Gender and Language Learning: Research and Practice 9783823369882

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Gender and Language Learning Elsner/Lohe (eds.)

Although Gender Studies have found their way into most domains of academic research and teaching, they are not directly in the spotlight of foreign language teaching pedagogy and research. However, teachers are confronted with gender issues in the language classroom everyday. By the use of language alone, they construct or deconstruct gender roles; with the choice of topics they shape gender identities in the classroom and their ways of approaching pupils clearly mirror their gender sensitivity. The book „Gender and Language Learning“ aims at raising awareness towards gender issues in different areas of foreign language teaching and learning. The primary objective of the book is to spark university students’, trainee teachers’ and in-service teachers’ analytical and reflective skills regarding gender relations in foreign language learning and teaching contexts.

ISBN 978-3-8233-6988-2

Daniela Elsner/Viviane Lohe (eds.)

Gender and Language Learning Research and Practice

Daniela Elsner/Viviane Lohe (eds.)

Gender and Language Learning Research and Practice

Prof. Dr. Daniela Elsner ist Inhaberin des Lehrstuhls für Didaktik der englischen Sprache und Sprachlehrforschung am Institut für England- und Amerikastudien an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Arbeits- und Forschungsschwerpunkte: Fremdsprachenlernen in der Grundschule, bilingualer Unterricht, Mehrsprachigkeit und Fremdsprachenlernen, Multiliteralität, Qualität der Lehrerbildung. Viviane Lohe ist wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Lehrstuhl für Didaktik der englischen Sprache und Sprachlehrforschung am Institut für England- und Amerikastudien an der Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main. Arbeits-und Forschungsschwerpunkte: Language Awareness, Bildungsstandards und kompetenzorientierter Unterricht, frühes Fremdsprachenlernen, Mehrsprachigkeit und Englischunterricht, Gender und TEFL.

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbi­­blio­­ grafie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar.

© 2016 · Narr Francke Attempto Verlag GmbH + Co. KG Dischingerweg 5 · D-72070 Tübingen Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung au­ßer­­halb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages un­zulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikro­verfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Gedruckt auf säurefreiem und alterungsbeständigem Werkdruckpapier. Internet: www.narr-studienbuecher.de E-Mail: [email protected] Printed in the EU ISSN 0941-8105 ISBN 978-3-8233-6988-2

Table of Contents CHAPTER I GENDER AND TEFL Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom

Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe ...................................................9 What Does it Mean to Teach About Gender?

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp .............................. 19 CHAPTER II GENDER AND THE TEACHING PROFESSION Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession? Renate Haas ........................................................................ 39 Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

Britta Viebrock ..................................................................... 55 CHAPTER III GENDER AND THE LEARNER Female Language Learners Then – and Now?

Sabine Doff ......................................................................... 75 Gender Research in EFL Classrooms – or: Are Girls Better Language Learners?

Thomaï Alexiou .................................................................... 85

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Table of Contents

CHAPTER IV GENDER, LANGUAGE AND TEXTS Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

Heiko Motschenbacher ........................................................... 97 Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness Laurenz Volkmann .............................................................. 113 Beyond Stereotypes? Exploring Gender through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom Gabriele Linke .................................................................... 133 CHAPTER V

GENDER, TOPICS AND MEDIA Topics in the EFL Classroom – Are They Gender-Balanced?

Engelbert Thaler ................................................................. 155 Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

Nora Benitt & Jürgen Kurtz ................................................... 169 Girls Chat, Boys Hack? – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Gender

Judith Buendgens-Kosten ...................................................... 189 References....................................................................... 207 Glossary of Gender-Related Terms .................................... 229 List of Contributors .......................................................... 237

Chapter I

Gender and TEFL

Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

1.

Gender: Why Does it Matter?

Since the 1980s, questions regarding the topic gender have become an important part of Social Studies and other related disciplines. Since the 1990s, they have even become a distinct research area, the so-called “Gender Studies”. Gender Studies deal with the analysis and criticism of asymmetrical gender relations (cf. Schößler 2008: 9) and they differentiate between gender as a social construct that is formed by discursive practices and negotiations; and the biological sex (cf. ibid.: 10; Decke-Cornill & Volkmann 2007b: 8). Although Gender Studies have found their way into most domains of academic research and teaching, they are not directly in the spotlight of foreign language teaching pedagogy and research. In 2007 Helene Decke-Cornill and Laurenz Volkmann, for example, claimed that there was no entry on gender in the most common handbook for teaching foreign languages in Germany (Bausch et al. 2007), and as the editors of this book have found out, neither will there be a specific section on gender even in the newest edition of this handbook (Burwitz-Melzer et al. forthc.). Yet, the question, how to deal with gender issues in the foreign language classroom seems to be a highly relevant one at a time in which the inclusion of learners from many races, socioeconomic backgrounds and genders has become a key topic within educational theory, research and practice. The idea of living diversity in today’s classrooms holds a transformative potential, not only to reflect upon one’s own identity, but also to question the assumptions that we and others make. Many teachers today still believe in the myth that girls are better language learners than boys, and they thus might subconsciously approach and evaluate girls and boys differently in the language classroom (cf. Alexiou in this volume). And even though today’s young women have many more choices in terms of their educational career and their private and professional lives, they are generally right in assuming that the majority of household and childcare responsibilities will sooner or later fall on their shoulders, making attaining their education even more difficult. Looking into the teacher handbooks of common textbooks for the English language classroom, not much information for teachers can be found on how to raise critical awareness for such gender relations, even though pupils get to deal with gender topics (in a nutshell) in school – that is, as long as they reach their senior years of secondary schools. The book “Gender and Language Learning: Research and Practice” reacts to these deficits and aims at raising awareness towards gender issues in different areas of foreign language teaching and learning. The primary objective

why this book?

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daily exposure to gender stereotypes

reproducing gender stereotypes

Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

of the book is to spark university students’, trainee teachers’ and in-service teachers’ analysis and reflection of gender relations in the foreign language learning and teaching section. This book is based on a lecture series called “Gender Awareness in Foreign Language Learning, Language Teaching and Language Use” that was held at Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany in 2015. When we started to ask gender specialists working in the field of TEFL Pedagogy, Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies, whether they would be willing to give a talk in the context of our lecture series, we were overwhelmed by their enthusiastic responses. “Fantastic”, “very exciting” and “highly relevant” were just some of the reactions we received from the lecturers, mirroring their credo that developing gender awareness is an important aspect within teacher education curricula. Similarly, the students who participated in the lecture series reacted very positively to the topic. The number of participants was constantly high and many of the attendees contributed to the discussions with great motivation. The contributions of the students throughout the semester proved evidence of an increasing level of gender awareness. Whereas in the beginning of the lecture, students had obvious difficulties with identifying gender stereotypes, e.g. in different advertisements, they were after a few sessions more and more able to apply the knowledge they gained throughout the lecture series. They started to critically reflect upon gender stereotypes and questioned their own and others’ perspectives on gender-related issues. The positive feedback from both speakers and students as well as the obvious increase of gender awareness during the lecture series led us to conclude that there is a need as well as an interest in reflecting gender at university and especially among students who want to become teachers. In daily life, be it private or public, everyone is confronted with all kinds of gender representations. Even at a very early age, children encounter “rules” about what colour to wear and what toys they are supposed to play with. Later, children and adolescents come to face with rules of gender-specific behaviour and lifestyles. These norms are shaped by many kinds of media: family, peers, school and public media influence (self-)concepts of gender. Even the most gendersensitive person is hardly able to avoid these concepts. Advertisements on TV, on billboards and everywhere else are omnipresent – some of them creating dangerous images of women being just submissive sex objects or men being strong and stable workaholics all the time. These images construct gender stereotypes that cannot be deconstructed easily. Taking the example of the famous “CALZEDONIA” advertisement bills from 2015, the viewer sees pictures of half-naked women with perfect bodies, long hair, big breasts and tanned skin in flattering yet uncomfortable poses. Seeing these perfect women who do not at all represent bodies of regular women might lead to the pressure to have similar assets, this holds particularly true for girls before and in puberty, but also for all other females. If we perceive the traditional, normative and binary gender roles over and over again through different codes and modes, the stereotypes we have to deal with will be constantly reinforced and reproduced. Women should be self-confident, intelligent, successful (due to feminist movements) and at the

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Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom

same time they should still be emotionally and socially competent, caring (mothers) and beautiful. Similarly, men see themselves entangled in conflicting expectations, too. Not only should they represent typical male traits like being the active ones, being independent and superior, but they also have to participate in housekeeping and child care, they should show emotions openly and take care of their outer appearance (cf. König et al. 2015b: 2). Still, both sexes try to dissociate themselves from the other sex in order to avoid gender-related identity conflicts. Thinking in binary structures can thus lead to developmental disorders, insecurity and result in fear and discrimination. This applies for many individuals, especially those not in line with traditional gender notions (cf. ibid.: 3). Schools and teachers, too, can function as multipliers of those gender-related stereotypes – even if not deliberately. An example was found in the study logs that the students who took part in the lecture series had to write in order to get their credit points. One student who works at a school alongside her studies described a gender-related critical incident (cf. Nunan & Choi 2010): I remember that I once said to a boy in the classroom: “Stop sending messages to your girlfriend”, as I assumed he is messaging to a girl. However, he replied: “Okay, but it is my boyfriend I am texting to.” (excerpt from an unpublished study log, anonymous author: 2015)

This example perfectly sums up the whole issue. As teachers, we want to be as open-minded and welcoming as possible, the aim is to treat every pupil as equal and to positively cope with diversity and heterogeneity. However, teachers are victims of gender images as well. This is why gender awareness has to be raised in teachers, firstly, to assure that the possibility of discrimination is narrowed down and limited, and, secondly, to make them able to foster gender awareness in their pupils likewise. Therefore, it is best to start as early as possible and raise awareness for gender issues at university level already. Future teachers have to be confronted with stereotypes, they have to be made sensitive towards them, in a next step, they should reflect their own and others’ stereotypes and lastly, they should try to deconstruct traditional binary gender roles in order to be able to prepare their pupils for modern, heterogeneous and diverse societies. How awareness can be raised by questioning stereotypes can be seen in the reflective part of the above student’s study log: I was quite shocked and embarrassed that I did not think about using genderneutral language, or why assuming that he is texting to his partner in the very first place. After this incident I always tried to be actively aware of what I am saying to my students. (excerpt from an unpublished study log, anonymous author: 2015)

The student describes the incident, reflects on the impact of her reaction and also provides solutions (neutral language) about how to deal with situations like these in the future.

raising gender awareness

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Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

2. historical background

What is Gender?

The concept of gender dates back to feminist movements in the 1970s. Activists claimed not only the analysis of asymmetric gender relations, but also the critique thereof. Whereas the focus of women’s rights movements was on analysing and deconstructing the patriarchal supremacy, thinking in binary structures, the engagement with gender focuses on the socio-cultural constructedness of gender and the diversity, not binarity, of gender identities. Moreover, feminist theorists from the 1970s rather concentrated on the ‘what’ (what are the differences, raising awareness for differences, overcoming differences), while gender theory deals with the ‘how’ (how are gender stereotypes influenced and shaped?, how can they be deconstructed?) (cf. Angerer & Dorer 1994: 11). The differentiation between sex and gender is attributed to Gayle Rubin who defined the “sex/gender system” as a set of arrangements by which a society transforms biological sexuality into products of human activity, and in which these transformed sexual needs are satisfied. […] Sex as we know it – gender identity, sexual desire and fantasy, concepts of childhood – is itself a social product. (Rubin 1975: 159, 166)

defining gender

From the 1980s onwards, Gender Studies have become more and more important and in the 1990s, under the huge influence of Judith Butler’s “Gender Trouble” (1990), they have even become a distinct academic discipline dealing with origins of social constructions of gender and their consequences. Gender discussions have also found their way into the everyday world, as many examples in pop-cultural media prove (e.g. Penny Laurie’s “Meat Market” (2011), the TV series “Queer as Folk” (2000-2005), the discussion about metrosexuality (~ 1994). Gender, as opposed to sex, refers to the individual’s identity. Whereas sex describes the biological binary difference between male and female, gender goes beyond that, taking into account individual factors. Gender is seen as a universal category that shapes socio-cultural discourse and the other way round (cf. Schößler 2008: 8). Just like Simone De Beauvoir’s famous assertion “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman” (1949: 267), gender theorists stress the constructedness of gender. A recent definition from the special issue of Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch “Negotiating Gender” defines the term as follows: a social and discursive construct based on – but not limited to – the cultural opposition of femininity vs. masculinity (adjectives: e.g. feminine, genderqueer, masculine); often differentiated from ‘sex’ as the idea of an anatomical opposition of femaleness vs. maleness (corresponding adjectives: e.g. female, intersex, male). (König et al. 2015a: 135)

The gender identity and/or gender role may match the biological sex – which should not be seen as a norm – or it may not, meaning that a person feels genderqueer but is biologically male. One aim of gender activists is to overcome the heteronormative assumption that everyone is either male or female and heterosexual.

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Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom

To overcome stereotypes in general, one has to become aware of own and others’ stereotypes. In case of gender, one has to become aware of and deconstruct heteronormative structures. This can be enabled through three steps:  



defining gender awareness

identify heteronormative stereotypes (e.g. the student’s previous example: she realised that she reacted heteronormatively by assuming that the boy in her class was heterosexual.) reflect on your own and on other people’s stereotypes (e.g. thinking about the question where these stereotypes come from, in the previous example: the student presumes from her own experience, she probably has not been confronted with other gender identities that much and therefore was not aware of them.) deconstruct stereotypes (e.g. thinking about alternative options and ways of thinking to deal with gender-sensitive situations, in the previous example: the insight that she could have used gender-neutral language. (“Stop texting your partner!” or even better “Stop texting!”))

The book assists university students, trainee teachers and teachers to become aware of gender-sensitive issues. The contributions spotlight gender-related problematic situations, provide room for reflection and help overcome stereotypes in the students/trainee teachers and teachers themselves, but also – and even more important – this book gives examples how to raise awareness in the EFL classroom and help pupils to become sensitive towards gender identities, gender roles and gender stereotypes. 3.

About this Book

Gender topics have found their way not only into universities but also into schools. There are more and more attempts to develop a gender-sensitive school culture in terms of teaching, attitudes and behaviour of teachers as well as teaching materials (cf. König et al. 2015a). This specifically applies for teaching pedagogy in general, very often in the context of inclusion (e.g. Budde et al. 2016). Recently, lots of publications have shown a growing interest in gender awareness, on behalf of the teachers and the pupils (e.g. Hartmann 2010; Mörth 2010; Rieken 2014). Even though gender is a growing field in terms of school education, there is not as much interest and development in the context of TEFL as compared to general pedagogy; or, in other words, within the TEFL setting, gender finds its way more slowly. Yet, there seems to be a new wave of publications and the interest in the topic is constantly growing (cf. next paragraph for recent publications). This might be due to the reason that the TEFL classroom is perfectly suitable to talk about gender. The reasons for this are threefold: 1.

Identity: Foreign Language classrooms provide the opportunity to develop pupils’ identities. More than other subjects, foreign languages aim at changes of perspectives, comparing cultures and lifestyles, noting similarities and differences. Therefore, students are afforded to find their

gender at school

gender in the EFL classroom

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Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

2.

3.

gender in curricular guidelines

own place in society, not only on in a traditional cultural perspective but also with regards to gender issues. Language: Talking about sensitive topics can be easier in a foreign language. Discussions and negotiations might, of course, be slower and less complex, but on the other hand, the pupils can talk about gender in a more distant way as they can in their first language and this thus enables more open, free and unbiased multifaceted perspectives (cf. König et al. 2015b: 4), giving them a feeling that their contributions will be judged less contentwise than in subjects in which they express themselves in the L1. Academic and public context: As Gender Studies have their origin in the Anglo-Saxon academic culture, many theoretical texts are in English. This provides the chance to read authentic material about the topic from a real-world context in the EFL classroom.

While gender is not a distinct part of the educational standards for English, it can be found in many of the core curricula for the respective federal states. In the Hessian Landesabitur 2016 for example, gender is described explicitly and can be linked to various other (sub-)topics (highlighted): Obligatory Content

Key Words

Q1 The Challenge of Individualism GK/LK: USA

the American Dream, living together (gender issues) (ethnic groups: Hispanics

GK: Science and Technology

electronic media, biotechnology

LK: Them and Us

the one-track mind (prejudice, intolerance, ideologies) Q2 Tradition and Change

GK/LK: The United Kingdom

social structures, social change (ethnic minorities, multiculturalism), Great Britain and the world (the British Empire, the Commonwealth)

GK: Work and Industrialisation

business, industry and the environment, trade and competition

LK: Extreme Situations

love and happiness, initiation, the troubled mind Q3 The Dynamics of Change

GK/LK: Promised Lands: Dreams and Realities

political issues, social issues, country of reference: South Africa

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Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom

GK: Order, Vision, Change

LK: Ideals and Reality

the models of the future (dystopias, ‘progress’ in the natural sciences), revolt and revolution structural problems (violence, (in-)equality)

Table 1: Content for the Landesabitur in Hesse, terms highlighted by the authors (cf. HKM 2014: 4f.)

With regards to general teaching pedagogy, there are more publications than in TEFL pedagogy (e.g. Bartsch & Wedl 2015; Ferrebe 2012; Plaimauer 2008) that either deal with gender awareness in teachers or with methodological guidelines about how to teach gender topics. For TEFL, there are some publications, starting with the most common one by Helene DeckeCornill and Laurenz Volkmann “Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching” (2007) which deals with theoretical and research topics concerning gender. In 2009, two practical issues dealing with gender in the EFL classroom were published: Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht (Thaler 2009a) published one issue called “Gender”, and the journal Englisch betrifft uns published one called “Gender Roles” (Düwel & von der Grün 2009). More recently, the interest in the topic seems to be growing. A special issue of Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch (König et al. 2015a) called “Negotiating Gender” was published in 2015, providing theoretical as well as practical information about teaching gender. In 2015, Renate Haas, who is an author in this book too, published a book that deals with gender historically: “Rewriting Academia: The Development of the Anglicist Women’s and Gender Studies of Continental Europe”. More information about publications on gender in the EFL classroom can be found in the essays of this edition and in the paper by Lotta König, Sonja Lewin and Carola Surkamp in particular. This book serves as a source for university students, trainee teachers and teachers of all ages and training or work levels. It covers two aspects of gender awareness: first of all, it is supposed to raise gender awareness within the students and/or teachers and secondly, it is supposed to help teachers to raise gender awareness in the EFL classroom at secondary level. It offers the theoretical background of numerous gender factors in teaching as well as methodological ideas about how to teach gender in a sensitive way. The book wants to trigger reflective processes in the teachers in order to make them aware of stereotypes and to avoid the reproduction of stereotypes. The book is structured in five chapters: Gender and TEFL; Gender and the Teaching Profession; Gender and the Learner; Gender, Language and Texts; as well as Gender, Topics and Media. Each article starts with a short abstract describing the aims and contents of the contribution. Then, there are a few pre-reading tasks that will trigger reflection processes before reading and guide the reader through the text. All articles are followed by a review, reflect, research section which is intended to deepen the content of the texts. Besides, there are further reading suggestions for all topics.

state of the art

aims of this book

structure of this book

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Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

The second text of this chapter, preceded by this introduction by Daniela Elsner and Viviane Lohe, written by Lotta König, Sonja Lewin and Carola Surkamp, describes the relevance of gender for students at school. The authors illustrate how the topic of gender and the foreign language classroom can benefit from each other. After the provision of an extensive overview on previous publications dealing with gender in foreign language teaching (FLT), the authors present Gender Studies as a reference discipline and outline selected theoretical approaches to the topic of gender. The different theoretical approaches are put into practice in teaching units afterwards. Finally, this contribution addresses the role of the teacher, arguing that gender reflection should become a constituent of teacher training curricula. Chapter two focuses on Gender and the Teaching Profession. First Renate Haas surveys the historical process of the professionalisation of teaching and highlights the gender blindness of mainstream concepts of profession. The author traces the development of crucial underlying gender binaries in the context of Western cultural ideals and ideas of education. Against this background, the contribution focuses on recent feminisation debates, presents a fresh statistical analysis and draws conclusions on the basis of recent Gender Studies. Hereafter, Britta Viebrock reflects on Fremdsprachendidaktik as an academic discipline in Germany, describing it as a “strange species” in terms of gender issues. Comparing the discipline to other academic fields, it becomes obvious that it holds a remarkable proportion of female staff. The article provides a short historical account of how Fremdsprachendidaktik has developed as an academic discipline after 1945 with a special focus on gender issues. Based on the results of a study of the living and working conditions of professors in the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik carried out in 2014, male and female perspectives on work-related issues are being compared. Ultimately, an answer to the initial question whether Fremdsprachendidaktik is a female domain and implications of this are being provided by the author. In chapter 3 the perspective is changed towards the learner. Sabine Doff provides us with historical information on foreign language learning and teaching traditions at higher girls’ schools during the 19th and early 20th century in Germany. The author thoroughly examines characteristics of teaching and learning modern languages (content, methods and aims) at higher schools for girls. In this context, it becomes obvious that higher education for girls had to fulfil a double, partly contradictory purpose which could be labelled as “different but equal”. On the one hand, it had to be established as equal to higher education for boys. On the other hand, higher education for girls had to provide a specific type of state education for those who were not (yet) admitted to universities. A closer look at this past approach offers worthwhile insights for (future) language teachers who are still faced with the challenges of gender and language learning. The paper by Thomai Alexiou deals with the concept of gender as an individual difference and its impact on the learner. Readers will learn about factors that determine gender and certainly recognise long-held myths. The author provides an updated overview of recent theories and literature regarding potential differences in EFL performance between males and females. Moreover, the text holds information about the implications of pre-

Introduction to Teaching Gender in the EFL Classroom

conceptions regarding gender in the foreign language classroom; suggestions on how to deal with these issues will be given. Chapter 4 deals with gender issues in language structure and use as well as (classroom) texts. Heiko Motschenbacher starts with an introduction of the basic tenets of inclusion, relating them to matters of linguistic gender inclusivity in educational contexts. Various linguistic approaches to the study of gender exclusion and inclusion are outlined, namely ethnographic approaches, discourse analytic approaches and structural gender linguistics. The author provides us with an overview of linguistic gender categories commonly used as descriptive tools in structural gender linguistics. Finally, he shows how gendered language structures can play a role in critical research on gender-related linguistic practices in classroom communication and teaching materials. Laurenz Volkmann outlines the vast and highly complex field of literature and gender, reducing it to the question of how literature can function in the classroom when there is a special emphasis on gender matters. A tentative first answer of the author is that literature can work in two seminal ways: first, it can serve as objects of study and interest with regard to gender issues; second, working with literary texts can support students in their development of analytical and interpretative skills which they can use when dealing with other media or in real life. The author illustrates how songs, poems, dramas and novels can create a greater awareness of one’s ‘gendered identity’ and how texts can be used to gain insights into how different cultures define gender differently. A number of activities and methods for dealing with gender and literature are being presented. Gabriele Linke outlines the connection between gender stereotypes and popular culture. Several conceptualisations of popular culture are being presented and their potential for the teaching of gender issues in the EFL classroom are thoroughly examined. In addition, the author informs us about major principles and basic strategies of dealing with gender in the foreign language classroom. Ultimately, these strategies are applied to selected popular texts in different media with a particular focus on print media and digital media. The last chapter looks at gender topics and media. Engelbert Thaler’s contribution consists of five sub-parts each focusing on one of the five dimensions of the male-female relationship: man or/and/versus/is/without woman. A number of possible topics to be dealt with in the EFL classroom are enumerated by the author, and a variety of sample tasks demonstrate in an exemplary way how to work on each of the five dimensions. At the end, the author elucidates the 6th Place of gender competence, which frames the five dimensions of the male-female relationship. Nora Benitt and Jürgen Kurtz discuss a range of issues related to the representation of gender in TEFL textbooks. As a starting point, they offer an overview of current research trends dealing with gender in the field of language teaching and learning, focusing in particular on studies examining gender representation in English language instructional materials. The authors then report on a qualitative mini-study they conducted, examining representations of gender in TEFL textbooks published in Germany since 1957. To conclude with, they present a Canadian gender stereotype evalua-

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Daniela Elsner & Viviane Lohe, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

tion instrument that can be useful to identify gender stereotypes, both in practice and in research. Judith Buendgens-Kosten deals with the question how gender and perceptions of gender roles can impact computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in the classroom. Therefore, she firstly defines CALL and the notion of the “digital divide” in its historical and current form. Hereafter, readers will learn more about computer use and computer skills by male and female teenagers. The author discusses three different scenarios in which gender impacts a CALL scenario. These three scenarios are supposed to develop an awareness of key decisions a teacher should make when implementing CALL in the classroom with regards to gender. The chapter ends with recommendations regarding gender and CALL. The book closes with a full bibliography and a glossary supporting browsing through the terms when looking for specific information on elected areas of gender and foreign language teaching pedagogy and research. acknowledgments

First of all, the editors would like to thank all authors for their highly relevant contributions to this book. Moreover, we want to thank all participants of the lecture series for the lively discussions and interesting term papers with reflections that were highly sophisticated. Last but not least we would like to thank Mariella Veneziano-Osterrath for her attentive proofreading, Violetta Ludwig for helping us with the layout and Martine Bindernagel for checking the final version for mistakes. Lastly, we hope that you – the readers of this volume – enjoy this book and that it triggers your gender awareness. We would like to close this introduction with a picture of a sign we hung up on a door on the first day of our lecture series. The sign said: “Gender Awareness in HZ 14”, stating that the room for the lecture series had changed to room number HZ 14. One day later, someone had added the sentence “Hoffentlich nicht nur da!” [Hopefully, not only in there!]:

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender? Gender Studies and Their Implications for Foreign Language Teaching Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

In this chapter you will find suggestions on how to teach gender in the foreign language classroom by making use of Gender Studies as a reference discipline. You will learn about the role gender plays at school and get to know more about the benefits of teaching gender in the foreign language classroom. You will be acquainted with different theoretical perspectives within the area of Gender Studies as well as with corresponding learning goals. A specific teaching unit for a grade 11 will show you how gender theories can be put into practice. You will also learn Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3. 4.

0.

What is your understanding of gender? With hindsight, how do you think gender expectations affected you during your own school years? Have you already taught or been taught about the topic of gender? What was your experience like? Do you personally think that issues of gender and sexuality should be addressed in the English language classroom, specifically? Why (not)? The Relevance of Gender for Students at School

Dealing with gender-related norms plays a major role in all the stages and areas of children’s and teenagers’ lives (cf. Flaake 2006: 29). In public and private life, at school, in the family and in peer groups alike, students are confronted with social concepts of femininity and masculinity and of romantic/sexual relationships. These concepts manifest themselves in various social practices, such as providing children with gender-specific toys, encouraging certain behaviour and life patterns, and performing gender through clothes, body language and communicational style (cf. Bilden 2002: 283). Media, too – such as books, pictures, films or the internet – present concepts of gender to children and teenagers. Expectations, patterns of interpretation and reactions in human interaction are related to concepts of gender (ibid.:

the social relevance of gender

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gender during adolescence

gender at school

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

282); and being recognised, but also being excluded or devalued by others, is based on gender-oriented criteria, too. Gender differences increase in significance during adolescence (cf. Flaake 2006: 29). Both studies based on developmental psychology (e.g. Flaake 2006) and on socialisation theories (e.g. Bilden 2002) show that societal gender norms present teenagers with challenges particularly in this life stage, in which the development of their gender and sexual identity is of crucial importance. On the one hand, teenagers today are presented with a variety of concepts regarding gender and relationships. This allows for space for individual ways of life and encourages them to explore different options, but also forces them to make their own decisions which might lead to uncertainty (ibid.: 297f.). On the other hand, traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity continue to impact on the life spheres of teenagers. This requires them to negotiate contradictory concepts of gender. In Germany, the women’s movement which started in the 1970s has had an influence on girls’ adolescence by providing them with images of selfconfident, intelligent, and self-determined femininity. At the same time, traditional concepts of femininity persist, expecting girls to conform to ideals of female caring, emotional competence, and an attractive body. The last aspect depends on the judgement of others; consequently, the girls’ selfconfidence often decreases during puberty. Resulting uncertainties are not easy to reconcile with the simultaneously existing ideal of strength and selfdetermination. The requirements for boys, too, have changed. They are supposed to show their feelings, contribute to household activities, and pay attention to their looks. At the same time, they continue to orient themselves towards aims such as independence and superiority, thus performing a traditional masculinity. From a developmental-psychological point of view, such performances must be understood as collective patterns of adapting to and representing gendered identities (Flaake 2006: 33). They are defined by not being anything connoted with femininity, resulting in boys not permitting or devaluing feelings such as helplessness or fear – in themselves as well as in girls (ibid.: 31). Thinking within the framework of a binary gender system thus governs – and limits – possibilities of development, even if nowadays the polarity of the system often appears to be overcome (cf. Bilden 2002: 299). Corresponding uncertainties often result in fears and discrimination, which are most immediately faced by people who do not comply with concepts of normality and a heteronormative gender order. Such expectations also play a significant role at school, which has a double role of being both an agent of socialisation and an agent of education. As an agent of socialisation, the school contributes to the production of gender differences and gender relations (cf. Flaake 2006: 28). It is a place where gender norms are performed, for instance in interactions between teachers and students, but also among students themselves. Pedagogical research has shown that gender-specific differences are consolidated and widened during the years of schooling. These differences, which are often related to inequalities, tend to impact career aspirations and life plans (cf. Rieske 2011). For instance, teachers ascribe different interests and abilities to girls and boys

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

according to gender specific concepts – also when it comes to the learning of foreign languages. Students who do not conform to the stereotypes risk not to be supported adequately (cf. Budde 2006: 57). Barbara Schmenk (2010) illustrates that gendered self-attributions are usually particularly consolidated. As an agent of education, however, the school has precisely the task to enable all students to develop their individual personality. Therefore, questioning gendered attributions is particularly important to support students in their personal and subject-related development. Moreover, it is part of the educational mandate of schools in Germany to support students in developing fundamental ethical principles, which include respect, justice, tolerance towards others, and gender equality. School lessons offer the chance to make limiting concepts of gender and sexuality a topic, to encourage a critical discussion of gender-related norms and exclusions, and to open new perspectives. Recently, the educational field has increased efforts to promote gender sensitivity at all levels of school and teaching culture, in teachers’ behaviour, and in lesson topics and material. This becomes visible, for instance, in teacher guides published by the union “Education and Science” (“Erziehung und Wissenschaft”; e.g. on the topic of gender and sexual diversity, “Geschlecht und sexuelle Vielfalt: Praxishilfen für den Umgang mit Schulbüchern”), in projects about gender-sensitive teaching or in the publication of subjectrelated teaching material. On a political level, too, there are efforts to integrate the topics of ‘gender’, ‘sexual orientation’, and ‘sexual diversity’ into the curricula of the federal states in Germany. The massive opposition provoked by such efforts in some places proves once more that these topics are sensitive ones indeed, requiring negotiations of gender not only on an individual, but also on a societal level. The foreign language classroom can and should contribute to these negotiations. 1.

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promoting gender sensitivity

Gender and Foreign Language Teaching

The foreign language classroom is particularly suited to the topic of gender, and this can be beneficial for the teaching of a foreign language. In the following, we will outline the respective advantages of making gender a topic in the foreign language classroom as well as present the current state of the research on the subject. Firstly, the foreign language itself can facilitate the teaching of the topic of gender – and vice versa. This is due to the circumstance that gender is not only an issue of controversial debate, but also a topic that is closely related to students’ everyday life and identity. On the one hand, this can motivate learners to engage in authentic communication in the foreign language. On the other hand, the fact that gender is personally relevant is not only an advantage: along with the risk of devaluation in case of non-conforming behaviour, this personal involvement can also trigger fears or even resistance in learners when it comes to dealing with the topic in the (not always voluntary) community of the classroom. In this case, approaching the topic in a foreign language can help to create a distance from the immediacy of one’s own linguistic environment (cf. Decke-Cornill 2009: 14). This can encourage

benefits of and for the foreign language

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inter- and transcultural learning

discourse competence

benefits of the topic of gender

state of research: gender and English language teaching

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

students to talk more freely about the topic than they might do in their mother tongue. Secondly, learning a new language also means accessing new cultural contexts – which can result in a changed perspective on hitherto unquestioned certainties. It is for this reason that the topic of gender can be well integrated into a framework of inter- and transcultural learning. The ability to change perspective, which is an important learning goal in this framework, can also be applied to the cultural category of gender. Since the concepts and attitudes inherent to our own culture are very powerful in shaping our perception of the world, the ability to depart from one’s own perspective is very important: only then are students able to see the norms and to reflect on them as such. Finally, teaching the topic of gender in the foreign language classroom is related to language in yet another way. Gender is produced discursively: we show our (gender) identity not only through our clothes or physical behaviour, but also through language. On a second level, speaking about gender in a meta-discourse enables the development of discourse competence: learners need a specific gender discourse ability to be able to talk about practices of ‘doing gender’1 and to be able to negotiate gender norms in conversations with others. Providing students with the means to engage in such interactions is part of the overall goal of current foreign language teaching, which is helping students to participate in a multitude of different cultural discourses (cf. Hallet 2009). In addition, making students deal with the societal meaning and effect of language is an opportunity to foster language awareness. The foreign language classroom is a good place to think about the use of precise, inclusive language and to critically reflect on sexist forms of expression. Not only does the foreign language classroom benefit the topic of gender, but also vice versa. Making gender a topic gives teachers the opportunity to deal with the problematic side-effects of standardisation and outputorientation. As commonly pointed out, these political-educational changes carry the risk of rendering the foreign language classroom void of content – the topic of gender and the relevance it has for learners can be means to teach in an output-oriented, yet content-based way. The intermediate level in particular, for which the educational guidelines define learning goals only in terms of competences, offers a lot of space for the topic ‘gender’. But even if the content and the texts to be taught at secondary level are determined through the A-levels (that are now centralised in each federal state of Germany), and the topic of gender is not included in the guidelines, it can nevertheless be included in these classes, too. As will be shown subsequently, the topic of gender can be taught with almost any text or context, even those that, at first glance, do not seem to lend themselves to it. Although gender is such a relevant topic for pupils, and although the foreign language classroom offers great potential for teaching it, surprisingly little has been published on the matter. Until recently, only a handful of publications have approached the subject extensively – the interest, however, seems to be rising. 1

The term ‘doing gender’ will be explained in section two.

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

Helene Decke-Cornill and Laurenz Volkmann’s collection “Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching” (2007) has been the only existing, comprehensive collection of essays on the topic of gender and foreign language teaching so far. The collection discusses different aspects of FLT from a gender-critical perspective: not only does it present different approaches to teaching gender, but also does it consider gender as a category in interactions during English lessons, in the context of teacher training and in the profession of language teaching. The collection also makes the research on foreign language teaching itself an object of interest by considering the question of gender within this research. Furthermore, the book is among the first to introduce the perspective of queer theory into FLT. The importance of self-reflection and an open attitude in teachers is considered in another collection of essays: Annette Bartsch and Juliette Wedl’s “Teaching Gender? Zum reflektierten Umgang mit Geschlecht im Schulunterricht und in der Lehramtsausbildung” (2015). In this very recent collection, both the teaching at school and the education of future teachers at university are considered from a gender-critical perspective, with a focus on the teacher’s own attitude and beliefs when it comes to the teaching of gender. While this is generally relevant for (future) English teachers, three articles specifically deal with the teaching of gender in a foreign language context, too. One issue of the magazine Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch (König et al. 2015a) also deals with the topic of gender. “Negotiating Gender” provides teachers with a comprehensive overview on current theories in Gender Studies and offers different approaches to putting this theoretical knowledge into practice. The issue particularly focuses on ‘new’ approaches that have not yet been explored extensively in their potential: one article considers the benefits of drama in education as a particularly promising approach to the topic, other articles present ideas of using media such as pictures, queer internet blogs or literary texts as means to work on the topic with students. There are other publications that offer specific tasks for teaching gender in the English language classroom: the magazine Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht (Thaler 2009a) published one issue called “Gender”, and the magazine Englisch betrifft uns issued one called “Gender Roles” (Düwel & von der Grün 2009). Such practice-oriented tasks (of which there are more individual publications to be found in different collections) often use gender as an incentive for communication in the foreign language. While this is certainly an important aim for English teachers, it is problematic that many of these publications do not refer to Gender Studies as their reference discipline. Instead of making use of academic knowledge on gender as a social category, some of the authors combine everyday knowledge about gender with methods and aims of the foreign language classroom. Sometimes, this results in a reproduction of stereotypes and a lacking awareness of discrimination and social hierarchies in the lesson proposals, risking reinforcement of contemporary gender relations in students rather than creating a critical awareness for them. It is for this reason that we will propose a model in this article to show how knowledge gained in Gender Studies can be used as a base for the design of foreign language classes which are critically concerned with gender as a topic.

