Based on multi-layered linguistic analysis, gender concepts of contemporary learning materials will be presented and current core problems of gender research on learning materials – especially concerning their evaluation – will be discussed.
In the late 1960s Gender in learning materials became a topic of public and academic discussions in (West) Germany. On the one hand, recommendations and instructions on how to “depict women and men” in learning materials had been established by school authorities and more than 200 academic papers or even books have been published concerning gender representations – or more constructively spoken: gender constructions – in German textbooks until nowadays. On the other hand, the (German) free market of learning materials has hardly been treated as well as linguistic studies are rare which investigate the language’s role in imparting gender concepts and could raise the actors’ awareness for linguistic aspects. Besides, there does not exist a homogenious understanding of and measuring standard for gender equitability in German educational system in general and the approval practice of textbooks as well as in the literary discourse in particular. The talk takes over a broader perspective on learning materials, including the non-regulated market and glancing at the linkage between the phenomenon of gender marketing and the discourse on gender specific education. Based on multi-layered linguistic analysis, gender concepts of contemporary learning materials will be presented and current core problems of gender research on learning materials – especially concerning their evaluation – will be discussed.
