and occupational sphere. Male Typical Roles. TA and PE have similar representation of male typical roles in domestic sphere, social sphere, and occupational sphere. In domestic sphere, both textbooks depict male as breadwinners or financial backbones in their families. As breadwinners, they are represented as the main financial support for their families and earn money to provide their families‟ needs. The example found in textbooks is as follows. Figure 1. Teacher-Student Dialog In the conversation, the teacher asks her student about her parents‟ job. She says that her father is a college professor and her mother works full time as a housemaker. Her answer implies that her father is the only one who earns money and provides family needs. Her father‟s job as a college professor represents him as a smart and well-educated person. It also implies that her father spends most of his time outdoors and represents their family to the society. Males are also represented as „the man of the family‟. They are the ones who take decisions related to family matters. They are also represented as reliable figures as family members come to them whenever problems arise and they are expected to solve the problems. Therefore, they are to be listened to and followed by their family members. The example of this role is shown in the following picture. Figure 2. Family Breakfast Figure 2 illustrates a family of four having their breakfast together. On the picture, all family members‟ attentions are on the father. The way they face their bodies into the father‟s position and doing nothing with their hands indicate that they are listening attentively to what the father is saying. They do not start eating as the father is still speaking. It implies that the father as the man of the family is to be listened to. The second discussion is about male typical roles in social sphere. The findings show that males are depicted as leaders in social spheres. Their logical thinking, rational and calculated behavior are represented as their strong points. Thus, they are also the decisions makers and problem solvers in their communities. As leaders, males are also represented as risk takers and adventurers. They are not afraid to face new challenges and adapt well to new environment. The example of males represented as leaders is provided in the following. Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 119 Figure 3. Peace Treaty Sign Figure 3 illustrates several countries‟ leaders, all males, sign peace treaty to end war between countries. The fact that all leaders on picture 3 are males signifies that society depicts males as capable and competent; therefore they are trusted to be responsible for important matters. Society believes that males are competent to lead a country and take necessary decisions that affect the countries they led as a whole, for example signing peace treaty. The story of Nusakambangan Island (TA p.195) also illustrates males as leaders. In that story, Aji Samosa is addressed as Prabu, indicates his royal blood and position as the ruler of Kediri kingdom. His power and determination are affirmed by his relentless efforts to find Resi Karno. He never backs down from challenges, proven by his bravery to fight a dragon and sail accros the sea to get Wijayakusuma flowers. Prabu Aji Samosa represents males as strong, determined, goal oriented, competitive, decisive, and brave figure. He also depicts males as risk takers and adventurer. The sory indicates that those are the characteristics of ideal leaders that males posess. The last discussion is about gender typical roles in occupational sphere. In occupational sphere, males are depicted as capable and skillful. Therefore, they have high position and well-paid jobs. Figure 4. Branch Office Opening In Figure 4, both males are designated as Mr. indicating their high positions in their work places, their neat clothes and suitcases as attributes imply their well-paid jobs. Lastly Mr. Sunton‟s statement about his achievement in opening four branch offices represents his as a successful bussines man with great competence and skills. The findings reveal males work in various sectors, such as education, agriculture, arts, literature, and health. These reveal that males are depicted to have more opportunities to pursue their carriers as their occupations have wide range of variety. Since males are also depicted as strong and competent, some of the occupations are the ones that need physical strengths and technical competences, such as plumber, computer analyst, military commander, and policeman. Female Typical Roles. In TA and PE, in family spheres, females are represented to have nurturing roles. They take care of their children and help them to develop. They are also represented as housemakers. Females are depicted to be responsible to manage the house and taking care of families. They are also represented to provide services for families and supply family needs using the money earned by males. The following are illustrations of female nurturing roles found in PE. Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 120 Figure 5. Mother and Baby The mother in Figure 5 is illustrated holding and feeding her baby. The way she holds her baby, allowing no distance between her and her baby, indicates intimate and personal relationship. Her gaze on her baby indicates her full attention in tending the baby. The personal affectionate mother-daughter relationship can be seen from the close distance between the two. The horizontal angle tells us that both mother and daughter are involved in the intimate interaction. Lastly, her facial expression showing her smiling means that the mother tends her baby willingly and happily, because she genuinely wants to do so. Females are also depicted to be the follower of males. They do not take decisions by themselves, but discuss their problems with „the man of the family‟. It is illustarated in the story of Green Knight (PE p.174). The daughter in the story represents females in a family. When a problem arises, in this story the problem is the Green Knight‟s disease; the daughter comes to her father and asks for help. She does not try to find the cure by herself or learn about the disease. She consults her father and waits in her room while her father thinks of a solution. When her father comes with a snake and asks her to go to the palace as a maid, she does not question her father and does as he says. The daughter represents females as the follower of males. Females are represented as dependent figures that need supports and help from males to make decisions and solve problems. In social sphere, both textbooks depict females as the followers of males and the ones being affected by decisions taken by males. Figure 6. War Effect Females on Figure 6 are illustrated leaving the