Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
21 - Managing textbook bias
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Thanks
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Creating a good environment for language learning
- II Being effective in the classroom
- III Teaching large classes
- IV Teaching language skills and systems
- V Teaching language without textbooks
- VI Teaching language with textbooks
- VII Helping students achieve their potential
- VIII Linking the school to the outside world
- IX Supporting yourself and others
- Glossary
- Index
Summary
If TESOL teachers fail to confront textbook bias, these educators are implicitly supporting as well as possibly socializing their students into accepting it.
John ShermanThe short version
1 The contents of a textbook are not value-free; they are generally shaped by a wide range of different forces.
2 As a teacher, it's important to be able to recognize these forces, and to know how to manage them in the classroom.
3 Textbook bias can be directed towards many marginalized groups, e.g. women, minority ethnic groups, or minority religions.
4 Textbook bias can also be demonstrated by not representing particular groups and identities (e.g. gay or disabled people), or else stereotyping or presenting them negatively.
5 Where possible, teachers should combat bias and prejudice in textbooks. Even if you can't do this directly (because of your context), there may be micro-resistances you can use to enable your students to challenge textbook contents.
Introduction
1 Think about the textbook(s) which you use to teach language. If you don't currently use one, think about others you have used or seen. Mark on each line according to how these textbooks treat the following groups.
Understanding textbooks bias
As suggested in ▸Chapter 20, one of the challenges of using textbooks is that they contain ▸bias. Textbook contents are neither neutral, nor value-free. There are a number of reasons why this bias might exist.
• The state and government may be dominated by a particular ethnic or religious group. The education system, through textbooks, reinforces this.
• Society may have particular attitudes towards, or expectations about, certain groups (e.g. girls, people living in rural areas, speakers of particular languages). These cultural norms are treated as fixed facts.
• The writers of the textbooks have their own biases (whether conscious or unconscious).
When textbooks are biased against particular groups, it makes it much more difficult to create an inclusive classroom (see ▸Chapter 3). As such, your efforts to treat all your students fairly and equally can be undermined by the textbook contents. These mixed messages can be very confusing for students.
Therefore, it is important not to ignore bias when you come across it. In thousands of classrooms around the world, the textbook may be the only resource which the students have. As such, the textbook effectively becomes the curriculum.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Teaching in Challenging Circumstances , pp. 132 - 137Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021