Article published In:
Dutch Journal of Applied LinguisticsVol. 8:2 (2019) ► pp.248–269
Van typiste naar ingenieur?
Inzichten uit vijftig jaar representaties van gender en beroep in NT2-tekstboeken (1974–2017)
Studies on English language learning materials indicate that women are underrepresented and often appear in low-status professions, though gender equality increases within the last decade (Sunderland, 2015). To what degree does this finding apply for textbooks for learners of Dutch as a Second Language (DSL)? To our knowledge, there are no studies into gender and profession in DSL materials. Dutch however, constitutes an interesting case as both female, male and ‘gender neutral’ professional role nouns exist, while their use is not formally regulated. We systematically analyzed textual and pictorial representations of female and male professionals in textbook chapters about work in fifteen DSL textbooks published within the last 50 years. We drew on quantitative (e.g., number of fe/male and ‘gender neutral’ professional names; instances of male generics and firstness; number of depicted wo/men) and qualitative (e.g., nature of the most frequent professional names; categorization of textbook images) methods to do so. Results show that women are not underrepresented in dialogues and pictures, but that dialogue themes are unequally divided over women and men. Moreover, women are backgrounded through male generics and male firstness and female professional names appear less frequently than male names. Women are also described in gender typical roles, whereas men are not. This holds for both older (1974–2009) and recent textbooks (2011–2017). Overall, more ‘gender neutral’ nouns refer to men in the corpus, but they are used more frequently to refer to women within the last decade. Future studies should address the present theme from psycholinguistic and classroom discourse perspectives and consider additional analytical domains (e.g. chapters about family) and foci (e.g. analyses of verbs associated with wo/men). We discuss pedagogical implications (e.g., screen materials for male firstness; describe women in a greater variety of roles; reverse gender roles in class) for those with concern for gender equality in language education.
Keywords: gender, professional names, learning materials, L2 Dutch, corpus linguistics
Article outline
- 1.Introductie
- 2.Theoretisch kader
- 3.Methode
- 3.1Corpus
- 3.2Analyse
- 3.2.1Type-token analyse van beroepsnamen
- 3.2.2De meest frequente vrouwelijke en mannelijke beroepen
- 3.2.3Mannelijke generieken en male firstness
- 3.2.4Het subgenre ‘dialogen’
- 3.2.5Mannen en vrouwen op afbeeldingen
- 4.Resultaten
- 4.1Type-token analyse van beroepsnamen
- 4.2De meest frequente vrouwelijke en mannelijke beroepen
- 4.3Mannelijke generieken en, male firstness
- 4.4Het subgenre ‘dialogen’
- 4.5Mannen en vrouwen op afbeeldingen
- 5.Conclusie
- 5.1Zichtbaarheid van vrouwen in NT2-onderwijsmateriaal
- 5.2Vervolgonderzoek en pedagogische implicaties
- Dankwoord
- Notes
-
Literatuurlijst
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.
For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].
Article language: Dutch
References (44)
Anthony, L. (2018). AntConc (Version 3.5.6) [Computer Software]. Tokyo, Japan: Waseda University. Available from [URL]
Bag, E., & Bayyurt, Y. (2015). Gender representations in textbooks in Turkey. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 64–85). New York/London: Routledge.
Bengoechea, M., & Simón, J. (2010). Gender identity in words for professional titles in textbooks. In R. Jiménez Catalán (Ed.), Gender perspectives on vocabulary in foreign and second languages (pp. 188–211). UK: Palgrave McMillan. 
Bolle, J. (2017). NS vervangt “dames en heren” door “reizigers”. NRC. Opgevraagd 21 februari 2018, van [URL]
Bossers, B., Kuiken, F., Vermeer, A., Andringa, S., Bakker, R., & Hosea, I. (2015). Handboek Nederlands als tweede taal in het volwassenenonderwijs (Tweede druk. Tweede oplage 2017). Bussum: Coutinho.
Butler, J. (1990). Performative acts and gender constitution: An essay in phenomenology and feminist theory. In S.-E. Case (Ed.), Performing feminism: Feminist critical theory and theatre (pp. 270–82). Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkinds University Press.
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (2005). Een top tien van mannen- en vrouwenberoepen. Opgevraagd 21 februari 2018, van [URL]
(2010). Vrouwen vaak verkoopster, mannen vaak vrachtwagenchauffeur. Opgevraagd 21 februari 2018, van [URL] (opgevraagd, 21 februari 2018)
(2017). Groei arbeidsdeelname afgevlakt. Opgevraagd 21 februari 2018, van [URL]
De Backer, M., & De Cuypere, L. (2012). The interpretation of masculine personal nouns in German and Dutch: A comparative experimental study. Language Sciences, 34(3), 253–268.
De Caluwe, J., & Van Santen, A. (2001). Gezocht: Functiebenamingen (m/v). Wegwijzer voor vorming en gebruik van Nederlandse functiebenamingen. The Hague: SDU Uitgevers.
Gerritsen, M. (2002). Towards a more gender-fair usage in Netherlands Dutch. In M. Hellinger, & H. Bussmann, (Eds), Gender across languages, Volume II1 (pp. 82–108). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Giaschi, P. (2000). Gender positioning in education: A critical image analysis of ESL texts. TESL Canada Journal, 18(1), 32–46.
Gouvias, D., & Alexopoulos, C. (2018). Sexist stereotypes in the language textbooks of the Greek primary school: A multidimensional approach. Gender and Education, 30(5), 642–662.
