Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
The Journal of Limitless Education and Research, cilt.6, sa.3, ss.408-426, 2021 (Hakemli Dergi)
This study investigates representation of male and female characters in the reading
texts of English language coursebooks in the Turkish secondary and high school context. In order to
examine the gender representation in reading texts, Hallidayan transitivity analysis was used; texts were
analysed to to investigate representation of female and male characters as agents and the assignment of
experiential processes to these characters. The findings show that as the students move up in their formal
education and as the reading texts become more advanced and lengthier, the number of male agents
increase radically. In addition, the agents in the most common two processes used in the reading texts
are found to be predominantly male, while the remaining three processes identified were distributed
between male and female agents more evenly. However, it is also found that there was still a general
trend to assign agency to male characters in lengthier and more advanced texts of later years overall. The
findings have implications for teachers as well as coursebook writers.