Gender positioning in the visual discourse of Algerian Secondary education EFL textbooks: Critical image analysis vs teachers’ perceptions
Abstract
The present study revisits the issue of gender positioning within the visual discourse of three Algerian secondary education EFL textbooks. Unlike many similar previous studies, however, the examination of gender representation in this current research is carried out from a theoretician’s as well as a practitioner’s perspective. First, the selected visual corpus was scrutinized for gender bias through critical image analysis. The seven questions in this framework have addressed the major aspects in which bias can be embedded.  Second, the perceptions that secondary education EFL teachers have of this issue were surveyed by dint of a self-report questionnaire which was submitted to a conveniently selected sample. The comparative analysis of the results indicate that while the majority of the images display clear signs of bias against females, most teachers hardly view any imbalances between the two genders as far as visual representation is concerned. This mismatch seems arguably related to the fact that gender bias is still considered a peripheral area of interest by the majority of EFL language practitioners.
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