The Spotlight is on Gender Roles : A Study of Verb Dynamics and Gender in Spotlight 7/8/9

In the present study I have conducted a linguistic investigation of the textbook series Spotlight 7, 8 and 9 (Natur & Kultur 2008-2010) which is used in grades 7-9. The purpose of the investigation is to examine what gender roles are presented in the material. The theoretical approach is Halliday’s (2004) Functional Grammar Theory. The second part of the study presents a discourse analysis of three selected texts from Spotlight 7, 8 and 9 where the texts as well as the related pictures are analysed. The results from the whole study are compared to the goals on gender equality stated in the National Curriculum and the Educational Act. The result of the study reveals that the gender roles presented in the teaching material are less stereotypic than hypothesized but that, in accordance with my hypotheses, males were represented to a higher extent than females and transgenders. This result suggests that the material only partly fulfills the demands on gender equality that is found in the National Curriculum and the Educational Act.