Gendered Agency in the Global Success Primary English Textbooks: A Source-Verified Behavioural Analysis

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Department of Foreign Languages and Information Technology, Hoa Lu University, Hoa Lu City, Ninh Binh Province, Viet Nam

10.22108/are.2026.149908.2811

Abstract

Primary English textbooks do not merely distribute visibility; they also model who may initiate, question, direct, coordinate, decide, and solve problems. This study examined gendered first-order agency in all eight Global Success primary English textbooks used in Vietnam. A source-verified content analysis coded seven non-mutually exclusive behavioural categories in 1,013 eligible character occurrences across Grades 1–5, supplemented by qualitative contextual interpretation of selected source cases. Frequencies and gender contrasts were examined using descriptive statistics, Fisher’s exact tests with Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment, chi-square analysis, grade-adjusted logistic regression, and page- and section-clustered generalized estimating equations. Of these, 108 (10.7%) met the agency threshold. Female and male occurrences had similar overall rates (11.3% and 12.3%), and gender remained non-significant after adjustment for grade. Nevertheless, male characters more often initiated interactions and asked advancing questions, whereas female-skewed leadership was concentrated almost entirely in teacher roles. No source-confirmed occurrence met the thresholds for consequential decision-making or problem-solving. Agency varied significantly but weakly across grades: Grade 1 was markedly lower than Grades 2–5, but the later sequence showed no linear progression. The findings demonstrate that aggregate parity can coexist with behavioural, role-bound, and grade-specific asymmetries, supporting source-gated, fine-grained analysis in textbook evaluation and materials development.

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Applied Research on English Language

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 October 2026

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History

  • Receive Date: 26 July 2026
  • Revise Date: 19 September 2026
  • Accept Date: 10 October 2026

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