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24 criticalemancipatory approach

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

In the following, we make suggestions for encouraging students to reflect on gender norms in the English language classroom. Our suggestions are based on a critical-emancipatory approach, striving to empower learners to deal autonomously with gender-related norms. We also want to show ways of using creative, playful approaches to the topic and stress the fact that variety both in topics and methods is important in order to motivate different pupils. In contrast to this, our article does not contain gender-specific approaches, such as the ones that are popular within reading didactics as a response to the partially worse performance of boys in quantitative comparisons. Such approaches, which try to tackle the problem by suggesting texts or activities that are (assumed to be) suited to boys’ interests, tend to risk reproducing stereotypes about what boys like, instead of relieving them of such expectations or supporting them in reflecting such demands. Therefore, our article is not about ‘the boys’ and ‘the girls’. It is about heterogeneities that reflect a variety of attitudes, behaviour patterns and life plans – and thus promote a more pronounced individualisation. 2.

Gender Studies as reference discipline

socio-critical perspective

Theory: What Foreign Language Teaching Can Learn from Gender Studies

If teachers plan to teach a lesson unit with a focus on gender, they need to decide on specific aspects they want to focus on and on their (not only) gender-related learning goals. For this reason, it is recommendable to turn to Gender Studies as a reference discipline, using the research results generated in this field as a theoretical framework. However, there are different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches within the field of Gender Studies. A detailed description and differentiation is proposed by Nina Degele in her introduction to “Gender/Queer Studies” (2008). Degele differentiates along the lines of sociologist theory into a socio-critical, a constructivist and a deconstructivist approach of looking at gender and sexuality. We will explain these concepts and point out their respective relevance for FLT. While those schools of thought argue differently, each of them can be useful for teaching gender and shed light on aspects that are a blind spot of the other. A socio-critical perspective considers gender as a social category and reveals the structural inequalities that are based on the differentiation of human beings into men and women. Research in this theoretical vein analyses how such a distinction is hierarchical, appointing men a privileged position and women a disadvantaged one in a patriarchal tradition. Importantly, a sociocritical perspective distinguishes gender (social aspects) from sex (biological aspects). Even if challenged in other theoretical approaches yet to be mentioned, this distinction was and remains important in order to stress that gender inequalities are not determined by anatomy, but rather are socially constructed – and that they can, accordingly, be subject to change. One example for persisting gender inequality is the social distribution of work in our society: this concerns questions of who works in which domains of the labour market, how well they are paid, and who does most of the unpaid work at home. Gendered differences in this respect are contextualised in a

25

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

broader framework of general social recognition, of questions of a freedom of movement or social judgement (or the absence of it). This affects every member of society and, thus, also students when it comes to career plans, ideas of family planning – and even questions of subject choices at school. Drawing the learners’ attention to these aspects is particularly important today: it is true that inequalities, thanks to gender-oriented research and political action, are no longer as striking and obvious as they used to be a hundred years ago. However, this development tends to make people take gender equality for granted and that it has been achieved. This keeps them from seeing and naming persisting inequalities, even though the students are and will be confronted with them. Making this a topic at school can help students understand – and criticise – contradictions caused by the discrepancy between the ideal and existing social conditions not as an individual, but as a structural, social problem. They can discover gendered inequalities, but they can also find ways to dismantle them. Generally, it is important to point out both sexism and limiting notions about masculinity, thus rendering both open to critique. The latter can be carried out through a constructivist approach. Students can understand how social differences are ‘made’ by taking a closer look at everyday situations. For this, teachers can refer to constructivism as another research branch of Gender Studies, concerned with the production of gender in social interactions. According to the concept of ‘doing gender’ which is coined in this theoretical school of thought (by West & Zimmermann 1987), gender is not an essential feature of a person, but something that is constantly done: through clothes, by stressing specific body features, gestures, but also through actions and (communicative) behaviour. These ways of ‘doing gender’ cannot be done arbitrarily. Instead, they are connected to specific ideals and expectations of either masculinity or femininity. Individuals are assessed in terms of the normative expectations that are connected to their gender categorisation and are expected to conform to it at any time or she/he risks discrimination. In class, practices of ‘doing gender’ are particularly accessible for students in areas in which notions of masculinity and femininity are strategically applied – for example in advertising. Normative gender expectations, however, can also be reflected in terms of activities or hobbies that are considered appropriate for ‘doing’ masculinity, but not femininity – or vice versa. This way, students can be encouraged to become aware of how gender is being ‘done’ in their own everyday activities. A discussion of the norms underlying these activities – and an encouragement to criticise the limiting effects – can then be initiated. Examples of disruptions of or resistance against these norms lend themselves particularly well to this end. The discursive character of gender norms is finally addressed by a deconstructivist perspective, which aims to question the seemingly natural character of gender and to point out the exclusions it produces. A deconstructivist approach informed by discourse theory describes the performativity of gender: researchers such as Judith Butler (e.g. 2002) show that notions of masculinity and femininity as well as heterosexuality do not possess an essential ‘core’, but are constituted by being ‘cited’ again and again. From this point of view, the distinction between sex and gender mentioned before is obsolete in

constructivist perspective

deconstructivist perspective

26

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

that even sex can be understood as discursive: the fact that sex is given so much significance as well as the clear-cut distinction into two and only two possible options are in themselves highly social or cultural conceptions. Since masculinity and femininity are normatively defined by their desire of the other gender respectively, sexual orientation is equally important for a deconstructivist perspective. The correspondence of a distinct gender, gender identity and a heterosexual desire is what Judith Butler describes as the ‘heterosexual matrix’, a very pervasive norm. While Butler does point out that human beings need norms to be able to constitute themselves as social beings, norms always produce problematic exclusions: they are established by rendering invisible what is not normative and by distinguishing themselves from this ‘other’. No matter their immense power, however, normative social systems such as the gender order are also fragile from a deconstructivist perspective. Since they rely on a confirmation and reproduction through everyone, they allow for the possibility of subversion by ‘misquoting’ them, for example through parody. In addition, the gender order is connected to other, sometimes contradictory categories of difference such as age, ethnicity, or class. Depending on the situation, gender-related norms can lose importance in relation to other categories. The intersection with other social categories as well as the deconstruction of a naturalised understanding of gender and sexuality could be said to be ‘undoing’ gender. The deconstructivist perspective lends itself to a specific learning goal within the gender-reflective classroom: questioning the self-evidence of heteronormativity – the tacit assumption that everyone can distinctly be categorised as either male or female and that everyone desires the other gender respectively. A reflection of heteronormativity is a prerequisite for making diversity visible, to offer possibilities of identification for students who do not conform to these norms, and to prevent discrimination. 3. putting theory into practice

fictional texts

Examples of Teaching Units: the A-Levels and Gender Reflection

In the following, we attempt to put theory into practice by applying the three different theoretical perspectives in Gender Studies to three different teaching units for the foreign language classroom. Since all of the teaching proposals include fictional texts, – a novel, a film, a sonnet, and a short story – we would first like to point out some general benefits that arise from addressing the topic of gender with literary texts or film. Linking the aim of gender reflection with literature and films has several advantages. Literary and audio-visual texts contain and construct gender norms both on the level of plot and in their form, i.e. the way they are depicted by the narrative situation or the camera perspectives. So in a way, addressing gender issues can be a way of implementing general teaching goals of literary and visual competence. What is more, literary texts and films allow the students insights into the lives of their characters – which always includes their position in terms of gender and sexuality. Through these perspectives, students can discover the condition of being male, female or queer in a given culture or historic context. Changing perspective can

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

offer new means of identification or can raise the awareness for their own or other gendered norms. The fictionality of films and literary texts can help to talk about issues that are highly relevant, yet also personal and maybe frightening to students. When analysing fictional texts, empathising with their characters and negotiating the insights gained, this may be easier – and a relevant cause for actual discussion in the foreign language. In terms of how to approach these texts this means that we should provide a variety of methods and tasks which allow for such different ways of accessing the texts. Analytical tasks, for instance, help students work out the way gender is constructed in the texts. They encourage a reflection on the perception of a text and, in addition, show how gender images are guided by this and how the text makes the reader or viewer feel. Analytical tasks should, however, be complemented by tasks which facilitate the change of perspectives and that support empathy with the characters and their ways of seeing the world – which can shape the interpretation of the learners. Finally, a gender-critical approach to fictional texts should also include tasks which encourage the students to negotiate the understanding of gender they have by comparing gender-related issues in the fictional text with those from their own everyday lives and to coordinate their different perspectives. In all of these different approaches, it is important for teachers to make sure that there is not one right solution or opinion. When it comes to gender, there is no point in imposing an opinion on someone – far from convincing students, such pressure would rather meet with resistance. Instead, teachers can provide texts and tasks which invite an independent critical reflection – and it is up to the students whether they will take it on. The teaching units we present in this article, however, are not centered on texts that were chosen because they are particularly apt to invite critical reflection on the topic of gender. This is because the teaching units were part of the lessons designed for and put into practice in a grade 11 class that was being prepared for the A-levels. On the one hand, this (action research) project showed that gender can indeed be integrated into English lessons even if teachers cannot always choose the main topics or texts of lesson units. On the other hand, the project confirmed the observation (cf. Volkmann 2007) that, despite an illusion of achieved equality, the literary canon remains dominated by white, heterosexual men: none of the texts set for the Abitur 2014 and 2015 in Lower Saxony was written by a female author or had a predominantly female perspective, let alone an LGBTIQ* character.2 This curricular example demonstrates that heteronormative and sexist tendencies persist – hierarchies that these teaching units try to reveal and to challenge.3

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variety of methods

dealing with compulsory texts

Gender as a Category of Inequality in “Accidental Billionaires” The first text of the teaching unit particularly illustrates the continuing relevance of a feminist, socio-critical perspective. Ben Mezrich’s “Accidental Billionaires” (2012) is a fictionalised version of the incidents that surround 2 3

With the exception of a minor character in the film “Billy Eliott – I Will Dance”. A similar description of the teaching unit has been published in German before (cf. König 2015b).

teaching gender from a sociocritical perspective

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analysis: narrative perspectives

change of perspectives: the missing female point of view

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

the founding of Facebook. All of the protagonists are male and the perspective of the Harvard students, who mostly try to get into elitist (all-male) fraternities and to make a successful career, is constructed in a way that demonstrates hierarchical gender relations: the few female characters, mostly without names, are indicators of the success of the male characters. They are portrayed mainly as objects of the male gaze; their only actions are hysterical or they show calculating reactions towards the protagonists. Even though sexism is blatant in the novel, students do not necessarily notice it – such images, after all, are a common phenomenon in popular culture. One way to work out the inequality in the perspectives would be to approach the text analytically and deal with the narrative situation, which is exclusively male: the focal characters are the business partners, friends and competitors of Marc Zuckerberg. In a next step, the representation of female characters can be investigated, for example by analysing the adjectives and activities that characterise the figures and by summarising and commenting on the role of the women in the respective scenes. This could also involve the analysis of the image on the cover of the Diesterweg-edition4 of this text, which (intentionally so?) mirrors Mezrich’s sexist construction of the narrative perspectives: a man in a suit at the bar is looking at a woman. We can only see her from behind, her face and her expression are not visible. She is merely the object of the man’s gaze from the front and of the viewer’s gaze from behind. The cover thus invites readers to imitate the perspective that its male focalisers have on women. In order to foster critical gender reflection, however, students should not only be encouraged to deal with the male perspective in the text. The analysis of the narrative situation can be followed by tasks that deal with the inequality in the perspectives by having the students fill in the missing female perspective. One situation in the text is particularly interesting for such a task. In the first part of the text, the male gaze on the female body is demonstrated in the plot itself: before creating Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg programmed Facemash, a website on which hacked pictures of female Harvard students could be compared and evaluated in terms of ‘hotness’. The text hints at the fact that some students on campus protest against this website. The learners could get the task of writing a letter of protest to the campus newspaper mentioned in the text. In this letter, they take on the perspective of a female Harvard student who gives arguments for her opinion on Facemash. In this context, the teacher could also include actual articles from “The Harvard Crimson” about Facemash at the time.5 Another option of training empathy and encouraging students to critically reflect on social hierarchies would be to focus on inner feelings of the male characters: instead of focusing on the sexist aspects of the perspectives, students could think about the way the male characters experience the dynamics in the fraternities and the fierce competition about the idea and the founding of Facebook. This way, they can deal with the standards of masculinity which cf. http://www.diesterweg.de/artikel/The-Accidental-Billionaires-Textbook/ 978-3-425-04817-8, 3/20/2016 5 cf. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2003/11/4/hot-or-not-website-brieflyjudges/, 3/20/2016 4

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

put the male characters under heavy pressure in the text – and which thus offer insight into the drawbacks of what in Gender Studies is called ‘hegemonic masculinity’ (cf. Connell 1999). Finally, it is important to make students realize that gender-related hierarchies are not restricted to this one text. To raise the students’ awareness of the structural dimension of gender inequality and to encourage the negotiation of their own perspective, a non-literary text could be included. One possibility is a 15 minute TED talk by Sheryl Sandberg6 about women in leading positions. Sandberg, who has been COO (chief operating officer) of Facebook since 2008 and the first female member on the Facebook board, comprehensibly presents key points to make students think about gender equality: she talks about the internalisation of gender-specific norms, the aim of more equality in sharing household work and paid work among partners, and about reconciling career and family. Her person and her speech fit in well with the “Accidental Billionaires” text, even though Sandberg’s speech reflects a very neoliberal attitude (which is otherwise difficult to reconcile with a socio-critical perspective). Firstly, the students listen to the speech and work on it in terms of the arguments and, in addition, the way they are presented. As a next step, in order for the students to express their own opinion and to enable them to practice not only the reception, but also the production of speeches, the learners write and present a mini-speech. They are asked to take up the argument in Sandberg’s speech that strikes them most, and to argue for or against it from their own perspective and by bringing in examples from their own lives. This way, they can learn to negotiate and critically question gendered inequalities.

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negotiation: gender inequality

‘Doing Gender’ in “Outsourced” The first unit makes students deal with the inequalities that are connected to the social category of gender. The second unit aims at encouraging students to think about how gender is produced and shaped in everyday life, and at helping them gain an understanding of gender as a culturally and socially powerful construction. The constructivist currents of Gender Studies provide the foundation for looking at processes of ‘doing gender’. Since these processes include body language, nonverbal communication, clothes etc., a constructivist understanding of gender can particularly well be demonstrated with audiovisual texts, for example films. The film “Outsourced” (USA 2006), which is part of the unit on globalisation in the 2015 centralised A-levels, presents the intercultural learning process of an American who is transferred to India. The intercultural comparative situation that is represented on the plot level of the film lends itself to illustrating the cultural dimension of gender norms. The protagonist is called Todd and it is his perspective that is taken up in the film. He is a manager of an American mail order business and his task is to optimise the outsourcing process of a call centre in India. Notions of gender and relationships are focused on in the encounter with an Indian employee, Asha, who functions 6

cf. http://www.ted.com/talks/sheryl_sandberg_why_we_have_too_few_women_leaders, 3/20/2016

teaching gender from a constructivist perspective

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analysis: ‘doing gender’ with filmic devices

change of perspective: how to deal with gender expectations

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

as an intercultural mediator; she and Todd start an affair over the course of the film. Although “Outsourced”, at first glance, does not convey stereotypical notions of strong masculinity and weak femininity, such gender notions can be discovered within the details of the film. By analysing the way gender is done in these details, the students can also be trained in visual literacy. They can analyse how gender is constructed as part of the characterisation of the protagonists and in the plot. They should also consider the specific means of audio-visual representation, namely the camera perspective and camera settings. These aspects can be dealt with by analysing screenshots of the film. In the case of Todd, screenshots of “Outsourced” reveal that he is represented according to norms of (American) masculinity: in one typical scene (22:11), he is dressed in a dress shirt and tie, talking to the Indian staff whose heads we see from the back, Todd is sitting on his desk with his legs wide apart, making wide gestures in a full shot and the camera shows him from a low angle. Asha, in contrast, is represented very differently even in scenes in which she speaks a lot and seems self-confident (56:42): she is shown from an angle above in a close-up, her head tilted to the side and smiling, her colourful, flowing clothes and her accessories construct (Indian) femininity. An analysis of the opposite ways in which Todd and Asha are represented in the film can demonstrate the many devices through which femininity or masculinity are constructed in audio-visual media. The recognition that male and female characters are represented differently in films, however, does not necessarily encourage students to think about gender as a social construct. Quite the contrary, an analysis of ‘doing gender’ with students can have the paradox effect that it first leads to reinforcing a binary understanding of gender in their view. Sometimes, too, the idea that gender is constructed is accepted, but neither is it questioned, nor are contradictions seen within this social consensus. For this reason, it makes sense to ask the learners to reflect on how this social construction comes about, which conditions and limitations are related to it and how individuals deal with the expectations and contradictions of ‘doing gender’. To this end, the learners look at specific film scenes for implicit expectations of masculinity and femininity in India and the USA and then interpret how the characters Asha and Todd deal with these expectations. Both of them undergo changes over the course of the film: Todd questions the absolute (professional) flexibility that is demanded of him and the constant pressure to be successful that he faces. He also becomes critical of ruthlessly carrying out orders without consideration of the effects they might have on others. Asha grows more confident when it comes to her career plans, which is supported by Todd’s trust in her professional abilities and her ability to take things into her own hands. In another respect, however, she questions his Western beliefs: when Todd asks Asha if she wants to live in the USA, it turns out that she is promised to someone in an arranged marriage, that she supports this relationship form and that she would not leave her family. The ambivalences and the differences of the characters, and how these relate to cultural beliefs of gender-specific behaviour and relationships, can best be explored by a change of perspective. Since drama-pedagogical methods are particularly useful when trying to raise empathy, we recommend building a

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

“voice sculpture” (cf. Nünning & Surkamp 2010: 184) to help the students understand Asha and Todd’s individual ways of dealing with their differences, especially when Todd returns to the US. For that, one student stands in the middle and impersonates the role of Asha (later: Todd). Other students, one after the other, articulate their interpretation of Asha from an Iperspective, expressing what they think she feels when Todd leaves India. They are then positioned closer or further away from the student representing Asha, according to how close the respective student’s interpretation is to his or her own. In a follow-up discussion, the different interpretations and individual ways of dealing with social expectations are negotiated. For transferring a reflection on gendered expectations and ‘doing gender’ in the students’ own everyday lives, the unit finally works with pictures the students took themselves. They had already been assigned to take a ‘picture walk’ right after the first analysis of the screenshots. Having had an impression of what it was to ‘look through the gender lens’ they bring photos they took at home, of toys, of free-time activities, advertisements they saw, clothes etc. These are looked at together after having worked extensively with the film; the photographs are meant to make a link between the gender issues in “Outsourced” and gender in the students’ own lives: the learners discuss which gender norms and expectations are conveyed in the pictures and what effect they have on people, including the students themselves.

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negotiation: ‘doing gender’ in the learners’ everyday life

Reflecting on Heteronormativity with Shakespeare and Contemporary Young Adult Literature Finally, a deconstructivist perspective can be used in class to question the norms of a binary gender system and the norm of heterosexuality. Perhaps (not all that) surprisingly, the uncontested king of the ‘dead white males’ of English literature, William Shakespeare, can be approached in this way. Not only are there quite a few among Shakespeare’s plays with cross-dressing as a dramatic device, but also can we consider the context of the Elizabethan stage and the fact that all female roles were played by boys in Shakespeare’s days – and the way this plays with gender expectations. This unit, however, is based on one of Shakespeare’s lyrical texts: sonnet no. 18 “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day”, that famous love poem which is one of the 126 out of 154 sonnets which – as we know from the dedication and from references in the other sonnets in the cycle – is addressed to a young man. As an open, individual introduction to the unit (as yet without any information about the addressee), learners read Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18 at home with a scaffolding worksheet and are then asked to sum it up in class. During the presentations, the teacher should ask the students to pay attention to the identity constructions that are brought to the text in the summaries. In the poem, the gender of the speaker is not specified; nor is that of the addressee. In a discussion afterward, the following questions could be addressed: Did the students interpret the speaker and the beloved person as male or female, or did they leave them unspecified? Did they assume heterosexual relationships, or did homosexual interpretations occur, too? Or would these definitions not be suitable because the students would have to clearly differentiate between male and female, which they maybe did not or could

teaching gender from a deconstructivist perspective

analysis: awareness of heteronormative expectations

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analysis II: Shakespeare’s reception

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

not do while reading the poem? How did the pupils anchor their assumptions in the texts? Did it make a difference to know the author’s gender? It is important, however, not to expose the learners with such questions. There is no wrong reading because everyone can read the speech situation in this poem according to their own imagination. However, the learners can become aware of (perhaps existing) heteronormative reading habits. Based on this awareness they can work out a definition of heteronormativity in class. Furthermore, the textual example and the interpretations of the students are a good opportunity to demonstrate the distinction between an author and a narrator/or the lyrical I of a poem – a distinction that is very important from the point of view of literature didactics. In a next step, teachers can provide the students with additional information about the addressee of Shakespeare’s sonnet. The sonnets written for the young man then are made the starting point for an exploration of the history of Shakespeare’s reception. Exploring Shakespeare’s reception history quickly reveals that the distinction between the lyrical I and the author, for example, is quite a recent phenomenon in literary criticism and was not made for decades and even centuries in which Shakespeare experts speculated on biographic evidence. And since they read the sonnets biographically, they had to assume that Shakespeare was gay or bisexual (even though this expression, and actually, the concepts of heterosexuality and homosexuality, were not invented till the 19th century, cf. Foucault 2012: 47f.). However, many of these ‘objective’ scholars could not accept the fact that Shakespeare, who they admired, wrote poems addressed to men. They went to great lengths trying to explain it away: they tried to show that the beautiful young men must have been Jesus, Shakespeare’s son, or the reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth (cf. Stallybrass 1993; Grundmann 2004). Or the sonnets could have been a youthful transgression that Shakespeare would never have allowed to be published, or they claimed that Shakespeare did not write the sonnets himself. Publishers in the 17th and 18th century even took the liberty of changing some male pronouns into female ones or to heterosexualise the sonnets by changing titles or adding subtitles (ibid.). While these reactions do not say anything about Shakespeare, they reveal much about the norms and taboos of his interpreters. They demonstrate impressively how heteronormative, even homophobic readings of texts silence, repress or pathologise homosexual voices. In class, such reactions can be used in order to analyse and reflect dynamics of heteronormativity. The (unwittingly) satirical effects of the historical sources add to this effect and can be read and discussed in class (some quotes from the Shakespeare reception have been assembled into a worksheet in König 2015a: 42). Again, it is important for the learners to understand that their analyses are not about deciding whether Shakespeare was gay or bisexual. Instead, this phase aims at revealing the mechanisms of heteronormativity in the eyes of the beholders and at reflecting one’s own attitude. If anything, Shakespeare as an author can be credited for his talent to write poetry that allows for multiple ways of reading them.

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

Up to this point, the heteronormative or even homophobic reactions to Shakespeare’s sonnets are approached in an analytical and reflective way. In the third part of this teaching unit, a change of perspective and a connection to the present day are meant to help the learners understand the discursive effects of such heteronormative or homophobic reactions. What effect does it have when same-sex love declarations or corresponding interpretations are silenced or explained away? How does it affect those in particular for whom such texts could be models of identification because they identify themselves as gay or bisexual? This is addressed through the eyes of the protagonists of a short story that can be read after the lessons on Shakespeare. Patrick Ness’ short story for adolescent readers, “Different for Boys” (Ness 2010), is about four childhood friends who, at this point of their lives, are discovering their (sexual) desires. While one of them is right in the middle of a bumpy, but self-confident outing-process, two of the other boys have a secret affair with each other, which they handle very differently. On the textual level, everything that is related to the first sexual experiences (and sexualised swearing) is hidden by black bars, which offers a good opportunity to talk about taboos with the students. The story is also very well written, funny and serious at once, and appeals greatly to students. In order to link “Different for Boys” to Shakespeare’s sonnet no. 18, the learners are asked to imagine an English lesson in the life of the protagonists of the short story, in which the class deals with the poem. This is carried out in a jigsaw (Expertenpuzzle), usually a social form chosen for an exchange of information, but in this case used for a task to help changing perspectives and develop an empathic approach (cf. worksheet in König 2015a: 43). In the first phase, the students deal with the perspective of one of the four protagonists only in each group: they discuss what kind of person their character would imagine as the ‘you’ while reading sonnet no. 18, giving arguments by referring to the short story. In the second phase, one representative of each friend comes together in new groups, in which the students receive three different classroom scenarios: 1) The sonnet is read without any further information on the context. In this case, a female addressee is mostly assumed in the discussion phase (i.e. heteronormative). 2) The teacher mentions that, according to the indications in the poem and to the dedication, the poem is actually addressed to a man (correct in terms of literary research and open for diversity where it can be seen). 3) This scenario resembles the second one, but this time, the teacher adds that he cannot imagine why the great Shakespeare would have written gay poetry and that he – and probably his class, too – preferred imagining a woman instead (i.e. a homophobic version). For each of the three scenarios, the students take notes and discuss how their characters would feel (inside) and how they would react (to the outside world). In the third phase of this activity, the students return to their original character groups and compare their results. Finally, the students should discuss if and how LGBTIQ*-ways of life can be made a topic in the classroom. The students can refer to their results of the group work, but they can also express their own opinion. Thus they would negotiate a question that has recently been heatedly and not always constructively discussed in Baden-Württemberg or Lower Saxony. In this case, however, it would not be upset parents or teachers speaking for the students,

33 change of perspectives: personal effects of discrimination

negotiation: how to include LGBTIQ* issues in school

34

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

but those who are actually concerned, the students themselves. After having just had such a teaching unit, they could discuss the issue in an informed way. 4.

The Role of the Teacher: Gender and/in Teacher Training

So far we have argued that a basic knowledge of the current findings of Gender Studies and suitable methods and materials are important for teachers who want to make gender a topic in their (English) lessons. In order for such lessons to be successful, however, another aspect is of crucial importance: the attitude of the teacher. Consider the following extract from an interview with a teacher who taught the lessons described above (as part of a research project) and his response to what teachers need in order to teach gender reflection: the attitude of the teacher

gender reflection in teacher training

[…] Sie müssen eine Bereitschaft mitbringen, dieses Thema offen anzugehen. Also sich über den eigenen Standpunkt bewusst werden, ihn – vor sich selber – offen legen. Gender hat ja viel mit der eigenen Persönlichkeit, den eigenen Werthaltungen, der eigenen Sexualität zu tun. Ich glaube, dass es wichtig ist, wenn man sich mit diesem Thema beschäftigt, zu sagen: Ich bemühe mich hierbei in besonderer Weise um Offenheit im eigenen Denken. Und passe sehr genau auf, dass ich nicht unterschwellig signalisiere, was ich gut oder falsch finde. [translation: They must be willing to approach the topic in an open way. This means they should become aware of their own position. After all, gender is closely connected to your own personality, values and sexuality. I think when you approach this topic it’s important to say: I make an effort to be especially open in my own thinking. And that I am very careful not to signal implicitly what I think is good and what is wrong.] (cf. König & Rohrbach 2015)

According to this teacher’s experience of teaching gender reflection, teachers should be willing and able to think about gender as a category in their own lives and in their classroom performance, to reflect on and question their own views and values – without imposing them on the pupils. Only then can teachers be open to the pupils’ different opinions, experiences and identities, and create a classroom in which hierarchies and discriminations are questioned instead of reproduced. Since everyone is strongly influenced by gendered norms, this is a considerable challenge for teachers. Self-reflection and changes of perspectives are complex processes that must be learned not only by students at school, but also by teachers who want to foster such learning processes in their students. What follows from this is that raising an awareness for these issues should be included in teacher training. Already at university, student teachers can be encouraged to think about gender as a social category, and in addition to reflect on their own role within this social system. In the following, we will refer to a few examples (put into practice at the University of Göttingen) of how to include gender reflection into teacher training, both in courses in which gender is the main topic of the entire course, and in just one session

35

What Does It Mean to Teach About Gender?

of classes predominantly concerned with other topics and methods, such as film or literature. What is generally important is that approaching gender in teacher training is not restricted to the teaching of (gender) theory or to introduce suitable methods. Rather, the aim is also to develop an attitude in students that will allow them to approach the teaching of gender in a critical, reflected and open way. For this, the students should be encouraged to (self-) reflect – to think about their own experiences, feelings and perspectives, to become aware of their own prejudices and to distance themselves from their subject position and try new perspectives on the world and themselves. Such aims require other approaches than the purely cognitive, analytical tasks that are common at universities. So rather than just reading texts and discussing contents, it is useful to include holistic methods, such as drama methods, that involve bodily expression and emotions. The topic of gender-specific socialisation, for instance, can be approached by having students perform short role-plays based on ‘messages’ they received as children. Performing situations in which norms such as “Boys don’t cry” or the expectation for girls to not sit with their legs apart can encourage discussions about the limitations of gender roles and the way these norms affect even the body and the emotions of human beings. This could be an opportunity for the students to think about their own experiences with these powerful norms. In a group with only male students in one of our courses, for instance, acting out a small situation about the sentence “Boys don’t cry” set off memories in which the students had felt pressure not to show their pain – at the dentist’s, during a handball training, at school – because they had to “be a man”, as one participant ironically, yet earnestly put it. The exchange of such experiences can be very enlightening for the students, since they can understand the extent to which gender norms have personally affected them (and continue to affect them) – and what this means for their future work as teachers. It can also be relieving for them to see that they are not alone in these experiences, and that alternatives might be possible. Such subversions of gender stereotypes can also be tried in role play. Other approaches aim specifically at making the students become aware of their own prejudices and their participation in the production of the current social order. This awareness is important to prevent future teachers from reproducing the same stereotypes in their teaching that they (might have) learned while growing up. Although many students consider themselves as tolerant and open to diversity – and argue in favour of such positions in intellectual discussions, such surface attitudes often hide deeper lying prejudices, fears and heteronormative perceptions that need to be made visible for the students to be able to reflect on them. For this purpose, it can be useful to work with pictures or videos of people who cannot be categorised according to binary gender constructs, and to have the students write down and reflect on the feelings such depictions evoke in them. Pictures and films can trigger very emotional and diverse reactions outside of political correctness, and these reactions can become the object of group discussions that allow not only for the exchange of different points of view, but also for selfreflection and the exploration of new perspectives (cf. Zahn 2010; Kleiner & Urban 2010).

holistic approaches

examples from teacher training

reflecting on one’s own prejudices

36 a new perspective

Lotta König, Sonja Lewin & Carola Surkamp, University of Göttingen, Germany

A gender-critical perspective on the world is particularly important in the context of teaching: in internships, students can do research on genderrelated aspects in the school, for instance in teachers’ or students’ behaviour, as a topic in English lessons etc. Temporarily becoming gender researchers themselves, the students gain a new perspective on their future working place and their professional role. This insight is valuable for their own teaching in the future, allowing them to reflect more critically on their own behaviour and the social interactions in class. In the long run, such an awareness can help university students to become teachers who are able to make informed pedagogical decisions while teaching the topic of gender. 5.

Summary

This chapter provided insights into the relevance of the topic of gender for foreign language teaching and the benefits Gender Studies have as a reference discipline. We argued that different theoretical perspectives on gender allow for different, gender sensitising learning goals. We also presented different ideas on how to teach gender, demonstrating in specific teaching units for a class 11 that gender can also be taught critically in lesson units that are determined by curricular guidelines. Finally, we drew attention to the importance of the attitude of the teacher for a successful teaching of gender and argued that gender reflection should be part of teacher training.7 Review – Reflect – Research 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

How do the three theoretical perspectives on gender differ from each other? Which learning goals does each of them entail? How is gender presented in your teaching manuals/your private books/the texts you chose for lessons? Would you teach gender as a topic? How would you put it into practice? Do you anticipate problems that might occur when you teach gender? How could you deal with them? How does your own gender identity affect your performance as a teacher?

Further Reading Suggestions Degele, Nina (2008). Gender/Queer Studies. Eine Einführung. Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink. König, Lotta; Surkamp, Carola & Decke-Cornill, Helene (eds.) (2015a). Special Issue: Negotiating Gender. Der fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch 49: 135. Velber: Friedrich. Wedl, Juliette & Bartsch, Annette (eds.) (2015). Teaching Gender? Zum reflektierten Umgang mit Geschlecht im Schulunterricht und in der Lehramtsausbildung. Bielefeld: transcript. 7 We would like to thank the student teachers in Göttingen, who have contributed to this article with their engagement and curiosity in our courses on gender. Special thanks to the teacher and his class who put into practice the lessons described above and who opened their classroom to (research on) gender reflection.

Chapter II

Gender and the Teaching Profession

Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession? Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

This chapter is going to highlight historical constellations and developments which have decisively contributed to the spread of the assumption that women have a special talent for teaching children and, in particular, teaching languages. It will become evident that schools, like all institutions, are heavily gendered and that gender binaries play an important role not only in the debates about the so-called feminisation of education but also for the low esteem in which teachers are often held by the broad public. Such insights will help you to get a deeper understanding of your future profession, its involvement in the power mechanisms and your responsibilities concerning gender sensitive acceptance of each individual pupil. Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3. 4.

What are your principal motives for wanting to become a teacher? Are there also practical considerations? What would you guess is the ratio between female and male students in your seminars? Does it matter? Can you think of different ways of translating “woman’s job” into German? How does the message change? What do you think of the following cover picture of the influential magazine Wirtschaftswoche? In order to analyse the message, you may want to look at the interplay between image and text, at perspective, proportions, the distribution of positive and negative features in connection with the degree of elaboration and face/facelessness.

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Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

Illustration 1: Cover picture of Wirtschaftswoche (2007) 61: 44; reproduced with kind permission of Daniel Adel

0. a “woman’s job”

A “Woman’s Job”

Perhaps you would have expected and preferred a different formulation for the first categorisation in the title of this chapter: “a female domain” or “a female profession”. Instead, you may be reminded of such sayings as “a woman’s job is never done”, or its variant “a mother’s job is never done”, or the related proverb “A man may work from sun to sun,/But woman’s work is never done”. Well, such questionable associations are intended, because they are part and parcel of a larger complex that we must confront head-on. In popular understanding, school, in particular elementary school, and language teaching are nowadays closely associated with women, and gender binaries as constituents of dubious stereotypes of femininity considerably contribute to the devaluation of the occupation. This may strike you as absurd and paradoxical, especially if you think of the frequent idealisations of motherhood and the fact that, for women, teaching has been one of the main routes to emancipation and that languages have played a decisive role in the process. A classic US sociological study pinpoints the paradox as follows: teaching “is honoured and disdained, praised as a dedicated service and lampooned as ‘easy work’. It is permeated with the rhetoric of professionalism, yet features incomes below those earned with considerably less education.” (Kelleher 2011: 16) In other words, even today teaching too often is not yet accepted as a full profession but merely a semi-profession, like other “women’s jobs” with strong components of care and service such as social work, librarianship or nursing. Let’s, therefore, first have a closer look at the

Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

41

concept of “profession” and the historical process of the professionalisation of teaching. 1.

(Language) Teaching – a Profession or Semi-Profession?

The most common characteristics of “profession”, taken from the social sciences and to be found, for instance, in the recent Handbuch der Forschung zum Lehrerberuf, are:     

common characteristics of “profession”

Academic education Acquisition of knowledge specific to, and necessary for, this kind of work Permanence, i.e. practised to earn one’s living, and this not just temporarily (not merely as an interim job) or discontinuously Development of a status group Often, particularly in Germany, linked to the state/civil service (Hellekamps & Musolff 2014: 34).

