Gender issues in the school textbook: A linguistic approach

Authors

  • Teresa Conceição Mendes Castro Universidade do Minho - Portugal
  • Rui Manuel Nascimento Lima Ramos Universidade do Minho - Portugal

Abstract

This study presents an analysis of school textbooks used in the Basic Education in Portugal and aims at revealing the representations they construct from children and childhood, through the linguistic means that allocate stereotyped roles to children, based on the gender to which they belong. This research is framed within the comprehensive field of Child Studies, however, it attaches special emphasis to the linguistic materiality of texts, based on the assumptions of Discourse Analysis. It concludes that the children represented in the texts are portrayed differently, according to the sex to which they belong: while male children are characterized as commanding, brave, and audacious, while female children show traces of fragility and submissiveness. These stereotypes work as “naturalizers” of the social role models among readers and, therefore, shape important aspects of the society under construction.

Keywords: child, school textbook, gender.

Author Biographies

Teresa Conceição Mendes Castro, Universidade do Minho - Portugal

Professora do 1.º ciclo do ensino básico

Doutora em Estudos da Criança pela Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Investigadora colaboradora do Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança da Universidade do Minho, Portugal

 

Rui Manuel Nascimento Lima Ramos, Universidade do Minho - Portugal

Doutor em Linguística, professor do Instituto de Educação em Estudos da Criança da Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Investigador Integrado do Centro de Investigação em Estudos da Criança da Universidade do Minho, Portugal

Coordenador-Adjunto Científico e Pedagógico do Instituto da Língua Portuguesa da Universidade Nacional Timor Lorosa’e (Timor-Leste)

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Published

2018-10-29

How to Cite

Castro, T. C. M., & Ramos, R. M. N. L. (2018). Gender issues in the school textbook: A linguistic approach. Calidoscópio, 16(2), 328–339. Retrieved from https://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/calidoscopio/article/view/cld.2018.162.14

Issue

Vol. 16 No. 2 (2018): May/August

Section

Articles

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