3.5. Oxford Team…
3.5.2. Amount of Talk
3.5.3. List of Family Activities and Responsibilities
Table 43. Family Activities and Responsibilities(Oxford Team)List of Family Activities and Responsibilities
FEMALE MALE
Washing the dishes (1) -
- Giving money to children (1)
- Giving advice (1)
Taking care of the children (1) -
Tablo 44. List of Family Activities and Responsibilities in Percentages in the 7th Grade Coursebook (Oxford Team)
FEMALE MALE TOTAL
Tokens % Tokens % ACTIVITIES
PERFORMED 2 50 2 50
4
In Oxford Team household responsibilities or domestic roles are represented very little in amount. Characters are rarely presented indoors. Only four activities related with the house have been observed in the whole book. There seems to be a pure balance between what genders are responsible for in domestic life. However when the tasks are analyzed it is seen that major tasks such as washing the dishes and taking care of the children are given to females. Giving money and advice are considered to be the duty of the male- most probably the father. Traditions draw the borderlines of the gender specific responsibilities.
3.5.4. Occupations
Table 45. List of Occupation in the 7th Grade Coursebook (Oxford Team)
JOBS
FEMALE MALE Actor (2)**
Teacher (1)*
Singer (4)*
Make up artist (1)*
Tennis player (1)**
Hair stylist (1)*
Actor (6)*
Teacher (1)*
Singer (3)*
Director (1)*
Screen director (1)*
Technical assistant in a movie studio (2)*
Football player (1)*
Hockey player (1)*
Baseball player (1)*
Wood cutter (1)*
Astronaut (2)*
Cook (1)*
Service attendant (1)*
Song writer (1)*
Manager (1)*
Sound engineer (1)*
* Jobs defined as “traditional” by Helvacıoğlu (1996), Arslan (2000) and TISK (Confederation of Turkish Employer’s Union
** Jobs defined as “non-traditional” by Helvacıoğlu (1996), Arslan (2000 and TISK (Confederation of Turkish Employer’s Union)
Table 46. Traditional and Non-traditional jobs in the 7th Grade Coursebook.
TRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS
NON-TRADITIONAL OCCUPATIONS
TOTAL OCCUPATIONS
FEMALE 7 20.00% 3 8.57% 10 28.57%
MALE 25 71.43% 0 0% 25 71.43%
A total of 35 occupations have been identified. Males are represented as more actively engaged in occupations than females because females make up the 28.57%
3.5.5. Adjectives used for females and males
Table 47. Adjectives used for Females and MalesAdjectives used for Females and Male
FEMALE MALE Young (2)
Successful Famous
Great Unlucky
Shy Short (2)
Tall Strong
Tired Jealous
Bossy
Young Successful Famous (2)
Great Mad Cheerful
Good Angry (2)
Excited Excellent Wonderful
Talented
As shown in the table above males and females are qualified with almost the same number of adjectives. In the analysis it is seen that femininity is associated with youth and shortness. Moreover females are described with shyness and jealousy. It is the first time in the course books analyzed so far that bossiness has been shown as a trait of females. On the other hand, for males, fame and anger are emphasized with twice occurrences. Except for the adjective ‘mad’, the rest of adjectives used for males have positive connotation.
3.5.6. Spare time and Leisure Time Activities
Table 48. Spare time and Leisure Time Activities in the 7th Grade Coursebook (Oxford Team)
Spare time and Leisure Time Activities
FEMALE MALE
Playing football - 2
Watching TV 4 1
Listening to music 2 1
Reading 3 2
Having a party 3 3
Playing bowling 1 -
Meeting with friends 1 -
Swimming - 2
Walking the dog 1 1
Walking 1 1
Running 1 -
Chatting on the internet - 2
Painting - 1
Going to football matches - 1
Shopping 1 -
Eating out - 1
Singing 3 2
Dancing - 1
Playing tennis 1 1
Playing a musical instrument
2 1
Climbing 1 1
Snowboarding - 1
Skiing 1 1
Hang-gliding - 1
Scuba-diving 1 1
Snorkeling - 1
Surfing 1 1
White water rafting 1 1
Going to the movies - 1
Table 49. Spare Time and Leisure Time Activities in Percentages in the 7th Grade Coursebook (Oxford Team)
FEMALE MALE TOTAL
Tokens % Tokens % ACTIVITIES
PERFORMED 29 47.54 32 52.46
61
In the results only a little difference is seen between the tokens of the activities performed by two genders. Males perform 32 activities and females constitute 47.5%
of the total 61. In the course book females are excluded from snowboarding, eating out, dancing, painting, going to the movies, chatting on the internet and swimming and playing football which is a sort of stereotypical masculine sport. However they are illustrated in some other extreme sports such as rock climbing, white water rafting, scuba diving, and skiing. Males, on the other hand, are invisible in shopping, bowling, running and meeting friends. In the rest of the leisure time activities both genders seem almost equal.
3.5.7. Family Roles
Table 50. Family Roles in the 7th Grade Coursebook
FEMALE MALE TOTAL
Tokens % Tokens %
Wife/mother 8 34.78 Husband/father 6 26.08
Female/child 4 17.39 Male/child 5 21.72
23
As it is seen from the results above the role of motherhood and wife are emphasized with the biggest percentage. Husband and father are linked to each other. In other words if a person is a husband he is supposed to be a father as well. This linkage is valid in motherhood and wifehood, too. Husband/father constitutes the second highest frequency. No single parent is observed in the book. Female child is represented the least. Here again, females show dominance only when they are
3.5.8. Semiotic Analysis of Pictures
Picture 35Different from the course books of the Ministry of Education, girls are illustrated several times while performing extreme sports. In the picture above two girls are struggling to climb the rock. However, on closer examination, there is a man who is trying to show how to climb. A male is in a way an authority in this sport. No matter how hard the girls may try to rock climb, in the eyes of men they are always to be followed.
Picture 36
In the study of Lenore Weitzman (1972, p.1230) it was seen that the women who are not either mothers or wives are generally depicted as imaginary characters such as witches or fairies. The picture above shows us a famous female stereotype, a witch.
Female witch image together with a pumpkin is frequently featured in Halloween days.