Jiménez Catalán, R., & Ojeda Alba, J. (2001). Sex/Gender in the illustrations of an ESL dictionary. In A. Antón Pacheco (Eds.), Estudios de la mujer en el ámbito de los países de habla inglesa (pp. 67–96). Madrid: Universidad Complutense.
Jones, M., Kitetu, C., & Sunderland, J. (1997). Discourse roles, gender and language textbook dialogues: Who learns what from John and Sally? Gender and Education, 9(4), 469–490.
Koster, D., & Litosseliti, L. (in voorbereiding). Wanted: gender conscious teachers – An exploration of teachers’ handlings with gendered texts in Dutch foreign language education.
Kuipers, G., Van der Laan, E. , & Arfini, E. (2017). Gender models: Changing representations and intersecting roles in Dutch and Italian fashion magazines, 1982–2011. Journal of Gender Studies, 26(6), 632–648.
Lakoff, R. (1973). Language and woman’s place. Language in Society, 2(1), 45–80.
Lee, J., & Collins, P. (2009). Construction of gender: A comparison of Australian and Hong Kong English text books. Journal of Gender Studies, 19(2), 121–137.
(2015). Gender representation in Hong Kong primary English-language textbooks: A corpus study. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha, (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 37–51). New York/London: Routledge.
Menard-Warwick, J., Mori, M., & Williams, S. (2017). Language and gender in educational contexts. In S. Ehrlich, M. Meyerhoff, & J. Holmes (Eds.), The handbook of language, gender and sexuality (pp. 471–490). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.
Mustapha, A., & Mills, S. (2015). Gender representation in learning materials in an international context. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 9–18). New York/London: Routledge.
Mustapha, A. (2015). Gender positioning through visual images in English-Language textbooks in Nigeria. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 150–163). New York/London: Routledge.
Ott, C. (2015). Innocent maths? Gender representations in German maths books. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 52–63). New York/London: Routledge.
Pawelczyk, J., & Pakula, L. (2015). Constructing gender and sexuality in the EFL classroom in Poland: Textbook construction and classroom negotiation? In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 193–212). New York/London: Routledge.
Peters, L. (2016). Geen man of vrouw? Dan ben je voortaan een “hen”. De Correspondent. Opgevraagd, 21 februari 2018, van [URL]
Risager, K. (2018). Representations of the world in language textbooks. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
Romein-Verschoor, A. (1975). Over taal en seks, seksisme en emancipatie. De Gids, 138(1/2), 3–36.
Schmitz, B. (1975). Sexism in French language textbooks. In R. C. Lafayette (Ed.), The cultural revolution in foreign language teaching. (pp. 119–130). Skokie, IL: National Textbook Co.
Sixma, H., & Ultee, W. (1983). Een beroepsprestigeschaal voor Nederland in de jaren tachtig. Mens en Maatschappij, 4(58), 360–382.
Stahlberg, D., Sczesny, S., & Braun, F. (2001). Name your favourite musician. Effects of masculine generics and their alternatives in German. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 20(4), 464–469.
Stromquist, N., Lee, M., & Brock-Utne, B. (1998). The explicit and the hidden school. In N. Stromquist, & K. Monksman (Eds.), Women in the third world: An encyclopedia of contemporary issues (pp. 397–407). New York: Garland Publishing.
Summers, D. (1992). Dictionary of English language and culture. Harlowe/Essex: Longman.
Sunderland, J. (1994). Introduction. In J. Sunderland (Ed.), Exploring gender: Questions and implications for English language education. London: Prentice Hall.
Sunderland, J., Cowley, M., Fauziah, A., Leontzakou, C., & Shattuck, J. (2001). From bias “in the text” to “teacher talk around the text”. An exploration of teacher discourse and gendered foreign language textbook texts. Linguistics and Education, 11(3), 251–286.
Sunderland, J. (2010). Theorizing gender perspectives in foreign and second language learning. In R. M. Jiménez Catalán (Ed.), Gender perspectives on vocabulary in foreign and second languages (pp. 1–19). UK: Palgrave McMillan.
(2014). Gender representation in language textbooks: Moving on. Plenary lecture, Young Linguists’ Meeting, Poznan.
(2015). Gender (representation) in foreign language textbooks: Avoiding pitfalls and moving on. In S. Mills, & A. Mustapha (Eds.), Gender representation in learning materials. International perspectives (pp. 19–34). New York/London: Routledge.
Van Dale Groot Woordenboek van de Nederlandse taal (14th ed.) (2005). Utrecht: Van Dale Lexicografie.
Van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vermeulen, M. (2018). “Herr Professorin” of: Hoe maak je taal echt sekseneutraal? De Volkskrant: Sir Edmund, 291, 42–44.
Vervecken, D., Hannover, B., & Wolter, I. (2013). Changing (s)expectations: How gender-fair job descriptions impact children’s perceptions and interest regarding traditionally male occupations. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 82(3), 208–220.
Vervecken, D., Gygax, P., Gabriel, U., Guillod, M., & Hannover, B. (2015). Warm-hearted businessmen, competitive housewives? Effects of gender-fair language on adolescents’ perceptions of occupations. Frontiers in Psychology, 6(1437).
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Felbr, Lukáš
2023. Bildgrammatik. Gebrauch der Visualisierungen in den Lerner-Grammatiken der deutschen Sprache. AUC PHILOLOGICA 2022:3 ► pp. 67 ff. 
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 1 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.