It was only at a very late point in time that teachers more or less met these criteria; they managed to do so only much later than priests, lawyers and doctors, the classic professions. The date usually given is the beginning of the 19th century, which, to be precise, only applies to the Gymnasium teachers (i.e. grammar school teachers). The signal event is the introduction of the examen pro facultate docendi in Prussia in 1810, in the context of the Humboldtian reforms (cp. the first and second of the above criteria). There were similar provisions in the other German states, but on account of its leading role, Prussia is commonly used as the representative example. As the name says, this was a special examination by which future Gymnasium teachers were to show their qualification for their work. Before, candidates had finished their studies with a theological exam, if they did, indeed, finish with an exam or did university studies at all. Most theologians had used the Gymnasium teaching as an interim job and springboard; they left as soon as they had an opportunity to move into their proper posts. The examen pro facultate docendi, on the other hand, helped to establish Gymnasium teaching as a special domain and permanent occupation. Theology was no longer enough. The way was paved to specialising in various subjects both in one’s studies and in teaching (Kemnitz 2014: 56ff.; Hellekamps & Musolff 2014: 43; Kintzinger 2014: 26). This increasing differentiation in the Gymnasium and its demand for specialised teachers had the further consequence that the universities were able to develop the corresponding disciplines, i.e. either to properly expand existing ones or establish new ones. From this process, English Studies profited at a comparatively late date (the first chair being established in 1872), because in the 19th century English played a minimal role in the Gymnasium. For primary teachers it was only after World War I that the Abitur (university entrance qualification) was made a prerequisite and some degree of subject specialisation was introduced (Hellekamps & Musolff 2014: 36; Kemnitz 2014: 58). The example of the primary teachers also shows that the criterion

professionalisation of teaching: characteristics 1-3

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characteristics 4-5

critique: gender bias

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

of “academic education”, by which I rendered Hellekamps and Musolff’s formulation “akademische Bildung” (2014: 34), is not as clear-cut as it may seem at first sight – not even in institutional respects. Does it mean university education or teacher training at a teacher training college/Pädagogische Hochschule or at a college of applied sciences/Fachhochschule? Only ten years ago, the Wissenschaftsrat considered the possibility of transferring all types of teacher education to colleges of applied sciences. The second criterion, specific knowledge necessary for the occupation, is similarly tricky, open to interpretation and controversial. Does it mean knowledge acquired during academic studies or knowledge acquired during the second phase, the Referendariat, or both? Historians of the teaching profession in this context usually pay special attention to training in seminaries, modelled on the training colleges for the clergy. A signal date here is 1748: the establishment of a seminary for Realschul teachers by Johann Julius Hecker at the Realschule (secondary modern school) in Friedrichstadt (Berlin), which he had founded as well. Hecker soon added a seminary for primary teachers (Hellekamps & Musolff 2014: 36). With regard to professionalism, we should in particular ask whether such preparation means merely learning by doing and simple transmission from master to apprentice, or also has theoretical underpinning. The innovations detailed so far, i.e. the specific examination for Gymnasium teachers, subject specialisation and special preparation for teaching, were a consequence of the necessity of broadening education. In the late 18th century, basic school attendance had been made compulsory, and gradually a comprehensive and diversified school system was established. This also produced something else we nowadays take for granted and closely associate with teaching: the existence of proper school buildings in great numbers across the country. Concomitantly, teachers became visible as a status group and formed professional organisations as well: in 1837, the Verein deutscher Philologen und Schulmänner, which added a section for English in 1905; the Verband der deutschen neuphilologischen Lehrerschaft in 1886; and others (cf. the third and fourth criterion). As you will have noticed from the survey above, the common criteria for defining a profession are formalistic and very status-oriented. They do not tell us much about the core of teaching, i.e. its contents and the activities themselves, the pedagogical side, but they can, nevertheless, camouflage ideologies. They have, therefore, also been criticised in pedagogical research (e.g. Overhoff 2014: 73ff.). What has far less been considered are the gender implications, although the most important innovations detailed so far debarred women. A vital function of professions has been exclusivity and the guarantee of privileges, and this has not least been targeted against women. However, in recent years globalisation and the spread of information technology have greatly changed the nature of work and employment for large sectors of society, academics included, and, under the banner of flexibility, they have given rise to fixed-term contracts, involuntary part-time work, bogus self-employment, on-call work, home-based work, telecommuting, and so on, which not only undermines the criterion of permanence. It also brings out the fact that the common idea of standard employment has been modelled on the male breadwinner of the traditional heteronormative middle-

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Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

class family, complemented by a mother who stays at home or just earns a little extra money. For women, the male professionalisation of teaching has meant great drawbacks and delays. For them recognition by the state and comparable structures in the various sectors only came about a century later. The first seminaries for female teachers were only founded in the first half of the 19th century (Kemnitz 2014: 63). The higher education of girls was long left to private initiative, and the reform paralleling that for boys from the beginning of the 19th century was made as late as the next turn of the century (in 1908 in Prussia). It was also only then that women were admitted to German universities as regular students and that they were gradually admitted to the influential professional associations, though often only grudgingly. The access to the Habilitation, i.e. the qualification for a professorship, was granted after World War I, after women had won suffrage and thus were a force to be reckoned with. But hardly any women managed to obtain a professorship before the reforms and great expansion of the education system from the 1960s onwards. In English Studies, for instance, it was just in 1947 that the first woman achieved a chair: Dorothea Heitmann at the teacher training college Hannover. At universities it even took more than another decade longer: until 1958 for Hildegard Schumann at the University of Rostock (GDR) and 1965 for the first three West-Germans. Even today less than 30 % of the chairs in the German humanities are held by women (cf. Viebrock in this book). Another shortcoming of mainstream understandings of professionalisation not yet mentioned, is that they obliterate a long history that preceded it. People had been learning and teaching languages for many centuries, and quite often with great success. For a deeper understanding of the stereotypes attached to language learning and teaching, we must therefore go back further and have a look at important constellations concerning the functions of the various languages and the ideas and ideals of education. 2.

far-reaching effects of maledetermined professionalisation

Development of Crucial Patterns since the Middle Ages

For good reasons, language(s) and literacy have played a central role in European education and erudition. Writing greatly expanded humanity’s intellectual possibilities. The corresponding high esteem for it has long been transported by Latin, where, e.g. the plural of littera/letter/Buchstabe means everything worthy of being written down, notably matters of learning/ Wissenschaft, as can still be seen in many inscriptions on university buildings. Similarly, the adjective litteratus has designated not only literacy, but meant “educated” and even “learned”. In the early Middle Ages, monasteries were the prime places where written traditions were preserved and passed on, whereas the culture of the nobility much more relied on direct communication and oral traditions. For a long time, nobles were little impressed by book learning, because, as social superiors, they were able to enlist the services of clerics when necessary. On the other hand, (so-called) classical antiquity had already reached a high level of civilisation, and Hebrew, Greek and Latin gave access to this knowledge. Above all, these three were the holy

ancient languages versus vernaculars

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continued dominance of Latin

new concept: mother tongue

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

languages of the Bible (literally “the book”), in which, according to Christian belief, the highest wisdom had been revealed. Consequently, these ancient languages, and in particular the great intermediator Latin, were of the utmost importance for higher education and learning, whereas the gradually developing native tongues were held in low esteem, as is still mirrored by the English term “vernacular”. This is derived from Latin verna, “domestic slave”, and thus indicates a very low status (considerably lower than German Volkssprache). It took the vernaculars many centuries before they could establish themselves on a par with the ancient languages and finally relegate them to the background. In the high Middle Ages, with the rise of the towns, ambitious municipal authorities wanted to introduce Latin into their more demanding secular schools. And this produced an illuminating clash: while the clerical authorities had not interfered concerning lower instruction and were not really interested in it, they put up fierce resistance in the case of Latin. Their argument was that Latin was special, because the interpretation of the Bible was concerned and that for this reason its teaching had to be under their control. However, the purpose of gate-keeping became evident as well. The first town to win this struggle was the leader of the Hanse, Lübeck, in the middle of the 13th century. All in all, the secular authorities had to fight these battles for several centuries (Kintzinger 2014: 25). Gradually, the intellectual centrality of Latin diminished. The Bible and other fundamental texts were translated, and important native literature developed. The modern languages became crucial for defining one’s identity, for patriotism and state-building. New discoveries and inventions were made that could just as well or even better be handled in one’s mother tongue, as we may see, for instance, from the maths school books. In the 16th century, about half of them were still in Latin, in the next century only a fifth (Hellekamps & Musolff 2014: 38). In the universities, Latin, nevertheless, maintained a dominant position for an incredibly long time, namely far into the 19th century. One of the first people to lecture in German was the philosopher and legal theorist Christian Thomasius: in 1687 at the University of Leipzig. But he met with fierce opposition on the part of his colleagues and had to escape to Halle. The principal reasons for the continued academic dominance of Latin would seem to have been the following: the fact that theology continued to rank highest well into the 19th century; that Latin allowed a close linking up with intellectual traditions and facilitated international communication; and, last but certainly not least, that it guaranteed exclusivity and thus privileges. One part of society against which the exclusionary functions of Latin were specifically directed were women. On the whole, women were even more excluded than men. A basic reason for the exclusion of women from advanced education was the fact that they could not become priests and do the most prestigious teaching. In other words, through the centuries, women were, on the whole, more confined to the vernaculars than men, and they accordingly became particularly associated with them. A prominent indicator is the rise of the term lingua materna, which highlights the pivotal role of the mother for the fundamental language acquisition of the child. Its first occurrence traced so far dates from the early 12th century,

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Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

and the expression soon found its way into many vernaculars (mother tongue/Muttersprache/langue maternelle etc.). The ancient equivalent, in contrast, was sermo patrius, “the father’s speech”. In the male, slave-holder “democracies” of antiquity, the achievements of the mothers did not get such recognition, and much care of somewhat older boys was delegated to male slaves, the paidagogos, for instance, literally “child-guide”, usually being a reliable slave of advanced age who escorted the boy to his various tutors. In the medieval nobility and burgher class, on the other hand, the mothers and other women belonging to the household looked after the children themselves. Such mothers not only taught their children to speak but increasingly also to read. In the nobility, it was the women, not the men, who first learnt to read and developed a greater interest in written culture. Therefore we also owe it to medieval ladies that various works of oral poetry were written down and have thus reached us (Kintzinger 2014: 22). In England, maternal basic instruction had spread far beyond the nobility by the late 14th century, and this is mirrored by many pictures from the 15th century showing either the Virgin Mary teaching the child Jesus or St Anne teaching young Mary. Since a greater number of European languages and dialects still coexisted in the Middle Ages, maternal instruction could also concern more than one language, foreign language teaching in our present-day terminology. Do we have any traces of such female teaching? In all likelihood, many more than we are aware of. Virginia Woolf’s famous dictum that Anon., who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman will, mutatis mutandis, also apply here. Scholars have, for instance, long been aware of the socalled Femina material, but male biases prevented full insight into its relevance. Femina is a versified French vocabulary, organised according to subject areas, which was commissioned by Dionysia de Munchensi, a lady from the most influential and refined English aristocracy, for teaching her children. It was composed around 1240 and thus antedated the first grammars of French or any other European vernacular by 300 years. As the numerous surviving manuscripts show, Femina became the central material for French in 13th and 14th century England. About the proper time for starting the instruction, one of the manuscripts says the following: Quaunt le emfès ad tel age Ke il seet entendre langage, Primes en Fraunceys ly devez dire Coment soun cors deyt descrivere, Pur’ le ordre aver de moun et ma, Toun et ta, soun et sa, Ke en parole seyt meut apris, E de nul autre escharnys. Ma teste ou moun cheef, La greve de moun cheef; (ed. Thomas Wright: 144) [ When the infant is of such age that it can understand speech, you must first tell it in French how to describe its body,

mothers as language teachers: Femina

46

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

in order to keep to the rules concerning “moun” and “ma,” “toun” and “ta,” “soun” and “sa,” so that it be well taught in speech and mocked by no one. “Ma teste” or “moun cheef” / my head; the part on my head; (translation: RH)]

summary

late 19th century: climactic clash

This could also be mother-tongue instruction, but it is likely that English was Dionysia de Munchensi’s first language. So, in all probability, we have here bilingual teaching, but not yet “foreign” language teaching, because French was the first or second language of the English aristocracy and not a foreign language. It was only later with the rise of nationalism that the concept of foreign language was fully developed to set off the national language from the languages of other countries (and the question arises whether today we can still call English a foreign language or would better avoid the term with its nationalistic baggage). There is a greatly expanded and didacticised version of Femina from the early 15th century, which may be one of the earliest schoolbooks of modern language teaching. It begins as follows: “Lyber iste vocatur femina quia sicut femina docet infantem loqui maternam sic docet iste liber Iuvenes rethorice loqui gallicum prout infra patebit” (ed. William A. Wright: 1; my italics). In English: “This book is called ‘Femina’, because just as the woman teaches the infant to speak the mother tongue, this book teaches young people to speak French eloquently, as will become apparent below.” Here the maternal efforts are still highlighted as teaching (not ignored, as often happens when we speak of language acquisition), and the method is associated with oral competence, even a high level of it.1 In short: what you have seen in this subchapter so far is how the Middle Ages developed the influential, basic dichotomy between the native tongue and further modern languages as a female, maternal domain, characterised by orality, on the one hand; and Latin and the further ancient languages as the male domain of superior ancient written tradition and learning, on the other. Many factors intertwined in a complex web, which may make you wary of entering nature-nurture debates. Despite variations on the surface, this dichotomy remained basic to educational developments until the beginning of the 20th century, due to the continuing dominance of Latin at the highest levels. The signal event was the admission of the graduates of the Oberrealschule, i.e. without Latin, to university studies in 1900, which ended the monopoly of the traditional Gymnasium on access to university. This was preceded and accompanied by a final, climactic clash of the old language-stereotypes, and it is worthwhile taking a still closer look at the prestige aspects. As early as the Middle Ages, the diffiFor details of the method, such as emphasis on orality showing, among other things, in heightened attention to homophones and homonyms; playfulness, onomatopoeia and verse; as well as elements of CLIL, cf. Haas 2007: 33ff. For our context we should also note the importance the above French quotation attaches to observing grammatical gender. In both my translations, from French and from Latin, I have taken the liberty of interpreting the masculine forms and words with prominent male connotations as generically masculine and made them clearly inclusive.

1

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Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

culty of the ancient languages was often glorified for its own sake and hardships were imposed intentionally, so that learning them became a veritable male puberty rite with flogging etc. (cf. Haas 2007: 35). Simultaneously, the competence of women in modern languages was dismissed as mere prattle. The dominance of the ancient languages also greatly delayed and impeded the academic study of the modern languages. The latter were then forced into the Procrustean bed of Latin grammar, and the Modern Philologies were modelled on “Classical” Philology. By the late 19th century, however, it was no longer possible to close one’s eyes to the demand for a deeper knowledge of modern languages, above all French and English, in large sectors of society and a variety of professions. The Reform Movement (Neusprachliche Reformbewegung) rightly criticised the academic limitations, but the gender stereotypes seriously interfered with the realisation of the insights. Modern language education, especially English, and practical, in particular oral, competence were most closely associated with the girls’ schools, which had not yet attained state organisation and recognition. In the extreme, there were the following opponents: a university-educated Gymnasium teacher, able to edit an Old English manuscript and proud of his learning, but unable to make himself understood abroad, on the one hand; on the other, a woman teacher, who had been taught modern languages in girls’ school and seminary training, who had spent some time as a governess in the target countries and had broadened her mind by reading journals and books in German and other modern languages. The clash was the harder, as both parties desperately tried to make inroads into the domains of the other. Women fought against the blatant discrimination and for full admission to higher education and corresponding rights. The male Gymnasium teachers pushed into the girls’ schools, as these had reached considerable dimensions by the last decades of the 19th century and offered an alternative in the periodic phases of vacancy shortage in the boys’ Gymnasiums. In accordance with the widely accepted binary gender ideology not so few women argued that teaching, including the higher levels, was an extension of the domestic role of the mother, to which women were so excellently suited, as it was their “natural” destination. The male side fought with no holds barred: from arrogant dismissal to absurd theorising. One of the most notorious examples, carrying the association of women with emotions and irrationality to the extreme, was Über den physiologischen Schwachsinn des Weibes by the neurologist and psychiatrist Paul Julius Möbius from 1900, often reprinted. After the reform of the girls’ schools and the admission of women to university studies, the calumnies against the Women’s Movement and intellectual female endeavours – if possible – increased even further, although many forms of discrimination against women teachers continued anyway, such as less pay, poor career prospects and the proviso that on marriage women had to end their teaching career (the so-called Zölibatsklausel). Not by chance were a substantial number of the founders of the Deutscher Bund zur Bekämpfung der Frauenemanzipation in 1910 Gymnasium teachers (but the association also had female members). In other words, there was an extreme feminisation debate. Feminisation can be defined variously, but in the context of ideological struggles it usually has the bias of implying that women are getting numerical preponderance and

feminisation debates

48

negative consequences of binary thought

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

thus dominance in areas that have so far and for good reasons been male domains. Such debates have since then surfaced again and again, and not by chance with a focus on the teaching profession. The stereotypes have adapted to the changed situation: mathematics, sciences and technology now function as the “hard masculine” opposites to the “soft feminine” languages/arts. Far too long, too few women and women-friendly men realised that the bipolar ideologies by themselves already suffice to legitimise discrimination against women (and other groups as well). Despite various idealisations, for instance of the child, in the end the feminine side of the binaries counts less, as becomes particularly clear with the gender pay gap. In 1841, Friedrich List already pinpointed the absurdity that the classic economic school accepted the raising of pigs as productive work but not the raising of children (Haas 2007: 30). The same basic valuations underlie the following reasoning of the Littleton School Committee (Massachusetts) from 1849, although it adorns them with references to God and nature: God seems to have made woman peculiarly suited to guide and develop the infant mind, and it seems […] very poor policy to pay a man 20 or 22 dollars a month, for teaching children the ABCs, when a female could do the work more successfully at one third of the price. (PBS Online)

Women’s “natural” talents and nurturing are seen as far inferior (“one third”!) to masculine rationality. In its “Report on the Training of Teachers” of 1925, the English Education Board was even more outspoken. It described elementary teaching as “a field of effort for a girl of average intellectual capacity and normal maternal instincts”, and, simultaneously, identified “a feeling that for a man to spend his life teaching children of school age is to waste it in doing easy and not very valuable work, he would not do it if fit to do anything else” (quoted from Kelleher 2011: 17). Though usually better camouflaged, such devaluations continue together with the gender dichotomies to this very day. 3. recent feminisation debates

The Present Situation

In the backlash contexts of recent years, feminisation debates have flared up again, fuelled by research documenting various forms of underachievement on the part of boys. Since caricatures often bring out popular beliefs, let’s take a closer look at the message of the illustration from the beginning of this chapter. Here, schools are equated with women teachers, and they dull, it is explicitly claimed, the minds of the boys. The “school ma’ams” isolate them and reduce them to tears, while filling the girls with enthusiasm. They are unable or unwilling to teach the boys adequately and lack an interest in pivotal, masculine subjects like technology (preferring, we may add, languages instead) – to great national detriment. Their authority appears as ugly and insidious, and there are various further undertones of a world turned upside down, “perversions” of “natural” order. Red high heels and nail polish cannot make the teacher attractive nor are the girls pretty, in contrast to the sweet little boy. He seems to be very young, much younger

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Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

than the crowd of girls, which may not be really consistent but effectively evokes the ancient dyad of little child and maternal teacher. The caricature is by the distinguished US artist Daniel Adel, and his brilliance shows in the amusement he creates. What is, nonetheless, annoying is the degree to which the binaries can still be turned against women and feminism (particularly in the blunt and manipulative dossier advertised by the cover). The basic message still is that men’s subjects rank higher, that female teachers are less competent or simply incompetent and that, in the end, women are inferior to men. Let’s better turn to statistics. Unfortunately, the federal statistical office (Statistisches Bundesamt) does not differentiate according to subjects with regard to the regular teaching staff. It does so only for the candidates of the second state exam; the successful ones, to be precise. So let’s first have a look at them. This has at least the bonus of focussing on the new generation. In the school year 2014-15, the female percentages among these candidates of English were as follows for the main divisions: Primary school teaching

96 %

Combination of primary and lower secondary school teaching

90 %

Lower secondary school teaching

76 %

Upper secondary school teaching/Gymnasium (excl. voc. schools)

73 %

Total

78 %

Table 1:

statistics: second state exam

Female percentage among second state exam candidates of English (cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2015: 470)

Ergo: an extreme 96 % with primary school teachers, decreasing over the various higher levels, but still 73 % for the Gymnasium. The overall female average in English, 78 %, is also slightly higher than the overall female average for all subjects, which is 73 %. In these respects, English might be called a female domain, and such assessments are, indeed, often made. An instance is the recent brochure Schulen auf einen Blick of the federal statistical office. Giving diagrams for the ratios in the regular staff of all the types of schools and also differentiating between the individual German states, it claims that this shows to what degree education and teaching are shaped (“geprägt”) by women or men (2014: 44). However, let’s take the Gymnasium as our example and have a closer look. In the school year 2014-15, the numbers of the regular Gymnasium staff across the subjects were as follows:

statistics: Gymnasium teachers

50

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

Men

72,284

Women

101,323

Total

173,607

Table 2: Regular Gymnasium staff (cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2015: 536)

This means that women constitute 58 %, which does not seem a great preponderance. If we take the full-time Gymnasium staff on their own, we get a somewhat different picture than with the total: here it is the men who numerically outweigh the women: 54 : 46 %. The raw numbers for the full-time Gymnasium teachers: Men

59,057

Women

51,151

Total

110,208

Table 3: Full-time Gymnasium staff (cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2015: 536)

In both cases, (the regular staff and full-time staff), the differences are not really high. This changes, however, substantially if we turn to the part-time Gymnasium staff: 79 % of the Gymnasium part-timers are female. Conversely, only 21 % of the Gymnasium part-timers are male. 79 % is a very high proportion indeed. The raw numbers: Men

13,227

Women

50,172

Total

63,399

Table 4: Part-time Gymnasium staff (cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2015: 536) 57 % of the female Gymnasium teachers part-timers

If we compare the numbers of women working full- and part-time, we find almost as many part-timers as full-timers: 50,172 : 51,151. The statistical office has an additional category, which it does not seem to consider regular staff: teachers employed on an hourly basis, who, according to its definition, teach less than half of the full-time hours and also include Referendare (trainee teachers). Most of us probably would categorise them as part-time as well or at least draw the demarcation differently, unless the category comprises in the main Referendare, as seems to be the case. At any rate, if we add the 16,691 women of the category “by hour” to the part-timers, then this total of women not working full-time considerably exceeds those who do: 66,863 : 51,151; which means 57 % of the total female Gymnasium staff

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Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

do not work full-time. (On the male side the corresponding relations are 21,035 : 59,057; or 26 %). Do the high numbers of women teachers at the Gymnasium mean that they teach many more lessons than their male colleagues? No. Even if we include the “by hour” teachers, women’s proportion of the hours taught per week is just 57 % (cf. Statistisches Bundesamt 2015: 588). So, will they really be able to exert the decisive influence that the brochure of the statistical office suggests? In all likelihood not, as we must also take into account that the great majority of Gymnasium heads are male and that male preponderance – numerical and actual – continues at the most influential levels of university and administration. How shall we interpret the fact that a majority – 57 % – of the female Gymnasium teachers do not work full-time? As bearing out the widely held view and the hope of many female students of English that teaching, and in particular language teaching, is the profession that best allows combining intellectually challenging work and motherhood? There are many aspects to this. Part-time employment usually is not career-enhancing, especially if it is considered as lack of commitment or lack of career orientation. Do teachers more adhere to traditional role clichés than women who choose other professions? According to the above statistics, the Gymnasium teachers certainly are a long way from evenly sharing domestic tasks. But how far are women’s concessions disadvantageous for them and behind the times, how far a deliberate refusal to be completely absorbed by their profession? Unfortunately, the results of research on the maternal wall and motherhood penalty – currently important foci in sociology – may prove rather sobering. The terms refer to discrimination against mothers and the finding that being a mother specifically, not just being a woman or a parent, leads to lower income. The pay gap between equally qualified women with and without children may even be larger than between women and men (Correll et al. 2007: 1297). What we should not ignore either is that the education system heavily relies on part-timers and financially profits from the situation. So, if high numbers of part-timers lower the prestige of a profession, the authorities are to blame as well, which, in addition, often expect teachers to step in for subjects they did not study or employ experts without teacher training. 4.

Summary

As we have seen, critical awareness and sensitivity to gender issues are in the personal interest of (future) English teachers. But they are also an obligation with a view to their pupils. Gender is a key organising principle in society – always present though not always apparent – and schools are important transmitters of dominant culture, both through the official and the hidden curriculum. Teachers of English are in a fortunate position for a critique of the clichés and stereotypes, as their subject is language, the central tool of the mind. They have not only their local tongue and culture, but through their expert knowledge of English they have privileged access to advanced global discourses. For the central stereotype of this chapter we have seen the enormous impact of power constellations, which in the course of time have

discussion

52

Renate Haas, University of Kiel, Germany

led to greater or lesser modifications in it. Though seemingly clear-cut, the clichés and stereotypes are ambiguous and often self-contradictory (cf. e.g. medieval Latin, though still living as the “lingua academica”, nevertheless not a female domain). The claim that languages are women’s business often implies that they have a special talent, but without duly differentiating for the various sectors of language and language teaching and without considering the role of self-fulfilling prophecy on the part of the teachers themselves, of their pupils, parents and the broad public. Critique of gender binaries continues to be necessary in order to clearly document continuing discrimination against women. But women are not the only ones suffering discrimination nor are all of them affected in the same way or to the same degree, as we have just seen in connection with the motherhood penalty. In various respects, female Gymnasium teachers may have more in common with their male colleagues than with primary teachers of their own sex, etc. Therefore, it is important to get beyond binaries through a much more complex analysis; otherwise the critique may itself contribute to (re-)essentialisation. This also applies to the issue of role models for male and female pupils, which plays an important part in contemporary feminisation debates. Merely increasing the male staff is not enough if being a “real boy” means being in opposition to the feminine and to versions of masculinity that are branded as feminised. It is necessary to look deeper and to conceptualise the complexity of pupil identity formation in the context of school as a cultural space in which relations of power – including sexualities – are produced, reproduced and negotiated. This means to focus more clearly on the qualities and competences of the good English teacher, which have been neglected in recent decades with their focus on learners/learner orientation, and to elaborate ELT in gender respects in order to professionalise it in a critical, up-to-date sense. In this chapter you have seen that the proverbial categorisation of language teaching as a “woman’s job”, though seemingly making a big claim in favour of women, is quite ambivalent and can easily be turned against them. It is too vague, because many aspects such as inclinations, talents, competences, influence, prestige, etc. would need to be considered. Numerical preponderance does not necessarily mean greater impact or high esteem. We have traced the development of the stereotype within a web of interdependences, focussing on the main lines of European educational history, the role of languages, of written traditions and orality as well as the professionalisation process. Important insights have been that, across history, the stereotype has been used for discrimination, that it is basic for teachers to analyse the power mechanisms in which they are entangled, and that Gender Studies provide helpful concepts and methods. Review – Reflect – Research 1.

Reconsider your answers to the pre-reading questions. Are there things that you view differently now? Which aspects can you add?

Language Teaching – a “Woman’s Job”, a Semi-Profession or a Profession?

2. 3. 4.

Which qualities and competences do you think distinguish a good teacher? Can you find anything about your school and university teachers that you would like to imitate or avoid by all means? Which characteristics of a good teacher have you encountered in pedagogy, ELT or another subject? What do you think of them? Analyse them critically against the backdrop of this chapter. For recent research, you may perhaps want to consult the special number “Der Fremdsprachenlehrer im Fokus” of Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen (2014) 43: 1, paying also attention to the editor’s and authors’ awareness of gender issues.

Further Reading Suggestions Kelleher, Fatimah (2011). Women and the Teaching Profession: Exploring the Feminisation Debate. London: Commonwealth Secretariat & Paris: UNESCO. Königs, Frank G. (ed.) (2014). Themenschwerpunkt: Der Fremdsprachenlehrer im Fokus. Fremdsprachen Lehren und Lernen 43: 1, 3-108. Terhart, Ewald; Bennewitz, Hedda & Rothland, Martin (eds.) (2014). Handbuch der Forschung zum Lehrerberuf (2nd ed.). Münster: Waxmann.

53

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain? Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

In this chapter you will get to know Fremdsprachendidaktik as an academic discipline and some of its characteristics in particular in regards to gender issues. You will learn about the beginnings of the discipline, its expansion and consolidation. Gender issues have been dealt with in a particular way early on and are reflected in today’s agents of the discipline. After some characteristic factors have been established, you will be presented with the results of a survey on the living and working conditions of professors in the field, particularly in view of the increasingly competitive nature of the current academic system and work-familyissues. It will be argued that in general Fremdsprachendidaktik is sensitive to gender issues, but that each individual has to develop coping strategies in the process of professionalisation.

Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

0.

What is Fremdsprachendidaktik and what is the aim of this discipline? How long has the discipline existed? What are its international counterparts? Take a guess: what is the male/female ratio among professors in Germany (across all disciplines and in Fremdsprachendidaktik)? What is the male/female ratio among foreign language students/doctoral students? From your point of view, is there anything like a “female” discipline? If so, what are its characteristics? „Research or parenthood“: Do you think a job in research is a familyfriendly workplace? The Beginnings and Expansion of Fremdsprachendidaktik as an Academic Discipline

This article reflects on Fremdsprachendidaktik as an academic discipline in Germany, which is peculiar in several respects. Fremdsprachendidaktik is concerned with research as well as with the development of theory and methodology in the field of (institutional) foreign language teaching and learning. As such it is part of teacher training programmes at universities. Since it does not have an international equivalent, Fremdsprachendidaktik has been called “a strange species” from an outside perspective (Schmenk 2015:

56

institutionalisation of Fremdsprachendidaktik

English as a compulsory foreign language

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

5), whose different fields of study would be covered by Applied Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, Education, Curriculum Development or the individual philologies in the Anglophone world. Looking at the agents of the discipline, Fremdsprachendidaktik can also be called “a strange species” in terms of gender issues. In comparison to other academic fields, the large proportion of female staff is particularly salient. While obviously I do not mean to say that this female bias is to be equated with strangeness, it brings about a number of specific questions within a male-dominated academic system. Even though the tradition of thinking about the teaching and learning of foreign languages dates back much longer, Fremdsprachendidaktik was only institutionalised as an academic discipline after World War II. The emergence of a new field of study was the result of the increasing differentiation of disciplines prevailing in the late 19th century. First, the new philologies were differentiated into individual modern languages (English Studies, French Studies, German Studies). Later they were divided into the fields of literature and linguistics (cf. Doff 2008: 40). With the expansion of each philology, new academic fields were institutionalised. For example, American Studies emerged next to English Studies. The domain of Cultural Studies prospered as of the 1960s. Later, the New English Literatures and Cultures, i.e. African, Asian, Caribbean, or Oceanic Studies came into existence as innovative fields of study. Nevertheless, the development of Fremdsprachendidaktik was not only driven by an internal differentiation of academic disciplines, it was also influenced by decisions in education policy on the role of foreign languages in school. With the expansion of English, which became the compulsory foreign language for any school type (including Hauptschule, the most elementary tier within the tripartite German school system) in the mid-1960s, the need for qualified teachers increased accordingly. As a consequence, a central task of Fremdsprachendidaktik was the conception of research-based and academic training programmes for language teachers in view of the different objectives and capacities of the three tiers of the German school system. While initially this teacher training was offered at specific colleges/universities of education (Pädagogische Hochschulen), Fremdsprachendidaktik was integrated into the universities on a larger scale as of the 1970s. One central demand that was voiced by the journal editors of Die Deutsche Schule (The German School) was that no university should offer the study of a discipline (e.g. English Studies), which has a corresponding subject in school (e.g. English), without having a teacher training chair of equal value to the traditional philological disciplines Literary Studies, Linguistics, and, later, Cultural Studies: Es sollten an keiner Hochschule und Universität Fachwissenschaften gelehrt werden, zumal wenn sie gleichzeitig Schul- und damit Massenfächer vertritt, ohne gleich-rangige Lehrstühle für die Didaktik des Faches neben sich zu haben. (Blumenthal et al. 1968: 217 cited as of Doff 2008: 187)

university chairs for teacher training

From a more conservative point of view, the establishment of teacher training chairs as part of the philologies was met with reservation, in particular concerning the education of teachers for the German Gymnasium, i.e. for the top tier of the German school system, which in turn prepares its graduates

57

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

for university entrance. Hence, the beginnings of Fremdsprachendidaktik at university were marked by a tension between the traditional philological disciplines and the domain of teacher training. Conservative forces made sure to exert a decisive influence by way of examination regulations, which depreciated the theory and methodology of foreign language teaching and supported the dominance of Literary Studies, Linguistics and Cultural Studies. Schröder (2004: 50) is convinced that as a result, Gymnasium teachers receive a less profound preparation for their profession1. In spite of these developments, Fremdsprachendidaktik had managed to establish itself as a reasonably respected academic discipline with increasing political influence by the end of the 1970s. 1.

A First Phase of Consolidation

The period between the late 1970s and 1990s is understood as a phase of consolidation of Fremdsprachendidaktik although this is not necessarily characterised by a linear development. The 1980s saw a saturated labour market for teachers and consequently decreasing student numbers in the field, which in turn led to serious budget and resources cuts in the departments focusing on the theory and methodology of (foreign language) teaching. Hence, the 1980s have also been described as a phase of stagnation. Critical views on the capacities of the discipline remained. Reasons for the denial of acceptance of Fremdsprachendidaktik as a proper academic field were seen in the strong focus on one particular profession (teacher training) as well as in the less prestigious formal qualifications of executive academics, who were able to pursue a university career without having to obtain a postdoctoral qualification (Habilitation). Critical opinions were also voiced from an inside perspective, for example in the field of Teaching English as Foreign Language, accusing the members of the discipline of conservatism, a preoccupation with their newly-acquired privileges, little exercise of influence on the discourse in education policy and a limited view of language teaching and learning focusing on school contexts only (cf. Doff 2008: 191). Despite these unfavourable circumstances, the process of consolidation continued and was also reflected in the development of organisational structures on a national level. Academics in the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik upheld their bi-annual meetings, which – after an initial meeting in 1953 – had taken place regularly since the early 1960s (for a precise documentation of the activities see Sauer, no date, as well as Doff 2008: 194f. and 202ff.). During the unstable 1980s, members of the discipline organised the representation of their interests by means of a resolution (Manifest zur FremdspraThe original quotation reads: „Für die konservativen Kräfte innerhalb der Philologischen Fakultäten drohte damit ein Damm zu brechen; sie stellten […] in der Folgezeit über Lehramtsprüfungsordungen sicher, dass das fachdidaktische Element im gymnasialen Ausbildungsgang mit geringeren Stundenkontingenten ausgestattet wird als der Bereich der Haupt- und Realschule bzw. der Sekundarstufe I, so dass sich die heute noch vorhandene absurde Situation entsteht, dass nämlich die zukünftigen Gymnasiallehrer im Bereich der Universität berufspropädeutisch schlechter ausgebildet werden als die Lehrerschaft der Sekundarstufe I“ (Schröder 2004: 50)

1

Fremdsprachendidaktik as a proper academic discipline?

organisational structures: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung

58

gender issues in the DGFF

professorships in Fremdsprachendidaktik in the 1990s

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

chendidaktik und ihrer gegenwärtigen Lage, 10. Arbeitstagung der Fremdsprachendidaktiker Aachen 1983), which states the need for continuous researchbased improvement of (primarily) institutional foreign language teaching as the main objective. Eventually, the efforts culminated in the foundation of the German Association of Foreign Language Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung) in 1989, which can again be interpreted as a sign of the solidification and has contributed to the development of an increasingly research-based, empirical discipline2. A closer look at the managerial structures of the German Association of Foreign Language Research provides a first insight into gender issues of this discipline, which will be elaborated later on (cf. part 4). Right from the start, this research association documents equal co-determination and efforts to fulfil gender equity. While there initially was a male chair (Prof. Dr. Werner Hüllen), the position of the vice chair was taken by a female professor (Prof. Dr. Dorothea Möhle). With the exception of individual periods, where there was a male board of directors only, female professors were always involved. In turn, there were also periods, where the entire board of directors was female (cf. Sauer, no date). Yet, when looking at who is believed to have exerted the strongest influence in the discourse on Fremdsprachendidaktik there is a clear male bias. In his overview on the organisational structures of the discipline and its achievements, Vollmer (2015: 126) does not mention a single female professor among the group of highly appreciated colleagues who have contributed to the advancement of this field of study. While Vollmer’s judgement may represent an individual point of view that is not substantiated by empirical evidence, a more systematic study of the most influential monographs in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language between 1970 and 1989 similarly only contains one female (co-) author, namely Friederike Klippel (cf. Doff 2008: 231 and 335). A first survey of the institutional representation of Fremdsprachendidaktik in terms of professorial staff and research support was carried out in the 1990s by Zydatiß and Klippel (1998). They counted a total of 104 full professors in the field of foreign language teaching and learning, which covered English, German as a foreign language, French/the Romance languages and Russian (cf. table 1). While this number may sound quite substantial, one has to keep in mind that the notion of Fremdsprachendidaktik at the time was still very much that of an applied science. That is to say that many of the positions were professorships for Literary Studies or Linguistics that additionally had to cover aspects of teacher training (dual positions). Concerning the nonprofessorial staff, Zydatiß and Klippel observed that this was either permanent as a substitution to professorial staff (for example Studienrat im Hochschuldienst, Akademischer Rat, Lehrkraft für besondere Aufgaben) or basically non-existent. Across Germany, they counted less than 25 positions for research support or domain-specific academic qualifications (doctoral or postdoctoral studies) in the different languages.

Figures from a current survey (Viebrock 2015b) show that nowadays more than 95% of the projects of doctoral researchers in the field contain empirical research. 2

59

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

German as a FL

English

French

Russian

30

52

20

2

(26 dual positions)

(13 dual positions)

(4 Romance languages)

Table 1: Full professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik (foreign language teaching and learning) (Zydatiß & Klippel 1998: 112)

2.

