PART a: INTRODUCTION

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN DOÃN CẢNH LINGUISTIC SEXISM IN CURRENT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS: TIẾNG ANH 10, TIẾNG ANH 11 AND TIẾNG ANH 12 Sự kì thị giới tính ngơn ngữ sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông hành: Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 Tiếng Anh 12 M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01 HANOI, 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES  NGUYỄN DOÃN CẢNH LINGUISTIC SEXISM IN CURRENT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEXTBOOKS: TIẾNG ANH 10, TIẾNG ANH 11 AND TIẾNG ANH 12 Sự kì thị giới tính ngôn ngữ sách giáo khoa tiếng Anh trung học phổ thông hành: Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 Tiếng Anh 12 M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 60 22 02 01 Supervisor: Assoc Prof Dr Võ Đại Quang HANOI, 2014 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com DECLARATION Student Number: 11045192 I declare that Linguistic Sexism in Current Upper Secondary School English Language Textbooks: Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references Hanoi – 6/2014 Nguyễn Doãn Cảnh i TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish, first of all, to express my deepest gratitude to Assoc Prof Dr Vo Dai Quang, my supervisor, who has enthusiastically and generously given me invaluable assistance and guidance during the process of carrying out the thesis The success of my study would have been almost impossible without his support and encouragement My profound thanks are also to all other lecturers for their useful lectures and materials given during my M.A course at the Postgraduate Studies Department of College of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, which have laid the foundation for this research paper My special thanks are due to all my colleagues and students at Dong Thanh Upper Secondary School, Quang Ninh, where I am teaching English now Their ideas, opinions and questions have inspired me to undertake this study Last but not least, my heartfelt thanks go to my loving wife and son, whose support and encouragement have seen me through the writing of this thesis ii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ABSTRACT It has been proved that sexism exists in language as well as in language textbooks Many studies on linguistic sexism in English as a foreign language (EFL)/ English as a second language (ESL) textbooks have been internationally published However, very few in-depth studies on this topic have been carried out in Vietnam Diep (2002) has been an exception but he has just investigated sexism in language in general so linguistic sexism in particular materials such as school English textbooks has been still left blank This study on linguistic sexism in current Vietnamese upper secondary school English language textbooks : Tiếng Anh 10, Tiếng Anh 11 and Tiếng Anh 12 was aimed at finding out how often linguistic sexism occurs in these textbooks and uncovering the hidden messages conveyed through this linguistic sexism The study used content analysis methods to discover the frequencies of occurrences of each category of linguistic sexism and the content of the messages transmitted via linguistic sexism in the English textbooks The results of the study showed that linguistic sexism occurs rather often in the three English textbooks and through it the messages of women’s low status are conveyed This suggests that more attention should be paid on linguistic sexism so that it could be avoided in the textbooks because learners may suffer from negative effects if sexism or gender biases are present in their texts (Mineshima, 2008) iii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a foreign language ESL: English as a second language MOET: Ministry of Education and Training NCTE: National Council of Teachers of English LIST OF TABLES Table Linguistic Sexism in Morphology by Book Table Linguistic Sexism in Semantics by Book Table Linguistic Sexism in Syntax (Generic Pronoun Use) by Book Table Linguistic Sexism in Syntax (Word Order Use) by Book Table Linguistic Sexism by Book and Category iv TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES vii Part A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale to the research Aim and objectives of the research Research questions Scope of the research Significance of the research 5.1 Theoretical significance 5.2 Practical significance Structural organization of the thesis Part B: DEVELOPMENT Chapter 1: Literature Review 1.1 Review of previous studies related to the research area of the thesis 1.1.1 Studies of sexism in language in the world 1.1.2 Studies of sexism in language in Vietnam 1.2 Review of theoretical background 10 1.2.1 Sexism 10 1.2.2 Linguistic Sexism 10 1.2.3 Linguistic Sexism in English 11 v TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 1.2.3.1 Linguistic Sexism in Morphology 12 1.2.3.2 Linguistic Sexism