conflict area. This conflict is caused by males and can only be ended by their country leaders, which are males. Females have no power to voice out their opinion and take their own decisions. They only follow males‟ decisions and being the victims of their decisions, in this context getting the side effect of wars. The picture illustrates females as followers and dependants. Females are also illustrated as emotional and hot-headed. Therefore, they are dependent on their partners in term of solving problems and making decisions. This is illustrated in the story of „Putri Tangguk’. Putri Tangguk represents females as emotional beings as she is easily upset when the situations do not favour her. When problems arise, she does not solve the problems by her own, she asks her husband to help her. She is dependent on her husband. In occupational sphere, both textbooks depict females as males‟ subordinates in their work places. Their occupations have less payment than males‟ and are basically an extension of their nurturing roles. Females are represented to work as cashier, secretary, tour agent, cleaning service, and maid. Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 121 Conversational Roles Representation Male Representation. In TA, males have dominant power in conversations over females. This dominance is represented by their higher number of occurances in initiations exchanges. Males mostly take the first initiations in conversations. They open the conversations by greetings to gain their partners‟ attention and start the conversation. They also control the topic of conversions using eliciting moves. Eliciting moves enable males in TA to open topics of conversations and lead the flow as well. Males also use eliciting and informing moves to hold the topics, too. As the dominant speakers, they also address the next speakers and decide what the next speakers should talk about. However, the analyses in PE show different findings. In PE, males are represented as deferential speakers. Males in PE are mostly giving their responses and follow ups to their partners‟ utterances. They follow the topics‟ proposed by their partners using informing moves to respond and acknowledging moves as follow ups. Female Conversational Roles. In PE, females are depicted as dominant speakers. This is represented by their higher frequency of occurance in using initiation exchanges. Females in PE are confident in doing the first moves to start conversations. Mostly, they greet their partners to gain attention, initiatie conversations, and demand agreement to join the conversations. Elicing moves are also used to start new topics by females in PE. In TA, females are represented as deferential speakers more often than their counter parts, males. These roles are represented through females‟ responses and follow ups. They only follow the topic of conversations using informing and acknowledging moves. They let their partners lead the flow of the conversations. Females in TA also show their diferential roles by their follow ups in which they only provide positive endorsement and acknowledging their partners‟ utterances. They do not reject nor confront their partners‟ topics. They just receive and acknowledge them instead. Semantic Representation of Gender Semantic representation can be seen from three categories. They are the use of generic nouns (GN), generic pronouns (GP), and gender-free language (GL). Detailed percentages of semantic representation occurance are presented in chart 1 as follows. Figure 7. Semantic Representation The finding reveals that gender free language have the highest frequency of occurance. Therefore, it means that authors of both textbooks are aware of the importance to represent gender equally in their textbooks. Equality of gender can be seen from the use of generic address terms, indicating that males and females have same opportunity to hold any positions as long as they are competent and capable. Gender equality is also represented semantically through the use of plural pronouns to address people in which their gender is not stated. The use of plural pronouns indicates that the authors try not strereotypically relating certain occupations to certain gender. In a long run, these will plant the idea of gender equality in students‟ mind so they have the understanding that one‟s gender does not limit one‟s opportunity to pursue their dream jobs or to develop their talents. The next semantic representation is gender-free language which is realized by the use of pronouns s/he and him/her. By using these pronouns, the authors address both gender equally. Another realization of gender-free language is the use of passivise 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% GP GN G-f L TA PE Weksa Fradita Asriyama, Mursid Saleh, Sri Wuli Fitriati/ EEJ 10 (1) (2020) 115 - 123 122 which change the addressees of sentences into gender neutral. The findings reveal that authors of both textbooks try to represent gender equally, but sexist language is also found in both textbooks. Sexist language is realized by the use of male forms as generic nouns and pronouns. Generic nouns and pronouns that only address a specific gender, which is males, will lead females to think of themselves as submissive roles as they are not being addressed. CONCLUSION There are three conclusion derived from the findings and discussion. The first one is the multimodal representation of gender typical roles. Both English textbooks represent males as breadwinners in domestic sphere and leaders in social and occupational spheres. On the other hand females are represented to have nurturing roles in domestic sphere, males‟ followers in social sphere, and males‟ subordinates in occupational sphere. These roles are represented by their designations, actions, attributes, postures, and the settings they are set in. The second conclusion is about multimodal representation of gender conversational roles. Both textbooks represent a particular gender as dominant speakers, males in TA and females in PE, and the other gender as deferential speakers, females in TA and males in PE. Dominant speakers are realized through their use of initiating moves in opening conversations and introducing new topics. Their dominance is also realized as they hold the topics and address the next speakers by using eliciting moves and informing moves as responses. Meanwhile, deferential speakers are realized as they use their informing and acknowledging moves in their responses. In their responses, they only provide information, agreement, and yes no answers demanded by dominant speakers. The last conclusion is their semantic representation of gender. The semantic representation is realized by the use of gender free language, generic nouns, and generic pronouns. 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