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In order to improve the quality of our entries, we divided the following tasks:

Alondra: For the first entry, I enhanced the quality of the layout, because the professor pointed out that it was a bit confusing to go over. For that, I considered putting the outline of the topics at the beginning so the professor could know what to expect in the entry.
Also, I improved the quality of the images and I took photos of the entire pages so they could have more context in order to be more understandable.

Language-wise, I tried to look for the correct use of the words by using the webpage ozdic.com, as well as thesaurus to learn more synonyms.
And the last aspect I improved were the references, as some of them were not in APA style, and I realised that even some quotes were not even included in the references. Therefore, all of them were checked out.

Vanessa: Since I wrote the letter for the 2nd Entry, I was in charge of improving the language of the entry as well as the following aspects:

1. add sample pages
2. add an appendix
3. do a thorough analysis in the section about explicitness and implicitness of vocabulary activities.
4. use the rubric as a checklist

After I checked the mistakes in Entry 2, I realized that I did not specify the examples for my analysis, so what I did was to include an appendix with images of the activities analyzed and also the number of pages in the same analysis. In addition, I rephrased the section where I talk about explicitness and implicitness of vocabulary activities by adding more examples, and including more theory-related content in that part of the analysis.

Finally, we included the rubric as a checklist for the work we did with the entries, specifying our contributions for the portfolio.

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Vanessa and Alondra: Since this was our last entry and we had already done our additional entries, we worked at every time together for the creation of this one. In class time, we decided the topic and language focus of the game, we created the questions for the game together as well as the board itself. For the reflection, both of us wrote it complementing each other ideas in a google doc.

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Outline

- Context
- Theoretical framework
- Key concepts
- Theory
- Guiding questions
- Answers
- Analysis
- Reflection
- References
- Appendix

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Textbooks have been and will be a crucial part of most student teachers and teachers lives, as we have seen them back in our days as preschoolers, high-schoolers and then now, we being all grown up in University. Their objective is to give guidelines for the teacher to follow, and/or to suggest activities to give to the students, either way, the exposure we and the students will be subject to is huge. That is why, realising what, how, and why are we teaching our students is of paramount importance to make sure we are instructing our students in a way so they can become human beings with an integrity full of values, such as respect and tolerance. Therefore, our focus for this first portfolio entry would be the heteronormativity and gender stereotypes, being a current topic amongst us, as college students.

The textbook that will be analysed is “Travelers” (edition of 2009) used in 8th grade, the choice of the book was at random, however, what was very interesnting was that the textbook presented more female cartoons and images in stereotyped positions and clothes, and therefore, male cartoons were portrayed as stereotypical as well. Furthermore, the book became of interest for us because of the great appearance of the images in which the female gender was dressed in a certain way and performed certain tasks, whereas, the male gender was portrayed in doing things differently and dressed differently. It is intriguing to realise that the release year of the book coincide with us being in 8th-9th grade, and thinking back to how we thought we should behave and dress might go hand in hand with how we might had been taught at school. In the same line of thought, we consider that our mindsets were certainly different as how we think today, and we deem it has been the University, the contrasting environment with high-school, that has helped us to open our minds and accept and respect things that back on those years we thought unbelievable.

The aim of this analysis is to try and answer:

1) Up to what point does the textbook shows a reflection of gender stereotype?
2) What are the differences between the representation of male and female characters in the terms of image?

“The discourse of textbooks is always ideologically charged and reflects a certain type of worldview of a nation. The issues related to power, hegemony, identity, political ideology, gender and class differences are very effectively presented through discourse of the textbooks” (Sahid, 2015)

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For this entry the concepts that will be useful to bear in mind are:

Image:

Giaschi (2000) claims that thanks to previous research it has been demonstrated that images are able to communicate beyond the expressive ability of oral or written language.