in Semantics 13 1.2.3.3 Linguistic Sexism in Syntax 16 1.2.3.4 Linguistic Sexism in Pragmatics 17 1.2.4 Influences of Language Textbooks and Sexism in Language Textbooks 1.3 Summary 18 19 20 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1 Research type 20 2.2 Research setting 20 2.3 Material selection 21 2.4 Methods of the research 21 2.5 Analytical framework of the study 23 2.6 Data collection procedure 23 2.7 Data analysis procedure 24 2.8 Summary 24 25 Chapter 3: Findings and Discussion 3.1 Findings 25 3.1.1 Findings related to research question 25 3.1.1.1 Linguistic Sexism in Morphology 25 3.1.1.2 Linguistic Sexism in Semantics 26 3.1.1.3 Linguistic Sexism in Syntax 27 3.1.2 Findings related to research question 30 3.1.2.1 Women are exclusive and men are inclusive 30 3.1.2.2 Men are superior and women are secondary 32 vi TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com 3.1.2.3 Women are dependent and men are independent 33 3.2 Discussion of the findings 34 3.3 Pedagogical implications 37 3.4 Summary 38 39 Part C: CONCLUSION Recapitulation 39 Conclusions 39 Limitations of the research 41 Suggestions for future research 41 REFERENCES 42 APPENDICES I Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 10 I Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 11 II Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 12 IV vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Part A: INTRODUCTION Rationale to the research Once I taught my 11th grade students about Neil Armstrong, a famous American astronaut, a student asked me: ‘Why must it be MAN, but not WOMAN’ when she read in the textbook Tiếng Anh 11 Neil Armstrong’s quotation: ‘That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ (p 174) Though I tried to explain to this girl that man here in this sentence was not a particular man and that it was used to refer to all the human beings, she still did not accept After the lesson, I thought more about her question and began to agree with her that the sentence was problematic because the quotation seems to reflect the invisibility of females by containing the words man and mankind Neil Armstrong’s use of such words as man and mankind for all the human beings may make people feel that women are not present in the achievement This is a representation of sexism or sex discrimination in the English language It can be easy to find other ways of language use that seem to treat men prior to women For example, English users often think of male pronouns automatically whenever the sex of the person is not known The pronoun his in the sentence ‘Every student must bring his own book’ is a good example This is a sexist use of language, which often suggests an inherent male dominance in many fields of life, and can reinforce the idea of female inferiority Although both women and men can work in various job fields, there is a tendency to associate certain jobs with men or women For instance, it is often said ‘A director must his best for his company’, but ‘A nurse must treat her patients with kindness.’ Of course, we know that not every man is a director and not every woman is a nurse This language use tends to emphasize the idea that it is not normal for women to be in professional, highlypaid jobs, and it is not natural for a man to work in such a caring role as a nurse Sexism in life is various in forms and different at levels It is probably most readily associated with economic issues, such as equal pay for equal work The role played by language in maintaining and strengthening sexist values, however, is less widely TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Regarding linguistic sexism in syntax, male-before-female orders of words outnumber female-before-male ones This proves that the textbook writers seem to think about men first in most cases The reason for this point of view may lie in the writers’ ideology and traditional culture or simply in the fact that three out of five writers of these books are male Moreover, the use of male pronouns such as he, him, his to refer to all people is very popular in the textbooks studied Some examples are as follows: ‘A student who can his homework in a quiet and comfortable room is in a much better position than a student who does his homework in a small noisy room with the TV on’ (Tiếng Anh 10, p.72), ‘What did an old farmer say about the effect of the knowledge the young people brought home? What exactly did he tell his grandchildren?’ (Tiếng Anh 10, p.84), and ‘A person who is concerned only with his own interests and feelings cannot be a true friend.’ (Tiếng Anh 11, p.13) However, a very special instance was realised in Tiếng Anh 12 when the feminine pronoun her is used as a generic pronoun This pronoun was found in the sentence ‘If we are at a noisy party and see a friend come in the door about 20 metres away, we might raise our hand and wave her.’ Seldom is a feminine pronoun used this way in English This usage is also considered as linguistic sexism because the friend in the sentence can be either a female or a male person In general, linguistic sexism at word and phrase levels is portrayed differently by different categories in different books examined in the study The findings of the study also support Mineshima’s (2008) claim that if sexism or gender biases are present in the learners’ text, the negative information could also be transmitted As being described in the findings, the messages conveyed by linguistic sexism in the standard set of upper secondary school English textbooks in Vietnam are sexist although they are made either intentionally or unintentionally The messages that women are exclusive, secondary and dependent whilst men are inclusive, superior and dependent could mirror women’s low status and men’s high status in the house as well as in society These messages may extend negative influences over textbook users, especially the young users at upper secondary school Michel (1986) confirms that stereotyping has effects on the career choices 36 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com of girls because they are being discouraged in school subjects It is also argued by him that sexism and stereotypical roles may lower the girls’ self-esteem and feeling of independence, and restrict and direct the career choices and forms of self expression for both boys and girls 3.3 Pedagogical implications The findings of the present study may provide crucial implications for textbook writers, teachers and learners of English For English textbook writers, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of genderfair textbooks They can take advantage of this study as it reveals the points that the content contains strong discrimination against females Thus, a considerate textbook designer should pay close attention to the issues of gender and equality so that the sexist content could be avoided Indeed, the instructional objectives of an educational program are not achieved unless textbook designers take into account social issues including sexism in language as well as in other forms For teachers and learners of English, it is time first to be aware of the phenomenon of linguistic sexism, then to express serve criticisms against sexist textbooks The vital role of the teacher in preventing gender discrimination from sneaking into the classroom is very important Even if some form of biased description of either gender were to be found in the textbook, as long as the teacher is well aware of such likelihood beforehand, he or she could deal with it more appropriately, or even turn it into a valuable educational opportunity to raise learners’ consciousness of gender issues Most importantly, they need to use gender-fair language both inside and outside their classrooms There are some working guidelines in literature including On Balance (Florent et al., 1994), Guidelines for Nonsexist Use of Language in NCTE Publications, prepared by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) in 1985 For example the generic use of he can be avoided by using plural nouns or replacing other forms like their, a, an, the for his In this way, the sentence ‘A student who 37 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com can his homework in a quiet and comfortable room is in a much better position’ (Tiếng Anh 10, p.72) could be rewritten as ‘Students who can their homework in a quiet and comfortable room is in a much better position.’ The generic use of man could be eliminated by substituting person, people, individual(s), human(s), human, being(s); mankind could be replaced by humankind, humanity, the human race; and manhood by adulthood, maturity Following this technique, the sentence ‘Yuri Garagin, the Soviet pilot, took mankind’s first step into space’ could be rewritten like this: ‘Yuri Garagin, the Soviet pilot, took humankind’s first step into space.’ 3.4 Summary In this chapter, the findings of the study have been reported and discussed with reference to the research questions and in relation to previous research studies The main findings are that linguistic sexism exists in morphology, semantics and syntax in all the textbooks examined and the massages conveyed via the linguistic sexism in the books disadvantage women In the following part the conclusion of the study will be presented 38 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Part C: CONCLUSION This chapter will first provide a general look at the whole study and next summarise the key findings in accordance with the research questions The limitations of the study as well as some suggestions for future studies will be acknowledged then Recapitulation Studies on sexism in language and in EFL/ ESL textbooks have been carried out in America, Europe and some Asian countries for some decades now However, not much research has been conducted into this area in Vietnam up to the present time To fulfill this gap, I determined to undertake the present research This mixed