Ongoing Criticism of the Discipline and Post-PISA Appreciation

Even though Fremdsprachendidaktik had been thoroughly established as a discipline and developed stable organisational structures over a period of fifty years, critical views of its achievements did not cease for quite some time. In 2001, the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat), an institution that, according to its “about-profile” on its website (http://www. wissenschaftsrat.de), “provides advice to the German Federal Government and the State (Länder) Governments on the structure and development of higher education and research”, issued a very critical judgement, which does not exclusively apply to teaching and learning of foreign languages, but also covers this field. Basically, the Council accuses any subject-specific teacher training programme/department of not being a proper academic discipline, of insufficient achievements in empirical research and of a problematic relationship to the corresponding field of study (e.g. English Studies or French Studies). Another allegation is concerned with the discipline’s focus on practical experiences, which is criticised on the basis of the assumption that the school curriculum is taken as a fixed constant and most important guideline here3. While certainly the Councils judgement is rather one-sided and does not demonstrate an informed insight into the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik, it is a good example of the tension that has accompanied the development of the discipline and its specific nature, which cannot always be grasped with the existing concepts. Coming full circle to the initial considerations on the peculiarities of Fremdsprachendidaktik as an academic discipline, the fact that there is no direct international equivalent also leads to a lack of internationally shared terminology, which is necessary to speak about a certain field and its achievements. One conclusion that has been drawn from this observation is that Fremdsprachendidaktik has to increase its efforts in the promotion of its research results, The original quotation reads: „Das Selbstverständnis der Fachdidaktik als wissenschaftliche Disziplin ist ungeklärt. Ihr Verhältnis zu den korrespondierenden Fachwissenschaften ist in weiten Teilen prekär und ihre Leistungen sind nicht befriedigend. Menge und Qualität fachdidaktischer empirischer Forschung werden insgesamt als eher spärlich beschrieben. Obwohl die Bezugspunkte der Fachdidaktik im jeweiligen Schulfach liegen, ist die korrespondierende Fachwissenschaft eher nur eine nominelle und legitimatorische Größe. Fachdidaktik im deutschen Verständnis ist so faktisch eine Art Betreuungsreflexion, die [...] Schulwissen als mit Lehrplänen und Lehrmitteln gegeben ansieht, [...] der Wissensdynamik aber [...] kaum Beachtung schenkt und größere Probleme der Popularisierung und gesellschaftlichen Didaktisierung von Wissen nicht erkennt“ (Wissenschaftsrat 2001: 27) 3

60

post-PISA appreciation of the discipline

professorships and staff in 2015

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

for example by means of establishing a Nationales Institut für Fremdsprachendidaktik (Vollmer 2015: 128), a national institute for foreign language teaching theory, methodology and research, which – quite ironically – would again have to struggle to find an appropriate English/international name. Despite all critical views and problems of international compatibility, Fremdsprachendidaktik was again more greatly appreciated in the wake of PISA, the Programme for International Student Assessment executed every three years as of 2000 by the OECD (cf. http://www.oecd.org/berlin/themen/pisainternationaleschulleistungsstudiederoecd.htm). Even though foreign language competences had not been tested by PISA (but by DESI, cf. Klieme 2006), the field of research on teaching and learning foreign languages, theory and methodology development profited from the general appreciation of teacher training departments as a result of these large-scale literacy studies. Nevertheless, one has to keep in mind that PISA did not solely focus on the improvement of educational deficits, but had much broader economic interests. The international comparison of the test results was also used to assess the human capital of a society and its economic potential. The fear of not being able to compete on a global market triggered a reorientation of the public discourse towards educational matters, which also affected the field of teaching and learning foreign languages and resulted in structural expansions and new perspectives on the content and orientation of training programmes. Schmenk (2015: 7), however, points out the fact that a greater appreciation of teacher training departments and an increase in the number of staff for educational reasons had been demanded from within the discipline even before, for example by Zydatiß and Klippel (1998), but this claim only gained momentum during the post-PISA developments4. The post-PISA appreciation of Fremdsprachendidaktik has also resulted in further expansions of the discipline when it comes to professorial staff and research support. In a replication study to Zydatiß and Klippel (1998), Grünewald and Verriere (2015) assess the number of professorial positions and research assistants (Mittelbau) for three modern languages (cf. table 2; in comparison to the original study, German as a foreign language and Russian were not assessed). In 2015, the total number of professors in English, French, and Spanish adds up to 111, with 70 professors in the field of English and 41 in the field of Romance languages. Apart from an increase of more than 50% compared to the figures from 1998, where there were 52 professors of Fremdsprachendidaktik in the field of English and 20 in the field of Romance languages, a further differentiation can be observed: While in the initial study, several Romance languages are covered by one professorship, in the replication study six individual professorships for French and four for Spanish can be found. An appreciation of disciplines engaged in teacher training could also be seen in the increased amount of research funds available, for example Qualitätsoffensive Lehrerbildung 2014 (http://www.bmbf.de/de/21697.php, 3/20/2016), Empirische Fundierung der Fachdidaktiken 2008-2010 (http://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/12340.php) or Sprachliche Bildung und Mehrsprachigkeit 2012 (http://www.bmbf.de/foerderungen/20319.php), all issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. But for all that, it is also true that many of these funding options were not acquired by members of the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik. The reasons for this cannot be discussed in detail at this point.

4

61

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

English

French

Spanish

70

(6)

(4) 41

Table 2: Professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik (foreign language teaching and learning) (Grünewald & Verriere 2015: 22f.)

Moreover, the growth of Fremdsprachendidaktik in terms of professorial positions is accompanied by an expansion of non-professorial staff accordingly. In the field of English, Grünewald and Verriere (2015: 24f.) document almost 50 full-time equivalents of research support positions, which in fact signify up to 100 part-time positions, 75% of which are used for doctoral qualifications and 25% for postdoctoral studies. Though comparatively lower, the number in the Romance languages denotes a similar development. Grünewald and Verriere count 22 full-time equivalents of research support positions, which in fact signify up to 44 part-time positions. The professor/research support-ratio is relatively better in the field of English with the equivalent of one full-time position (100%) per professor as opposed to 70% of a full-time position per professor in the Romance languages. In addition to research staff, there is also a considerable amount of supplementary, often permanent staff whose main function is the supervision of practical studies (teaching experience) and the supplement of the course programme. 3.

Gender Issues and Other Characteristics of the Members of the Discipline

Exploring the male/female ratio among the professors in the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik, there seems to be a relatively fair distribution, where gender justice has been achieved. Apart from the Romance languages, where the amount of females is slightly lower than 50%, it is slightly higher than 50% in the other languages (cf. table 3). This amount is particularly remarkable when compared with the mean value of female professors across all academic disciplines, which is 19.9% (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz 2013: 16, figures from 2011). German as a foreign language 29m

31f

English 31m

32f

French/Spanish 14m

13f

Others 4m

5f

Table 3: Male and female professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik (Viebrock 2015a: 47)5

5 The total numbers of professors are slightly lower than the ones counted by Grünewald and Verriere (2015). This can be explained with a different period of data col-

male/female ratio of professors

62 relative gender justice

empirical study of professional demands and worklife-balance

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Nonetheless, the relative gender justice is put into perspective when taking into consideration the numbers of female students and doctoral students in the philologies. There are no specific statistics available for Fremdsprachendidaktik alone, but the general figures are a fair approximation. More than three quarters of all philology students are female (76.6%), whereas their number has decreased by more than 20 percentage points for the doctoral students (55.8%). For the postdoctoral qualification, there is another decrease by more than 10 percentage points, which means that 42.9% of all postdoctoral students in the field are female (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz 2013: 10f.). Of course, it is important to keep in mind that the postdoctoral qualification has lost some of its importance with the introduction of assistant professorships (Juniorprofessur). The figures on assistant professors are slightly inconclusive: The amount of female professors across all disciplines is 38%, which is rather positive as compared to the abovementioned less than 20% of all professors. Presumably, in the philologies the figures are even higher. In Fremdsprachendidaktik, a study on the living and working conditions of professors in the field shows that around 70% of the assistant professorships are female appointments (cf. Viebrock 2015a), but the sample is too small to draw serious conclusions. Nevertheless, on the one hand it is safe to say that there is a significant decrease of females with each level of qualification, which is indicative of a “glass ceiling effect” (Cotter et al. 2001), i.e. greater gender disadvantages in the top levels of a hierarchy. Compared to the number of female graduates and doctoral students in the philologies, the proportion of female professors should even be higher than 50%. Yet on the other hand it would almost be possible to speak of Fremdsprachendidaktik as a female-dominated discipline. Compared to the numbers across all disciplines, the percentage of female professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik is undoubtedly salient. Based on the question which specific issues a discipline with a comparatively large amount of female professors faces in a male-dominated academic system, I carried out an online survey between July and September 2014, which was administered to 153 professors of Fremdsprachendidaktik, to learn about their perspectives on their discipline, the demands of a professorship in this particular field as well as issues of work-life-balance. The response rate of 30% of the given population is satisfactory in statistical terms, but one has to bear in mind that the absolute figures remain relatively low: For the analysis I could draw on 47 complete questionnaires (by 20 males and 27 females). The data was analysed with descriptive statistics (frequencies, means, cross tabulation, chi²) in SPSS 22 and LimeSurvey. Some bivariate statistics (t-test) have also been included, but given the small sample size all results have to be interpreted with great care. In general, the bivariate statistics support the tendencies visible in the descriptive statistics, but do not reach statistical significance. In total, the survey comprised of 50 questions in eight topical areas (professional biography, working conditions, mobility, family situation, child care, care of older family members, work-family-balance and profeslection as well as the different categories of professors (Universities of Applied Sciences, dual positions) that were included in Grünewald and Verriere and not included in Viebrock (2015a).

63

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

sional development). For the purpose of this article I will focus on issues concerning work-life-balance (cf. for example Collatz & Gudat 2011)6. Results concerning other aspects have been documented and discussed in Viebrock (2015a). While Fremdsprachendidaktik is characterised by a large amount of female professors, in many cases this also involves family issues: 48.5% of the female professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik are mothers (compared to an average of 38.0% across all subjects (BMBF 2010: 6)), whereas 55.0% of the male professors in the field are fathers (compared to an average of 66.0% across all subjects (BMBF 2010: 6)). The majority of the parents have two children (female respondents 46%, male respondents 60%), but a comparatively large number also have three children (almost one third of both male and female respondents). This is interesting in comparison to the general figures provided by the Statistisches Bundesamt (2012: 8), which show that in 2012, 31% of all mothers had one child, 48% two children, 15% three children and 6% four or more children. The demands of the work field and their perceived incompatibility with family obligations as well as economic considerations are often considered to be the reasons for a decrease of the birth rate, which has been described as a problem in society as a whole. A comparison of figures on the childlessness of females between 40-44 years of age shows that there is a rise of ten percentage points between 1990 (12% childlessness in the respective age group) and 2012 (22%) (Statistisches Bundesamt 2012: 31). The figures of childlessness of female university graduates between 45-49 years of age are even higher: 28% (Statistisches Bundesamt 2012: 35) as opposed to around 20% among non-university graduates in that age group. General societal developments are amplified in the academic context, where there might be additional pressure due to non-permanent contracts, unstable career perspectives and the like. These developments have also triggered a number of large-scale studies that explore the specific situation at university and tackle the question whether it is possible to balance out an academic career and parenthood (Lind 2008) or whether these are exclusionary options (Metz-Göckel 2009). Many of my findings on the perspectives of female professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik and their strategies of coping with the requirements of the profession are in line with the results of these large-scale studies. The majority of the respondents of my survey live in dual career constellations. 75% of the partners work in a variety of professions, most of them fulltime. The professors also state they work full-time, which on average means a 54.5 hour week during term time (sd 9.8) and a 44.2 hour week during the semester break (sd 10.8). What is also thought-provoking at this point is the relatively large standard deviation, i.e. there is a great variation in what is perceived as full-time. While for some respondents this means they work a 38 hour week on average during term time, for others this means an 80 hour week on average. The minimum working hours during the semester break are a 20 hour week as opposed to a maximum of an 80 hour week. InterestThe notion of work-life-balance is admittedly not without controversy. The debate cannot be traced in detail here. For the purpose of this article, a general distinction between work-related demands and different kinds of private activities will suffice. 6

family issues

academic careers and parenthood

workload

64

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

ingly, when breaking up the figures for the sexes, the average workload of females even exceeds those of males (cf. table 4). Not surprisingly, the average weekly working hours of non-parents exceed those of parents with the most palpable difference of five hours per week during term time. An obvious conclusion that might be drawn from this is that family obligations limit the total amount of hours available for the profession, influence parents’ flexibility and possibly their level of energy (for a different perspective on this assumption cf. the quotation in part 4). Fathers reach a higher weekly workload in comparison to mothers, but none of the differences are statistically significant. In general, the difference in the average working hours of mothers and fathers can be seen in line with more traditional patterns in the distribution of family obligations, which has been proved by Lind (2008) and Metz-Göckel (2009) and is affirmed in my study, where all mothers ensured to be primarily in charge of child care activities, whereas all fathers stated that their partner, thus the children’s mother, would be mainly responsible. males

females

parents

nonparents

fathers

mothers

term time

53.9

55.3

52.1

57.0

53.5

51.0

semester break

40.4

45.4

43.2

44.8

44.1

42.5

Table 4: Average weekly working hours of professors in the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik split up according to different categories

For parents, it would in many cases be more appropriate to speak of workfamily-balance instead of work-life-balance. Initially, parental leave is perceived as the most important measure for combining work and family obligations, which is made use of by 84% of the mothers and 18% of the fathers among the professors during the first year after a child is born. More than 50% continue to work during parental leave, usually between 25 and 50% of a full employment. This is true for both males and females, but many more females take parental leave in order to cope with their family obligations. When the children are older, a whole range of support measures (childminders, day care centres, kindergarten, family support etc.) is employed by parents in order to cope with the demands of integrating work and family obligations. The need to care for older family members is existent, too, but plays a minor role in my sample, which makes sense when looking at the comparatively young average age of the respondents (more than half are younger than 45), whose parents are presumably also comparatively young. 4. distribution of work duties

Professional Activities of Professors

Before analysing the mutual influences of work demands and family obligations, it is important to have a look at the professional activities of professors in the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik. Inspired by Richard Scarry’s (1968)

65

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

very charming children’s book “What do people do all day?” which explains the different jobs to children, I wanted to know what professors do all day. In accordance with its year of publication, Scarry’s descriptions are slightly old-fashioned from today’s point of view: Men are dentists, newspaper editors, automobile salesmen, firefighters and the like; women are housewives, shop assistants or music teachers at best. They are certainly not professors! In my survey I asked my professor colleagues to distribute a certain percentage of their work duties over each of the following activities: administration and meetings, teaching, publications, talks and conferences, third-party funding, in-service teacher training/school co-operations, supervising other people’s research, one’s own research, managerial capacities/functions, and other activities. For every individual, these activities could not exceed 100%. What becomes clear from table 5 is a certain hierarchy of activities professors are occupied with. Among these activities, teaching and administration/meetings rank highest, but there is a very high standard deviation, i.e. a high variation between individual professors. While some only spend 5% of their work force on teaching, others spend more than 50%. What is also interesting is that ‘other activities’ (unfortunately, I did not ask which activities) feature strongly for some people, who spend half of their time on things not specified in the selection of activities, while the occupations of others are completely covered by what is offered in the list. In-service teacher-training and school co-operation have a (surprisingly?) low ranking, which is interesting when thinking about the relevance that is attached to practical experiences as a school teacher in the process of pursuing an academic career in Fremdsprachendidaktik. In many cases, it is seen as an important prerequisite for professorial positions (cf. Viebrock 2015a). Activity

mean value

standard deviation

min

max

teaching

22.61

10.16

5

55

administration and meetings

20.48

11.11

5

55

other activities

13.29

13.85

0

50

publications

11.45

5.21

3

20

one’s own research

11.34

7.39

2

35

supervising other people’s research

10.82

6.97

0

40

third-party funding

7.32

3.55

2

18

talks and conferences

7.29

3.81

1

20

in-service teacher training/

5.16

2.9

0

10

managerial capacities/functions

3.98

4.19

0

20

school co-operations

Table 5: What do professors in Fremdsprachendidaktik do all day?

It is also surprising that the acquisition of funding ranks comparatively low, and according to the small standard deviation, this seems to be the case for

66

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

most researchers alike. This is particularly interesting when thinking about the value that is attached to this domain in the academic system. In my survey I also asked which professional activities are most appreciated at their institution from the respondents’ points of view (cf. illustration 1). While this is not to say that they also engage in these activities according to the perceived value, it does not come as a surprise that the acquisition of funding is mentioned most often, followed by publications and the completion of one’s own research activities. Teaching ranks in the middle, while conferences, inservice teacher training and managerial capacities (e.g. a function in a research association) are only mentioned in individual cases and rank very low.

14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

males

females

Illustration 1: Most appreciated professional activities in current academic system as perceived by males/females

When comparing the responses to this question by males and females, it becomes clear that in general they follow a similar pattern. What is interesting, however, is that females see many activities appreciated less than males. This becomes particularly obvious in the category ‘one’s own research’, which is perceived as being highly valued by half of the male respondents, but by less than a fifth of the female respondents. Again, the rather low absolute figures have to born in mind here, yet the perceived devaluation of their own research seems to be indicative of socially constructed traits of character usually attributed to females (such as unassumingness, false modesty). In addition, they might be an expression of personal experiences with a male-dominated academic system, which has not appreciated these women’s research activities (for example in salary negotiations or the competitive appropriation of funding). Starting from the assumption that a professorial function with its long working hours and various activities that need to be covered is particularly demanding for those who also have to fulfil family obligations, I asked the question in my survey: How often do you feel impaired in your professional

67

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

performance by your family obligations? (cf. illustration 2). The results are particularly telling when split up in male and female perspectives (cf. illustration 2a): While less than a fifth of the male respondents feels always or often impaired, more than half of the female respondents do. This again could be interpreted as a sign of traditional gender roles, the constraints of a male-dominated academic system from a female point of view or the devaluation of female contributions to the profession. 8%

11% 4%

always often

11%

sometimes

33%

rarely never no answer

33% Illustration 2: Perceived amount of impairment of professional activities due to family obligations

males only 18%

females only 9% 9%

13%

6%

6%

9% 25%

9%

50%

46% Illustration 2a: Perceived amount of impairment of professional activities due to family obligations split up in males/females

68

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

The results of the question, which professional activities are reduced if they are incompatible with family obligations are shown in illustration 3. While it might be expected that such activities that include a lot of travelling and mobility (for example, talks and conferences) are trimmed down, it is slightly distressing that also those activities are reduced that are perceived as highly valued and also financially rewarded in today’s competitive academic system (for example, the acquisition of funding or publications). The professional activities that are upheld regardless of any diverting influences are teaching, the supervision of other people’s research as well as administration and meetings. In-service teacher training is also maintained, but this activity is limited to a very small part of the working duties in any case, which can probably not be further reduced. 16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

males

females

Illustration 3: Reduction of professional activities if incompatible with family obligations

I asked two further questions in my survey in regards to the respondents’ conscious choices in favour of or against certain career opportunities on account of their family obligations and the experience of any kind of discrimination for the same reason. Again, a comparison between male and female respondents is interesting (cf. illustrations 4 and 5). While the former more often state to have purposefully waived career opportunities, the latter more often declare to have experienced job-related disadvantages and gender bias. Which developmental limitations the respondents have had to put up with becomes clear in the free comments: “Active parenthood inevitably involves less mobility and hence no competitive job applications elsewhere. It leads to a reduction of activities concerning publications, conferences, and the acquisition of funding” (23m).7 Or: “During the first eight years of the My translation, the original quotations are in German. The code in brackets denotes the respondents’ ID provided by the survey tool as well as an indication of whether this person is male (m) or female (f). 7

69

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

life of our child I consciously refrained from trading my job as a school teacher for a position at university. In addition, I had reduced my working hours at school” (29m). males only

females only 12%

18%

19%

46%

36% 69% yes

no

yes

no answer

no

no answer

Illustration 4: Distribution of answers to the question “Have you purposefully waived any career opportunities on account of your family obligations?”

females only

males only

6% 27%

27% 38%

56% 46% yes

no

no answer

yes

no

no answer

Illustration 5: Distribution of answers to the question “Have you experienced any job-related instances of discrimination that you relate to your family obligations?”

70 effects of parenthood

demands of profession and family obligations

Britta Viebrock, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

One of the respondents is absolutely convinced that parenthood is an inevitable impairment in the current achievement-oriented and success-based academic system, as can be seen in his emphatic comment on the question above: “Of course I have experienced these instances [of a decreased competitive capacity, B.V.] since salary, bonuses and financial resources within the university are awarded competitively, and family work is not assessed as a performance feature” (41m). Other respondents specify the following examples of discrimination: “In the past I could not claim a scholarship I would have been entitled to because I was not flexible enough due to my children” (55f). Or: “During salary negotiations, my family allowance8 was included in my salary offer to make it look more voluminous. In addition, I suspect my bonus payments to be lower because of my family situation” (17f). While these examples are probably not the general rule, it is beyond doubt that a competitive work field may have negative consequences for those who have to combine their professional performance with family obligations. Aspects that are mentioned to be most stressful are the continuous pressure to perform as well as a lack of loyalty and understanding among colleagues. The demands of the profession are perceived as excessive. What is interesting at this point though is that the respondents do not only seem to struggle with external pressure, but particularly with their own expectations, which often seem to be disproportionate. Another stressful factor is of a logistical/practical nature: the lack of child-care opportunities that are compatible with the demands of profession (e.g. in terms of flexible opening times). While new, more accommodating models of child-care would certainly be helpful, other suggestions for improvement mainly focus on the weekly workload. In particular, part-time models for parents that are appreciated by society a s a whole and specific part-time models for male professors/ executives, which are perceived as not yet socially accepted, are wished for. Notwithstanding the general acceptance of part-time models for females/mothers, a reduction of the weekly workload is not considered to be a realistic option by the female respondents in my study, either: “Part-time options are not possible as in other professions” (66f). What parents in my study also wish for is a true understanding by their superiors, which ideally materialises in additional support and the compensation of job-related disadvantages. Interestingly, parents do not in general complain about the double burden of work demands and family obligations, but clearly relate their perception of disadvantages to the competitive academic system: I perceive the mutual interferences of my profession and family as unavoidable and I also see that I use one occupation to recover from the other one respectively. What I perceive as incriminatory is the fact that by taking an active parental role I am not fully competitive in the current academic system. My personal wish would be the consideration of an active parental role in appointment/salary negotiations (for example as a substitute to the need for

8 In Germany, the family allowance is an additional part of the income of anyone working in public service. It depends on the marital status and the number of children.

Fremdsprachendidaktik – a Female Domain?

acquiring third-party funding) or that additional research staff could be facilitated on the grounds of this. (23m)

5.

Summary

The previous considerations have shown that Fremdsprachendidaktik is an extraordinary discipline that does not always fit established categories in the academic system. It has a female bias if you look at the number of graduate and doctoral students. On the professorial level, there is a relatively even distribution of males and females, which again marks a female bias compared to the average amount of female professors across all disciplines. The relatively large number of mothers among the professors of Fremdsprachendidaktik is also salient. One conclusion that can be drawn from the data of the empirical study on the living and working conditions of professors in the field is that the integration of a professorship and parenthood seems to be possible in this discipline. But what also becomes unmistakably clear is that the competitive research system puts additional stress on parents. Integrating both work demands and family obligations can be a tough job (cf. also Aktionsrat Bildung 2014). In terms of professionalisation, Helsper’s (2004) theory of an antinomic structure of the profession is helpful. Originally developed in view of the work of school teachers, it can be easily transferred to the academic context. Helsper’s theory explains professionalism as the constant reflexive and situational equilibration of the antinomic structure of the work field. Antinomies indicate the numerous demands of the profession, which are all valid, but sometimes exclude or contradict each other and cannot be carried out simultaneously. Hence, the profession is characterised by a certain degree of impossibility. In turn, professional action includes finding a satisfactory balance between all these contradictory activities. The number of demands increases when family obligations are included: The integration of scholarship and parenthood or other family requirements is also characterised by antinomies and a certain degree of impossibility: “You never have as much time as you would like to have for either of them” (38w). At this point, a satisfactory balance is not only a question of professional relevance, but even has an ethical dimension, which denotes the researcher’s responsibility towards himself/herself and his/her personal environment (cf. Küster 2011: 139). All in all, the field of Fremdsprachendidaktik is likely to be sensitive to these aspects of work-life-balance and gender issues in general, but each individual will have to cope with the challenges according to his/her situation. Review – Reflect – Research 1.

Note down the different phases of Fremdsprachendidaktik as an academic discipline (beginnings, expansion, consolidation) and some of their characteristics.

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2. 3.

Consult the studies on academic careers and parenthood (BMBF 2010, Metz-Göckel 2009, Lind 2008). Collect information on their research design and their most important results and comment on both aspects. Against the information provided in this chapter, would you consider a job in Fremdsprachendidaktik a family-friendly workplace?

Further Reading Suggestions BMBF (2010). Kinder – Wunsch und Wirklichkeit in der Wissenschaft. Forschungsergebnisse und Konsequenzen. [Online: http://www.beruf-und-familie.de/system/ cms/data/dl_data/1b13137712ed7e6d1d46a15c26a2d451/BMBF_Kinder_Wunsch_ Wissenschaft.pdf, 3/20/2016]. Schön, Bärbel (2008). Grenz-Überschreitungen. Wege und Umwege zur pädagogischen Frauenforschung. In: Schlüter, Anne (ed.). Erziehungswissenschaftlerinnen in der Frauen- und Geschlechterforschung. Opladen: Budrich, 135-159. Viebrock, Britta (2015a). W wie Wertschätzung? W wie Wettbewerb? W wie Wahnsinn? Wie sich die Fremdsprachendidaktik zur Erfolgsorientierung im System Wissenschaft verhält. In: Doff, Sabine & Grünewald, Andreas (eds.). Wechsel-Jahre. Wandel und Wirken in der Fremdsprachendidaktik. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 45-60. Vollmer, Helmut Johannes (2015). Zur Organisation fremdsprachendidaktischen Wissens. In: Doff, Sabine & Grünewald, Andreas (eds.). Wechsel-Jahre. Wandel und Wirken in der Fremdsprachendidaktik. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier, 113-130.

Chapter III

Gender and the Learner

Female Language Learners Then – and Now? A Historical Perspective on Gender and Foreign Language Learning1 Sabine Doff, University of Bremen, Germany

In this chapter you will learn about the history of foreign language teaching in institutional contexts in Germany which were clearly defined by the learners’ gender well into the 20th century. Whereas modern foreign languages played a negligible role for most of the 19th century in contexts of higher education for boys, making conversation in French and English was traditionally considered to be an integral part of a ‘proper’ education for ‘higher’ daughters (i.e. daughters of the upper classes), in line with playing an instrument or doing needlework. Thus modern foreign languages had an important status at higher girls’ schools (höhere Mädchenschulen), a school type which was nationalised and became very prominent in Germany during the last third of the 19th century. Choosing content and matching methodology, as well as defining objectives with regard to learning (about) language and culture in this context, resembled a difficult balancing act between formalistic and utilitarian traditions – this applies to the conceptualisation of teaching at higher schools for girls in general, not just to modern languages. Unlike in other school subjects however, the ‘female’ approach of teaching (and learning) modern foreign languages that developed within this continuum not only prevailed in higher education for both sexes at the beginning of the 20th century. This chapter highlights that a historical perspective offers potential to enrich present discussions on gender and foreign language learning. Pre-Reading Tasks 1.

“Girls are better language learners”. Myth or fact? Discuss your opinion in a tandem or in a small group and give reasons for your point of view.

This essay is based on a paper that was presented as contribution to the lecture series “Raising Gender Awareness in Foreign Language Learning, Language Teaching and Language Use” (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main, May 2015); a similar paper was part of the panel “Culture in the language classroom. Ideas of what and how to teach at state schools in Germany during the 19th and 20th centuries” at the conference “Connecting Cultures? An International Conference on the History of Teaching and Learning Second/Foreign Languages, 1500-2000” (University of Nottingham, July 2014).

1

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Sabine Doff, University of Bremen, Germany

2. 3.

0.

history of English language learning

Do you have any ideas about the roots of this statement and can you explain why it is still popular today? Take a closer look at a few standard introductions to the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Germany. Find out if and in what way(s) the history of English language learning pre 1970’s is presented. The Formalistic Tradition of Teaching Classical (and Modern) Languages

In 19th and early 20th century Germany, higher education for boys on the structural level (institutionalisation) seems to have been ahead of higher education for girls2 by about 100 years. This ‘delay’, of course, also influenced the didactic decisions (about what, how and why to teach) taken for higher education for both boys and girls. The development of higher education for boys in 19th century Germany is often structured according to the following three phases (Jeismann 1987): 





Until 1840 the Gymnasium (the German grammar school based mainly on Humboldt’s ideas) developed as the leading type of school providing higher education for boys. Contrary to the reformers’ intentions, the dichotomy between elementary and higher education was already evident in this phase. Within the next phase of system formation, competitive types of higher schools for boys evolved alongside the Gymnasium, such as the so-called Realanstalten which provided a higher yet practically oriented education for boys aiming at a career, for example, in commerce. The last third of the 19th century is a phase of system consolidation when different higher schools for boys eventually gained equal status. This applies, for example, to the so-called Realgymnasien and Oberrealschulen, which in the early 20th century partly gained a similar status to the classical Gymnasium after they were entitled to grant full university access. There were different types of Realgymnasien that specialised, for example, in teaching sciences or modern languages. Due to the focus on modern languages, only the latter type can serve as a reference for higher girls’ schools.

On the one hand, the Gymnasium pursued the traditions of the Latin schools, on the other, it integrated 19th century humanistic approaches (including the teaching of modern languages) according to the financial and political resources available. However, in most of the higher boys’ schools – irrespective of the school type – the idea prevailed that languages (classical as well as modern) had to be taught according to the grammar-translation-method (e.g. Hüllen 2005: 92ff.) common for Latin and Greek. The role which the classical languages played at a traditional ‘Gymnasium’ was often assigned to French (and later also to English) at higher schools for boys without Latin. For a profound analysis and overview covering the 19th century and beyond see Albisetti 1988, the standard work in the field.

2

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Female Language Learners Then – and Now?

This is stated explicitly, for example, in the 1892 curriculum for English and French at Realanstalten for boys in Prussia: Die Aufgabe der sprachlich-logischen Schulung, welche an lateinlehrenden Anstalten vorzugsweise der lateinischen Grammatik und den angeschlossenen Uebungen zufaellt, ist an lateinlosen durch die französische Grammatik und die entsprechenden Uebungen zu loesen. (Centralblatt 1892: 69) [The function of training language and logic which at schools with Latin is assigned to Latin grammar and related exercises, is taken over at schools without Latin by French grammar and related exercises. (Translation: SD)]

This quote illustrates that, apart from the introduction of English and French as school subjects, there was nothing new at a typical higher school for boys at the end of the 19th century in terms of content and methods: since the aims of foreign language teaching remained more or less the same (irrespective of the language taught), the method of teaching classical languages (with a focus on grammar and translation, cf. Hüllen 2005) was simply transferred to teaching modern languages. 1.

The Reform Movement and the Institutionalisation of Higher Education for Girls

The reformers (i.e. the leaders of the reform movement later known as the Neusprachliche Reformbewegung) were a group of modern language teachers (among them Wilhelm Viëtor and Gustav Wendt) who in the last two decades of the 19th century argued that English and French needed a distinct teaching methodology which had to take into account that both were spoken languages. This is why in a manifesto entitled “Die Wiener Reformthesen” (the ‘Vienna reform theses’) of 1898, they insisted on the following methodical principles for modern language teaching (these are just a selection, for the full programme see Wendt 1898/1899, 1900/1901):   

primacy of the foreign language and the spoken word, grammar as a means to an end (= language competence) – rather than as an end in itself, reduction of translation into German in particular and the use of German in general in the foreign language classroom.

As the overall aim of foreign language teaching, Wendt formulated: Die Beherrschung der fremden Sprache ist das oberste Ziel des Unterrichts; den Unterrichtsstoff bildet das fremde Volkstum. Die fremde Sprache ist das naturgemässe Mittel, um in dessen Erkenntnis einzudringen. […] (Wendt 1898/99: 657ff.; 1900/01: 61ff.) [The overall teaching aim is foreign language competence; the teaching content is the foreign culture which is naturally accessed via the foreign language.” (Translation: SD)]

Neusprachliche Reformbewegung

“Die Wiener Reformthesen”

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Weimar conference 1872

Mädchenschulpädagogen

Sabine Doff, University of Bremen, Germany

The reformers’ ideas have to be seen against the backdrop of the deficient state of the art of teaching modern languages to boys (as briefly described in part 0). Yet unlike the reformers themselves and also subsequent analysis of the Reform Movement (e.g. Hüllen 1979: 1) tend(ed) to claim that the language teaching approach suggested by them was not completely new. Many of its elements had been practised – often beyond institutional settings – in the context of higher education for girls for a long time. Yet, it was not before the last third of the 19th century that the state stepped up efforts to nationalise and institutionalise a system for higher education for girls. At the Weimarer Konferenz (Weimar conference) 1872, a large number of influential (male) teachers from the field (the so-called Mädchenschulpädagogen) met in Weimar with politicians and a very small number of female colleagues to lay out the general conditions for two new school types: the higher and the middle school for girls. The distinct characteristic which separated one from the other was the second foreign language. English and French thus became mandatory school subjects at every higher school for girls that was run or recognised by the state. This development was indeed new and thus confronted the state with a huge challenge: the demand for teachers of modern languages particularly for girls (but also for boys) dramatically increased. Male teachers were the only ones who had been admitted to teaching officially in the context of higher education, at least in state schools for boys and girls. While Latin and Greek formed a substantial part of their education at school and university, hardly any of them were proficient in the modern foreign languages, let alone in teaching them. This is why female teachers who up to this date worked in private contexts only, eventually surfaced on the agenda of public higher education in Germany (Doff 2007). Since they were not officially admitted to the state system of teacher education for higher schools before the late 19th century, the prospective female teachers had often qualified abroad and had thus spent a considerable amount of time in France and Britain. There, many had trained as teachers, while others had worked as governesses often in a private educational setting and thus had become experienced pedagogues, and in addition also proficient speakers of French and English. Consequently, this is one of the main reasons why around the turn of the 20th century female teachers were admitted into higher education at German state schools for girls, and later also for boys. 2.

female learners’ oral competence

The ‘Chatter Method’ (Plappermethode): A ‘Female’ Tradition in Language Learning

When taking a closer look at what, how and to what aims modern languages were taught at private and state schools for girls, it becomes obvious that many elements of this teaching approach were anchored in a long tradition of language teaching in Europe by female native speakers, the so-called governesses (e.g. Hardach-Pinke 1993; Lehmann 1904). The governesses (and in particular private institutions in the context of higher education for girls) strengthened their female learners’ oral competence, and connected it to appropriate behaviour in and knowledge of French and English culture. This

Female Language Learners Then – and Now?

two-fold aim was in line with the idea that a daughter from a higher class should be able to hold a conversation in a foreign language while at the same time doing something useful like, for example, needlework. This aspect of usefulness was prominent across the subjects taught to girls in many European countries for the larger part of the 19th century (cf. Jacobi 2013: 220ff.). It was put into practice, for example, at the Sociéte des jeunes dames run by Mamsell Ackermann in Danzig in the late 18th century where young ladies were trained in French conversation and appropriate sociocultural behaviour by role plays imitating afternoon teatime in a French upper class household. Mamsell Ackermann’s exclusively female learners took turns playing the role of the hostess and her guests; conversing in French was only one of the teatime rules which the girls quickly got used to – as one of them, Johanna Schopenhauer (later the famous philosopher’s mother) reports in her autobiographical notes (cf. Schopenhauer 1839). Often this language teaching method (or elements thereof) was criticised as superficial and combined with derogatory remarks about the target group: Denn wollte man den Eltern für ihr Schulgeld sozusagen etwas Greifbares, Sichtbares, Reales liefern, dann musste man das ‘Können’ in den Vordergrund stellen. Deshalb ist auch schon vor der Reform in den Mädchenschulen die Sprechfertigkeit immer mehr betrieben worden als in den Knabenschulen, wozu noch der Umstand nicht wenig beitrug, dass die Mädchen ihrer ganzen Natur nach für die Plappermethode besser geeignet sind als die Knaben. Nebenbei ist die ganze Art diese Unterrichts – weil mehr Spielerei – nicht so anstrengend, auch die schwächsten Kinder können schliesslich noch etwas mechanisch lernen und nachplappern, und je mehr die Mädchen in dieser Beziehung leisteten, desto besser war und ist auch heute noch die Schule. (Clodius 1906: 4f) [In exchange for their tuition fees, something concrete, visible and real had to be presented to the parents and thus practical skills had to be emphasised. That is why even before the reform, conversational skills had been much more popular in higher schools for girls as compared to higher schools for boys. This tendency was strengthened due to girls’ nature which suits the chatter method better than the boys’. Furthermore this teaching approach rather resembles a game and is thus less demanding on the learners; even the weakest children are able to learn something mechanically by imitation. The more girls have achieved in this regard, the better the school was and is. (Translation SD)]

Many ideas which the reformers presented, for example in their Vienna manifesto, can be found as elements of this teaching tradition of the governesses. When examining 19th century modern language teaching at higher girls’ schools more closely, it becomes obvious that many of the principles the reformers formulated at the end of the 19th century had been implemented within the context of teaching modern languages to girls for at least a century. These principles were probably known to and evaluated by at least some of the reformers exactly within this context of higher education for girls. This hypothesis is supported by the fact that a number of prominent reformers like, for example, Wilhelm Viëtor, had spent a considerable part of their teaching careers at higher schools for girls.