Gender

“Gender” depicts the roles of women and men established by the society. Each society

has a particular point of view towards the roles played by women and men and has specific expectations from them (Bell et al., 2006)

Females occupy suppressed groups that incarnate negative characteristics as passiveness, weakness, dependence, and emotionality; males comprise the dominant groups with the positive characteristics such as strength, activity, independence, and rationality (Ho, 2009)

Textbook

Richards (2001) puts it, textbooks are key components in most language programs. In some situations, he believes, textbooks serve as the basis for much of the language input learners receive and the language practice that occurs in the classroom.

Ideology

As stated by Amerian & Esmaili (2015) ideology is the coherent set  of social  and power-related norms and values  dominated in  a society

Positioning

Giaschi mentions that Fairclough (1989) and Berger (1972) use the term positioning in a quite literal way: individuals or groups of individuals are positioned by discourse as "inherently inferior," "in control," "weak," "strong," and so forth

The Analytical Technique

In essence this technique constitutes an interrogation of discourse, be it dialogue, journalism, advertising, or any other communication, to reveal power- and/or gender-based positioning that might not be easily identifiable at first glance. (Giaschi, 2000)

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Firestone (2000) emphasizes that textbooks are in fact political means for shaping the mental models of people through which the way that people think, act or feel regarding different phenomena including gender issues is dictated. In fact, the main purpose of the textbooks including foreign language textbooks is to guide and also to instruct children

about the past as well as the idealized presentation of the past (Firestone, 2000)

Ansary & Babaii (2003) emphasize that textbooks should present a balanced and fair representation of both genders and also the roles ascribed to them and refuse stereotyping. Moreover, if a textbook neglects the actions and achievements of females or disapprove females or ascribe stereotyped roles to females and males, this textbook is sexist (Farooq, 1999)

Furhtermore, textbooks have a significant role in conveying specific and distinct information about the world in order to dictate suitable and proper types of behavior. (Amerian & Esmaili, 2015)

Finally, Gender message that is conveyed through textbooks or other means reflects information about the norms and values governing in the society. (Amerian & Esmaili, 2015). In addition, these conveyed messages express something about the opportunities and chances available for both females and males.

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Questions from Peter Giaschi (2000)

1. What is the activity of the image(s)?

2. Who is active (the "protagonist") in the image?

3. Who is passive (the "receiver") in the image(s)?

4. Who has status in the image(s)?

5. What does the body language communicate?

6. What does the clothing communicate?

7. Where are the eyes directed?

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1. What is the activity of the image(s)?

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1. What is the activity of the image(s)?

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There were an average of 50 images of female cartoons and photos were women were involved. And an average of 39 where male representations were involved.

Amongst the images were females were present, the action of them involved:

inviting a male partner to participate in the Easter Island dance, -

eating unhealthy food,

telling she is busy studying,

chatting over the phone,

laughing at something,

being cheerful over exercising,

being fun and entertaining,

being “sexy”

On the other hand, males were mostly portrayed as:

conservative

irresponsable over school duties

“lazy”

rebels who like fighting and bullying

the “know-it-all” of science

Unit 2 called “self-care” was the unit in which women were more present, whether receiving advice or being more prone to being careful.

Moreover, in Unit 4 “People and Places” men were portrayed as the ones giving information about science or giving correct answers about technology.

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2. Who is active (the "protagonist") in the image?

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2. Who is active (the "protagonist") in the image?

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Considering the images where men and women were engaged in conversations, it would be safe to say that an estimated of 80% of the times, women had the active roles in the images.

Women were the ones initiating conversation or the ones “talking” in the photos.

Nevertheless, the photos in which men where the actives they were engaged in scientific situations and females were the ones observing.

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3. Who is passive (the "receiver") in the image(s)? 

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3. Who is passive (the "receiver") in the image(s)? 

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As it can be inferred from above, men were the passives in most images. The male subjects were the ones listening.

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5. What does the body language communicate?60% of the images where females were shown portrayed them as “desirable” because of their position in the picture (dancing with few clothes, laying in bed with subtle position of the hands and “sexy” position of the body)

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5. What does the body language communicate?60% of the images where females were shown portrayed them as “desirable” because of their position in the picture (dancing with few clothes, laying in bed with subtle position of the hands and “sexy” position of the body)

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60% of the images where females were shown portrayed them as “desirable” because of their position in the picture (dancing with few clothes, laying in bed with subtle position of the hands and “sexy” position of the body). Whereas, men were shown as relaxed and confident.