methods study was an attempt to examine linguistic sexism in the standard set of upper secondary school English textbooks used in Vietnam This was taken by investigating the vocabulary employed in the textbooks that mirrors linguistic sexism in the categories of morphology, semantics and syntax and by analysing the hidden messages that the linguistic sexism reflects Because linguistic sexism in my study was focused on word and phrase levels in three textbooks, content analysis method was employed to find out the frequencies of occurrences of words and phrases exhibiting linguistic sexism Then these terms and expressions were analysed deeply to discover the hidden messages transmitted in conscious or subconscious ways The conclusions of the study have been drawn out and will be presented in the following section of this part Conclusions Although females comprise over half the population of the world and are legally equal to males in every field in society, they suffer more from inequality in language than males Linguistic sexism at word and phrase levels found in the textbooks examined has provided a typical example of the point First of all, there is evidence that linguistic sexism at word and phrase levels exists in all the three textbooks This phenomenon occurs rather often in all of the three 39 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com categories investigated: morphology, semantics and syntax Although this set of English textbooks were designed by the same group of leading Vietnamese specialists in the English language, the frequencies of linguistic sexism are greatly different among the textbooks and categories as well This shows that little attention was paid to linguistic sexism during the process of writing the books because many instances of linguistic sexism could have been avoided easily if the textbook writers had been really interested Linguistic sexism are manifested much in morphology and semantics in the English language but it is in syntax that it appears the most frequently in this set of textbooks with many occurrences of using word orders and generic pronouns One of the primary reasons for the smaller numbers of instances of linguistic sexism in morphology and semantics probably lies in the type of books: these are language teaching textbooks, not literature books, which may contain a great deal of sexist uses of words with metaphorical meanings Moreover, it is remarkable that the hidden messages conveyed via linguistic sexism at word and phrase levels in the books are much more against women than men It can be understood through the linguistic sexism in the books that women seem to be excluded from human beings, secondary and dependent while men appear to include all people, superior and independent The textbooks’ uses of generics like man, he, him, himself to refer to human beings, of derived words or expressions with markedness like waitress and Women’s World Cup, and of imbalanced word orders between females and males such as husband and wife, boys and girls are some of the most obvious examples The messages found in the study also support the point that women’s status in language has not been equal to men’s yet although they are said to be equal to men in every field Similar inferences could be made to their status in society because Fromkin and Rodman (1993) (cited in Bahiyah et al., 2008) assert that ‘language reflects sexism in the society’ (p 306) The results of the current study also suggest that elimination of sexism in textbooks is of great importance Porreca (1984) claims that the consequences of textbook bias may be serious for their users; they must be infinitely more so for younger ESL 40 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com learners, whose limited experience gives them little basis for questioning what they read and who generally tend to trust the printed word more than adults The study has provided some implications for textbook writers, teachers and learners so that sex discrimination in language could be avoided However, the move to eliminate linguistic sexism not only requires linguistic reforms but also significant changes in the perception of what is to be masculine and feminine in all spheres of the society Limitations of the research This study is just a modest example of linguistic sexism in a particular type of language teaching materials: English language textbooks by Vietnamese authors; and it of course has some limitations First, linguistic sexism could not be investigated on the level of discourse which might help to look at linguistic sexism from various corners within particular contexts including illustration images, for example Second, the research was conducted with only one set of three textbooks written by only one group of specialists Had the sample selection been expanded, the picture of sexism would have been much more colourful Finally, it is evident for the existence of linguistic sexism but how it could affect