comparative study of gender representation in top notch and ili series

esl/efl books play a crucial role in shaping language learners worldview of gender roles in society. the present study investigated the status of sexism in two sets of efl textbooks, one developed by non-native iranian authors (ili series) and the other by native authors (top notch series). first, two books from each series was selected randomly. then, a quantitative analysis was carried out with reference to; visibility, man and womens social and domestic roles in texts and illustrations, firstness masculine generics and the number of address titles. then the transitivity analysis was conducted with reference to process, participant and circumstance types. finally, a qualitative analysis was conducted with reference to, stereotypical representation of women in their social and domestic roles, pictorial representation of males and females. chi-square of the findings revealed that women appeared less visible in ili books, male firstness was more prevalent, females were more visible in stereotypical social and domestic roles, and women were less often titled with unbiased title ms. however, transitivity analysis found gender bias prevalent in both textbooks. qualitative results confirmed that the mainstream of women in textbooks was not fair but the situation in ili series was worse. the findings are expected to raise awareness about sexist practices in efl textbooks devised in iran and hopefully helpfully help eliminate these gender biased manifestations from iranian efl textbooks.