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85% of the women/girls in the pictures were showing their bellies maybe as a sign of sexyness, also they showed a lot of skin (legs, shoulders) because they used short skirts and/or crop tops. Only a 15% of them used clothes that covered the whole body.

In contrast, 7,8% men/boys where showing more skin and 92% were completely covered by clothes (long-sleeved shirts and trousers)

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Considering the previous data, what could be analysed is that women were portrayed as the stereotypical responsible humans that most people believe is true, they are also positioned as strong (maybe not in a physical manner).

Gender in this specific case is clearly defined by social standards, and it could be said that ESL or EFL textbooks indeed has a secret agenda for teachers and students. Maybe further research needs to be carried out, however, by taking into account the former data, it could be said that the textbook “Travelers” is sexist and promotes an image of women and men which is not equal. However, despite the claims of Ho (2009) about gender, who said that women are mostly portrayed as passive and weak, in this case it happened the other way around, men were portrayed as more weak.

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The analysed textbook was released in 2009 which could justify the image of female and male that was conveyed, and that considering the current feminist wave that has become stronger as years go by, one could reflect that EFL textbooks that are being used in today’s schools should be more updated and a real promoter of equity among men and women.

However, textbooks are only a guide for teachers and they are the rightful supporters of whatever ideology they follow, therefore, teachers should be the ones in charge of creating awareness among the students of what is called the “socially accepted” situations. In that way, students are the ones that should have the tools and knowledge to decide in what to believe, whatever the line of their thoughts are, but the idea is to show students that they have options and no gender or social pressure should tell them what to do, how to dress or how to certain things.

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Amerian, M. & Esmaili, F. (2015). A Brief Overview of Critical Discourse Analysis in Relation to Gender Studies in English Language Textbooks. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp. 1033-1043. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282895594_A_Brief_Overview_of_Critical_Discourse_Analysis_in_Relation_to_Gender_Studies_in_English_Language_Textbooks

Ansary, H., & Babaii, E. (2003). Subliminal sexism in EFL/ESL text bias. Asian EFL Journal, 5(1), pp. 5-31.

Bell, M., McCarthy, M., & McNamara, S. (2006). Variations in language use across gender:  Biological versus Sociological Theories. Institute for Intelligent Systems. Retrieved from http://csep.psyc.memphis.edu/mcnamara/pdf/Bellgender28CogSci.pdf

Farooq,  M.  H.  (1999).  Examining  sexism  in  an  EFL  textbook. Retrieved from http://www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essays/farooq6.pdf

Firestone, C. (2000). Gender and Textbooks in the Pacific Rim: Similarities amidst diversity.

Retrieved from http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/las/studies/pdfs/coryppr1.PDF

Giaschi, P. (2001).  Gender Positioning in Education: A Critical Image Analysis of ESL Texts. TESL Canada Journal, 18(1), 32-46. Retrieved from http://prodavmoodle.ucv.cl/pluginfile.php/697038/mod_resource/content/1/Giaschi%20Image%20Analysis%20ESL%20textbooks%20%282%29.pdf

Ho, W. (2009). Is women or liquor  being sold -  Gender analysis of alcohol TV commercials in Hong Kong. Retrieved from www.hku.hk/english/LCOM%20paper/...%20rev/.../3_Vienna_Ho

Richards, J. C. (2001). The role of textbooks in a language program. Retrieved from http://www.professorjackrichards.com/pdfs/role-of-textbooks

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Vocabulary development

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Vanessa: I planned lesson 1 for entry 3 because Alondra had a much broader knowledge about the movie that I did. Since we worked at different lessons, together we planned the lesson sequence so that the lessons and the activities were coherent among each other, and also to facilitate students with practice in the four skills.

