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Abstract: The purpose of the MA thesis was to analyse 21 easy readers in terms of gender. The easy readers included in the analysis appeared on one of the two reading lists for the English reading competitions, EPI reading badge and Bookworms in the academic year 2015/2016. The books were examined with quantitative, qualitative and linguistic analysis with the aim of revealing gender bias and stereotyping in the characterization of male and female characters. An initial overview of the sample revealed great diversity in the sample – almost half the sample represented re-written versions of older books, while the other half were books with original plots or adaptations based on recent films. With regard to quantitative analysis, an underrepresentation of female characters was identified in the text as well as the illustrations. In general, males predominated in every category that we quantitatively analysed, but there were a few books where this was not the case. The qualitative and linguistic analysis provided mixed results. There were some newer easy readers where progress in terms of defying gender stereotypes and discrimination was noticeable, but some older books expressed evident gender bias.
Keywords: gender, easy readers, gender stereotypes, gender roles, English reading competitions, linguistic analysis, content analysis, semiotic analysis
Published in DKUM: 20.11.2018; Views: 1307; Downloads: 94
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