EFL/ESL Textbooks

The present study was designed to examine the manifestation of sexism in three EFL/ESL textbook series (American Headway, Interchange (3rd Ed), and Person to Person) currently used in Iranian Language Institutes. A critical content analysis was conducted over the text and illustrations of each of the textbook series, based on following items: 1. female and male characters; 2. woman and men portrayal in occupational roles and professional settings; 3. first place occurrences; 4. women and men in social roles; 5. women and men in domestic roles; 6. adjectives used for men and women. The results were collected in terms of the frequency of occurrences of gender-linked concepts and views. The findings indicated that the content of these EFL/ESL textbooks still contained and showed stereotypes of masculinity and feminity, i.e. gender stereotypes. Therefore, the results in general seem convincing enough to this claim that EFL/ESL textbooks currently used in Iranian language institutes still present sexist concepts and attitudes