Document Type : Research

Authors

• Ali Koohgard ¹
• Behzad Rahbar ²

¹ Linguistics department,-Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages- Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

² Department of Linguistics, Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages, Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

1. Introduction
Misrepresentation or non-representation of the role of both genders in language teaching materials indicates gender bias and will reproduce gender stereotypes in language learners. The present study investigates how gender is represented in Azfa educational materials, written by authors outside Iran and authors inside Iran.
2. Materials and methods
In this study, the book "Persian of Iran Today - Introductory Course of Persian Language Teaching, Volume1 written by Shahsavari and Atwood (2015), from Azfa educational materials published outside Iran, has been examined. On the other hand, to compare with the aforementioned book, from the educational materials of Azfa published in Iran, at the same level of the previous book, the book "First Step - in learning Persian", beginner level (1938) written by Sahraei, Marsous And Malekloo has been examined. The questions that we are trying to answer in this study in order to examine the two views on the issue of gender mentioned in Azfa educational materials are:
1. In the books "Persian of Iran Today" and "First Step", what are the representations of gender in the use of names for the males and females?
2. In the books "Persian of Iran Today" and "First Step", what are the representations of gender in the related words used for males and females?
3. In the books "Persian of Iran Today" and "First Step", what are the representations of gender in related jobs used for both males and females?
4. What are the representations of gender in the images of the books "Persian of Iran Today" and "First Step" and how gender-based are the images?
5. What is the ratio of men and women as the participants of conversations in the books "Persian of Iran Today" and "First Step" and to what extent are conversations genderized?
First, the raw word formats of all the texts, images, and text of each book's the audio and video files were created separately using Microsoft Word 2019. According to the purpose of the research, a list of required labels was made. The two constructed corpora were then labeled using defined codes. Tables of constructed corpora were prepared to answer the research questions by Astrogrep 4.4.7 and Lancsbox ver. 5.1.2 softwares.
Items that distinguish this study from previous studies are as follows:
o Using the corpus-based approach in gender assessment in Azfa educational materials
o Study of gender and its comparison in two types of Azfa educational materials (published outside Iran and published inside Iran)
3. Results and discussion
Based on the tables and diagrams extracted from the corpora of the two books as well as the analysis of the relevant data, to summarize the results of the answers to the research questions, we reached Table 1 below.

Table 1 Comparison of gender bias in two books

Indicators-Book Persian of Iran Today First Step
Bias Type Bias Intensity Bias Type Bias Intensity
Names of People In favor of females 1.3 In favor of males 2
Related Words In favor of males 1.25 In favor of males 2
Jobs In favor of males 1.7 In favor of males 2.8
Images In favor of females 1.5 In favor of males 3.5
Participants (total occurrence) - 1.06 In favor of males 1.34

As can be seen in Table 1, out of the 5 indicators examined, the book "First Step" had a gender bias in favor of the males in 4 indicators (with an intensity of more than 2); And if we calculate the average intensity of bias for this book in these 4 indicators, it will be about 2.6. while the book "Persian of Iran Today" in 2 of these 4 indicators (names of people and images) bias in favor of females (with an average intensity of 1.4) and the other two indicators (related words and jobs) bias in favor of males (with an average intensity of 1.5).
Therefore, at first glance, it can be claimed that this book is in a better situation in terms of gender bias. Because the averages of bias intensities in the book "Persian of Iran Today", ie 1.4 and 1.5, neutralize each other, while the average intensity of bias in the book "First Step" is 2.6.
The results of data analysis and findings of this study are in line with the conclusion that Ebadi and Ebrahimi Morjal (2015) stated in their research entitled "The need for serious review of Azfa educational materials in terms of gender components" and confirms those results. Ebadi and Ebrahimi Marjal (2015) have emphasized the role of Azfa educators in eliminating and reducing gender stereotypes in Azfa educational materials. They also consider the role of Azfa institutions and centers in holding various workshops and educational seminars to acquaint Azfa instructors with the concepts of gender stereotypes and its effect on Persian students as obvious and undeniable.
4. Conclusion
The findings of this study also confirm the need of the teachers for this knowledge and also the role of the teacher of Azfa in this field. In analyzing the data of this research in examining the appearance of the "images" indicators, the importance of this role has been emphasized. Finally, the researchers of this study believe that, with the increasing demand for learning Persian language and literature in the world, the authors of Azfa educational materials should pay more attention to how gender-related stereotypes and beliefs are represented.

Keywords

• Gender
• Gender Bias
• Gender Maps
• Gender Identity
• Socialization