Abstract
This study investigates the effect of critical literacy on university students' insight of gender equality. It aims to propose a guideline to teach critical reading, and assesses the influence of texts and critical reading on students' perception of gender equality. Students (n = 40) were guided to identify the author's purpose behind the text by delving into the text itself and connecting it with the background surrounding the text. Then students' perceptions of gender equality and their opinions about the influence of critical reading on their understanding of gender equality were collected through a survey. Qualitative content analysis was employed to analyze the data collected from students. The findings showed that critical reading not only offered students more perspectives and new ideas to see an issue, but also helped them reflect on the topic of gender equality itself and what they had already understood of gender equality. This benefits students' metacognition and showcases an effective way of gender equality education.
TopIntroduction
Based on the work of Michielsen and Ivanova (2022), gender equality is a fundamental content of comprehensive sexuality education that are derived from both the Standards for Sexuality Education in Europe (2010) and the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education (ITGSE) in 2018. However, the European Commission (2023) pointed out that gender equality is challenged in and through education in the European context through textbooks and learning materials. In fact, the European Commission (2023) pointed out the unbalanced representation of males and females in textbooks and they are often portraited with stereotypes, which are not always easy to be recognized. Moreover, there is an increasing number of online learning materials that are not evaluated in terms of opportunities and threats that they can bring to learners’ perception about gender and gender equality. This raises an issue of using texts and more importantly, understanding texts and the message they convey as well as critically thinking and questioning the message transferred through texts. Schools and teachers can select and remove texts in a curriculum to avoid students absorbing gender biases and stereotypes, but they cannot avoid what students are exposed to outside schools. Therefore, it is pivotal to equip learners with critical literacy to identify the purpose behind each text, question the message of the text, and see an issue from different perspectives in order to have independent judgement and take independent actions instead of sinking in and being led by different sources of information and opinions. This can be one of the solutions for the challenge related to gender equality that textbooks and learning materials pose.
Texts play a significant role in various academic subjects as a means of communication and transmission of knowledge to students. Alexopoulos et al. (2022) consider texts as written or spoken compositions that convey messages and a substantial amount of knowledge. This means texts have the ability to transfer concepts related to gender, gender biases, and stereotypes. As texts continue to be disseminated through diverse channels (i.e., articles, social media posts, videos, and advertisements), it has become crucial for individuals to possess the skills to understand and interpret the information presented. This entails going beyond the surface-level meaning of the text and being able to recognize the underlying messages, subtext, and potential biases. In addition, the lack of critical reading skills among students is a prevalent issue nowadays, not only among Asian students but also among their Western counterparts, as pinpointed by studies like Le et al. (2021), Mohd Zin et al. (2014), Felipe (2014), and Vidal-Moscoso & Manríquez-López (2016), among others.
In this study, by focusing on texts in our study, the authors aim to address the need for improved critical literacy and promote a deeper understanding of gender equality issues. This chapter is going to present the concept of gender equality as a part of comprehensive sexuality education, texts and education for gender equality which emphasize the role of critical literacy. Based on the aforementioned concepts, this current chapter intends to propose and assess an intervention integrating texts and critical literacy to help students develop critical thinking of gender equality.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Critical Thinking: Thinking processes that involve examining existing data, evidence, observations, and arguments to make informed judgments through the use of logical, critical, and impartial analyses and assessments.
Text: A piece of writing or speech that transfers a message.
Pre-Service Teacher: A student enrolled in a teacher training program who needs to fulfill degree prerequisites, including coursework and practical training, to obtain a teaching license to be able to work as a teacher.
Textual Comprehension: Also called “reading comprehension”, is the ability to process and interpret texts, understand their meaning and significance, and connect them with the reader’s previous, existing knowledge.
Critical Literacy: Pragmatic curriculum approach that integrates engagement in social, political, and cultural dialogues along with the examination of textual and discursive mechanisms, their impacts, and the stakeholders involved.
Gender Equality: State of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, as well as the state of valuing behaviors, aspirations and needs equally, regardless of gender.
Gender Bias: A prejudiced inclination toward a person or group based on their gender. This bias can be shown as a predisposition, partiality, prejudice, or predilection when selecting, representing or making decisions about a person or group. It is understood as an erroneous approach to equality between people that can generate unequal and discriminatory behavior in which there is a certain favoritism towards one gender, even unconsciously.