Language, Education and Gender (original) (raw)
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Gender and Language Education Research: A Review
2013
Gender and language education studies have multiplied in the past one decade. However, it does not appear that any state-of-the-art article has reviewed the various undertakings. This paper attempts to fill this gap by focusing on gender representation in learning materials and classroom interaction studies globally within gender and education literature. Selected studies from the 70s to date are reviewed under three phases and suggestions for further investigation are made with the anticipation that learning materials and classroom interaction studies would help facilitate the achievement of the goal of gender equality in and through education. Index Terms-language education, gender, research, review I. INTRODUCTION Since Holmes's (1991) and Sunderland's (2000) state of the art articles on gender and language studies, it appears that no similar undertaking (nor a follow-up art icle) has been published till date, at least to cover the gap. In this present review, I plan to fill this gap by focusing on a narrower area of gender and language education studies, that is, gender in learning materials and classroom interactions research. Holmes and Sunderland among others provide state of the art art icles on gender and language studies up to the latter part of t wentieth century. While Holmes (1991) provides a b road view of gender and language s tudies, Sunderland's dwells on specific areas and reviews studies within the wider area that Holmes (1991) addresses. Thus while Holmes dwells on language and gender and lists many references, Sunderland (2000), starting fro m the previous works, narro ws her review to language and gender in second and foreign language education highlighting on areas such as-gender and language learning; gender, language learning and ability,; second/foreign language acquisition and the four skills; motivation/investment; language learning styles and strategies; classroom interaction; the 'what' o f teaching: English as a non-sexist language?; teaching materials; language testing; teachers, professional organisations and gender, what can teachers do? teacher action and teacher education; new theorisations of language and gender; language learners' identities; masculin ities: boys, men and language learning; and future research. Interestingly, one of the areas that Sunderland reviews in her article-gender and education has attracted so many studies that any exhaustive review of studies in the area might yield volu mes and might triple what Sunderland (2000) did. Thus, in this present review, I shall focus on gender representation in learning materials and classroom interactions across languages which parallel Sunderland's (2000) "the what of teaching: English as a non-sexist language''. Sunderland's (2000) state of the art article particularly addresses gender and language education covering large areas (though she notes that it is not comprehensive comparing what had been done in the area with the coverage of her article). However, it might be near impossible to attempt another of its kind today after a decade since the review was published in Language Education in 2000. Yet as Sunderland rightly observes, her review is quite selective and restrictive to second and foreign language education although in passing she lists some works on first languages (e.g. German, French, and Spanish). In this present review, I shall extend my co verage to include studies in first languages such as German, French among others. Thus my review covers some first languages but shall be restricted to one area out of the many areas that Sunderland (2000) addresses and shall include studies from the 70s t o the present. Although there are studies in the social sciences that have addressed gender in education, I shall concern myself with those that are domiciled in language studies. This restriction is necessary because of the fast growing number of research being done on the subject matter in response to recurrent calls fro m and funding by government agencies, international organisations (UN, World Ban k, Co mmonwealth o f Nations among others) and other non-governmental organisations. II. BACKGROUND Studies in this area (with in gender difference and identity paradig ms) have mult iplied and are still growing for a number of reasons. One of the reasons is that government bodies in Europe, A merica, and Asia and in some developing countries including some international organisations have picked interest in the area. This interest is in response to United Nations declarations under its hu man rights programmes that are geared towards bringing about gender equality
Introduction to Gender in Language Education
Sexuality & Culture
This introduction to the special issue provides a snapshot of why gender in our lives and in language education matters. We also summarize each of the articles featured in this special issue. Inspired by the growing body of research into gender and language education across the globe, directions for future studies in this area are also highlighted. We contend that any educational practices and artifacts are ideologically and institutionally gender-laden. We hope that this special issue can be the point of departure for exploring more gender issues at different levels of language education (e.g., schools, universities, and virtually-mediated education spaces) in the pursuit of gender responsiveness.
Gender in Language Education of Secondary School Students
The investigator has taken an attempt to assess the impact of gender in language education of secondary school students. Descriptive survey method has been used for assessing the views of the secondary school students. A sample of 100 secondary school students consisting of 50 boys and 50 girls from class IX has been taken through random sampling method from Sheosagar Block of Rohtas district of Bihar. The investigator used self-made questionnaire and have administered over the secondary school students. The collected data have been analyzed and interpreted by utilizing the statistical techniques like mean and percentage. The findings of the study reveal from the views of the secondary school students that gender in language education brings impact not only in understanding the course content but also in expanding their knowledge in various fields of their life and facing the challenges in it.