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knowledge of French and English culture

teaching tradition of the governesses

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Sabine Doff, University of Bremen, Germany

But contrary to the women who had practised a promising approach for modern language teaching for quite a long time, the male reformers found efficient ways of making their voices heard. They were, as the following quotation shows, the first generation among modern foreign language teachers who understood themselves and acted as a group: Die Generationsgenossen stehen in engem, persönlichem und beruflichem Kontakt; sie empfinden das Bedürfnis, sich zusammenzuschließen; denn sie arbeiten unter relativ homogenen Bedingungen – an Realgymnasien, Realschulen und höheren Mädchenschulen. […] Die hier zu besprechende Generation ist noch eine reine Männerversammlung. Von Frauen als Fremdsprachenlehrerinnen in Höhen Mädchenschulen ist noch nicht oder nur am Rande die Rede. Dies wird sich mit der Jahrhundertwende ändern. (Christ 1987: 828) [The fellows (i.e. the reformers, SD) are close in their private and professional lives; they feel they need to stand side by side since they work in similar conditions – at ‘Realgymnasien’, ‘Realschulen’ and higher schools for girls […]. This generation is a male gathering. Women as modern language teachers at higher schools for girls do not play a (significant) role yet. This is about to change with the turn of the century. (Translation SD)]

curricula for modern languages

To sum up: what the reformers demanded was not new – it was an approach which had been practised in the context of higher education for girls for nearly a century by female teachers. Yet it seems that their male colleagues at the end of the 19th century found more efficient ways of implementing these ideas on a broader basis and thus succeeded in integrating them into the state school system. A look into the curricula for modern languages at higher schools for girls reveals that there was indeed a modern foreign language teaching approach that differed significantly from that for boys described in the curriculum from 1892 quoted above. This approach was pushed by the reformers’ theses which clearly shows in the 1894 Prussian curriculum equivalent for higher girls schools: Der Unterricht in den fremden Sprachen hat die unmittelbare Aufgabe, die Schülerin zu befähigen, einen leichteren französischen oder englischen Schriftsteller zu verstehen, gesprochenes Englisch und Französisch richtig aufzufassen, und die fremde Sprache in den einfachen Formen des täglichen Verkehrs mündlich wie schriftlich mit einiger Gewandtheit zu gebrauchen; er hat die mittelbare Aufgabe, den Schülerinnen das Verständnis für die geistige und materielle Kultur für Leben und Sitte der beiden fremden Völker möglichst zu erschließen. (Centralblatt 1894: 466) [The direct aim of modern language teaching is to enable a girl to comprehend an easier French or English author, to correctly understand spoken English and French and to use the language in writing and speaking skillfully in basic everyday situations. (Translation SD)]

native (preferably female) speaker

The strong focus on learning about culture is particularly remarkable in this context: Learning about culture is formulated as THE long-term aim of language teaching which in this quote combines the utilitarian and the formalistic tradition of modern language teaching. Moreover, this short quote clearly

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illustrates that at higher schools for girls, teaching modern foreign languages was approached using distinct didactic principles which differed substantially from teaching classical languages (not surprisingly, since the latter ones had never played a role there). A close look into school programmes (Schulprogrammschriften) written at and for higher girls’ schools supports this hypothesis. It reveals distinct characteristics for a truly original ‘female’ approach to English and French language teaching at private and state institutions in the last third of the 19th and early 20th century (Doff 2002: 396ff.): As many public and private sources document, the teacher of English and French at higher schools for girls was often a native (preferably female) speaker or a female teacher who had lived in Britain or France for a substantial amount of time. In many cases, these female native speakers were not highly proficient in German. Their poor knowledge of German was often criticised; it meant that in many cases, English was not only spoken in the English lessons, but also other subjects like, for example, geography or history were taught in English (Winkler 1935: 104). This example illustrates that the methodological concept today known as Content and Language Integrated Learning has indeed had a long tradition in Europe. Many of the teachers at girls’ schools were highly proficient in speaking modern languages; the spoken word and the training of the learners’ oral skills thus prevailed in these language classrooms. This tied in with the principle of usefulness which many parents who were still not convinced why exactly their daughters needed a higher education were focused on (cf. quotation above: “In exchange for their tuition fees, something concrete, visible and real had to be presented to the parents and thus practical skills had to be emphasised” (Clodius 1906: 4f.)). Around the turn of the 20th century, however, the utilitarian arguments retreated into the background. When it became important to establish higher education for girls as equivalent to higher education for boys, the educational value in particular of English literature for female learners was emphasised. Reading English literature and getting to know the foreign culture (better) thus became key elements of teaching English at higher girls schools; accordingly, grammar was awarded an auxiliary role (for a detailed analysis cf. Doff 2002: 205ff.). 3.

Status Quo

When looking into corresponding curricula from the beginning of the 20th century (for example the 1908 documents mirroring a profound reform of higher girls schools in Prussia) it becomes evident that the salient elements of a ‘female’ tradition of modern language teaching which matched the demands of the Reform Movement were eventually implemented into curricula for both sexes. Yet, the controversies about content, methods and aims of modern foreign language teaching did not come to an end: In the course of the second half of the 20th century, however, the role of the learners’ gender became a less important argument in these mainstream discussions against the backdrop of a coeducational school system.

Content and Language Integrated Learning

usefulness

utilitarian arguments higher education for boys

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Sabine Doff, University of Bremen, Germany

Nevertheless, many of the arguments explained in this paper resurfaced in the wake of the so-called ‘Communicative Turn’, the 20th century reform of modern language teaching: The primacy of the spoken word in combination with the importance attached to cultural learning resulted in the conceptualisation of (intercultural) communicative competence (e.g. Byram 1997; Piepho 1974) as the predominant aim of modern language teaching to date. The analysis of recurring arguments and their layout within changing contexts by different agents is a notable effort which can be achieved through the study of the history of language learning as part of a comprehensive education of future modern language teachers: Keinem, der solche ‘alten’ Texte liest, wird übrigens der eigenartige Reiz entgehen, der darin liegt, dass hier noch heute virulente und drängende Probleme der Fremdsprachenforschung in naturgemäß veralteter Sprache und mit veralteten Argumentationsmustern diskutiert werden. Es ist, als ob man einen guten Bekannten in einem altmodischen Kostüm sähe. (Hüllen 2000: 33) [These ‘old’ texts appeal to the reader in a special way: they tackle present day problems at the heart of language education naturally using antiquated language and argumentative patterns. It is like meeting a good acquaintance in disguise. (Translation SD)]

A further historical constant seems worth noticing in this context: the persistent female affinity with language learning and teaching. A look into present day university teacher training programmes for modern languages as well as language classrooms reveals this prevailing tendency which is reflected critically in studies entitled, for example, “Fremdsprachenstudium – Frauenstudium?” (“Language Studies – Women’s Studies?”, Börsch 1982) or “Sex and Language Acquisition – Is There Any Influence?” (Klann-Delius 1981; cf. also Oxford et al. 1988; Powell & Batters 1986; Schmenk 2009). If and in which way the historical development investigated in this paper and the present-day situation can be connected, remains a desideratum for future research in the exciting field of language learning/teaching and gender. 4. ‘female’ approach to language teaching

utilitarian with formalistic elements

Summary

This brief contextualisation and compilation of the didactic features of a ‘female’ approach to language teaching (and learning) demonstrates how modern this concept seems in many respects in the light of today. Around the turn of the 20th century, it eventually combined utilitarian with formalistic elements; from then on, the influences on the curricula of modern language teaching at higher schools for boys can clearly be traced. A ‘female’ teaching concept which awarded high priority, for example, to the spoken word and to the reading of literary texts in the original, thus was turned into a success story with the strategic support of male reformers and finally facilitated access to a distinct approach to modern language learning for both sexes to date.

Female Language Learners Then – and Now?

Review - Reflect – Research 1.

2.

3.

“If you allow me to say so we break knee-deep into the cellarage of time and feel this to be the immediate present”. Referring to this quotation from Robert Musil’s Novel “The Man Without Qualitities” (“Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften”) Werner Hüllen (2006) called foreign language teaching “a modern building on historical foundations”. Discuss the implications of this point of view for language teacher education and for the language teaching profession. A common distinction (e.g. the encyclopedic entry on ‘Language Learning’ by McArthur 1998) differentiates between a ‘marketplace-tradition’ and a ‘monastery tradition’. Find out more about both and against this backdrop discuss the ‘female’ approach to modern language learning investigated in this chapter. The persistent female affinity with (language) learning/teaching has been controversially discussed well into the 21st century not only in academic (e.g. Hänsel 1996 versus Lundgreen 1999) but also in popular (e.g. Neukirch 2008 versus Menke 2010) discourse under the label "feminisation of school/the teaching profession". Some see this as a clear disadvantage for young male learners who lack grown-up peers in their school careers, others claim that the feminisation of schools does all but disadvantage boys. Discuss both lines of argument, research the reasons they provide and come up with possible implications for (language) teacher training programmes (for example, the recruitment of future students) and for (language) classrooms.

Further Reading Suggestions Albisetti, James C. (1988). Schooling German Girls and Women. Secondary and Higher Education in the Nineteenth Century. Princeton: University Press. Howatt, Anthony P. R. & Smith, Richard (2014). The History of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, from a British and European Perspective. Language and History 57: 1, 75-95. Hüllen, Werner (2005). Kleine Geschichte des Fremdsprachenlernens. Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag. Kelly, Louis G. (1969). 25 Centuries of Language Teaching. An inquiry into the science, art and development of language teaching methodology 500 BC – 1969. Rowley: Newbury House.

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Gender Research in EFL Classrooms – or: Are Girls Better Language Learners? Thomaï Alexiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

In this chapter you will understand the concept of gender and its impact as an individual difference on the learner. You will acknowledge major factors that determine gender and hopefully you will recognise long-held myths. You will be offered an updated comprehensive overview of recent theories and literature regarding the differences in EFL performance between males and females. You will learn about the implications of preconceptions regarding gender in the foreign language classroom and you will be provided with suggestions on how to deal with these issues. Excellence knows no gender Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3.

0.

What are the factors that determine gender? Do you think that there are any aspects of language (learning) in which girls are better than boys or vice versa? Can you explain your answer? Think about one of your practice phases in school. Do you think that you always treated your female and male students equally? Did you give both sexes equal talking time? Did you usually use the same language with both sexes? What is Gender? Definition and (Mis-)Conceptions

What is gender? When pondering on this question, one must wonder: is gender biologically determined? Or rather is it formed by social and educational experiences as well as through expectations? Surely, the environment plays a vital role; after all, it is the context (and to be more precise, the social context) someone lives in that defines terms and perpetuates (or not) stereotypical views. According to Portwood (2000: 34), gender refers “to the social and educational aspects of the pupils’ being male or female; that is to say, to the real and perceived biological, genetic, cultural, educational, and indeed lifelong implications of the gender”. All social, educational and cultural milieus an individual assumes in a masculine or feminine mode are related to this concept (cf. Nikitina & Furuoka 2007). Or as Goddard and Patterson put it: “Gender is a daily, continuous part of our social behaviour, something we do rather than being a fixed and unalterable dimension that is imposed on us from on high” (Goddard & Patterson 2000: 27). Therefore, it is safe to assume that gender identity is not fixed but a flux and a constant quality.

definition of gender

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Thomaï Alexiou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

In a recent paper, interestingly called “Sneaking gender in EFL classroom” (Gomez 2006), it is concluded that classroom behaviour is also constant. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate gender issues and the stereotypes we learned as children because they continue to shape the way we think unconsciously throughout life (Nelson & Robinson 1999). To further prove and emphasise stereotypical issues, I provide you with an example here. Read the spoken excerpts below and try to guess the gender: I was dating this …. who came from a very wealthy family, and I always felt a little uncomfortable about my humble roots. For …. parents' 25th-wedding anniversary, the family had planned a black-tie party at a Ritzy hotel. I was nervous about it, but …. told me …. had everything under control. Before the event, …. took me shopping and brought me a beautiful ….. The night of the party, …. even rented a limo so we could arrive in style. …. was a perfect .... and treated me like a …. the entire night. …. even waltzed with me! (http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/10/magazine/10WWLN.html, 3/20/2016)

Now, do you think that this text was written by a male or a female person. What makes you come to this decision? And what about this one? Ironwood RC-660. …. Smokejumpers swear by it. You can finally haul that 1,800-pound keg. Whatever the emergency, this American Gladiators-looking tank can handle it. Options include a 75-gallon liquid tank and bulletresistant enclosure. …. Honda Four Trax Rancher AT GPScape. …. No other ATV offers a longer name or a standard GPS system, which helps determine if you're ripping through Amazon rain forests, shredding the Sahara or tearing up a neighbor's lawn. (ibid., 3/20/2016)

As you have probably guessed already, the first one belongs to a female and the second to a male speaker. In case your guess was in line with this, you might ask yourself now, how you managed to recognise this? Lakoff (1973) pointed out that there seem to be distinct differences between the two sexes in speaking. The table below illustrates and summarises these differences1. Females

Males

Hedge: use phrases like “sort of”, “kind of”, “it seems like”

use more determiners, e.g. “a” , “the”, “that”, “these”

use polite forms and modal constructions, e.g. “Would you mind” while they tend to apologise more , eg. “I’m sorry, but…”

use question words, e.g. “who” and “what”

use tag questions, eg. “… aren’t you?”

use numbers and quantifiers, eg. “more”

use direct quotation

paraphrase more often

Table 1: Differences between the two sexes in speaking (Lakoff 1973) If you would like to play around with these ideas, go to: http://www.hackerfactor. com/GenderGuesser.php, 3/20/2016. On this site, one can copy any text and the author’s gender can be determined by the words that have been used.

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In her book “You Just Don’t Understand”, Deborah Tannen (1990) represents male and female language found in a series of six contrasts. These are:      

Status versus support Independence versus intimacy Advice versus understanding/empathy Information versus feelings Orders versus proposals Conflict versus compromise

It is not difficult to assume that the first part of the contrast statements represents men and the second women. It becomes clear that, inevitably or not, with or without tangible evidence and research findings, we carry perceptions and stereotypical notions about what constitutes male or female speech. There is actually a theory called “the deficiency theory”’ (Lakoff 1973) which suggests that gender differences in language reflect power differences in society. In mixed-sex conversations men are more likely to interrupt than women. An old study of a small sample of conversations (Zimmerman & West 1975) at the University of California produced 31 segments of conversation. In 11 segments of conversation between men and women, men interrupted 46 times, while women interrupted only twice. However, another study conducted by O' Barr and Atkins (1980) looked at courtroom cases and witnesses’ speech. The researchers detected that language differences are based on situation-specific authority or power and not on gender. Their findings somehow challenge Lakoff's (1973) view of women’s language, which is not too surprising, as his methodology was also founded on anecdotal observation of peers’ language use and intuitions, the dominance theory is now reconsidered. 1.

dominance theory reconsidered

What are the Factors that Determine Gender?

Several factors may determine gender but the obvious ones are upbringing, context and society. These, in turn, may affect EFL success, learning outcomes and expectations. To start with social roles or stereotypes, Holmes (1992: 172) has suggested that women are appointed to “the role of modelling correct behaviour in the community” and they are assigned “a series of tasks involving verbal interaction in private contexts” (e.g. child upbringing). Kramarae (1981: 145, cited in Lopez Rua 2006: 106), on the other hand, states that “men specialize in instrumental or task behaviours and women specialize in expressive or social activities”. It appears that society’s sex-stereotyping of jobs influences girls’ behaviour and expectations and encourages positive attitude towards language learning while society’s division of tasks and assumptions according to sex is transferred to boys and girls through formal and informal instruction. This alliance between societyeducation may explain boys’ and girls’ different concerns, attitudes and expectations (Lopez Rua 2006: 111).

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Girls’ communicative skills are enhanced if not maximised because of their expected patterns of interaction. Consequently, girls may develop a favourable disposition for languages. Therefore, society’s requirements play an important role in the account of girls’ language learning processes and FLL success. 2. language and gender

language vocabulary and gender

So Are Girls Better in Languages? And if so, in which Aspects?

In language development in preschool and early school years there are few differences or no differences at all between boys and girls. Hyde and Linn’s meta-analysis (1988 cited in Andersson et al. 2011: 110) demonstrated that “the magnitude of the gender differences in verbal ability is currently so small that it effectively can be considered to be zero”. In Britain, the Office for National Statistics (1999) concluded that girls consistently outperform boys in GCSE and A level examinations in modern languages (Williams et al. 2002) while several studies have shown that females are better than males both in second and first language acquisition (e.g. Larsen-Freeman & Long 1991; Slavin 1988). Girls’ achievement in foreign language learning is encouraged by the interaction of neurological, cognitive, affective, social and educational factors (López Rúa 2006). An interesting question concerns the preference in majors between genders. The number of girls opting for foreign languages in schools and taking public examinations in languages is significantly higher than the number of boys (López Rúa 2006). Males see language subjects as being too feminine (Williams et al. 2002) and opt for more ‘scientific’ subjects. Again, because of cultural and social expectations, the researchers report that girls choose topics that are considered to be female or feminine (human relations, art, philosophy/economics, politics, sports); these are also preferred choices on standard writing and reading tests though. And this brings us to the question: How much do prejudices attitudes, on the part of the researchers, publishers and stakeholders come into play? Jiménez and Ojeda (2008) claim that there are differences in favour of females in productive vocabulary as female learners produced significantly more tokens than their male counterparts, and nearly significantly more types in their written compositions. In Nyikos’ (1990, cited in Sunderland 2000: 206) study, females proved superior to males in a memorisation test of German vocabulary. Also, Meara and Fitzpatrick (2000) and Jiménez and Moreno (2004) found that ‘female learners performed better than males in productive vocabulary in Lex30’ (all cited in Agustín Llach & Terrazas Gallego 2012: 46). Furthermore, highly significant differences emerged in favour of females in the mean number of words produced in response to the 15 cues of a lexical availability test (Jiménez & Ojeda, 2009, ibid). However, a series of studies prove that boys excel as well. Boyle (1987) claims that, boys outperform girls in the comprehension of heard vocabulary while Scarcella and Zimmerman (1998) found that “males performed significantly better than females in a test of academic vocabulary recognition, understanding, and use’’ (both cited in Agustín Llach & Terrazas Gallego 2012: 47). Lin and Wu (2003), Lynn et al. (2005) along with Edelenbos and Vinjé

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(2000, all cited in Agustín Llach & Terrazas Gallego 2012) showed that males were superior to females in vocabulary knowledge in foreign languages. There seems to be a tendency of male learners to exceed their female peers in vocabulary learning as they get older and move up grades. Yet again, a body of research studies indicates that no significant differences are found genderwise. Receptive vocabulary size acquisition was measured in 176 young Spanish students of EFL and showed that size differences in the mean scores of male and female learners were non-existent. In the study by Jiménez and Terrazas (2005-2008) no significant gender differences emerged in the performance in a receptive vocabulary test (cf. also Grace 2000). A set of recent studies compiled in Jimenez (2010) also ‘point to mixed results on gender differences or tendencies’ (cited in Agustín Llach & Terrazas Gallego 2012: 48). Therefore, there is no actual consensus regarding gender’s impact on language performance. Still the idea that females are better in language learning is a popular one. Now, where does this assumption come from? In order to answer this question, we should first think about what it means to be a good language learner. And this depends on different language aspects as well as educational factors but mainly this depends on individual differences in language learning. We know that everybody is different, that every learner is unique. Individual differences are broadly divided into cognitive and affective variables. The cognitive variables form ‘the mental makeup of a person’ (Johnson 2001: 117), these include: language learning aptitude, intelligence, age, learning strategies, and learning/cognitive styles. The affective variables form ‘the emotional side of human behaviour’ (Brown 1994: 135), these are: personality factors like anxiety, extroversion/introversion, inhibition, risktaking, empathy, self-esteem and motivation. The cognitive factors that we consider in relation to gender in this chapter are age, learning/cognitive styles and learning strategies. Starting with age and more specifically infants (18-30 months) and L1 vocabulary, Leach and Haynes (2004, cited in Andersson et al. 2011: 110) tested 295 Swedish children and found that ‘‘at 20 months first born girls outperformed boys on all vocabulary competence measures and second born girls outperformed boys on vocabulary comprehension and vocabulary production’’. A more recent study by Andersson et al. (2011) revealed significant gender differences at 21 and 24 months where girls’ mean scores of vocabulary were higher. The work of Westerlund and Lagerberg (2007) also showed that girls had a more developed vocabulary and were more involved in reading than boys at 18 months. Furthermore, Henrichs (Henrichs et al. 2010 cited in Andersson et al. 2011: 110) concluded that “at both 18 and 30 months boys were delayed in expressive vocabulary skills but the gender difference’s contribution to the overall variance was small.” Hyde and Linn (1988) reviewed 165 studies on children aged 3 to adulthood and reported data on gender differences in various verbal abilities with a slight female superiority (e.g. López Rúa 2006). Yet although large differences across measures of language (including expressive vocabulary) emerged between genders in the 2nd through 5th year, these were not found before or after that age (Bornstein et al. 2004).

individual differences in language learning

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gender differences in use of strategies

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As for language learning strategies (LLS), female learners report a wider range and a more frequent use of LLS and than males (e.g. Lee & Oxford, 2008; Peacock & Ho 2003). In second language vocabulary learning strategies, males and females differ in both number and range of vocabulary strategies (Jiménez Catalán 2003). There is a series of research studies regarding language learning strategies and gender in L2 worldwide. In China, Peacock and Ho (2003: 186) researched 1,006 Chinese students of English and explain that “females reported significantly higher use of all six strategy categories (memory, cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, affective, and social) than did males; they also report a much higher use of nine individual strategies (78% were from the memory or metacognitive categories)” that are also associated with higher proficiency. In Malaysia, Punithavalli (2003) conducted a research study with 170 ESL learners and found that female learners used greater strategies in and outside the classroom as compared to the male learners. In many studies across different cultures notable differences emerged between genders in the use of social/affective strategies with females using them more often (Zeynali 2012). The results again are not conclusive either. Zamri’s (2004) study reveals that males employ more strategies than females. Moreover, 630 Chinese students from three Universities of science participated in Xumei’s (2014) study and no significant gender differences emerged between males and females with respect to the total amount of EFL vocabulary acquisition strategies they used. The mastery and use of languages are once more related to sociocognitive and physiological factors. Moreover, previous studies showed no significant differences between males and females on their use of language learning strategies (Chang 1990; Chou 2002). It is evident once again, that finding differences according to gender only is a hit and miss affair. Nevertheless and regardless of gender effects, it is quite interesting, more constructive and informative to see what kind of strategies females and males resort to. Green and Oxford (1995) studied 374 EFL students and showed that female learners used memory, metacognitive, affective, and social strategies more frequently than male learners. In Chang’s study (2003) Taiwanese females used cognitive, compensation, metacognitive, and social strategies significantly more frequently than males. In Malaysia, Embi (2000) reported that females used overall LLS more frequently than male learners; females tended to use more classroom and out of classroom strategies, and exam language strategies than males. Oxford (1993: 83) concluded that females use general study strategies, social strategies, affective strategies and certain conversational or functional practice strategies more frequently than males. Male students appeared to use global strategies while female students tended to use local strategies in processing second language texts (Young & Oxford, 1997; Zhang, 2000). However, Otaibi’s (2004) study of 237 Saudi learners showed that no statistically significant differences emerged in the use any of the strategy categories. Research in Greece with 103 primary school learners showed no statistically significant differences in LLS use between male and female learners, except in the following 3 strategies that were reportedly used more often by girls than by boys (Psaltou et al. 2014). More specifically these strategies were:

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  

I repeat the pronunciation of English words in order to learn them (cognitive) I try to find out how to be a better learner of English (metacognitive) When I do not understand something in English, I ask the other person to slow down or say it again (social)

All in all, it becomes apparent that results are inconclusive. Gender differences are not necessarily universal. Society once again may play a significant role in shaping theories and (mis)conceptions. When it comes to CLIL, it was found that “gender differences were minimal” in CLIL classes (Hyvonen & Lahdenranta 1994). For example, in Finland “the female students in the monolingual classes in Finnish were more positive towards language learning, whereas among the CLIL groups no gender based differences were observed” (Merisuo-Storm 2007 cited in Lasagabaster 2008: 32). Another study that was conducted in Greece with 136 primary school learners, focusing on strategies and CLIL, (Mattheoudakis et al. 2013) corroborated the result, that there are no significant differences between genders. Affective factors and gender have also been extensively researched. We will now turn to motivation, attitude, anxiety, inhibition, risk-taking and selfesteem. Starting with motivation, females are reported to perform better as compared to males in L2 learning, because females tend to have higher levels of motivation (Kissau 2006). Girls consistently appear more interested in the study of a foreign language, the culture, the country and the speakers of that language than boys (Mori & Gobel 2006). It has been stated that boys’ motivation for studying the language is mainly instrumental, girls’ motivation is mainly integrative. As Farncis (2000: 88) reveals “increased ambition, coupled with a feeling that opportunities in the workplace are skewed against them, is what has provided girls with new motivation for achievement at school”. As far as attitudes are concerned, Dörnyei and Clément (2001) report that girls tend to score higher on most attitudinal and motivational measures. Ekstrand (1980) reported that girls had more positive attitudes than boys towards the study of L2. Contradictory findings have emerged showing the effect of culture and previous learning experiences (Politzer 1983). Beliefs and motivation are closely correlated with attitudes (Lightbown & Spada 2006). If a student perceives that there is value in learning a second language, they will be more motivated to learn it; or else what we end up here with, is the chicken and egg issue. Girls’ success in language learning may encourage the development and persistence of positive attitudes, high motivation and self-confidence, which in turn are influential factors in language achievement. Βoys’ indifferent or negative attitudes, low motivation and lack of confidence would be both the cause and the consequence of their poor results. With regard to self confidence and gender, girls are shown to be significantly more confident concerning their abilities to master the language. Powell and Batters (1985) argue that boys did not seem that self-assured concerning their abilities to master the second language. Van der Meulen (1987) quotes

CLIL and gender

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attitudes and gender

self confidence and gender

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several studies which report higher scores for girls aged 7-10 on their perception of abilities, particularly their reading and spelling skills. Boys give higher evaluations of their physical abilities. However, female students have also been found to have lower selfperceptions of ability than male students (Wigfield et al. 1996 cited in Mori & Gobel 2006). Yet again, Siebert (2003) conducted a study of beliefs of 156 EFL learners of mixed ethnic backgrounds (22 nationalities) and found significant differences among males and females in relation to language learning. Male students were more likely to rate their abilities highly and needed less time needed to learn a foreign language than female students. Beliefs can be “inherited” from previous social and educational experiences (Horwitz 1980, cited in Nikitina & Furuoka 2007: 2). Finally, about anxiety, inhibition and risk-taking, research on foreign language anxiety unveils conflicting findings in the topics of gender, anxiety and L2 performance partly due to the complex nature of the construct of foreign language anxiety influenced by various factors including gender and socio-cultural background (Park & French 2013: 465). Males have less anxiety to learn English (Mesri 2012; Park & French 2013); yet a different study shows that male Iranian learners are more stressed than females (80 learners, 14-35 year olds). A series of other studies though, found no significant relationship between shyness, foreign language classroom anxiety, willingness to communicate, gender and EFL proficiency (Bashosh et al. 2013; Matsuda & Gobel, 2004). Whatever the case, it is important to bear in mind that affective factors such as self confidence or anxiety can heavily influence language performance but they also impact on motivation and personality factors; and since affective factors can be influenced by teacher behaviour, it is essential for the teacher to remember not to be gender-biased in the classroom. And so now, for this reason, we will examine classroom and teacher behaviour related to gender. 3.

educational factors

In this section we are going to discuss educational factors that relate to gender issues. These include:    

classroom behaviour and gender

Gender Issues in the EFL classroom

classroom behaviour teacher behaviour teacher’s gender textbooks and materials

Starting with classroom behaviour, physical contact like hitting or pinching was found to be used both by boys and girls with different purposes; girls appear to take the initiative more often as a technique to self-defend, protest or gain the boys' attention. Female students appear more concerned with pleasing the teacher or meeting expectations. Rashidi and Naderi (2012: 30) showed in their study that “males usually initiate more exchanges with their teachers while females prefer to be addressed by their teachers.”

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Regarding teacher’s behaviour, research findings reveal that teachers treat male and female students differently (Li 1999). Teachers’ treatment toward the students revealed invisibility of apparently harmless behaviour (e.g. eye contact and quantity and quality of attention, praise), favouring boys and marginalising girls (Freeman 1996). Teachers have been found to ask male students questions demanding critical thought (Sadker & Sadker 1992), “make eye contacts more frequently with males than with females (Thorne 1979), allow their classrooms to be male-dominated by calling on males more frequently (Thorne 1979), allow males to interrupt females (Hall 1982), and respond to males with attention and females with diffidence (Hall 1982)” (Shomoossi et al. 2008: 176). The teacher’s gender inevitably affects the classroom environment (Hopf & Hatzichristou 1999; Duffy et al. 2002). A male teacher’s classroom “is fasterpaced and is characterised by excessive teacher floor time, sudden topic shifts, shorter but more frequent student turns” (Rashidi & Naderi 2012: 30). A female teacher appears more interactive and supportive; she is more of a communicative facilitator and asks many questions in order to keep the conversation flowing (Chavez 2000). Hopf and Hatzichristou (1999) studied 1041 primary school students and 862 secondary school students in Greece with the aim to examine the extent to which teacher-student interaction is affected by teacher gender. Results indicate that female teachers tend to employ a greater number of gender stereotypes in their attitude and expectations: they act as maternal figures, showing a large degree of protection towards the children as well as greater understanding towards their bad behaviour. Interestingly, Lawrenz (1987) has claimed that, ‘‘in secondary level education, girls perceive the psychological environment of the class to be more favourable when they have a male teacher, while the boys are more comfortable with a female teacher. Both the gender of the students and the teacher affect their mutual relationship in the classroom’’ (cited in Madrid & Hughes 2010: 2). Thought-provoking issues emerge when examining gender stereotypes in textbooks. Research shows that male pronouns are more common than female pronouns. “Husband” is less common than “wife”. The possessive form “husband’s” is more common than “wife’s” (Renner 1997: 4). Gender stereotyping exists in classroom materials, like textbooks, but also in educational software for young children (Sheldon 2004). Furthermore, Talansky (1986) did a survey across 12 textbooks used widely in English teaching in Italy. Women were found to be badly under-represented in the materials and their role was one of the stereotyped roles. The use of gender-biased resources ‘‘may lead to systematic and often unconscious perpetuation of the inappropriate treatment of gender in teaching and learning’’ (Madrid & Hughes 2010: 2). It goes without saying that all these findings have teaching implications. Teachers should ‘be ware’ and aware of gender differences but they should not overestimate them and so in a sense create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Daily school practices and possible perpetuation of imbalance are affected by gender so language teachers need to strive to promote an inclusive classroom atmosphere for all the learners regardless of the gender. Skills and strategies

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textbooks and gender

teaching implications

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development ought to be gender-free along with pedagogies that avoid educational discrimination. When preparing and designing activities and tasks, teachers should prefer materials that are gender-neutral but also interesting and thought-provoking for both genders. Gender-based differences must be recognised, respected and considered. That’s it; nothing more, nothing less. 4.

Summary

This chapter focused on gender from the view of the learner. We defined what gender is about, what are the factors that determine it and we revealed commonly held myths and misconceptions. We demonstrated that research studies are inconclusive and there is no consensus in believing that one gender is better than the other at learning languages. We clarified that in certain aspects girls appear to do better and in others boys excel; however, in essence, these findings on their own are not important, universal or ground breaking. What is essential is for teachers to realise that certain myths and misconceptions can affect the way they treat learners, the expectations they have from them and the way these ideas may affect classroom behaviour. Review - Reflect - Research 1. 2. 3.

What will you do as a future English language teacher to support both genders equally in their language learning process? To what extend have your views regarding gender’s role in language learning changed? After reading this paper, reflect on your own teaching: Is your threshold of tolerance of errors the same for both sexes? Perhaps next time you enter your classroom, you can research your own attitude and treatment towards both genders.

Further Reading Suggestions Chavez, Monica (2000). Gender in the Language Classroom. Boston: McGraw-Hill. Lopez Rua, Paula (2006). The sex variable in foreign language learning: an integrative approach. Porta Linguarum 6, 99-114. Madrid, Daniel & Hughes, Stephen (2010). Speaking the Same Language? Gender-Based Teacher Performance in the EFL Class. Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 1-9. Rashidi, Nasser & Naderi, Sahar (2012). The effect of gender on the patterns of classroom interaction. Education 2: 3, 30-36.

Chapter IV

Gender, Language and Texts

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective Heiko Motschenbacher, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

In this chapter, we will focus on the role that language plays in processes of gender-related exclusion and inclusion in English language teaching. You will learn about basic principles of educational inclusion and relate these to gender and language. Various linguistic research approaches that can be used to study gender-related exclusion will be outlined. You will further be introduced to gender-relevant language structures and their complex relation to representational inclusion and exclusion, both in English and across languages. Finally, we will explore how gendered language structures can form a component in critical analyses of educational practices and teaching materials. Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

0.

How can femaleness, maleness and gender neutrality be expressed via language? Which language structures are particularly likely to possess a gendered meaning? In how far can the way we communicate about gender in classroom interactions or teaching materials exhibit gender asymmetries? How can language-based practices of gender exclusion be studied? How can English language teaching be made linguistically more genderinclusive? Language, Gender and Educational Inclusion

Inclusion is an issue that has centrally shaped recent discussions concerning the education of increasingly heterogeneous groups of learners. It has been conceptualised in two ways: in its first, narrower definition, inclusion covers the aim of making teaching more inclusive for pupils with learning difficulties, special needs or disabilities (cf. Arries 1999; Bartosch & Rohde 2014; Friend & Bursuck 2012; Prengel 2013). This conceptualisation of inclusion has become more prominent since the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2008, which has been ratified by many countries. The convention stipulates that learners with disabilities should not (exclusively) receive separate special needs education, as it is a fundamental human right to be educated with one’s peers, i.e. to be included in regular classrooms.

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However, inclusion can also be conceptualised in a broader way, namely in relation to strategies of creating beneficial learning conditions for all learners in class. In fact, this is also recognised within the narrower concept of inclusion, which highlights the intersectionality of disability with other social variables. As today’s classrooms are becoming increasingly heterogeneous in terms of learner identities and learners’ needs, this poses additional challenges educational professionals have to face if they aim at ensuring a higher degree of inclusivity in their classes. Besides disability, potential aspects that may require more conscious efforts to foster inclusion are, among others, ethnicity, social class, sexuality and gender (e.g. McClure 2010; Piller & Takahashi 2011; Verplaetse & Migliacci 2008). Inclusive educational policies view this diversity in a positive light, as an enrichment rather than as an obstacle to successful learning and teaching. Catering for all learners’ needs requires educators to integrate more individualised teaching in their classes. However, gender inclusivity – the focus of the present chapter – usually possesses a broader relevance, as most classrooms today consist of female and male learners. Educational inclusion is, of course, not restricted to a mere physical copresence of certain learner groups in a classroom. Its central goal is to create a positive learning atmosphere that is beneficial for all learners, no matter what their specific needs are. Linguistic practices play a central role in this process, as they are a potential site of disadvantaging, misrepresenting or excluding certain (groups of) learners. On the level of language, exclusion can be described as a matter of linguistic barriers (Motschenbacher forthc. a), i.e. language-related aspects that pose obstacles to certain (groups of) learners. These may have detrimental effects on learning success, either because they make it harder for certain learners to participate in class or to understand learning content, or because learners’ identities are not, only marginally, stereotypically or negatively represented in classroom talk or teaching materials. Linguistic barriers often have materialised as socially circulating discourses whose traces surface in language and linguistic practices. They may have the detrimental effect of causing learners to become demotivated, as they clash with learners’ specific needs and render learning an experience that is far removed from what is personally relevant to them. It is important to note that the presence of linguistic barriers does not automatically lead to exclusionary effects. The severity of their detrimental consequences is subject to negotiation among class participants (both teachers and learners) and is, therefore, interactively created. This, in turn, means that, on the side of the teacher, certain measures may help reduce the excluding potential of the linguistic barriers that occur. Even if a textbook represents girls and boys in stereotypical ways (for example, as dancing and playing football respectively), teachers may draw on strategies to counter such discourses (for example, by inducing a critical discussion of such roles in class or by deliberately crossing such stereotypical ascriptions). Similarly, if female or male persons are not represented to the same extent in a certain textbook or textbook chapter, teachers may use strategies in class to make them linguistically more visible.

