How Well Do Assessment Schemes for English Language Teaching Materials Equip Users to Detect Forms of Problematic Social Group Representation? (73812)
Session Chair: April Jiawei Zhang
Monday, 19 February 2024 11:25
Session: Session 2
Room: Room A (Live Stream)
Presentation Type: Live-Stream Presentation
Problematic social group representation is a crucial issue in English language teaching (ELT) because of the social justice implications coupled with the interculturalism mission of modern ELT. Research alerts us that ELT materials can be imbued with gender biases, racial and ethnic stereotypes and invisibilities, heteronormativity, ageism and other forms of problematic social group depictions. Furthermore, research in critical media studies indicates that these and other types of problematic social group representation such as colorism and lookism are also common in the mass media. This is important because ELT materials creators are encouraged to incorporate mass media artefacts to foster learner interest and, especially, to promote cultural and linguistic authenticity. Yet no research has investigated sensitivity to problematic social group portrayals as a component of the many ELT materials evaluation tools created for the use of those making materials adoption decisions. The research to be presented here sought to address this gap, collecting and analysing a corpus of 107 common ELT materials evaluation schemes. Content analysis indicated little attention these issues, especially compared with mainstream concerns such as how grammar was portrayed. These results suggest a pressing need for formal mechanisms to empower decision makers to insure that such problematic social group portrayals are not part of ELT materials. This is especially important given the power of and trust placed in ELT around the world.
Authors:
Charles Brown, Purdue University, United States
About the Presenter(s)
Dr Charles Brown is a University Assistant Professor/Lecturer at Purdue University in United States
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