Date of Award

2013

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

School of Education

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the visual images used as illustrations in the English electronic textbooks for grades ten, eleven, and twelve in Indonesia. Qualitative visual content analysis was employed as the methodology of the research. The analysis focused on whether these e-textbooks accommodated the religious, gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic diversity of the students. These four aspects of cultural diversity that influenced students learning in Indonesian contexts were crucial to examine because the students were so diverse as results of the geographical conditions and historical background of Indonesia. Eight English e-textbooks were examined. First, the result showed that Melanesian ethnic groups were under represented in all English e-textbooks examined. The Melanesian images of human, animals, and objects were markedly lower in numbers compared to the Austronesian and foreign ones. Second, it showed that in the eight English e-textbooks examined only Islam and Christianity were represented by human images. Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism were represented by the images of objects in the English e-textbooks series. Confucianism was not represented at all in the e-textbooks series. Third, the study showed that there were gender bias and gender stereotypes in the visual images used as illustrations of the English e-textbooks for high school in Indonesia. Women were underrepresented in the overall English e-textbooks examined. Fourth, the study showed that all the three SES groups: low, mid, and high were represented in the English e-textbooks and most of the visual images represented the mid SES group. Finally, the study also showed that the writers of the English e-textbooks adopted English as an international language paradigm. As a result, the ultimate goal of learning English was no longer native-like competency but international intelligibility.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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