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

In relation to gender, a range of potential linguistic barriers can be identified that lead to female or male learners being disadvantaged, misrepresented, insufficiently represented or normatively regulated (cf. Linke 2007; Sunderland 1996 for overviews). With respect to language learning more specifically, they include the following aspects:    

1.

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Stereotypes and concomitant expectations of girls as good language learners and of boys as being “not good at languages” (cf. Carr & Pauwels 2006) Unequal shares of participation, talking time or language learning success along gender lines (cf. Sauntson 2012) Asymmetrical and stereotypical linguistic gender representation in teaching materials (cf. Hellinger 1980) The normative linguistic representation of certain female and male identities as “normal”, preferable, natural or common sense Linguistic Approaches to Studying Gender-Based Exclusion

Linguistic research whose goal it is to increase classroom inclusivity is concerned with the identification of (often subtle, less obvious) forms of language-based exclusion. In other words, researchers strive to detect linguistic barriers in classroom interaction and teaching materials that represent an obstacle to certain (groups of) learners, in order to come up with strategies of reducing or eliminating these effects. With respect to gender, central research questions include: Do female and male learners equally participate in classroom interaction and, if not, why is this so? Does classroom interaction exhibit gendered asymmetries in terms of communicative roles? Are gendered stereotypes fostered or challenged in teachers’ and learners’ contributions? Are female and male persons equally represented, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in teaching materials? Does the language used construct women and men or girls and boys as differing from each other or even as two polarised social groups? Are female and male people linguistically constructed in relation to each other and, if so, how is this done? Various linguistic approaches can be used to explore such research questions, among them ethnographic approaches, discourse analytical approaches and structural gender linguistics. Ethnographic approaches study interactional processes and identity negotiation at the local level. While the formal details of interaction are typically investigated in Conversation Analysis (CA; cf. Wilkinson & Kitzinger 2014), issues of identity negotiation are often analysed with the help of Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA; Järviluoma & Roivainen 2003). These bottom-up approaches take datasets based on classroom interaction as a starting point and commonly find that gender evolves as a relevant category that participants orient to in their talk. This regularly enables analysts to show how gendered asymmetries and exclusionary practices surface in the classroom (e.g. Decke-Cornill 2007; Julé 2005; Sauntson 2012). Such work often conceptualises classrooms as socalled communities of practice (Eckert & McConnell-Ginet 1992), i.e. groups of interactants who meet regularly for a particular, activity-related purpose

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around which they develop a ritualised repertoire of communicative behaviours, of which some may have the effect of gender-related linguistic barriers. Discourse analytic approaches, by contrast, typically use a top-down methodology, starting from a certain social aspect that is deemed problematic (such as gender-related linguistic exclusion) and analysing linguistic data in order to uncover traces of such harmful discourses. Textbooks and other teaching materials form relevant datasets in this respect, as they influence (young) learners’ socialisation to a significant extent. What occurs in textbooks is largely taken for granted and stays unquestioned. A stereotypical appearance or an underrepresentation of female or male social actors may, therefore, perpetuate traditional gender discourses that can lead to alienation. At the same time, such representational practices delegitimise more recent or alternative gender-related discourses that may possess a higher personal relevance for learners. Teaching materials have frequently been scrutinised by linguists drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to identify quantitative and qualitative asymmetries in linguistic gender representation (e.g. Lee 2014; Lewandowski 2014; Sunderland et al. 2002). These asymmetries have traditionally surfaced in the following ways: Females tend to be relatively rare, of lower-status occupations, younger, more often defined in relationship to the opposite sex, and relatively inactive, and quieter, speaking proportionately less, and being responders in rather than initiators of conversation. (Sunderland 1996: 93)

poststructuralist discourse analysis

structural gender linguistics

How dominant gender discourses surface in classroom communication can be studied using Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis (PDA; e.g. Baxter 2003; Castañeda-Peña 2008). This approach to spoken classroom interaction represents a form of discourse analysis that incorporates an ethnographic component, turning its deconstructionist lens on the local negotiation of a multiplicity of competing, and often clashing, gender-related discourses. But also more generally, ethnographic and discourse analytic approaches are today increasingly treated as compatible and mutually complementing (cf. Weatherall et al. 2010). This often leads to research designs in which bottom-up and top-down approaches are used in combination, enabling researchers to move back and forth between theory and data in a process of mutual adaptation and refinement. Structural gender linguistics (SGL) forms a subfield of language and gender studies that concentrates on the description of the semantics and grammar of gendered language structures. SGL played a key role in the formation of the field in the 1970s and 1980s, the heyday of Second Wave Feminism with its aim of exposing systematic ways in which women are disadvantaged in society (including through language and linguistic practices; cf. Lakoff 1975). More recently, SGL has been influenced by the de-essentialising agenda of Third Wave Feminism (cf. Mills 2004; 2008). This has resulted in a conceptualisation of gendered language structures as discursively shaped in language use (rather than stable), and in a foregrounding of language users as agents in discursive change (Motschenbacher 2015, forthc. b). The recommendation (and teaching) of alternative linguistic representation strategies

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

is, in such an approach, meant to increase the competition of gender-related discourses. The ultimate goal is that of weakening the power of such dominant discourses as female linguistic invisibility, “male-as-norm” thinking, or gender difference, which before the advent of language and gender studies surfaced in language structures without being questioned. One way of de-essentialising gendered language structures is by means of documenting their cross-linguistic variability, as this relativises discourses of gender as stable, monolithic or natural by adducing cross-cultural evidence for its diversity, incoherence and social constructedness. The heterogeneous ways in which gender surfaces across languages shows that gender has materialised, and continues to be materialised, in highly complex ways, even at the level of language structures, which possess a relatively high degree of discursive materiality. Linguistic subfields that are concerned with the cross-linguistic comparison of language structures are contrastive linguistics and language typology. Contrastive linguistics generally conducts detailed comparisons of a limited number of languages, often only two. Such work has traditionally constituted useful input for foreign language teaching, especially in classroom contexts in which learners share a common L1. For example, German-English contrastive analyses have centrally informed ELT in German-speaking countries, as they highlight typical troublespots for German-speaking learners of English (cf. e.g. König & Gast 2012; or, in relation to gender, Kremer 1997; Motschenbacher 2014). However, as the ethnic diversity of learners in our classrooms is increasing (cf. e.g. Chlosta et al. 2003), an analytical restriction to just one pair of languages loses some of its relevance and is likely to cause L1-based learner exclusion in teaching practices. This is why language typology (cf. Moravcsik 2012; Velupillai 2012) is becoming a more promising basis for language teaching and linguistically informed language teacher training. Typological studies compare a large number of languages with respect to their structures, thereby identifying structural patterns that are universal, occur in many languages, or are restricted to a smaller group of or individual languages. Such descriptions work independently of linguistic kinship, i.e. languages belonging to the same language family may exhibit different structural patterns and languages of various language families may show similar structural patterns. Illustration 1 presents an overview of common language types in relation to the structures that they provide for the expression of gender (Hellinger & Bußmann 2001; cf. also Bußmann & Hellinger 2003; Hellinger 2001).

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Illustration 1: Language types in relation to gender representation nominal classification

gender languages

As can be seen in illustration 1, one can make a basic distinction between languages that show some form of nominal classification and languages that do not possess any noun classes. English is among the languages (besides Basque, Finnish, Hungarian, Turkish, and many more) whose nominal lexicon is not divided up into noun classes, which, in turn, means that nominal classification cannot be used for the expression of femaleness and maleness in this language. Within the group of languages that show nominal classification, one can further distinguish classifier languages (such as Chinese and Thai), in which noun class membership is expressed by separate function words that co-occur with nouns (so-called classifiers), and noun class languages, in which noun class membership surfaces in the formal agreement of satellites (often determiners, adjectives, pronouns; sometimes prepositions and verbs) with a controller noun. Within the group of noun class languages, one finds languages that possess a relatively high number of noun classes (often more than 30; cf. the Bantu languages), and others whose nominal lexicon is divided into two or three noun classes, so-called grammatical genders. In classifier languages and languages with many noun classes, nominal classification is usually not involved in the expression of gender. This is frequently different in gender languages, namely in those that distinguish the two grammatical gender classes feminine and masculine (e.g. French, German, Hebrew, Russian). These two noun classes tend to function as central means for linguistically expressing femaleness and maleness. However, some gender languages (such as Dutch or Swedish) distinguish two animacy-based grammatical gender classes (neuter and uter), which cannot be used to express gender.

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2.

Linguistic Gender Categories

For reasons of space, the following overview concentrates on linguistic phenomena that are potentially relevant for gender representation via personal nouns, notably lexical, social, grammatical and referential gender. Still, it should be noted that a range of other linguistic phenomena can be used to express femaleness and maleness, including word-formation (derivation, compounding), agreement or pronominalisation (cf. Hellinger & Bußmann 2001). As far as gender inclusion is concerned, these aspects constitute linguistic means of achieving gender specification or neutralisation. Lexical gender concerns all forms that contain the semantic feature [female] or [male] as part of their denotation. There are certain subfields of the personal lexicon that are particularly likely to contain lexically gendered field members: general human nouns (e.g. woman, man, girl, boy), kinship terms (e.g. mother, father, daughter, son), address terms (e.g. Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mr), nobility titles (e.g. queen, king, duchess, duke), or nouns denoting romantic partners (e.g. girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband). Note that the majority of English personal nouns is lexically gender-neutral. This is also true for occupational titles (cf. teacher, lawyer, professor, nurse, etc.), which are only rarely gender-specific. Compounding (e.g. policewoman, chairman) and derivation (e.g. waitress, usherette) are in English only sporadically used to create lexically gendered occupational titles. Lexically gender-neutral alternatives (e.g. police officer, chair(person), waiter, usher) are today often preferred when referring to the respective professions in non-specific (generic) contexts. Lexical genderisation may be associated with various kinds of gender asymmetry. For example, lexical gender specification through derivation is crosslinguistically much more common for female nouns (e.g. waitr-ess, usher-ette, hero-ine) than for male nouns (e.g. widow-er), which means that it is most of the time women who are represented as morphologically and perceptually marked, while male representatives of social categories do not normally require such marking. Moreover, in pairs of lexically gendered nouns, it is often the female form that has undergone a process of semantic derogation, which causes the two nouns to be no longer semantically parallel and the female form to be more negative or trivial in its meaning compared to the male form (cf. master – mistress, governor – governess, bachelor – spinster; Schulz 1975). Similarly, address term systems are notorious for exhibiting gender asymmetries and perpetuating gender-related discourses that are today largely perceived as harmful. In English, for example, one finds an asymmetry between the female forms Mrs and Miss, which specify marital status, and the male form Mr, which is used independently of marital status. The creation of the new alternative female address term Ms was originally intended to remedy this situation by providing a form that does not indicate a woman’s marital status. However, even though the term is today commonly used, it has not ousted the two earlier forms, which means that addressing women has de facto become an even more complex business. Empirical studies indicate that Ms is often perceived to possess originally unintended meanings like “di-

lexical gender

semantic derogation

address terms

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vorced”, “in a de facto relationship”, “feminist” or “lesbian” (cf. Pauwels 2001), which further add to its asymmetry in relation to Mr. Attentive readers may have noticed that some of the lexically gender-neutral nouns mentioned earlier in this section, such as professor or nurse, do not seem to be semantically gender neutral in the strict sense of the word. This is the case because personal nouns may possess gendered connotations besides their denotative specification – an aspect that has also been described as ‘covert gender’. These connotations originate from gendered stereotypes about the prototypical representative of the social category denoted by a personal noun. For example, in non-specific contexts people are likely to associate nouns like nurse or secretary with women and nouns like professor or surgeon with men (cf. Kennison & Trofe 2003), even though these forms are lexically gender-neutral. In English, this may affect pronominalisation in non-specific contexts (A nurse must take care of her patients. A professor should be good to his students.). In specific contexts, the social gender of personal nouns can easily be overridden by referential gender (This nurse has taken care of his patients. This professor was good to her students.). In gender languages with a grammatical feminine-masculine distinction, social gender is much less likely to surface in agreement or pronominalisation, as it is generally overridden by grammatical gender (cf. German ein Professor – er; eine Professorin – sie). Grammatical gender is a noun class property which triggers formal agreement in satellite forms inside and outside the noun phrase. It exclusively occurs in gender languages and causes gender representation in these languages to be vastly different from that of other language types. Close to all nouns in a gender language possess a stable grammatical gender value. For inanimate nouns, grammatical gender assignment is largely arbitrary, i.e. there is often no semantic motivation for the fact that a certain inanimate noun is feminine, masculine or neuter. This becomes evident when nouns expressing the same concept belong to different grammatical gender classes across languages (cf. German feminine Sonne, French masculine soleil and Croatian neuter sunce, all meaning “sun”). Nevertheless, in the realm of personal nouns, grammatical gender assignment is not arbitrary, but generally motivated by lexical gender, i.e. lexically female nouns are mostly grammatically feminine, and nouns with a male meaning potential are mostly grammatically masculine. This is, for example, why the German nouns denoting “woman” and “mother” (Frau, Mutter) are grammatically feminine, while the nouns denoting “man” and “father” (Mann, Vater) are grammatically masculine and trigger the respective agreement in the satellite forms (ein-e kompetent-e Frau – sie ‘a-FEM competent-FEM woman – she’; ein kompetent-er Mann – er ‘a.MASC competentMASC man – he’). Because of this strong connection between lexical and grammatical gender in personal nouns, grammatical gender serves as a powerful means of expressing femaleness and maleness. That this connection is a normative business is demonstrated by the fact that nouns in which lexical and grammatical gender do not correspond often carry negative connotations (cf. German Tunte ‘fag’: lexically male, grammatically feminine; Vamp ‘vamp’: lexically female, grammatically masculine; Weib ‘woman’ [derogatory]: lexically female, grammatically neuter). A group of personal nouns that

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

systematically flouts such coherence lines is that of epicene nouns. These personal nouns possess a fixed grammatical gender value (often feminine or masculine), but are lexically gender-neutral and cannot be feminised through derivation (e.g. German masculine Mensch ‘human being’, Flüchtling ‘refugee’; feminine Person ‘person’, Waise ‘orphan’). Referential gender is a pragmatic phenomenon, as it describes whether a certain form is contextually used to refer to female persons, male persons, a mixed-sex group of people or people in general. We have already heard that referential gender may trigger pronominal choices that overcome the social gender of personal nouns. For example, when one talks about a specific professor using a female anaphoric pronoun (This professor loves her job), this pronoun choice cannot be explained through lexical, social (or grammatical) gender, but only through referential gender. Similarly, many gender languages possess so-called double-gender nouns, i.e. personal nouns that do not have a stable grammatical gender value and may occur with feminine and masculine satellite forms, depending on referential gender (cf. French une/un aide ‘an.FEM/MASC assistant’, hence ‘a female/male assistant’; or la/le touriste ‘the.FEM/MASC tourist’, hence ‘the female/male tourist’). Moreover, in personal constructions that lack a head noun with which the satellites could agree, referential gender is regularly responsible for the form of the satellites (cf. deictic uses such as Look at him!; French Je suis heureux/heureuse. ‘I am happy.MASC/FEM’, uttered by a male/female speaker). There is a normative association between lexical, grammatical and referential gender, since lexically female and grammatically feminine forms are generally used for female reference, whereas lexically male and grammatically masculine forms are commonly used for male reference. However, a substantial share of personal references do not show such a gender-coherent pattern, with generic uses (further discussed in Section 4) even forming systematically incoherent patterns. Language types

Linguistic gender categories

Gender languages (masculine, feminine)

Lexical gender

e.g. FRENCH, GERMAN, ARABIC

Referential gender

Gender languages (masc., fem., neuter)

Social gender

Grammatical gender

Masculine and male generics Ls. without nominal classification

Lexical gender

Ls. with many noun classes

Referential gender

Classifier languages

Gender languages (uter, neuter)

e.g. ENGLISH, TURKISH, THAI, SWAHILI, SWEDISH

Social gender

Male generics

Table 1: Linguistic gender categories in relation to language type

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Of the four linguistic gender categories discussed above, lexical, social and referential gender are universals in the sense that they, to varying extents, occur in all languages, while grammatical gender is restricted to gender languages (cf. Table 1). As illustrated in Table 2, all four linguistic gender categories may affect agreement and pronominalisation, even though the extent to which each of these categories does this varies significantly across languages. Whereas in English, pronominalisation is predominantly governed by lexical and referential gender, grammatical gender is the dominant factor in German in this respect. It follows that agreement and pronominalisation are not purely grammatical phenomena, but may be affected by the semantic properties of head nouns or pragmatic aspects such as referential gender. Category

Type of meaning

lexical gender

lexico-semantic (denotational)

social gender

lexico-semantic (connotational)

referential gender

pragmatic

grammatical gender

grammatical

Agreement example

girl – she boy – she

any nurse – she any lawyer – he [only in non-specific contexts] this nurse – she/he this lawyer – he/she [only in specific contexts] die Frau – sie der Mann – er das Mädchen – es

Table 2: Linguistic gender categories and pronominalisation terminological issues

In linguistic discussions of gender, it is important to specify which kind of gender category one is talking about. Just referring to “gender” is vague and should therefore be avoided by using more specific terms such as lexical, social, grammatical or referential gender, depending on which one is relevant in a given context. Note that the term “natural gender”, which has traditionally been used to describe linguistic gender representation in English, is highly problematic, as it conflates lexical and referential gender and is in fact only applicable to a minority of personal nouns (What is the “natural gender” of teacher, for example?). Moreover, the term suggests a biological foundation of gender that is incompatible with recent conceptualisations of gender (and sex) as socially shaped or discursively constructed (cf. Butler 1993). Another terminological issue concerns the designations used to describe gendered forms. The adjectives feminine, masculine and neuter are used for the description of grammatical gender exclusively, while the semantic and pragmatic meaning aspects of lexical, social and referential gender are described using the terms female, male, gender-neutral or generic.

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3.

Exclusive and Inclusive Uses of Gendered Language Structures

The present section moves beyond the purely structural description of personal reference forms in the previous section, taking a closer look at how such forms are used. This shifts our attention towards questions concerning the adequacy of the use of particular forms when referring to certain (groups of) people and potential asymmetries in the linguistic representation of women and men in language use (for example, in classroom communication or teaching materials). The structural features outlined in the previous section provide analytical tools that can be used for the description of linguistic data in ethnographic and discourse analytic studies. Within such study designs, however, they usually form just a subset of the analytical tools that are employed, as the interactional negotiation of gender and the formation of gender-related discourses typically involve additional linguistic (and nonlinguistic) features beside personal reference forms and their satellites. Still, such forms often form a central component in such analyses, because they form linguistic gender indexes, i.e. people frequently draw on them when they orient to gender (Ochs 1992; Stokoe & Smithson 2001). A central distinction in the use of personal reference forms is between specific and generic reference types. A specific personal reference is used to refer to an individual or to a specific group of people (e.g. The woman dropped her bags. These boys are very good at playing tennis.). A generic reference, by contrast, is used to refer to a group of people or a social category more generally (e.g. A man knows how to drive a car. Girls like to dance.). As the sample sentences illustrate, generic statements often possess a normative force, i.e. in connection with gendered social actors, they frequently express which behaviours are (stereotypically) expected of women or men. It almost goes without saying that such normative expressions in relation to gender should be viewed critically when they occur in classroom communication or teaching materials, as they perpetuate traditional gender discourses and exclude individuals whose practices and experiences do not conform to such norms. There is one more aspect about generic reference that is problematic from the point of view of gender inclusion. The sample sentences in the preceding paragraph all convey statements about women or men as a social group. The use of lexically and grammatically gendered personal nouns to refer to female or male social groups may be deemed appropriate for this purpose. When language users make statements of broader relevance that are intended to be valid for people in general, i.e. including both women and men, they can use gender-neutral personal reference forms like people, everybody, patients, etc. The use of female/feminine or male/masculine forms appears to be much less legitimate for such generic functions. However, such usages, especially of male or masculine forms, commonly occur, and have repeatedly been criticised by feminist linguists and other gender-minded language users. In English, forms that may be used as male generics include the noun man in the sense of “humankind” (1) and related expressions (mankind, man-made, to man a ship, the man in the street etc.), man-compounds (policeman, fireman, spokesman, chairman etc.; (2)), and male third person pronouns (he/his/ him/himself; (3)):

generic vs. specific personal reference

male generics

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1. 2. 3. masculine generics

Man has roamed this earth for many centuries. Many children want to become firemen later in life. An American drinks his coffee black.

Similarly, speakers of gender languages with a grammatical femininemasculine contrast often employ masculine forms in such generic functions. This is illustrated below with German examples, in which a singular masculine noun and its masculine satellites (4), a plural masculine noun (5), and masculine relative and possessive pronouns (6) are used generically: 4.

5.

6.

Ein

Lehrer

a.MASC teacher.MASC

muss seinen Unterricht vorbereiten.

must his

‘A teacher must prepare his class.’

Lehrer

müssen

teachers.MASC must

their class

‘Teachers must prepare their class.’

jemand,

der

prepare

seine Hausaufgaben macht

somebody who.MASC his

homework

does

Male and masculine generics (also called androcentric generics) can be said to have a pseudo-generic function, i.e. they are seemingly meant to refer to a gender-undifferentiated group of people but – due to their lexical or grammatical gender – are widely perceived as male (hence, they are sometimes referred to as ‘false generics’; see, for example, Henley & Abueg 2003 for psycholinguistic evidence). In other words, these personal reference forms exclude women from social groups to which they de facto belong, render them linguistically invisible and express a male-as-norm attitude. Female and feminine generics, which similarly exclude men, are much less common cross-linguistically (cf. Motschenbacher 2010). In some contexts, one may even find male or masculine forms that are used for female-specific reference (7), often by women referring to themselves (8): 7. 8.

gender-inclusive wording

prepare

ihren Unterricht vorbereiten.

‘somebody who does his homework’

cross-gender uses

class

Susan Smith is the chairman of this committee. Susanne: “Ich bin Lehrer.” ‘I am [a] teacher.MASC’

Such usages are no longer generic uses, but rather represent specific, crossgender uses of male and masculine forms, which can equally be criticised for subsuming women under a male norm. A similar example is the use of the lexically male noun guy when addressing a specific mixed-sex, or even allfemale, group of people as you guys. Alternative, gender-sensitive language use would typically avoid crossgender references and replace them with the respective female/feminine or gender-neutral forms (where possible). For the avoidance of male and masculine generic uses, the situation is more complex and does not allow for a

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

general solution strategy. A central factor influencing suggestions for reformed usage is the language concerned, and the structures that it provides for gender specification (cf. Hellinger 2011). For gender languages with a grammatical feminine-masculine contrast such as German, the specification of both sexes (instead of Lehrer ‘teachers.MASC’, various forms of splitting can be used: Lehrer und Lehrerinnen, LehrerInnen, Lehrer/innen) is generally recommended to achieve a higher degree of gender inclusivity. However, this does not rule out that in some cases, neutralisation is also a viable option (e.g. using grammatically neuter nouns like Lehrkräfte, lexically gender-neutral collective nouns like Lehrerschaft/Lehrerkollegium, or pluralised gender-neutral de-adjectival nouns like Lehrende). For languages without a grammatical feminine-masculine distinction such as English, gender neutralisation is in most cases the preferred gender-inclusion strategy. This is because the creation of female forms is often not a productive morphological process in such languages or because female personal nouns regularly possess negative connotations that block their usage. For most male generic nouns in English, lexically gender-neutral alternatives are available (generic man, policeman, fireman, chairman can be replaced with expressions like human species, police officer, fire fighter, chair(person)). To avoid male generic third person pronouns, singular they/them/their/ themselves provides a gender-neutral alternative that is especially common in spoken usage (Everybody should take care of their children.). Pronominalisation is also one of the few linguistic contexts in which gender specification is feasible in English (Everybody should take care of his or her children.) Researchers who take a critical look at linguistic gender representation in EFL classes and teaching materials in order to identify gender-related linguistic barriers may focus on various aspects of the use of personal reference forms. At the most basic level, they can quantify how often lexically, socially, or referentially gendered forms occur in texts and talk, highlighting frequency imbalances in gender representation (cf. e.g. Amare 2007; Pauwels & Winter 2006). More sophisticated quantitative analyses can identify how often female and male persons are referred to specifically and generically in ELT-related datasets (cf. van Leeuwen 2008: 35f.). Analysts can also focus on generic reference and find out how often it is performed by means of lexically male, female or gender-neutral forms. Another fruitful method is to focus on a restricted number of repeatedly occurring textbook characters and to compile a personal reference profile for each of them, i.e. a collection of all personal reference forms that are used to refer to a given person. The forms can then be categorised according to their lexical, social and referential gender status so that the individual profiles can be compared in terms of the degree of their gender specificity. Other options evolve when one focuses on the linguistic strategies for the representation of social actors as identified in CDA-related and cognitively oriented work (cf. Beukeboom 2014; van Leeuwen 2008; Machin & Mayr 2012) and studies them in relation to gender in ELT data. For example, one can analyse in how far nomination and categorisation strategies (van Leeuwen 2008: 40f.) produce an asymmetrical gender representation: are female and male characters equally often identified by means of a given name (Alex), given name plus

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surname (Alex Parker), title plus surname (Mr/Ms Parker), among other naming patterns, or by means of possessed personal nouns that describe referents in relation to somebody else (my mother, your boyfriend)? Finally, it can also be investigated in which kinds of collocations female and male personal reference forms occur and in how far they collocate with each other so as to construct women and men as opposites that attract each other, which often constitutes evidence for heteronormative and gender difference discourses. 4.

Summary

This chapter has focused on issues of linguistic gender exclusion that may surface in the shape of gender-related linguistic barriers in English language teaching. We saw that such barriers can be studied using bottom-up, ethnographic (CA, MCA) and top-down, discourse analytic (CDA, PDA) approaches, both of which are partly informed by the insights and tools of structural gender linguistics. More specifically, gendered personal reference forms serve as linguistic gender indexes that regularly play a role in the local negotiation of identities in classroom interaction or as linguistic traces of genderrelated discourses surfacing in teaching materials. Linguistic gender inclusion is substantially fostered by the choice of genderequal representation strategies such as gender specification and gender neutralisation as alternatives to androcentric generics. However, familiarising learners of English as a foreign language with such alternative usages is not just mandatory from the perspective of gender-inclusive representation. Gender-fair language use is part and parcel of present-day English usage. Learners are likely to encounter such usage patterns in English communication outside class, and it is, therefore, desirable to prepare them for such encounters in their EFL classes. In accordance with a poststructuralist theorisation, learners should not be forced to use alternative representation strategies. The aim is rather to familiarise them with the political dimension of linguistic choices in the realm of personal reference, so that they can make an informed choice concerning their own language use. As the structures involved in linguistic gender representation vary significantly across languages, English teachers should ideally possess basic language typological knowledge that enables them to cater for structural gender differences between English, the dominant language in a certain educational context (such as German in Germany) and learners’ L1s. Review – Reflect – Research 1.

Take a critical look at the following six statements, which represent notorious pitfalls of German-speaking students when they discuss linguistic gender representation in English and German. Explain why the statements are incorrect and what caused the students’ misperceptions.  

Pitfall 1: “Masculine German personal nouns (such as Arzt, Anwalt, Lehrer) are lexically male.” Pitfall 2: “Nurse is lexically female; cousin is lexically male.”

Gender, Inclusion and English Language Teaching: A Linguistic Perspective

   2.

How can language typological knowledge help English language teachers to make their classes more inclusive when they teach gender-fair language use? 



3.

Pitfall 3: “Social gender is equally relevant in English and German.” Pitfall 4: “English is a language with natural gender.” Pitfall 5: “The female specification of personal nouns through derivation works equally well in German and English.”

Go to the website of the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (http://www.bamf.de/DE/Infothek/Statistiken/Asylzahlen/asylzahl en-node. html, 3/20/2016), or any other national migration-related institution, and find statistics on the home countries of recently arrived migrants and refugees. Judging from these data, which languages are particularly likely to increase the degree of L1 diversity in future EFL classrooms? Use illustration 1 as a point of orientation to classify common learners’ L1s into types, depending on their structural prerequisites for gender representation. If you are unsure about the status of certain languages, consult grammars to find out in which structures gender surfaces and which linguistic gender categories are relevant. Also compare these languages to English.

Choose an ELT textbook and conduct a small-scale study in which you focus on the representational practices in personal reference forms (personal nouns, pronouns, personal names).    

Compare the frequencies of lexically female, male and genderneutral forms. Are there any representational asymmetries? Are socially gendered personal nouns used in a way that supports or challenges traditional gender stereotypes? Does the textbook contain any uses of male generics? If so, rephrase these passages using gender-inclusive alternatives. In how far may your findings be taken as evidence for genderrelated linguistic barriers? How can these barriers be overcome by means of inclusive linguistic strategies?

Further Reading Suggestions Hellinger, Marlis & Bußmann, Hadumod (2001). Gender across languages. The linguistic representation of women and men. In: Hellinger, Marlis & Bußmann, Hadumod (eds.). Gender Across Languages. The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men. Volume I. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1–25. Linke, Gabriele (2007). Linguistic aspects of gender in the foreign language classroom. In: Decke-Cornill, Helene & Volkmann, Laurenz (eds.). Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 137–159. Motschenbacher, Heiko (2015). Some new perspectives on gendered language structures. In: Hellinger, Marlis & Motschenbacher, Heiko (eds.). Gender

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Across Languages. The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men. Volume IV. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 27–48. Pauwels, Anne & Winter, Joanne (2006). Gender inclusivity or ‘grammar rules ok’? Linguistic prescriptivism vs linguistic discrimination in the classroom. Language and Education 20: 2, 128–140.

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness Laurenz Volkmann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Do stories about pony farms motivate girls to read more and are stories about space monsters the right reading material for boys in the EFL classroom? What can we learn about gender through using literature and through discussing literature? – This chapter will introduce readers to the various uses of literary texts regarding the development of gender awareness. It will describe how songs, poems, dramas and novels can create a greater awareness of one’s ‘gendered identity’ and how texts can be used to gain insights into how different cultures define gender differently. Finally, a number of activities for dealing with ‘gender and literature’ are suggested. Pre Reading Tasks 1.

Consider the following aphorisms. What do they tell you about gender relations and do you think they contain an element of truth in them?   

2.

3. 4.

0.

“Whereas nature turns girls into women, society has to make boys into men.” (Anthony Stevens, 1982) “A woman without a man is like a fish without a bicycle.” (Gloria Steinem, attributed) “Vive la différence.” (French proverb)

One of the key assumptions of Gender Studies is that masculinity and femininity are ‘social constructs’, i.e. what it means to be a woman or man, girl or boy is shaped and formed by social dynamics. What influence do films, videos and fiction have on the construction of ‘gender’ and how would you describe the social impacts currently at work? If one of the goals of teaching is to create awareness of how the individual is shaped by society, how can this be taught and developed? What films or texts would you choose to teach ‘gender awareness’? How would you present the material? Functions of Literature in the Context of Raising Gender Awareness

How are literature and gender interrelated? Any discussion of the issue would have to tackle crucial concerns of how ‘gender’ is implicated in questions of authorship, dissemination of literary texts, processes of canonisation (what is deemed as ‘great literature’), elements of texts such as characters, settings, plots, genres, and why and how readers and processes of reception can be explained by what society defines as male and female (or ‘trans-

literature and gender matters

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gender’). In this contribution, the fascinating, vast and highly complex field of ‘literature and gender’ (for a short introduction cf. Kilian 2012) is reduced to the question of how literature can function in the classroom when there is a special emphasis on gender matters. A tentative first answer could well be that literature can work in two seminal ways: first, literary works can serve as objects of study and interest with regard to gender issues, whether they are seen as fictional sources of information on gender relations or as motivational triggers. Like a Rorschach blot, they can trigger in readers, here students and teachers, very different ‘gendered’ reactions. Second, working with literary texts students can acquire analytical and interpretative skills which they can use when dealing with other media or in real life – in this case the skills to understand how certain texts produce and work with images of gender. texts in textbooks

a gendered dialogue

In order to illustrate the two-fold function of literature in the foreign language classroom, a closer look at a textbook passage for class 8 can be very illuminating. In textbooks it is a time-honoured tradition to introduce new grammar items through a short text passage, which features the new phenomenon in a meaningful and typical context, with the new structure appearing several times. Authors of recent textbooks have taken great pains to ascertain that such input-phase textlets are constructed in a manner which appears rather authentic, is student-oriented and ensconces the new structure in a close-to-life narrative or dialogue. Visual aids are inserted and the text features true-to-life children or young adults. In other words, while such passages are still artificial constructs, they resemble a reader-oriented mininarrative. It may even be argued that they work with literary modes, though they may not appear as ‘literature’. To spice up an introduction of if-clauses (type II, as defined by most German grammars, indicating a hypothetical possibility), the Cornelsen textbook “G 21” (2007: 35) for class 8 offers the following dialogue between teenagers Katrina and Latisha. The conversation takes place online and is illustrated by a photo showing Katrina with a headset. A Friday night chat. Katrina was tired and upset when she got back home on Friday evening. She went to her computer, found Latisha online and invited her to talk over the internet. Katrina: I’m so happy I found you online, Tish. Latisha: Why, what’s wrong? Katrina: The ‘Beauties’ were horrible all week. Latisha: Hey, don’t let them upset you. Katrina: If people called you ‘Fishface’, you would be upset too. Latisha: They’re just bullies, Katrina. If they called me names, I’d just laugh. Katrina: Yes, but that’s you, Tish. If I looked like you, they wouldn’t call me names. Latisha: Katrina, you look great. Hey, you are great. What can these ‘Beauties’ do? Go shopping and gossip. Boring! I bet they can’t play the fiddle like you. If I was you, I’d forget them. Katrina: I’d forget them if I knew how.