teachers and students using these books has not been discovered These limitations are probably the bases for suggestions for further study, which will be presented in the next section Suggestions for future research From the limitations stated above, some reasonable suggestions for further study relating to this matter may be offered as follows First of all, it is suggested that study on sexism at discourse level including illustration images used in this set of English textbooks should be conducted In addition, an investigation into the same topic but with some other sets of English textbooks written by some other specialists is necessary so that a comparison could be made among these different sets of English textbooks Moreover, it is recommended that a study on how sexism manifestations in the English textbooks affect Vietnamese teachers and students in language teaching and learning should be undertaken 41 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com REFERENCES In English Atkinson, K (1993) Language and Gender In S Jackson et al (Eds.), Women’s Studies: A Reader Hertfordshire: Harvester Wheatshef Bahiyah, A.D et al (2008) Linguistic sexism and gender role stereotyping in Malaysian English language textbooks GEMA OnlineTM Journal of Language Studies, 8(2), 45-78 Britton, G., & Lumpkin, M (1977) For sale: Subliminal bias in textbooks The Reading Teacher, 31(1), 40-45 Busch, C et al (2005) Content Analysis Writing Retrieved May 16, 2014 from http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/research/content Cameron, D (2005) Language, gender and sexuality: current issues and new directions Applied Linguistics 26 (4), 482-502 Canh, L V (2012) Form-Focused Instruction: A case Study of Teachers’ Belief and Practices Lap Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co.KG Cincotta, M S (1978) Textbook and their influence on sex-role stereotype formation BABEL: Journal of the Australian Federation of MLS Association, 14(3), 24-29 Cole, F.L (1988) Content analysis: process and application Clinical Nurse Specialist, 2(1), 53-57 Coles, G (1977) Dick and Jane grow up: Ideology in adult basic education readers Urban Education, 12(1), 37-53 Fasold, R (1990) The sociolinguistics of language Cambridge, MA.: Basil Blackwell Florent, J et al (1994) Case study: On balance: Guidelines for the representation of women and men in English language teaching materials In J Sunderland (Ed.), Exploring Gender London: Prentice Hall Hartman, P L., & Judd, E L (1978) Sexism and TESOL materials TESOL Quarterly, 12(4), 383-393 42 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Hellinger, M (1980) For men must work, and women must weep: Sexism in English language textbooks used in German schools In C Kramerae (Ed.), The voices and words of women and men, (pp 267-274) New York: Pergamon Press Herbert, R K & Nykiel-Herbert, B (1986) Explorations in Linguistic Sexism: A Contrastive Sketch Papers and Studies in Contrastive Linguistics, 21, 4785 Hoomes, E W (1978) Sexism in high school literature anthologies Unpublished Ph.D dissertation, Georgia State University Hung, L.V (2012) A Mixed Approaches Method Used to Investigate Teacher Cognition of English Language Teaching English Language Teaching, 11(5), 161-180 Retrieved March 16, 2013 from http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v5n11p161 Hutchinson, T & E Torres (1994) The Textbook as Agent of Change ELT Journal, 48(4), 315-328 Key, M R (1975) Male/female language Metuchen, N.J.: The Scarecrow Press Lakoff, R (1975) Language and women's place New York: Harper and Row Michel, A (1986) Down With Stereotypes! Eliminating Sexism from Children’s Literature and School Textbooks Paris: Unesco Miller, C & Swift, K (1976) Words and Women New York: Doubleday Mills S (2008) Language and Sexism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Mineshima, M (2008) Gender representations in an EFL textbook Retrieved April 4, 2012 from http://www.niit.ac.jp/lib/contents/kiyo/13/MINESHIMA.pdf Mukundan, J., & Nimehchisalem, V (2008) Gender representation in Malaysian secondary school English language textbooks Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching, 4(2), 155-173 National Council of Teachers of English (1977) Guidelines for Nonsexist Use of Language in NCTE Publications In A.P Nilsen et al (Eds.), Sexism and Language, (pp 181-191) Urbana, I11.: NCTE 43 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Nilsen, A.P., Bosmajian, H., Gershuny, H.L & Stanley, J.P (Eds.) (1979) Sexism and language Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English Otlowski, M (2003) Ethnic diversity and gender bias in EFL textbooks Asian EFL Journal 5(2), 1-15 Retrieved March 12, 2012 from asian- efljournal.com/june.pdf Peterson, S., & Kroner, T (1992) Gender biases in textbooks for introductory psychology and human development Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16(1), 17-36 Porreca, K L (1984) Sexism in current ESL textbooks TESOL