A critical discourse analysis of gender representation in the Saudi EFL context: A case study of four EFL textbooks

This paper investigates the relationship between gender bias and educational materials for teaching and learning English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in the Saudi EFL context by drawing on critical discourse analysis (CDA). The paper's objective is twofold: first, to explore the extent to which females are biased in the discourse of four EFL textbooks and the various reasons and ways of this biased gender representation. Second, to show the extent to which the disproportion of female gender representation is due to cultural values or to the gender bias of the textbooks’ authors. The study uses a qualitative critical discourse analysis to investigate four EFL textbooks used in Saudi Arabia. The analytical focus is on five topics: (a) gender visibility, (b) gender importance in sequences, (c) gender representation in occupations, (d) gender-attributed traits and (e) the relationship between both genders. Findings reveal that the selected EFL textbooks contain gender-stereotyped scenarios that are in favor of the male gender. Women are portrayed as stereotyped and marginalized as a result of this disparity. The study concludes that the four EFL textbooks used in Saudi Arabian schools displayed gender-biased content and recommends reevaluating the EFL textbooks to be gender-biased-free.