I created additional entry 1 because I think that it is crucial to teach students not only about the language but also about relevant contents that might relate to their culture like it is the case of Mapuches in our context. In this entry, I wanted to raise awareness about the importance of avoiding stereotypes since they can damage people's image.

Alondra: I planned lesson 2 of the entry 3, and basically Vanessa and I chose the topic interculturality because we looked for different movies that presented that topic, and we found many, however, "The help" convinced us because I have watched it and I convinced Vanessa of its profound meaning. I believed at that moment that the movie had everything what we wanted to teach to students. Even though it portrayed the reality of black maids in the 60s in the US, we thought that it could also be applied to the Chilean situation.

I created the additional entry 2 and I chose to do it with the extract of "The absolutely true diary of a part time indian" because I was reminded of how fun it was when I had to read on another course. For this entry, I wanted to use the topic of collaborative work as well because I believe it is crucial for the students to develop certain skills.

As well as with the first 2 entries, we discussed every idea before designing the materials by ourselves.

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Alondra: Considering the third entry, I did some changes on the lesson 2. And these were:
- erasing the picture that was related to the concept of "retire", as I understood the professor's idea - it would be confusing for the students.
- erasing the question where I mentioned Skeeter (the character not mentioned in the clip of the movie) because I thought that maybe for this lesson she was not really important to mention nor analize.

However, I decided not to change the structure of the questions, because I thought that they were already structured in the order their answers appear in the movie.

Also,  the questions presented there were the ones to be discussed and focused on while watching the movie, that is why they were shown before the clip.

Finally, I believe that the changes I made to the jigsaw activity would work, because the students need to discuss their assigned questions and then share their discussion, which could prompt a further conversation between the students.
I decdided to leave it like that because I thought I went really well when I had to implement it in one English class with my partners.

Vanessa: I believe that preparing the third entry, as well as the additional entries was easier for us this time because we had a better idea of what we were expected to do and this could be reflected in our grade since it improved considerably. However, we still had some things to improve in our entries.
For Entry 3 Lesson 1, which I created, I took into consideration some suggestions made by the teacher in terms of questions that I could add to the pre and post-reading activities. These questions can be seen highlighted in yellow in the "Entry 3 Lesson 1 revised". I thought it was important to include these questions in order to activate more previous knowledge from students and also to make them connect the content from the activity to their lives.

Regarding the while-reading activity, I realized that the vocabulary activity was a little dense for the English level of the 10th graders, so what I did was: 1) to eliminate words from the vocabulary activity that could be understood as they were mostly cognates, 2) to split the vocabulary activity into two sections, first, a matching activity with images and words that could be easily linked, and second, also a matching activity but with more 'difficult words' that could be understood in context and then matched in the activity with their corresponding definition.

The second part of the reading activity was a set of questions from the text from literal comprehension questions to more cognitively demanding type of questions. So, to facilitate students' comprehension: the keywords from each question were in bold, a chart with the explanation of the future tense was given, and students could work in pairs and use dictionaries if necessary to complete the task.

Finally, for Additional Entry 1, the one about Mapuche people, I had to fix some minor language problems, add the complete text I used for the material adaptation in the appendix, and rewrite specific parts of the instructions to make the activity clearer. All these corrections can be seen in a different word document with the name 'Additional Entry 1 revised', in which the corrections and specifications are highlighted or commented.

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Criado, R. & Sánchez, A. (2009). Vocabulary in EFL Textbooks. A Contrastive Analysis against Three
Corpus-Based Word Ranges. Retrieved from: https://www.um.es/lacell/aelinco/contenido/pdf/58.pdf

Jiménez, R. & Mancebo, R. (2008). Vocabulary INPUT in EFL textbooks. Revista Española de la lingüística aplicada, Vol. 21, 2008, pp. 147-166. Retrieved from: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=2926029

Tomlinson, B. (1998). Materials development in Language Teaching. En B. Tomlinson, Introduction: principles and procedures of materials development (pp. 1-26).
Cambridge University Press.