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

Quite evidently, the textbook dialogue serves the purpose to offer attractive input. Learners should be motivated to read the text and reflect on its youthoriented content before their attention is drawn to the use and function of ifclause constructions. The text creates a seemingly ‘natural’ environment in which if-clauses crop up – thus obliquely sending the message that it may be important for teenagers to understand the semiotic details of if-clauses and to be able to use them correctly. ‘Gender’ in this context is instrumentalised, so to speak, to serve the function of improving language competence, here grammar skills. This fact may well be open to critique, or, on the contrary, appreciated as a clever trick performed by the textbook authors, who connect the ‘dry’ task of learning grammar with youth-oriented issues. Scrutinised through the prism of Gender Studies, however, the dialogue seems at least questionable for two reasons: first, it constructs an image of female teenagers as either obsessed with beauty, shopping and gossiping – which turns into bullying here – or as excelling in allegedly ‘female’ pastimes such as ‘fiddling’, which is explicitly linked with an outsider status. While such a well-intended scenario may create or reinforce gender stereotypes and clichés, it also, secondly, does not leave much room for male learners to identify or empathise with the two characters presented here. Inadvertently, it may foster the wide-spread stereotype that learning a foreign language is meant to be mainly for girls. In spite of all the assiduous intentions of its authors, the text as a ‘gendered’ text therefore appears highly problematic – a fact which, as shown above, can be discovered when readers take a closer and critical look at it, using analytical skills honed through practices of literary criticism, here gender criticism. In this case, a text which seemingly appears as ‘gender progressive’ since it takes into account contemporary issues of gender turns out to be rather ‘gender imbalanced’ with its one-sided perspective. One important field of applying Gender Studies in EFL is certainly the analysis of gender representations in textbooks, grammars, and teaching material as part of content analysis (cf. Linke 2012). Another task is to provide suggestions for additional and supplementary texts focusing on gender, which enable gender-sensitive approaches. This is where literature must be given a vital role. At the risk of overemphasising the use of texts for the purpose of teaching grammar, better, more meaningful and more complex ways of introducing ifclauses can be found when turning to literature. Examples for profitable employment could be the song lyrics of “If I Were a Boy” by pop singer Beyoncé or lines from the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling (1895/1910). These are lyrical texts which offer very different ‘input’ and room for discussing gender roles. To focus just on Beyoncé’s lyrics, this song may well be called a feminist-oriented critique of the roles society has to offer for males and females to the detriment of the latter – and thus does not only offer authentic use of if-clauses (authentic here meaning not constructed to be used in EFL classes). In addition, it provides food for thought for both boys and girls and for creative work if learners add more items to the list of complaints featured in the song or try their hands at a re-writing from the point of view of a boy (“If I Were a Girl”). Here are some important lines from the song (Beyoncé 2008):

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applying interpretative skills = spotting bias in gender presentations

introducing grammar via pop songs or poems

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If I were a boy Even just for a day I’d roll outta bed in the morning And throw on what I wanted and go Drink beer with the guys And chase after girls I’d kick it with who I wanted And I’d never get confronted for it. If I were a boy I think I could understand How it feels to love a girl I swear I’d be a better man. I’d listen to her 'Cause I know how it hurts When you lose the one you wanted 'Cause he’s taken you for granted And everything you had got destroyed. literature: not just Shakespeare!

advantages of fictional texts: getting readers involved, revealing hidden meanings

The examples used in the context of teaching grammar and if-clauses above indicate that literature has to be defined according to broader concepts, ranging from the traditional genres fiction (short stories to novels) and drama (mini-plays to five-act tragedies or comedies) to poetry (sonnets to free verse to lyrics of pop songs), but also including what can be called ‘simple forms’ ranging from sayings, aphorisms, jokes, rhymes to riddles. Literature also includes multimedia and multimodal ‘texts’, which would include films, music videos, graphic novels and cartoons. In classroom practice, printed texts are frequently used in combination with texts of different modalities to create a textual interplay, partly for reasons of motivation, partly to demonstrate how different genres or text types create their specific meaning. In the terminology of EFL didactics, the learning objective here would be to develop ‘genre competences’ or ‘multiliteracies’ (cf. Elsner et al. 2007). Part of theses competences entails the ability to understand how texts are constructed according to the category of ‘gender’. The ‘gendered’ meaning we are interested in here includes several interrelated categories, not just how gender is constructed and interpreted according to specific genres, but also how this depends on the backgrounds of history, society and culture. Particularly with respect to understanding other cultures and intercultural learning, this addresses the vital issue of how gender is constructed in texts from different cultures and what insights can be gleaned through a comparison with the students’ cultural perspective. Such raising of ‘gender awareness’ in the EFL classroom can, of course, be undertaken through non-literary texts as well. However, while literary texts can certainly fulfill the usually demanded pragmatic functions of language material – to further the four basic language skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening, and here specifically extensive reading – they can, if chosen wisely, elicit emotional responses and invite students to discuss the issues found in a literary text, such as gender issues. Fiction can offer a rather pressure-free environment to encounter different characters and ways of living and thinking, thereby creating fictional laboratories for probing into

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

different ways of growing up or forming an identity. Being invited to enter the life and thoughts of a fictional character, if only vicariously, students are offered the chance to perceive another person and her or his different outlook on life – also on gender – through different eyes, to compare this with their own attitudes and to thus broaden their minds. In the context of encountering different forms of gender or different perspectives on gender, literature can, as mentioned above, serve as source material which can provide both ‘hegemonic and non-hegemonic’ stances on gender. Literature can reproduce and disseminate dominant ideologies about bodies, beauty, physical appearance, etc., thus reinforcing existing assumptions about femininity and masculinity, establishing both norms and role models. However, it can also create different, other images, options for femininity and masculinity and critique existing assumptions (cf. Horlacher 2011: 4). Finally, since any literary text allows for different readings and interpretations due to the ambivalence of language and textual gaps or indeterminacies, different readers can read different things ‘into’ literary texts. For instance, a seemingly gender-conservative text (such as novels by Jane Austen) may, at closer scrutiny and viewed through the prism of Gender Studies, reveal covert subversive or anti-patriarchal, therefore alternative sub-texts or meanings. Finally, students who have gained experience in reading a text with an eye on how gender is constructed in them will find the emancipating and liberating impact of gender-focused literary lessons. It is indeed an important education goal to learn how texts are shaped by underlying assumptions about gender – and how these can be revealed through the hermeneutical process of probing into the deeper meaning of a text. How, then, can the often highly theoretical and ideological approach of Gender Studies as delineated in the introduction to this volume and in various other articles be applied to the EFL classroom and, more specifically, to using literature in the EFL classroom? There is, of course, no clear-cut and normative answer (the issue is probed in more detail in Decke-Cornill & Volkmann 2007a,b) – for every teacher has a different opinion on how ‘gender’ should be integrated into EFL lessons, depending on their gender, their sexual preferences, their life story, their political or ideological attitudes, etc. Of course, it also depends on the sociocultural background of the students, their gender, gender relations in a learner group, age, and many other factors, which are constantly in flux. Given the fact that ‘gender’ in the classroom is a highly politicised and ideological issue, what then could be a common denominator regarding the question of why and how gender should feature prominently in teaching literature in EFL? An obvious answer would be that there is, first of all, the need to consider school and the classroom environment as the very places where concepts of gender are formatively shaped and formed in a manner that appears ‘natural’. The school environment, as Helene Decke-Cornill (2004: 188) surmises, is the traditional place of “dichotomized gender formation”. To elaborate on this, the classroom tends to be the place where a belief in innate differences between the sexes and conventional regimes of gender formation or gender relations are perpetuated, thus reinforcing what could be called ‘gender blindness’, i.e. the tacit acceptance of “cultural meanings that the sexed body assumes” (Butler 1990: 6).

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from theory to classroom practice: the challenges

classrooms: perpetuating traditional gender roles?

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questioning ‘naturalised’ assumptions

gender competence: a framework

Laurenz Volkmann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

Moving towards a definition of ‘gender competence’ within the context of teaching literature of EFL, it could be one of the overarching aims of a gender-sensitive classroom to at least trigger thought processes in students concerning the three basic biological and ‘naturalised’ assumptions for the construction of gender (cf. Faulstich-Wieland et al. 2004; Schmenk 2004). It depends of course, on individual teachers to decide whether they want to undermine these assumptions, debunk them as myths, or just reveal the social constructedness of these beliefs to allow space for more individual development: Firstly, the assumption of constancy is wide-spread, i.e. that belonging to one of the sexes holds lifelong validity. Secondly, that bodily features, especially genitalia, can be defined as either male or female and that there is no ‘third sex’. Thirdly, and most significantly in everyday life situations, that there is a biologically grounded difference between males and females, which excludes intersexual and transsexual people. This presumed dichotomy shapes human behaviour and communication, from driving a car and parking to telephoning and shopping and reading. This classification of people “according to divergent personality traits, abilities and motives” (Schmenk 2004: 516) is thus generally accepted as a part of life, creating ‘naturalised’ gender stereotypes, which are “shared beliefs about personality traits and behaviors of group members” (Schmenk 2004: 515). These publically shared stereotypes are, of course, in danger of simplifying or falsifying the truth (Schmenk 2009: 4). They are potentially harmful to individual growth and identity formation as well as to interpersonal communication. A definition of ‘gender competence’ would have to be framed conceptually as going beyond sex and gender discussions as they perpetuate such concepts of dichotomy. Instead, it has to be defined in the context of what has been called the ‘identities paradigm’ (Decke-Cornill 2004; cf. Decke-Cornill & Volkmann 2007b). A recent empirical study on gender-sensitive education succinctly elaborates on the conclusions to be drawn from such an open concept of gender: Es kann nicht das Ziel einer geschlechtergerechten Bildung sein, Unterschiede weiterhin als Problem zu betrachten bzw. weiter nach ihnen zu suchen, um Mädchen und Jungen dichotomen Kategorien zuzuordnen und zu polarisieren. Vielmehr sollte sich damit auseinander gesetzt werden, wie man vor dem Hintergrund aktueller kultureller Bedingungen und Wertvorstellungen mit Differenzen, die eben nicht ausschließlich aufgrund des eigenen Geschlechts bzw. der eigenen Geschlechtsidentität bestehen, umgeht oder umgehen lernt und lehrt. (Fuchs 2013: 335) [It cannot be the aim of gender-appropriate education to continue to regard differences as a problem or to continue to look for them just in order to define boys and girls according to categories of dichotomy and thus to polarise. Rather, we should take into consideration how, against the background of current cultural contexts, values and norms, differences are dealt with or how one teaches or learns to deal with them – differences that are not exclusively formed through one’s gender/sex or gender identity. (Translation: LV)]

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

1.

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Gender Competence and Literature/Gendering the Literature Classroom

The concept of ‘gender competence’ is a rather elusive one. A first working definition in our context here could be that it describes the knowledge, skills and attitudes a person possesses concerning the social construction of gender. This encompasses the changing social attitudes towards gendered identities, gendered behaviour and communication. This would also entail a range of sexual behaviour, cross-dressing, same-sex-relationships, bisexuality, transgender and intergender identities. In English-speaking countries, the acronym LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) is frequently used to emphasise this diversity of sexuality and gender. Crucially, ‘gender competence’ means the ability to question the ‘givenness’ of gender identity and gender formations. Instead, gender awareness consists of insights into how gender is socially acquired, contingent and ambivalent. It includes the awareness how concepts of gender are highly influenced by film, literature, narrative and visual texts. These media directly form the individuals’ traits and modes of behaviour and communication which in turn are culturally identified as feminine or masculine. In the following I would like to suggest ten elements of ‘gender competence’ and ‘gender awareness’ as they can be developed through the use of literature: (1) Learners gain insights into how women’s lives have become increasingly ‘visible’ and with them the issue of gender itself. The issue of ‘feminism’ remains an important one and cannot be completely superseded by the ‘identity paradigm’ described above. In literature classes, this means including texts from earlier centuries and contrast women’s or girls’ lives in literary texts with today’s lives (cf. Hallet & Hebel 2007). This also includes the question of text selection and how female authors should be featured to redress historical imbalances of preferring male authors in the EFL classroom (cf. the discussion in Volkmann 2007; Würzbach 1996 for suggestions). (2) Learners come to see gender as a ‘community of practice’ by reading how in different ages or different societies or communities gender is constructed differently. How, for example, are rites of passage defined in different cultures? How were young women supposed to behave at a ball around 1900 (as depicted in Kathrine Mansfield, “Her First Ball”, 1921)? How did ‘bullying’ work in the 1920s in America (F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Bernice Bobs Her Hair”, 1922)? And how does this differ from today’s practices? (3) Through the short stories just mentioned and other texts (especially those about growing up) gender can be seen as ‘multiple and fluid’ and thus as a highly complex field of contestation. Gender concepts are not just a result of what a certain culture defines, but a complex mish-mash of the intersections and tensions between local and global concepts of gender; they are historically and culturally in flux. Crucially, for the EFL classroom this changing aspect of gender formations is part of intercultural and transcultural learning and can be learned about through such texts as Hanif Kureishi’s coming-ofage stories (e.g. “The Buddha of Suburbia”, 1990).

defining gender competence

ten elements of gender competence or gender awareness

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(4) Gender needs to be seen as a social representation, thus as “flexible and changeable”, as recent favourites of the EFL classroom poignantly reveal (such as the film “Bend it Like Beckham”, 2002). (5) Gender is not just a social, but also a linguistic construction, and this can be revealed by tasks asking students to analyse how man and women, girls and boys are described in literary texts, what linguistic markers, for example adjectives, are used in a literary text. (6) Gender is about individual agency and contestation, finding one’s ‘gender role’, especially when growing up and being confronted with normative demands by parents, school, society, etc. This is the very topic of growing up stories, from Hemingway’s “Nick-Adams stories” (written in the 1920s and 30s) to more recent offerings by authors such as Sherman Alexie (“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian”, 2007). (7) Gender is defined as constructed and exhibited in and through ‘performance’ (cf. Butler 1990). Lotta König stresses the importance of using drama and drama techniques in this context: Ein Fokus auf Gender im Unterricht ist sehr gut geeignet, die Theatralik und Performativität kulturellen Handelns zu demonstrieren – beruhen doch zentrale Erkenntnisse der Gender Studies auf der Analyse von Geschlecht in alltäglichen Interaktionen sowie der performativen Hervorhebung von Geschlecht als Effekt der Diskurse. (König 2015b: 168) [Focusing on gender in the classroom is extremely useful to demonstrate the theatricality and performativity of culture-bound communication and acting – this is underscored by the fact that key insights of Gender Studies are based on the analysis of gender in every-day interaction as well as on the performative emphasis of gender as a result of culture-defined discourse. (Translation: LV)]

(8) Gender is also an issue of ‘entitlement’. Importantly, this concerns the issue of ‘Who is allowed to speak for whom?’ In classroom discussions on literary texts the issue needs to be discussed if, for instance, a white male student is allowed to pass judgment on a black female character in a novel, or a female reader on a male protagonist. Other questions could be whether a male reader can approach a literary text from a feminist perspective or if only female readers may criticise female authors or protagonists – in other words, the ‘politics’ of representation or interpretation can be an issue in advanced classes too. (9) Complementary to suggestion (1) above on the remaining significance of feminist approaches in EFL, the evolving field of masculinity studies could find a place in teaching literature as well (cf. below). Masculinity Studies, New Men’s Studies, Critical Studies of Men and Masculinities (cf. Horlacher 2011) have revealed how patriarchal societies impose rigid demands upon the male individual. Since the male self is forged in the rejection of ‘feminine’ attributes such as tenderness, affection, etc., it simultaneously values toughness in the stern male world. This creates a fragile self which depends on various protective shields, resulting in a male identity which is a “precarious and dangerous achievement [which is] highly damaging to men” (Hor-

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rocks 1994: 1). Critiques of Western concepts of masculinity culminate in the statement that “patriarchal masculinity cripples men” (Horrocks 1994: 25). Thus, modes of forging ‘male identities’ in stories of initiation (cf. Volkmann 2015) can be highlighted in EFL classrooms, including a focus on such elements as male bonding, male competitiveness, the male gaze, etc. (10) Finally, it remains a pertinent goal to expose gender stereotypes, clichés and – most importantly – sexism. Psychological studies have drawn attention to a hitherto rather neglected aspect of gender stereotyping and sexism: ‘benevolent’ sexism, which is interpreted as complementary to practices of open, ‘hostile’ sexism in maintaining unjust, asymmetrical gender relations (Glick & Fiske 2001; Jost & Kay 2005). Hostile sexism appears easy to detect and to analyse in society and in texts: It is a prejudice, marked by antipathy and discrimination, using stereotypical labelling of women such as ‘housewives’, ‘career woman’, ‘feminists’, ‘babes’, ‘temptresses’, or ‘lesbians’, thus creating an emotional context of fear, envy, resent, and male superiority (Glick & Fiske 2001: 113, 116) While such gender-based stereotyping evidently appears as negative and prejudicial, strategies of ‘benevolent’ sexism seem less obvious, since these dimensions of sexism are “very often favorable in content and yet prejudicial in their consequences” (Jost & Kay 2005: 498). How does benevolent sexism operate, then? Psychologists describe it as a complementary and corresponding and, in the final analysis, paternalistic tendency to hostile sexism, both ascribing certain traits to women and thus excluding them from certain allegedly male domains. Men are generally stereotyped as competent, assertive, independent, and achievement oriented – and women are not, whereas women are generally stereotyped as warm, sociable, interdependent, and relationship-oriented – and men are not […]. […] Masculine and feminine stereotypes are complementary in the sense that each gender group is seen as possessing a set of strengths that balances out its own weaknesses and supplements the assumed strengths of the other group […]. This complementarity, we submit, renders them highly acceptable to women as well as men. (Jost & Kay 2005: 499)

Such views clearly generate and reinforce gender inequality by suggesting that women are best suited for domestic roles, where caring and help and human warmth is needed, and men for high-status roles, where ambition, independence and competitive traits are needed. To sum up this brief discussion of sexism, both hostile sexism (antipathy towards women who allegedly intend to usurp men’s power or who are seen as lacking in certain areas such as intelligence) and benevolent sexism (“a subjectively favorable, chivalrous ideology that offers protection and affection to women who embrace conventional roles”, Glick & Fiske 2001: 109) seem as interdependent prevalent ideologies – ideologies which need to be exposed when working with literary texts. Exposing stereotypes, clichés and, ultimately, harmful prejudices as “an antipathy based upon a faulty and inflexible generalization” (Allport 1954: 9) seems to be one of the most pressing objectives of dealing with literature in the EFL classroom. Gender-sensitive approaches here need to be aligned with

becoming aware of ‘benevolent sexism’

tackling sexism

exposing stereotypes

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other critical approaches exploring social class, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, ability status, age, ecological matters and other important global issues such as poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, etc. (cf. Volkmann 2015). Empowering students to detect ‘bias’ of any sort, then, seems of utmost importance: Children cannot be insulated from prejudice, stereotypes, misunderstandings and superficial thinking, so probably the most important single aspect is the need to educate young readers to recognise bias – in themselves, in literature, in society, and so take it into account in their reading. Books that display bias may even be a useful tool in this process. (Mikkelsen & Pinsent 2001: 78)

becoming aware of bias

In choosing such a critical approach, teachers present learners with the opportunity to develop critical skills in school and transfer the knowledge and skills learned with literary texts to real life beyond the classroom. For example, a gendered perspective analyses how heterosexual norms impose constraints on individuals of any sexual orientation. “In conclusion, critical approaches have adopted cultural approaches to race, class, and gender in order to uncover the ideological underpinnings of literature.” (Grimm et al. 2015: 183f.) 2. becoming aware of gender roles

challenging the White Male canon

a typical maleoriented canon from ca. 19702000

Gender Studies and Literature: Key Issues

‘Doing gender’ in the EFL literature classroom, then, finds it concrete expression in a gender-sensitive approach when choosing texts, integrating activities with texts that challenge stereotypical expectations, make students aware of the sociocultural constructedness of gender and provide opportunities to reflect on a broad palette of gender identities. In line with the aboveindicated ‘identity paradigm’ this not only entails the question of what gender roles a certain society imposes on individuals (as, for example, reflected in literary texts of a certain epoch or a certain target culture) and compare this with one’s own culturally-formed perceptions of gender. It is not just the issue of what gender does with individuals, but also what individuals do with gender – in our context, what individual readers, students, teachers do with the gender concepts presented in literature. Especially in the 1990s to the early years of the new millennium the issue of what literary texts to use in classrooms was a hotly debated concern. It was academically debated in the ‘canon wars’ about ousting Dead White Male Authors (DWMA) and White Anglo-Saxon Protestants from the anthologies and lists of set texts for university seminars and also for school curricula. Male and female critics alike intensely lamented the gender-imbalanced nature of school canons and the dominance of male authors, such as in the following list based on an empirical survey around the millennium about the top ten literary texts used at German Gymnasien (quoted in Volkmann 2010: 258f.):   

William Golding, “Lord of the Flies” (1954) Aldous Huxley, “Brave New World” (1931) George Orwell, “Animal Farm” (1945)

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

       

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J.D. Salinger, “The Catcher in the Rye” (1951) George Orwell, “1984” (1949) Bernard MacLaverty, “Cal” (1983) Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” (1925) Ray Bradbury, “Fahrenheit 451” (1953) John Steinbeck, “The Pearl” (1947) Allan Sillitoe, “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner” (1959) Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1960)

A long-overdue replacement by ethnic minority authors and female authors was propagated (and still is), and partly also the inclusion of texts informing readers about ‘different sexualities’ (cf. Decke-Cornill 2004; Volkmann 2007; Haas 2012; König 2015b: 178ff.). Alternative lists of texts have been suggested and the discussion about a long-overdue revision of school canons has left its mark on curricula in the meantime. Here is an admittedly subjective alternative canon featuring a wide range of ‘gender matter’: 

     



 

William Shakespeare: “Shall I compare thee to a summer‘s day” (Sonnet 18, 1609, a sonnet in which an old man apostrophises a young man in an amorous manner; a fact which is frequently hushed over in standard interpretations and manuals for teachers) Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour” (1894, a very short story, a classic feminist tale about a window of emancipation opening for brief moments) Susan Glaspell: “Trifles” (1916, a short play, again a classic about a woman taking revenge, a story of female resistance, resembling a crime story) Ernest Hemingway: “A Very Short Story” (1924, a sarcastic very short story about gender roles in times of World War One) Roald Dahl: “Leg of Lamb” (1953, a story with a twist about a female protagonist taking revenge on her cheating husband) Hanif Kureishi: “The Buddha of Suburbia” (1990, a (new) ‘classic’ novel about growing up multiethnic and bisexual in neoliberal Thatcher England) Nicola Barker, “Symbiosis: Class Cestoda” (1994, a short story from the collection “Love Your Enemies”, a story of emancipation about a young British woman learning that there are better things to life than succumbing to her boyfriend’s ideas of beauty and female behaviour) Stephen Chbosky, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (1999, an epistolary high-school novel about male growing up and first relationships, with taboo topics such as suicide and homosexuality; film adaptation from 2012) Neil LaBute, “The Shape of Things” (2001, an American play about ‘doing gender’, not just proverbially; film adaptation from 2003) Richard Greenberg: “Take me Out” (2002, an American play about a baseball player’s coming out and his environment’s reaction)

While there is an unfailing emphasis on including ethnic minority authors and female authors in the selection of literature representing English speak-

suggestions for an ‘alternative canon’

boys as reluctant readers?

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ing countries in the EFL classroom, there is simultaneously an increasingly pressing sense that educators should turn to a hitherto neglected learner group. More attention should be payed to male readers, to boys or male adolescents as language learners and readers. The new buzz-word seems to be ‘male empowerment’. This neglect of focus on boys in education and with it the categorisation of boys as possible underachievers in education and clear underachievers in the fields of foreign language learning and reading have been discussed extensively in public and academic spheres. As Barbara Schmenk (2009) surmises, many explanations lack empirical evidence and do not go beyond simple stereotyping couched in the terminology of biologically-driven explanations. Such explanations tend to be “inherently conservative” (Moss 2007: 21), ranging from hints that females possess a ‘language gene’ to that their linguistic development is rated as faster and higher. In addition, empirical studies on reading differences between male and female students often focus on fictional texts only, not taking into account other text types such as nonfictional texts. Many discussions do not simply focus on the problem of reading but on the erosion of masculinity in general, as Gemma Moss observes: do boys read differently?

lad literature: the solution?

It has become hard to remember a time when the phase ‘literacy and gender’ did not evoke a discourse about boys’ failings within the education system in general, and within the core subject of English in particular. (Moss 2007: 13)

A number of publications suggest an easy way out of the problem of boys as recalcitrant readers. It is recommended that the choice of typically ‘male reading stuff’ could be the royal road to getting boys interested in reading (cf. Garbe 2008: 301ff.; Besser 2012; for a critical view, cf. Schmenk 2002: 99). A difference is marked between ‘feminine texts’ and ‘masculine texts’. The former comprise literature dealing with housekeeping, pets, arts, interpersonal relationships, romance – texts that ask readers to become emotionally involved and enjoy reading as a leisure time activity. The latter feature texts on economics, politics, cars, sports and this choice includes non-fiction, specialist texts, shorter texts and texts which are dealt with in task-oriented activities where readers need information from texts or read them in an emotionally detached manner. Boys, it has been remarked, also tend to favour alternative media formats which have been replacing print media such as audiovisual media, electronic gadgets (computer games, DVDs, streaming, etc.). Based on these presuppositions, teachers would have to offer more books with boys as protagonists (Knowles & Smith 2005; Matzner & Tischner 2008), though books with boys are not necessarily books for boys – “Lord of the Flies” may not necessarily be an invitation to reading for today’s generation of young males. Instead, ‘Lad Lit’ (Lad Literature), has been seen as recommendable, a literary genre featuring books written by men focusing on young, male protagonists, particularly those with allegedly typical male traits, such as being insensitive, selfish and afraid of feelings and commitment. Nick Hornby’s “About a Boy” (1998) offers such a prototypical story of male initiation, featuring two characters for identification: Marcus, “the oldest twelve-year-old on the planet”, and Will, “at thirty-six as cool as a teenager” (back cover), but who acts in an extremely selfish, egocentric and

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

superficial manner until he is taught the lesson of his life through his young male companion. So far I have delineated the argument in favour of supporting male readers without commenting on the inherent fallacy of such a well-meaning approach. Obviously, such overemphasis on gender differences (“Überbetonung der geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschiede”, as Besser herself concedes, 2012: 82) can be counter-productive and create averse results. Other well-meant approaches can also backfire, for example if eager teachers intend to introduce their male learners to different forms of masculinity through the charmingly witty dance drama film “Billy Elliot – I Will Dance” (2000) about a boy who prefers ballet classes to boxing lessons. Such exposure may work and be motivating and create thought processes – but there is no guarantee that it will work, since different readers read different texts differently. As Barbara Schmenk admonishes those believing in innate gender difference when it comes to reading and learning languages: There are “no better or more suitable learners per se but there are rather differences within the sexes as well” (Schmenk 2009: 5). 3.

limits of the approach

Working with Literary Texts

The following concluding parts of this contribution consist of two interrelated parts dealing with the practical application of a gender-conscious concept of dealing with literary works. The first part will list possible questions teachers can use when working with texts in an analytical, critical manner. The second part will outline a number of tasks and activities concerned with the issue of teaching gender with literature. Some are more cognitive, others more creative or productive, thus appealing to emotions and affections. Since the issue of covert or overt, hostile or benevolent sexism, reflected in the question of how gender stereotypes and clichés form negative influences on students, is still a paramount education goal, three sets of criteria, each with a different angle, will be briefly discussed in the following: First, the most popular set of criteria for establishing if a text is ‘sexist’ was devised by Allison Bechdel, a cartoon artist, in 1985 in her comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For”. In an episode two women discuss whether they should see a film, with one woman, a black protagonist explaining that she would only see it if it satisfies the following three requirements (Wikipedia, “Bechdel test”): 1. 2. 3.

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It has to have at least two women in it, Who talk to each other, About something besides a man.

Certainly, the Bechdel test as a non-academic and simple heuristic tool can be used in class to discuss whether a work of literature passes the test or not, and whether the three simple criteria are sufficient or possibly nonapplicable in the case under discussion. Students could furthermore be invited to conduct online research on what the internet has to say about the ap-

practical applications

three approaches to alerting students to sexism the Bechdel test

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six dimensions of sexism

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plication of the Bechdel test to Hollywood feature films. On a more general level the issue of what constitutes sexism can additionally be tackled. Second, more academic lists of criteria for sexism or gender-insensitivity used for textbook analysis can also be introduced in the classroom for students to discuss. Jane Sunderland (1994: 55f.) and Gabriele Linke (2012: 156) suggest six dimensions for such an analysis:      

the “Ambivalent Sexism Inventory”

invisibility or underrepresentation of female characters stereotypes concerning female or male professions stereotypes concerning relationships between the sexes stereotypical personality traits and characteristics subordinate, less dominant and less self-assertive female characters open sexism and misogyny

Third, if we take a questionnaire devised by the psychologists Glick and Fiske into account, a matrix of questions unfolds which goes beyond a focus on women and considers the whole repertoire of culturally constructed views of gender relations. Glick and Fiske’s “Ambivalent Sexism Inventory” (2001: 118) is originally meant to be used to gauge how test persons react to a series of statements “concerning men and women and their relationship in contemporary society” (ibid.). The 22-item list asks whether one agrees or disagrees (on a 1 to 5 scale) with statements such as: 1. 2.

No matter how accomplished he is, a man is not truly complete as a person unless he has the love of a woman. Many women are actually seeking special favours, such as hiring policies that favour them over men, under the guise of asking for ‘equality’. In a disaster, women ought to be rescued before men. Most women interpret innocent remarks or acts as being sexist. Women are too easily offended.

3. 4. 5. […] 22. Women, as compared to men, tend to have a more refined sense of culture and good taste. (ibid.)

questions for interpretation

Since it can easily be accessed on the internet and features remarks about how one’s score translates into the categories of hostile or benevolent sexism, the “Ambivalent Sexism Inventory” can serve both teachers and students to detect where they are situated with regard to the issue of prejudices about gender roles. The list can also be used by students to characterise fictional characters, figures in a drama, for example, and to compare evaluations. Finally, for the purpose of providing teachers with a list of applicable interpretation categories regarding gender, I have suggested in an earlier publication the following set of seven questions (Volkmann 2007: 175). They are meant to be used selectively: 1.

What types of roles do women and men have in a text?  

Does the text work with clichés (or prejudices) of women or men? Or does it reverse them?

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

     

4.

What values and power positions are attributed to men and women in the text?

What are the attitudes towards women held by the male characters and vice versa? Is one gender given more prominence or dominance in a text? Are the text’s topics, imagery, style, etc. more ‘feminine’ or more ‘masculine’? What assumptions do we base our gender ascriptions on? Does the text offer glimpses of a less oppressive society, a ‘gender utopia’? How are differences between male and female characters constructed? 

7.

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What does it take to be considered male/female? Consider dress, behaviour, language, etc. For example, do male and female characters speak differently from each other (also in terms of frequency)? How are bodies constructed as male or female? What is the underlying ‘ideology’ of these male/female constructs? Are (female) characters/bodies seen as a commodity (a thing)? Is the male or female psyche or body seen as lacking in something? Is a text ‘politically correct’, i.e., are women portrayed as powerful, in control, etc.? What ‘traditional’ and what new, ‘alternative’ roles are given to women/men?

Does a text/how does a text deal with the issue of the ‘heterosexual matrix’ (Judith Butler)? Approaches and Methods

Not all approaches to literary texts need and should be analytical; especially for lower and intermediate learners productive and creative methods of dealing with texts are preferable. In fact, productive methods can make gendered meanings of texts be ‘felt’ in a holistic manner (for an overview of activities cf. Grimm et al. 2015: 177ff.). Such methods can include visualising a story (storyboard, drawings) or performance-oriented responses to a text (acting it out, using a freeze-frame method where students perform as human sculptures to show how characters of a story stand in relation to one another). In many cases teachers should refrain from interpreting literary texts with the help of an intricate array of questions or activities. Rather, teachers and students could tackle literary texts together, or this could be done in partner or group work. Dealing with literary texts here focuses on the general question of what the text tells its readers about gender, about the relationship between man and woman, boy and girl or how the characters in a text are characterised as male or female or as ‘different’. It has become common practice when teaching literature to precede the phases of reading and post reading activities with an introductory sequence where the learners’ prior knowledge is activated, motivation is created and reading is facilitated. In a gender-oriented approach to literature, this prereading phase could be used for activities that highlight stereotypical views on gender relations or gender formation. Suitable sources here are cartoons

holistic and/or open approaches

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ten key methods

changing perspectives

becoming aware of offensive gender models

Laurenz Volkmann, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany

or images from commercials. Since pre reading phases always shape and inform the reading process and the activities following it, they can be used with an eye on how the literary text will undermine or refute these stereotypes. The following ten methods of teaching gender through literature can provide some basic guidelines. They also suggest a number of typical texts – both methodology and text selection are not cast in stone, however, and teachers should feel invited to use other methods and other texts. (1) In line with what was stated in the introduction to this subchapter, teachers can let literary texts speak for themselves, just asking students to formulate gender-related questions and find out how the text answers them. There are texts like “The Story of an Hour” which put the gender issue on the front stage, and thus do not just invite an interpretation of how the reader – here along with the protagonist – is manipulated to change his or her perspective on gender relations, but also ask students to act out the story to ‘feel’ the described gender roles themselves. (2) The same methodological recommendations apply to a type of literary text that deliberately plays with gender roles by re-writing canonised or archetypal literary texts such as fables or fairy tales. The story of Little Red Riding Hood, for example, has been rewritten both by Roald Dahl and James Thurber, with the latter equipping the clever girl with an automatic pistol and, since she is no fool, having her shoot the wolf. In a similar vein, picture book author Babette Cole has created several illustrated re-writes of typical fairy tales in which young princesses no longer wait for Prince Charming but prefer other, more meaningful and less conventional ways of spending their time and their lives (cf. Volkmann 2007). Such texts not only invite comparisons with the original version, but could be used as textual models for a creative re-writing of similar tales with conventional or obsolete gender assumptions. (3) For more advanced learners, on the contrary, texts which exhibit extreme and problematic perspectives on gender can be used to create gender awareness regarding sexism in pop music, commercials and on television. Texts by hip hop bands or commercials for perfumes, lingerie, swim- or sportswear, but also for cars, kitchen utensils or hardware tools frequently feature sexist images or forms of hyperfemininity or hypermasculinity. They can well be used for a critical analysis regarding the use of women – and occasionally men – as sex objects which are easily available, only defined through their immaculate bodies and projecting consumerist images. However, it must be noted that there is also a trend to use politically correct images of men and women, including gay or lesbian people, or create more ambivalent images of masculinity and femininity. It is also interesting to compare how certain products are advertised in different cultures (products for personal hygiene, for example). All of this invites learners to actively engage in online research, present findings and discuss them in class. How, for example, are the lyrics from a well-known song about Barbie to be interpreted? Are they an affirmation or a critique, or do they present an ambivalent message to young adult females:

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I’m a Barbie girl in a Barbie world Life in plastic, it’s fantastic (Aqua 1997)

(4) Another approach aiming at fostering gender awareness consists of exposing students to two texts with very different stances on the matter at hand. Typically, such texts like poems, songs or song lyrics and music videos juxtapose two opposing and conflicting views on gender, such as one text with images of traditional masculinity or femininity and another text with a progressive image of gender – for example, along the lines of a text on ‘women as housewives’ vs. a text on ‘career women’, a text on ‘macho men’ vs. a text on ‘new men’ or ‘metrosexual men’. For instance, a song by the Rolling Stones, “Under my Thumb” (1966), could be chosen as one text including the following highly controversial lines:

juxtaposing texts

Under my thumb The girl who once had me down […] It’s down to me The difference in the clothes she wears

This song could be juxtaposed with a more ‘feminist’ song like Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy” to trigger lively discussions about ‘the war of the sexes’ and other pertinent issues (such as, for example, if the song lyrics by the stones were meant ironically or are the expression of a hurt male soul, or if the lyrics were still acceptable if they were written today.). Students could be asked to present more recent offerings of song lyrics from Hip Hop or Rap which offer different varieties of male or female social constructs. Here the methodological approach aims at creating a controversy through the use of texts with conflicting opinions, with students being asked to position themselves. (5) Another useful method, if it is not used too frequently, is an informationgap activity. Learners are withheld information which appears as vital for understanding a text or fitting it into their mental schemata. This is when the teacher asks his/her students, for example, which gender the author of a text could be or which gender the protagonists of a text could be and what textual clues readers base their hypotheses on (for an example, see Volkmann 2009). It is an activity that raises awareness of one’s preconceived notions about gender, sexuality, etc. Take, for instance the following first lines of a poem and try to visualise the scenario between two lovers: After you left, your cigarette glowed on in my ashtray and sent up a long thread of such quiet grey I smiled to wonder who would believe its signal of so much love. One cigarette in the non-smoker’s tray. As the last spire trembles up, a sudden draught blows it winding into my face.

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Experiments with my students have shown that very few students visualise this as the parting of homosexual lovers. After they have been told that the poem entitled “One Cigarette”, first published in the 1968 poetry collection “The Second Life”, was written by Scottish artist Edwin Morgan, who only late in his life went public as a gay author, they could be asked to look for signs in the text that could hint at a gay relationship. Here, the goal of such activities consists of questioning culturally encoded views on gender and thus trigger thought processes about gender stereotypes. (6) Another type of information-gap activity is used when a literary text is changed, such as when using jumbled lines or deleting linguistic markers. To foreground the issue of gender, teachers could present students with a text where all markers of the character’s gender are deleted. For example, this could happen with the first two pages of Stephen Chbosky’s epistolary novel “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” (1999: 3); the male protagonist with the androgynous name Charlie here describes a typical day of his life at High School. ‘xxx’ marks the deleted passages. Dear Friend, I am writing to you because xxx said you listen and understand and didn’t try to sleep with that person at that party even though you could have. Please don’t try to figure out who xxx is because then you might figure out who I am, and I really don’t want you to do that. […]

creative responses

research on silenced aspects of gender

Learners are asked to find arguments for a female and arguments for a male narrator. As in the activity introduced above, where the gender of the author or characters is withheld, students learn to critically reflect their own stereotypes, and the strong influence of social expectations on individuals is highlighted. Apart from ‘doctoring’ a text, a similar method would be to stop the reading process before the gender of a character or narrator becomes clear. Then students are asked questions about the gender of the character(s) and, again, what textual information they base their assumptions on. (7) Changing gender perspectives when working with texts is an activity belonging to the rubric of ‘creative’ dealings with literature. This entails writing a letter of a fictional character to another person, creating a fictitious dialogue between protagonists, writing a diary entry, etc. All this can be done with an emphasis on how the response is a specifically gendered one. It can also incorporate writing a counter-narrative or getting things straight by giving the perspective of a marginalised, disrespected or wronged character from a piece of literature (e.g., the witch in “Hansel and Gretel”). (8) Both canonical and non-canonical literature can be analysed, as indicated above, implementing a number of the analytical questions on gender relations; and it could be of interest to students to do research on the internet how for many decades, if not centuries, gender issues which did not fit into conventional views of a piece of art were literally swept under the carpet – such as ‘bawdy language’ in Shakespeare or bisexual references in his sonnets or cross-dressing or gender-bending in comedies such as “As You Like It”.

