Representation of BIPOC People in English Textbooks

This master thesis has conducted a qualitative study of the visual representation of BIPOC people in English textbooks used in year 6 in Norwegian elementary schools. Four textbooks have been analyzed in this study from two different publishers based on the previous national curriculum (LK06) and the current national curriculum (LK20). As textbooks are essential tools in the classroom, it is vital to examine how they present BIPOC people. To answer this study´s research question, critical visual literacy, visual semiotic analysis, and structural visual analysis have been conducted. Applying these methods allows the researcher to deconstruct the portrayals depicted in the textbooks. The findings reveal that there have been noticed some improvements in the representations between the textbooks based on LK06 and LK20. In these representations, stereotypical and homogenous portrayals have been replaced with images that the students can relate to. However, the textbooks have also presented BIPOC as stereotypically and as a homogenous group that belongs to the past. Such representations of BIPOC reinforces misconception and prejudices. Therefore, the implication of this study suggests that teachers and students are critical of such representations in textbooks used in the classroom