LANGUAGE AND GENDER IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
This paper highlights the impact of gender differences in English Language Teaching. It explores students' learning styles as affected by the notions about men and women differences in communication. The data collected in 2008 from 20 males and 20 females' English students of the State University of Makassar. It is to reveal their attitudes towards speaking to different sex, strategy to express opinion, group work preferences, activeness/passiveness, and their perception to increase Eng-lish skills dealing with sex difference. It is revealed that female than male students were reluctant to speak to different sex; females preferred the direct way to express opinions (writing), work with the same sex, and tended to be passive in class. In addition , females saw the high possibility to increase their English skills by working with the same sex but the reverse is true for males. These different styles of female and male students in learning English were affected by the notions of women's language. Gender differences, which are socially and culturally constructed, are one of the interesting phenomena in contemporary society. Their impacts can not only be seen in political life, where women fight their political rights, or in households, in which women fight to reduce household harassment. Discourse on gender differences, in fact, also exists in the use of language for communication , highlighting that men and women are different in their ways of communication , and therefore they should be treated differently. 172
Issues in English Language Teaching: Gender in Language Education
Intellection: A Bi-annual Interdisciplinary Research Journal, 2018
The Indian constitution and various laws enacted by India strongly support women rights and gender equality. However, without proper awareness about their rights and constitutional safeguards, the situation remains crucial even the case of women who have entered the portals of higher education in spite of all barriers. Against this backdrop and the Indian socio-cultural context, this paper seeks to explore the current level of awareness among students about their rights, their perception on gender based discrimination and explore the possibility using English Language Teaching (ELT) programmes for gender sensitisation through integration of the Gender contents in the language teaching discourse within the existing curriculum. A survey was conducted on the present status of India’s educated women’s awareness of their rights as seen through a representative sample of educated girl students in post-graduate programmes in a Post-Graduate College and a professional institution of national importance in the state of Uttarakhand, India. The results shows that there is an urgent need for Women Rights Education perspective in our language educational program specially in the arena of English Language Teaching (ELT) and prevalent classic text based methods are not sufficient for gender related topics that focus on social equality.
2016
Chp 1 Explaining the gender gap in literacy and language development: Narrative Review ………………………………………………………………………………………… p7 Chp 2 How significant is the gender gap in literacy and language development Statistical study ………………………………………………………………………………………… p Chp 3 Addressing the gender gap in literacy and language development Rapid Evidence Assessment: Interventions and theories of change …………………….. p References ………………………………………………………………………………………… p Appendix 1: Research Review Methods …………………………………………………………….. p58
This research was conducted in four schools demarked with in the technology villages of Hawassa University, namely: Hagere Selam, Melga, Leku and Wondo Gennet Primary Schools. The study required one academic year. The major objective of the study was to investigate the practices and challenges in enhancing female students' performance. The research was designed in conformity with the principles of mixed approach. The main reason was to fill in the gaps in both research designing models. The major research tools used to collect the data were classroom observations, semi-structured interviews conducted with both English teachers teaching the language from Grades 5_8 and female students learning at the same grades level in each of the school. Moreover, as ample test scores achieved by female students in English test in each school were analysed and interpreted in comparison with the achievements attained by male students Accordingly, the results from the observations showed that the performance of female students was less than males. As the data further indicated, only 26.31% of the female students raised up their hands to answer the English teacher's question in the class in contrary, among male students, 43.5 % of them were willing to answer the same question. During group discussions, similarly, the participations of female students were not as active as males. Many more female students were reticent while various group discussions were going on in the class. The results both from the semi-structured interviews and the analysis of sample test achievements, by the same token, revealed that most female students performed less than males. Nevertheless, the overall effort and performance of female students was not disappointing.
Journal of Education and Practice, 2020
The study investigated teachers' level of knowledge on gender responsive language and how they apply in teaching and learning process to enhance equitable participation in learning. The study was conducted in Monduli district and Mbulu town council from Tanzania mainland. The study adopted a mixed methods research approach following concurrent embedded design. Eight schools were selected from which 146 teachers and 220 students were sampled to participate in the study. Data were collected through questionnaire, interviews and classroom observations. Then, thematic content analysis technique was used for qualitative data while descriptive analysis was conducted for quantitative data. The findings show that secondary school teachers had limited knowledge on gender responsive language which constrained their ability to use gender responsive language in classroom. Teachers were observed to use gender neutral language and sometime they used phrases which perpetuate superiority and inferiority between boys and girls respectively. The study recommends for extra efforts to raise teachers' knowledge on gender responsive language so that none of the student would be denied learning chances because of the gender irresponsive language.