Picturing Stereotypes: A Critical Visual Analysis of a Global Textbook and Its Paradoxical Curriculum Constructions

Abstract

Aim: This study examines the visual representations of gender in the fifth edition of the Headway Advanced global textbook, focusing on the contradiction between its formal and hidden curricula.

Design: Through a critical visual analysis, this research investigates how images both inside and outside the dedicated “Gender Equality” unit perpetuate stereotypes, therefore undermining the textbook’s explicit equity goals.

Results: Of the 294 images in the textbook, fifty either reinforce or defy gender stereotypes, 72% of which reinforce them. They depict women primarily as caregivers, emotional, and passive, while men are portrayed as aggressors, leaders, and providers. Although the dedicated unit visually challenges some stereotypes, it also contains contradictory imagery.

Originality: The study concludes that this visual hidden curriculum sustains harmful stereotypes, with significant implications for learners in contexts like Cambodia. It calls for increased teacher awareness and critical engagement with textbook materials to disrupt these implicit messages and advance gender equity.