Quarterly, 18(4), 704-724 Poulou, S (1997) Sexism in the discourse roles of textbook dialogues Language Learning, 15, 68-73 Richards, J C (2001) Curriculum Development in Language Teaching Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Simpson, J & Weiner, F (1989) The Oxford English Dictionary Oxford University Press Sinclair, J (Ed.) (1995) Collins Cobuild English Dictionary Harper Collins Stanley, K (2001) Sexist language in ESL/EFL textbooks and materials TESL-EJ Forum, 5(1), 1-11 Sydney, G V M (2004) Gender roles in textbooks as a function of hidden curriculum in Tanzania primary schools Unpublished Ph.D Dissertation, University of South Africa Thorne, B & Henely, N (1975) Language and sex: Difference and dominance Rowley, MA.: Newbury House Trask, R L (2004) Key Concepts in Language and Linguistics Chennai, India: Chennai Micro Print Pvt Ltd Umera-Okeke, N (2012) Linguistic Sexism: An Overview of the English Language in Everyday Discourse AFRREV LALIGENS, 1(1), 1-17 Retrieved March 16, 2014 from http://afrrevjo.net/journals/laligens/Vol1.pdf 44 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Wardhaugh, R (1986) An Introduction to Sociolinguistics Oxford: Basil Blackwell In Vietnamese Binh, N.T.T (2000) Xưng gọi: chứng giới ngôn từ trẻ em trước tuổi đến trường Hà Nội Hoài Thị (Addressing oneself and others: evidence of gender in the language of preschool children in Hanoi and Hoai Thi) In L.V Hy, Ngơn từ, giới nhóm xã hội từ thực tiễn tiếng Việt (Language, gender and social groups from the Vietnamese realities) Hanoi: Social Sciences Publisher Diep, T.X (2002) Sự kì thị giới tính ngơn ngữ qua liệu tiếng Anh tiếng Việt (Sexism in language through English and Vietnamese Databases) Ph.D Dissertation, University of Social Sciences and Humanities Diep, T.X (2004) Sự kì thị giới tính ngơn ngữ (Sexism in language) Hanoi: University of Pedagogy Publisher Dung, V.T (2002) Tìm hiểu vài biểu thức tình thái gắn với tính lịch nữ giới giao tiếp (Investigating some expressions of modalities associated with women’s politeness in communication) Ngôn ngữ (Linguistics), 3, 5966 Khang, N.V (2000) Ngôn ngữ học xã hội - vấn đề (Social linguistics - key issues) Hanoi: Social Sciences Publisher Data sources Van, H.V et al (2006a) Tiếng Anh 10 (English 10) Hanoi: Education Publisher Van, H.V et al (2006b) Tiếng Anh 11 (English 11) Hanoi: Education Publisher Van, H.V et al (2007) Tiếng Anh 12 (English 12) Hanoi: Education Publisher 45 TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com APPENDICES: DATA COLLECTION SHEETS Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 10 Categories of Linguistic Sexism In morphology In semantics In syntax Instances (times) Page air-hostesses (1) firemen (1) fisherman (1) woman professor (1) chairman (1) man-made (satellite) (1) director (1) walkman (1) hero (1), ambassador (1) Mrs Tuyet (1) Miss Phuong (1) Miss Phuong (1) Mrs (1), Miss (1) (Dear) Sir (1) honey (1) (Dear) Sir (1) Miss June (1), Miss Moon (1) The Browns (1) (Dear) Sir (1) man (1): man and most animals need a constant supply of water to live man (1): man is constantly doing harm to the environment men (1): Quoc Tu Giam educated thousands of talented men for the country his (2): A student who can his homework in a quiet and comfortable room is in a much better position than a student who does his homework in a small noisy room with the TV on he (1), his (1): What did an old farmer say about the effect of the knowledge the young people brought home? What exactly did he tell his grandchildren? he (3), his (1), him (1): The TV viewer needs to nothing He doesn’t even use his legs He makes no choices He is completely passive and had everything presented to him Mr Vy and his wife (1), Mr Vy and Mrs Tuyet (2) his/her (1), he/she (1) 17 18 20 33 41 61 71 126 147 13 23 24 28 42 48 51 60 71 92 105 Total (and notes) 10 (walkman: not a person but still shows women’s invisibility with morpheme man) 15 (Dear Sir: used though letter receiver’s sex is unknown; honey: a boy uses to call a girl) 106 167 72 84 91 28 (an old farmer: not sure whether this person is female or male but pronoun he is used) 14 35 I TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Mr./Ms (1) Mr./Ms (1), him/her (1) Helen and her husband (1) him/her (1) Lan & Minh (1), Hoa & Quan (1) Peter and Judy (1) Daisy and Tony (1) her/him (1) his/her (1) Jack Dawson & Rose Dewitt Bukater (1) Myself and my wife (1) he/she (1) 37 38 39 50 80 102 109 115 119 137 139 154 53 Total Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 11 Categories of Linguistic Sexism In morphology In semantics Instances (times) Page businesswoman (1) headmaster (1) policeman (3) Women’s World Cup (4), World Cup (1) Women’s football (1), World Cup (1), Women’s World Cup (7) housewives (1) housewives (1) director (1) waitress (1) women’s karatedo (1) postman (1) tiger (1) policeman (1) policeman (1) hero (1) hero (1) manned (3) chairman (1), mankind (1) man-made (1) man-made (2) manned (spaceship) (1), mankind (1) newspaperman (1) Mrs Lien (1) Mrs White (1) Mrs Smith (1) 27 59 75 77 78 95 99 107 110 137 149 150 153 162 167 168 170 174 178 183 187 189 67 74 75 Total (and notes) 41 (World Cup used many times to mean Men’s Football World Cup; a lot of sexist terms are used in a single unit, unit 15 - grade 11 ) 10 (Jack and boy: representative II TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com In syntax man (1): Yuri Gararin was the first man who flew into space boy (1): All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy man (1): man’s first adventure man (1): US President Kennedy asked the nation to put a man on the moon man (1): That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind man (2): man in space, man can conquer outer space 132 his (1): A person who is concerned only with his own interests and feelings cannot be a true friend His or her (1) His or hers (1), she/he (1), him or her (1) His/her (3), he/she (3), he or she (1), him/her (2), him or her (1), Lan and Long (1) Him or her (2), his/her (2) Him/her (1) Rosa and Luis (4), husband and wife (1) Rosa and Luis (2) Helen and her husband (1) The host and his wife (1) (younger) boys and girls (2) Boys’ and girls’ clubs (1), boys and girls (1) Sir/Madam (1) Males and females (2) Hung, Thu and Nga (1) He/she (1) (Dear) Sir/Madam (1) John and his wife (1) Ladies and gentlemen (1), my wife and myself (1) his (2), he (2): Why does the writer admire his uncle? How did he collect his fish? Where does he collect stamp? Mum and dad (1) Men and women (1) Tom and Ann (1) Her/him (1), Mark and Jenny (1) His/her (1) 13 155 167 173 not for boys only but also all children; put a man on the moon: women are excluded from the job) 174 187 14 16 17 19 28 33 34 39 44 47 48 52 62 67 69 72 75 108 148 51 (many malebefore-female pairs of words but some female-beforemale pairs like ladies and gentleman, my wife and myself, mum and dad) 149 155 161 177 184 102 Total III TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Sheet Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 12 Categories of Linguistic Sexism In morphology In semantics In syntax Instances (times) Page waiter (1) waiter (1) waiter (1) policeman (1) cowboy (1) businessman (1), walkman (1) postman (1) men’s football (team) (1), women’s football (team) (1), countrymen (1) countrymen (1) men’s football (team) (1), women’s football (team) (1), sportsmanship (1) milkmaid (1) milkmaid (1) postman (1) businessman (1) housewife (3) 31 32 66 66 71 99 136 139 Miss White (2) Mrs Smith (1) Mrs Brown (1) man (1): The initiative for the Read Cross came from a Swiss man called Jean Henri Dunant Miss Roke (4), Miss Robert (2) 43 95 70 153 170 178 her (2): If we are at a noisy party and see a friend come in the door about 20 metres away, we might raise our hand and wave to her as a signal that we see her him (2): If someone does phone, ask him to call back, or offer to call him when dinner’s over him (1): The most impressive of them is the old dog The journey was the most difficult for him he (2), his (1): What a lovely baby! He certainly… his father, doesn’t he? men and women (4) his/her (2) Paul and Andra (2) a boy and a girl (1), the bride and the groom (1), (…when choosing) a wife or a husband (1), wives and husbands (1), (…choosing) a wife or a husband (1), a man and a woman (2) the bride and the groom (1) the groom and the bride (3), the groom, the bride and their parents (1) his or her (2) 31 140 142 143 150 154 166 35 124 161 14 15 17 21 22 24 25 Total (and notes) 22 (cowboy: used for men and both sexes but cowgirl for women only and its synonym is female cowboy) 11 (no need to use a Swiss man, a Swiss or a Swiss person is better) 51 (he: used to refer to the old dog, a baby; choosing a wife or a husband shows that the agent of the action as a male is thought first so the female-beforemale order here needs looking at the deep structure but not the surface structure) 31 IV TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com his or her (1) mother and father (1) Tuan and Lan (1), Lan, Tung (2) him/her (1) Mr and Mrs (1) him/her (2) male or female (2) men and women (2) men & woman (4) Sally and Kevin (1), Keith and Sonia (1) (Is the baby) a boy or a girl? (1) 32 36 39 43 95 123 163 164 169 171 181 84 Total V TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com ... ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vii LIST OF TABLES vii Part A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale to the research Aim and objectives of the research Research questions... Distribution of Linguistic Sexism in Tiếng Anh 12 IV vii TIEU LUAN MOI download : skknchat@gmail.com Part A: INTRODUCTION Rationale to the research Once I taught my 11th grade students about Neil Armstrong,... organized as follows After providing an overview of the research and its purpose in Introduction Part, Development Part will be presented in three chapters Chapter provides the review of literature