Gender and Literature: Creating Gender Awareness

(9) In advanced classes, students could well be exposed to a selection of gender theories, for example by asking them to report on the entries in a text-book on gender such as Jane Pilcher and Imalda Whelehan’s useful “50 Key Concepts in Gender Studies” (2004), or to use online sources. A select number of theories could be put to the test by applying them to readings of literature. (10) Finally, literary texts are usually discussed with reference to other text types and other media. It therefore seems advisable, not just in the prereading phase, to have students compare literary expressions of gender with those in advertisements, commercials, expository texts, visual texts etc., to come to a more nuanced and broader representation of gender, for example in a certain period or a certain society. For instance, showing pictures of young, gallant gentlemen with garters and wigs or gentlewomen with porcelain skin and lavishly styled bodices could not only be used to illustrate Shakespearean plays but also to deepen an understanding how fashion in the Elizabethan age differ from today’s norms. Thus, an understanding of how gender is a fluid and changing category can be fostered. 5.

Summary

This chapter focused on the importance of using literature when tackling gender issues in the EFL classroom. Literature can be used to probe into the issue of how gender relations are expressed in fictional texts, often in a lively, engaging manner. Through the analysis and discussion of literary texts several facets of gender competence can be developed, which can be applied when dealing with other media or real-life situations, for example in intercultural exchanges. In this chapter various elements of gender competence were discussed, specifically concerning hostile and benevolent sexism, and it was shown that a wide palette of literary texts and teaching methods can be used to deal with literature in the context of raising gender awareness. Review - Reflect - Research 1.

Consider the following statement on how ‘feminist’ approaches to reading should ultimately aim at changing the world. Does the statement from 1989 still hold true? What if ‘feminist’ is replaced by ‘genderconscious’? Where do you position yourself regarding literature and teaching as a critique of current sociocultural imbalances and wrongs? The feminist reader is enlisted in the process of changing the gender relations which prevail in our society, and she regards the practice of reading as one of the sites in the struggle for change. (Belsey & Moore 1989: 1)

2.

Think of literary texts that you read as a student at school or university or of your favourite novel or short story. Were they suitable texts for

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3. 4. 5.

‘gender-focused’ teaching and learning scenarios? Think about reasons for your judgment. Where do you position yourself regarding the question whether boys and girls learn foreign languages and read books differently? Has this article changed your view? What is your opinion on ‘different sexualities’? Should literary texts featuring them be taught at school? If yes, how could this be done in a sensitive manner? Consider the ten methods explained above regarding the focus on gender through literature in EFL. Which of them do you find most helpful and practicable?

Further Reading Suggestions Grimm, Nancy; Meyer, Michael & Volkmann, Laurenz (2015). Literature Matters. In: Teaching English. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 173-217. Thaler, Engelbert (2009a). Special issue: Gender. Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 61: 6. Volkmann, Laurenz (2007). Gender Studies and Literature Didactics: Research and Teaching – Worlds Apart? In: Decke-Cornill, Helene & Volkmann, Laurenz (eds.). Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching. Tübingen: Gunter Narr, 161-184.

Beyond Stereotypes? Exploring Gender through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom Exploring Gender through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom

Gabriele Linke, University of Rostock, Germany

Popular culture, in its many forms, is pervasive in young people’s everyday lives, and it contributes fundamentally to the circulation of gender images. For these reasons, it seems natural to include popular culture materials in classes that aim to raise gender awareness and develop media literacy and critical thinking. In publications on teaching methods for various media such as films, music videos or vlogs, the focus has often been on the medium and cultural topics but rarely on gender. This chapter represents an attempt to bring cultural studies, classroom techniques for gender issues as well as specific products of popular culture together and, using contemporary examples, discuss the uses of materials and the applicability of techniques. Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3.

0.

How would you define popular culture, what definitions do you know, and what distinguishes this concept from similar ones such as mass culture and media culture? Please, make a list of forms and genres of popular culture (e.g. sitcom). Try to systematise these forms, for example with regard to their medium (e.g. TV). Choose two popular texts whose central topics are gender roles and stereotypes. Which gender roles do they show, which stereotypes can you recognise, and where or how do they question (or not) these stereotypes? Gender, Stereotypes and Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom

“In this advertisement, learners will recognise the stereotype of the housewife and the breadwinner” – such formulations can often be heard from student teachers when they make suggestions for the use of media to raise gender awareness in the English language classroom. Statements like this reflect both the prevalence of stereotypical representations of gender in popular culture and the richness of popular culture products in gender images. Since Walter Lippmann introduced the term ‘stereotype’ into social science in 1922, numerous definitions of the term have been developed in various fields. For our topic, a few major characteristics of the concept as developed by social psychologists in the field of social cognition may suffice. Stereo-

stereotype

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representation

heteronormativity

Gabriele Linke, University of Rostock, Germany

types are understood as beliefs and (mental) images that are associated with social categories such as class, ethnicity and gender. These images are “overgeneralizations about the behaviour or other characteristics of members of particular groups” (Cashmore 1996: 354). They are considered to be simplifications that have evolved in a culture and that efficiently enable a quick mental orientation in everyday situations (Schmenk 2009: 4). Stereotypes often reflect prejudices but do not necessarily do so; they can be positive or negative, and they are relatively stable and resistant to change but can change historically and for the individual (Abercrombie et al. 1988: 242). They are reproduced persistently because any social perception is based on pre-knowledge, which means that in perception, people or objects are categorised, connected cognitively with knowledge of existing stereotypes, and the features of stereotypes are then attributed to the person or object perceived (Schmenk 2009: 5). Pre-knowledge of stereotypes may result from experience or be acquired discursively, but in any case it guides and shapes social perception. Gender stereotypes and their representations have been pervasive in both German culture and the target cultures of ELT, and they have been contributing to the circulation of everyday myths of gender differences (ibid.). These stereotypes prevail although, as Barbara Schmenk points out with reference to recent research, studies have proven that the differences between men and women suggested by traditional stereotypes are less pronounced than the differences within the two groups (2009: 4). Especially popular culture and mass media have been reproducing these traditional stereotypes continuously because they are easily consumable and affirm common pre-knowledge pleasantly; however, it must be conceded that, since the 1970s, the diversification of gender stereotypes and the criticism of the binary gender order represented by them have gained momentum. The easy availability of many pop-cultural products and their widespread use among the young as well as adults make popular culture a relevant teaching subject and source of teaching material, enabling both the critique of traditional stereotypes and the investigation of their subversion and change. With regard to popular culture, Katie Milestone and Anneke Meyer state that gender is connected with it in “inextricable, pervasive and complex ways”, that gender is “produced, represented and consumed in popular culture” and that these three processes contribute to the construction of gender identities in any given society (2012: 1). Although the gendered production and consumption of popular culture may occasionally be investigated in the EFL classroom, the focus will primarily be on representations of gender stereotypes in texts and images. Representation is a creative social process in which meanings are produced through all available signifying systems such as spoken and written language, images and social practices (performances); the resulting products, also called representations, are organised across different media and discourses (O’Sullivan et al. 1983: 198f.). The social category of gender (masculinity and femininity) is represented in a wide range of media and discourses, from medicine and law to popular culture genres. The arguments made in this chapter are based on the assumption that gender is the “cultural differentiation of male from female” (O’Sullivan et al. 1983: 98) and not ‘natural’. Gender is seen as a social construct that is ‘done’ or

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‘performed’, as laid out by Judith Butler (1990; 2004). As Butler points out, ‘doing gender’ is practised with or for other people and usually affirms the heteronormative gender order, while ‘undoing gender’, that is, “undo[ing] restrictively normative conceptions of sexual and gendered life”, may have positive effects because new conceptions may arise which are “more liveable” than the previous ones (2004: 1). However, heteronormativity, that is, normative conceptions of gender-based on heterosexuality, is deeply intertwined with the gender stereotypes communicated through popular culture. These basic assumptions inform this approach to popular culture and the teaching of gender in EFL as will be discussed later with reference to Helene Decke-Cornill (2009). Furthermore, gender is one of the key social structures today, marked by hierarchies and inequalities which are maintained through shared meanings and belief systems that are generated and circulated in the form of representations (Milestone & Meyer 2012: 8). By inspecting such representations in class, the constructedness of the social order of gender and the underlying power structures can be exposed; analytical, critical and communicative skills will be practised; and, finally, paths may be opened towards a more just gender order, allowing “more liveable” conceptions. 1.

Concepts of Popular Culture and their Relevance for the English Language Classroom

‘Culture’ is the general term in the phrase ‘popular culture’, it is a multidiscursive concept and can only be determined in specific contexts (O’Sullivan et al. 1983: 57). From the countless definitions that have been given through time (e.g. Williams 1983 [1976]: 87ff.), a wide concept of culture will be applied here which understands it as the “institutionally or informally organized production and reproduction of sense, meaning and consciousness” (O’Sullivan et al. 1983: 57). These processes of social and cultural production, distribution, reception and reproduction encompass socio-cultural practices, including everyday life, as well as their material products, which are mediatised. ‘Popular culture’ is a term that has defied any attempt at a generally accepted definition. Rather, any of the numerous definitions depends on which aspect is emphasised, whether the focus is, for example, on the lived culture or on (mass) media culture and its character or effects. Raymond Williams (1983 [1976]: 237) takes a wide approach, not only describing the history of the word “popular” but recognising two major modern meanings of “popular culture”. One meaning of popular culture, as Williams sees it, is that of a culture by and for the people, that is, the lived culture of the common people. It refers to cultural forms that do not have a predominantly commercial background. In this sense, popular culture encompasses folklore, cultural practices of the working people such as sports, choirs, community events, and customs. The question is how suitable these forms of lived culture are as materials for the teaching of gender in EFL classrooms. It would be possible to explore, for example, to what extent folklore is gendered, how gender differences are performed in choirs and how working men’s clubs operate. Subcultures such

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high/low culture

mass culture and hegemony

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as Gothic or hardcore punk are another area of popular cultural practice that includes the performance of gender (cf. Niekrenz 2013), but the same pros and cons apply to the study of subcultures and of the lived culture of the common people. Analysing such cultural practices with regard to the performance of gender would be a valuable activity but would require a social involvement and ethnographic skills (and contact to the target culture) that go far beyond the school curricula. In regular EFL classrooms, the goal of raising gender awareness does not justify such a comprehensive effort. Nevertheless, this does not mean that it is impossible to explore the construction of gender in (sub)cultural practices – it would be possible in collaboration with other subjects such as music or civics and when a subculture is accessible for intercultural comparison –, but such projects can only occasionally be accommodated in the English language classroom. What is possible, though, is the reflection on gender performances in everyday life through the reading of texts on such practices such as Hilary Fawcett’s (2007) text on the specific culture of working-class femininity in the North-East of England. The second meaning of ‘popular culture’ was assigned to the concept from the outside, from the perspectives of the cultural élites, who have defined its products as aesthetically inferior kinds of work and works deliberately setting out to win the favour of the masses, that is, to develop mass appeal. This definition of popular culture has a pejorative implication, and it presupposes the division of culture into “low/popular” and “high/élite”, of which high culture is characterised by formal complexity, which makes it difficult to consume and thereby exclusive (Storey 1993: 7). Popular culture, in this understanding, would be simple, easy to consume and therefore massconsumable. Although attempts to maintain the high – low division of culture have not ended, it has been widely acknowledged that this division has been in the interest of the élites and fulfilled the “social function of legitimating social differences” (Storey 1993: 8). If this distinction comes up in class, it should be questioned and its social function should be exposed, for example by showing the historical shifts in the evaluation of cultural products – ‘popular’ novels of the 19th century are now ‘classics’ or music that was once popular is now considered to be high culture –, or by referring to the many musicians who deliberately practise crossover between classical and popular music today. Especially since the rise of pop art and the élite’s full embrace of popular music, this distinction cannot really be maintained. Nevertheless, a question that arises from that approach and that could be asked with regard to specific texts and images is if popular culture really represents simplified gender images and ‘high’ culture complex ones or if there is generally a mix of representations and possible readings. The mass, or quantitative, aspect of popular culture has been decisive for other definitions. While some emphasise that products of mass culture are inauthentic, formulaic, standardised, escapist and ‘Americanised’, others highlight its manipulative power to evoke passivity, conformity and distraction (Abercrombie et al. 1988: 189; Storey 1993: 10f.), as, for example, cultural critics Theodor W. Adorno and Jürgen Habermas did. This definition of popular culture by its manipulative power poses several challenges and has been criticised as élitist. While the image of the passive media consumer has been disproven by audience research, which also suggested that media con-

Exploring Gender through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom

sumption is a highly selective, active and sometimes creative process, the relationship between mass media and hegemonic powers has turned out to be another critical area and to be highly complex and dynamic. John Storey explains with reference to Antonio Gramsci’s theory of hegemony that popular culture is not imposed by the dominant class/es on the subordinate social groups but rather is the site of struggle between forces of incorporation (to create consensus) and forces of resistance, and is “a terrain of exchange” between the two (Storey 1993: 13). Genres and media have occasionally been appropriated by subordinate groups who use them for their own articulation, and so we have, for example, feminist detective fiction, comics, and so on. The concept of popular culture as a site of struggle between forces of incorporation and resistance is relevant for representations of gender because it suggests answers, however complex and contradictory, to the question why certain gender images are so prevalent and why we find ambiguous and subversive images at the same time. These debates about the characteristics and functions of popular culture should inform discussions on gender representations in popular culture in ELT classrooms because we need to avoid the selection of simplistic, one-sided and de-contextualised cultural products that highlight only, for example, the traditional roles of housewife and breadwinner. Rather, we should include subversive (exaggerated, ironic, etc.) representations of such stereotypes, alternative representations, historical contexts and divergent interpretations to reflect that popular culture is an actual site of articulation, negotiation and struggle. Furthermore, this approach makes learners aware that they have choices, that they can develop critical and creative responses, that they need to look around critically to find different conceptions of life (and gender), including some which are less constrictive and more inclusive, open and liveable. Finally, there has also been a more positive, less critical approach seeing popular culture as simply a culture well-liked by many people, characterised by creativity and not necessarily connected with inferior quality or issues of power. Such a general definition does not inspire critical analysis but provides a major argument for the use of popular culture in the classroom. However, since young people in particular identify themselves and their cultural belonging largely through the popular culture they participate in and the products they consume, they may refuse to discuss some texts unemotionally and ‘factually’ and have strong judgements about their value, but such individual responses only need to be addressed when they occur. Although these debates are a necessary background for any understanding and teaching of popular culture, they are not at the core of our topic; however, the aspect of being well-liked and having a wide appeal is relevant for our choice of topic because the gender images communicated in popular culture reach many people and are a substantial part of the cultural input and discourses in Germany, Britain and the USA, etc. and, where possible, a comparative approach and look at differences in representation, participation or interpretation would also be interesting.

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2. goals

Because popular culture frequently works with stereotypes and its reception relies, and sometimes even depends, on easily recognisable stereotypical gender images, it is important to do more with these stereotypes than just identify them. The recognition of stereotypes certainly is a major achievement in classes on gender, but if the learning process stops here, at the identification of gender stereotypes, it may result in their affirmation. The real work for the teachers starts when they plan what to do after the identification of a stereotype. Because stereotypes are by definition part of any interpersonal perception and an indispensable cognitive means of orientation in any social environment (Schmenk 2009: 4), we cannot dismiss the issue of stereotypes and stereotyping or ask of students (or media) that they do without them. Rather, we need to      

didactic principles

Exploring Gender in EFL: Basic Strategies

identify and problematise each stereotype, look at its historical roots and contexts, acknowledge the coexistence of diverse, even contradictory stereotypes of gender, consider alternatives to dominant stereotypes and dissolve the dichotomy of masculine and feminine and focus on differences between individuals (Schmenk 2009: 6f.), address the concrete context of uses of stereotypes, and expose the power structures inscribed in them.

With regard to the stereotype of the housewife, for example, students could explore its rise in the 19th century and its association with middle-class respectability and prosperity, discuss its embeddedness in the social structures of heteronormativity and the two spheres, public/masculine and private/feminine, at that time, and compare possible positive, negative or ironic interpretations and creative appropriations of the stereotype. The goal is to criticise not the work of a housewife but the possible limiting, disempowering and pro-patriarchal effects if this role is presented as the only acceptable role and the norm of feminine behaviour. Material for such an excursion into historical images can be found, for example, in collections of short texts and images from women’s magazines (Beetham & Boardman 2001). As pointed out in section 2, the social order and power structures (class and gender) embedded in the imagery and different readings should be discussed in class. With regard to teaching gender, the premise here is that teaching generally takes place in a society (German society and others) that is still organised and structured on the basis of the assumption that there are two genders, masculine and feminine, and two sexes, and that heterosexuality is the norm, which became strikingly obvious in the debates on the status of same-sex marriage and the privileges of married heterosexual couples in the past decades. We cannot pretend that it is otherwise, despite the many gradual changes in the field of law, but as educators, we can at least work to make these structures more open and flexible to accommodate diversity. With

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reference to Regine Gildemeister, Decke-Cornill suggests some general principles (2009: 15): 1.

Due to the assumption of the constructedness of gender, teachers should  

2.

avoid the presentation of a generalising and naturalising (biological) opposition of the two sexes and not always focus on gender but also include phases in which gender is disregarded, which can also be enlightening.

Due to the relevance of gender for identity, teachers should   

take a critical approach to heteronormativity and not consider it as the only possible structure but rather include other orientations, deconstruct, reconstruct and hybridise gender images and be aware that gender is personally and emotionally relevant, which means that it should be talked about as a neutral subject matter but personal identification should be allowed where learners want it (Decke-Cornill 2009: 15)

For the work with textual material to develop gender awareness in secondary school classrooms, Decke-Cornill (ibid.) suggests the three basic steps of 1. presentation, 2. discussion, and 3. productive, creative and explorative tasks. Several classroom techniques that aim at raising gender awareness have been proposed (e.g. Decke-Cornill 2009), and some of them may be useful for learning about gender with the help of popular culture products. Popular culture frequently works with simplifications, stark contrasts and provocations, neither taking time nor giving the recipient time to go beyond the mere recognition of the stereotypes. In class, popular texts can be made available, prepared linguistically, given time and inspected critically with regard to the social structures they represent and the historical situations they relate to. The presentation of any popular culture text or text about popular culture requires the use of general teaching and learning strategies such as activating pre-knowledge, providing contexts and securing a basic understanding of the material, its structure and its potential (steps 1 and 2). For steps 2 and 3, the following productive and creative tasks are suggested:

steps

1.

classroom techniques

2. 3.

Alienation techniques: Use a popular (heteronormative) text and have learners write/act a counter-text, changing the ending, sex etc. (cf. Decke-Cornill 209: 15f.). Change of perspective: This particular kind of alienation technique encourages the taking-over of other perspectives (other gender, outside gender) by learners as readers/speakers, writers, or actors. Text-image relation: (How) Do verbal and visual messages support or subvert each other? By changing either the verbal (e.g. find alternative captions) or the visual (e.g. add different images to an ambiguous text) part of the compound, expose the construction of meaning and the possibilities of alternative conceptions.

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4. 5. 6. 7.

8.

3.

history of media culture

print media

Elimination: Eliminate gender from a text and make it gender-neutral – discuss what happens. Presentation of alternatives: Use texts with non-conformist characters and constellations frequently (cf. Decke-Cornill 2009: 17), or have learners compare texts and counter-texts. Language critique: Identify and discuss sexist language, its functions and underlying stereotypes; and eliminate sexist language, look for alternatives and discuss the effects (cf. Decke-Cornill 2009: 17f.). Focus on reception: Compare different people’s or groups’ responses to a popular text (reviews, articles, or personal statements). In the discussion of findings, focus, for example, on possible discrepancies between ‘gender-specific’ and individual responses. These classroom techniques will recur in the case studies on popular culture and gender in EFL as presented in section 4. Overview: Pop Culture Materials for the English Language Classroom

Before any form of popular culture is selected and embedded didactically, its historical place needs to be reflected on. Therefore, the recent history of this cultural field will be sketched briefly. As Raymond F. Betts and Lyz Bly have pointed out, popular culture has been so all-embracing, and its boundaries to ‘high’ culture and art so fuzzy that it is impossible to give a comprehensive history (2013: 1). Furthermore, the inconstancy of popular culture and its ephemeral character make it a difficult subject for both historical research and the EFL classroom. Nevertheless, the dominant role of the USA (and the UK) in the development of popular culture is a strong argument for its relevance for teaching and learning. Betts and Bly claim that the main feature of contemporary popular culture is that it is “the mass-produced means of pleasure and entertainment that are now being enjoyed by multitudes never reached before” and that it is, more than ever, about market-directed activities intended to yield large profits” (2013: 1). The development of such mass-produced entertainment certainly started in the second half of the 19th century when widespread literacy and industrial printing techniques started catering for the different tastes of a growing reading public with popular newspapers, magazines and other periodicals for any age group, gender, professional and special interest group. George Orwell’s critique of the “British weekly story papers for boys” (1957 [1939]) is an early example of the reception of mass print culture in the first half of the 20th century, but there are also more recent studies, e.g. Dawn H. Currie’s analysis and critique of teenage girls’ magazines and their readers in the late 20th century (1999). Popular periodicals have been running, with changing titles, styles and contents, into the 21st century. On the one hand, the market became ever more diverse while on the other many publications, especially magazines for teenagers, faltered due to competition on the internet. The number of print titles of teenage magazines has shrunk tremendously since the early 2000s, and today only few teenage magazines such as “Shout” for girls and “Match!” and “Kick!” for boys still appear in print (cf. Smith 2013).

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Online teenage magazines such as “Rookie” have taken their place in the lives of teenagers (cf. Vincent 2014). In the course of the 20th century, Betts and Bly (2013: 2) argue, the development of popular culture has been charged by the uses of electricity, driven by the technological changes in transport and communication and characterised by an excessive exposure to images. Even "folk-like, local activities" have often become global endeavours or have at least entered the virtual space of the internet (Betts/Bly 2013: 2). Film (silent film till 1929) became the dominant popular medium from 1910 onwards, and it developed as an international medium and industrial art, with collaborations between American and German, British, French and other creative workers being the norm and cinema-going reaching its high point in the 1930s. Widespread car ownership influenced popular cultural practices and intersected with film and radio. Radio transmissions started in the 1920s and became popular in the 1930s, including propaganda broadcasts during the 2nd World War, and soon played in cars. Film, especially newsreels, and radio interacted with popular practices such as sports. Television rose in the 1950s as the main competitor of cinema, and new genres and viewing habits developed alongside the medium of television, whose dominance has been challenged by the news and entertainment offered on the internet. All these developments of contents, genres, and the production, distribution and consumption of popular media have been connected closely with the heteronormative gender order in Western societies. Film production has been notorious for the stereotyping of women and has received much criticism for this. In her 1985 comic strip “The Rule”, cartoonist and graphic novelist Alison Bechdel established what has become famous as the Bechdel test. To reveal the heteronormative and masculine bias of most film productions, she suggested three criteria: “(1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man” (Bechdel Test Movie List n.d.). The Bechdel test has been considered an efficient way to detect the mis- and underrepresentation of women in film, and it may also inspire classroom activities. Shana Mlawski’s “Female Character Flowchart” (Mlawski 2010) systematises the stereotyping of women in Hollywood films and may also offer a point of departure for classroom discussions on gender stereotyping in film. The storage media offered by the music industry have evolved rapidly from records through cassette tapes and CDs to MP3 and the availability of music on the internet, and they are still evolving, with film undergoing similar developments with regard to storage media, distribution and reception practices. The development of the internet and the worldwide web in the 1990s and 2000s certainly can be called one of the greatest innovations in the history of information technology, and, especially since Web 2.0, this development has deeply affected the production, distribution and reception of popular culture. Not only have many popular culture products of previous years or centuries been made accessible in, for example, digital archives or on YouTube – new productions of established popular forms such as popular music or videos are also circulated digitally. Furthermore, the production and consumption of popular forms has become extremely diversified and individualised while at

film and TV

the Bechdel test

music and storage media

internet

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the same time encouraging connectivity and emphasising the popular aspect, e.g. through the counting of ‘likes’ and of ‘views’ on YouTube and the many personal hit lists or lists of the most often viewed videos, songs, films, vlogs etc. Other popular genres available online such as video games offer gender roles and attract specific (often gendered) groups of gamers. Most striking is the rise of new forms of cultural production, for example in the form of social media entries (e.g. Facebook), blogs, vlogs, selfies, and the like. What characterises many of these new forms and makes them interesting for raising gender awareness is that they provide new techniques for the production (often assemblage of different elements) and performance of identity, including gender identity (Poletti & Rak 2014: 3). The construction of identity online, however, depends very much on the context in which it is produced and circulated, and the relationship between online representations of self and identity and the offline person and real life is complex and flexible. Since many young people use Web 2.0 and social media such as Facebook, it becomes indisputable that activities which raise awareness of the workings of identity construction online need to be developed and tested. For the work with popular media in the classroom, both availability and suitability are crucial factors. Before four popular texts and classroom techniques will be discussed in detail, a short overview on selected contemporary popular media and their classroom uses is given. The overview below features examples from different media that may be useful for raising gender awareness and considerations with regard to their classroom uses. Cultural form and medium

Example of material for teaching

Gender awareness

Popular culture as common culture and subculture Everyday cultural practices

Reading materials, e.g. texts in the “Read On”, which is a monthly news magazine for foreign language learners

Gendered and/or non-gendered leisure activities, jobs etc.; gender-specific preferences; diversity within one gender group

Popular practices of particular groups

Reading materials, e.g. Hilary Fawcett, “Across generations”: Geordie femininity

Geordie culture of femininity; gendered and/or non-gendered activities of specific groups

Everyday or subcultural practices

Email exchanges, tandems

Gendered and/or nongendered activities, preferences, diversity

Selected popular print media Popular youth literature

Tyne O’Connell, “Pulling Princes” (2004)

Social construction of gender, especially of femninity; class and gender; consumption and gender

Exploring Gender through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom

Cultural form and medium

Example of material for teaching

Gender awareness

Comics and graphic novels

Alison Bechdel, “Fun Home” (2006)

Gender ambiguity; samesex attraction, heteronormativity questioned

Popular journalism for teenagers

Teenage magazines

Female and male role concepts and body images; gendered leisure activities and consumerism

For girls: “Shout” http:// www.shoutmag.co.uk/ For boys: “Match!” http://www.matchmag. co.uk/

Popular journalism for general readers

“The Sun”

“Woman’s Own”

“Gentleman’s Quarterly” (GQ)

Gendered and nongendered spheres and ads; visual representations (who and how); class and gender etc.

Film and TV TV genres, e.g. soaps, sitcoms, crime stories etc.

Cartoon series “The Simpsons” (USA) Soap opera “East Enders” (UK)

Gender stereotypes; subverting stereotypes; class and gender, performing gender

Films

No explicit gender theme: “It’s a free world” (dir. Ken Loach)

Gender stereotypes; class and gender; changing roles; work and gender

Explicit gender theme: “But I’m a Cheerleader” (dir. Jamie Babbit)

Questioning/reversing heteronormativity; performativity of gender

Digital media/internet: music and videos Popular music: lyrics

Taylor Swift, “Superman”

Unquestioned stereotypes; traditional gender roles; heteronormativity

Popular music: video (YouTube)

Miley Cyrus, “Wrecking Ball”

Visual construction of femininity; body images, sexuality and coming-ofage; stereotypes

Digital fan culture

“Miley Cyrus” website

Questioning heteronormativity; flexible sexual politics; changing constructions of femininity

(Video on YouTube)

(discourses and images)

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Cultural form and medium

Example of material for teaching

YouTube videos

YouTube sitcoms, e.g. Smosh, “If guys had girl problems”

Social construction of gender (femininity), ‘doing gender’

Vlogs

ColleenVlogs: “Houston Vlog”

Self-construction of femininity and masculinity through body images, language, roles, activities, material and social environment; can be both stereotypical and subversive

Julien Solomita Vlogs: “Gym Vlog”

Gender awareness

Table 1: Selected pop-cultural materials for the raising of gender awareness in EFL

This overview is, of course, not complete, and older media such as film (and later television), for example, have provided so many gender stereotypes in the course of more than 100 years that this material would require a more comprehensive treatment. 4.

Raising Gender Awareness through Popular Culture in the EFL Classroom: Case Studies

Popular Youth Literature: The Example of Tyne O’Connell’s “Pulling Princes” (2004) popular youth literature

Brief description of material: Tyne (Clementyne Rose) O’Connell (born 1960) is a British author whose own upbringing in an exclusive all-girls boarding school near Eton and glamorous life as a socialite and writer in London has informed her journalism, novels and young adult fiction, which tend to feature aristocrats and eccentrics and the lifestyle of London’s upper crust. In her series “Pulling Princes”, “Stealing Princes”, “Duelling Princes” and “Dumping Princes”, published after 2003 in various editions, she tells, in a very humorous tone, a funny tale about life in a contemporary English allgirls boarding school. The story is told from the perspective of American teenager Calypso, who starts as an outsider but tricks her way into the inner circle of girls and the heart of a prince in the neighbouring boys’ school, which is fashioned after Eton College, which real-life Princes William and Harry attended. Although “Pulling Princes” is mainly a romantic comedy, it is rich in issues of gender in relation to social class (here, the truly upper class) and nationality (American egalitarianism and pragmatism versus English snobbishness and eccentricity). While the atmosphere and concerns in an English boarding school for upper-class girls may be alien (culturally different) to the average German learners, there are also many parallels, especially when it comes to the formation of gender identities in adoles-

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cence. The teenage ‘Brit slang’ (O’Connell 2014: 4; glossary 173ff.) may need some extra attention in class but adds to the British flair of the book. Discussions of (excerpts of the) printed book may be complemented by an investigation of the author’s website1 that provides many visual clues to her very peculiar personality and views on gender, which combine eccentricity and upper-class style with modern views on femininity and, for example, marriage. Goals and classroom techniques: The material offers itself for a wide range of activities, and the book does not necessarily have to be read as a whole. Prereading activities should start with the book cover and its emphasis on the female perspective and social class. The introductory motto “you have to pull a boy from the pond and kiss him before you’ll know if he’s frog or prince…” (O’Connell 2014: v) needs to be discussed because it explains the title and highlights female agency, i.e. the girls’ activities. Furthermore, the map of St. Augustine’s (O’Connell 2014: 1) needs to be explored and discussed with regard to both gender and class, including the size and kinds of buildings and ground. This task can shift the focus from the descriptive to the interpretive, exposing the contradictions of this school with its generous modern facilities for sports and science on the one hand and its monastic settings and emphasis on femininity and traditional heteronormativity on the other. Chapter one (4-11) is crucial for any discussion of the construction of femininity in “Pulling Princes”. Reading tasks should require a collection of markers of class (phrases/issues) and markers of femininity. The list of “[t]hings that make girls stand out (and therefore make them the object of ridicule and derision) at Saint Augustine’s School for Ladies” (O’Connell 2014: 8), though, needs to be discussed in depth. After clarification of some lexical meanings, from bulimia and debutante to colloquialisms such as ‘chubba’ and ‘fags’, the list may be rewritten in Standard English. The social and cultural meanings of certain features such as body hair, being overweight or not wearing designer clothes need to be discussed before more creative tasks can be tackled. Critical reflection should address the aspect of ‘doing gender’ and the power of conventional social practices. Several of the techniques Decke-Cornill suggested may be employed to raise gender awareness further. The list of markers of upper-class femininity may be questioned by eliminating or changing gender and discussing what happens, by rewriting scenes or by writing a review of the book either critiquing or praising its gender politics. An exploration of O’Connell’s website may precede or succeed the discussion of the book. It generally highlights the class aspect and the role of humour and self-irony in any of her writing, but it also points to her modification of the heteronormative order. She presents herself as somewhat being a feminist by featuring an article about her life with two husbands2 and by an image of herself in a library3 which marks her as an educated woman writer.

cf. tyneoconnell.co.uk, 3/20/2016 cf. http://tyneoconnell.co.uk/my-two-husbands/, 3/20/2016 3 cf. http://tyneoconnell.co.uk/portfolio-item/bio/, 3/20/2016 1 2

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Although alienating techniques and alternative models could serve to question O’Connell’s still mainly heteronormatively informed self-presentation, the inspection of irony as her/one way of self-questioning and questioning gender stereotypes seems more appropriate for her website. Her visual technique of pasting images of herself in images of various locations and environments (a kind of collage) could be appropriated by learners and used to create self-images in relation to gendered and un-gendered contexts. Popular Music: Gender Images in Lyrics, Videos and Websites popular music

Taylor Swift

Brief description of material: Many popular singers in the 2010s do not only express views on gender in their lyrics but use a broad range of digital and non-digital media to present and sell themselves. Because popular musicians and their titles rapidly rise and fall in public attention and their web presence is subject to infinite modifications and innovations providing new unique selling points and points for identification, suggestions for teaching have to rely on the more permanently accessible lyrics and videos rather than the more ephemeral contents of websites. Although each song offers enough material for a separate teaching unit, it is suggested here to compare the lyrics of two songs, Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball”, released on her album “Bangerz” in 2013, and Taylor Swift’s “Superman”, first released on “Speak Now” in 2010. In a second step, the visual contents of the respective videos may be analysed contrastively. The exploration of the singers’ websites is recommended but is not necessarily tied to the two songs.4 In “Superman” by country pop singer Taylor Swift, a love-struck girl/young woman pines for “tall, dark and superman, [who] puts his papers in his briefcase and drives away, to save the world or go to work” and who’s “got a busy day today” while the girl watches, waits, hopes and hangs on every word he says.

Illustration 2: Taylor Swift, “Superman”, music video (00:03 min)

4

The lyrics are available on www.songtexte.com, the music videos on YouTube.

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The video of the song reiterates, in varying colours and positions, separate gender roles for men and women and the dream of fulfilling heterosexual romantic love, in some images even alluding to a Barbie-like type of femininity. Miley Cyrus’ song “Wrecking Ball” offers much more ambiguous and provocative lyrics and images. Rather than telling a traditional story of longing, it is the female ‘I’ that “came in like a wrecking ball”, “never hit so hard in love” and wanted to “break [his] walls” but got wrecked herself. Nevertheless, the lyrics also speak of longing for closeness (“I just wanted you to let me in”) and of self-justification (“I never meant to start a war”). The very popular video shows the singer herself while the ‘you’ remains unspecified. She is presenting her face in close-up, and her body – at times scantily dressed, at times naked – on the wrecking ball demolishing walls, which secured ample media attention.

Miley Cyrus

Illustration 3: Miley Cyrus, "Wrecking Ball", music video (01:49 min)

Goals and classroom techniques: In class, the two songs require and allow rather different approaches, and their differences will come out more clearly through a comparison, which will also expose the coexistence of traditional heteronormative and more open and flexible models of gender relations in contemporary popular music. In any case, the lesson will start with the activation of knowledge about the respective singer and the presentation of the song. Any kind of method of presentation can be applied (cf. Thaler 2002), such as first playing the video without sound, asking if the song is known or what the song may be about, then playing the song and discussing the lyrics. The procedure can also be reversed, which means that learners discuss the title first, then listen to the song, then speculate about the visual representation of the lyrics or produce collages or video clips themselves. With regard to “Superman”, learners need to analyse the verbal construction of the woman and the (super-)man and become aware of the underlying stereotypes of the breadwinner/doer and the woman (housewife?) waiting to be taken places and looked after. In the phase of creative work, learners can,

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nevertheless, employ subversive strategies, compile counter-images to the video or de-romanticise superman and his girl by exaggerating the roles. Although “Wrecking Ball” can also be treated in the ways outlined above, discussions and creative tasks may go in different directions. While the ambiguous role of the female ‘I’ as both agent and victim would be a result of regular text analysis, the undetermined ‘you’ leaves open the gender of the object of desire. Any visualisation of the lyrics could subvert the normative male ‘you’ and open up the question of the gender of the ‘you’ – could it also be a female friend, any friend? Could there be such conflicts between any close friends – can we disregard or hybridise gender? However, the video needs to be considered in this situation, and the meaning of the presentation of the singer’s body needs to be discussed. The discussion should include reflections on possible spectators, their gender and their possible readings and pleasures (check the internet for fans’ responses): When women/girls or men/boys watch the video, what are they interested in, what do they make of the presentation of the female body, what meaning do they give it? A beauty ideal, a sexual object, a digitally perfected image etc.? In the creative-productive phase, alternative interpretations of the song could also be visualised in collages or short videos that add the ‘you’ in the form of men or women etc., or re-define the ‘I’. If learners object to this kind of questioning of the heteronormative contents of the song, Miley Cyrus’ website should be used as additional evidence. Although such websites are unstable, a thorough investigation of the current version may yield a few interesting insights. While advertisements on Miley’s website strongly support her portrayal of eroticised femininity (“Miley’s MAC VIVA GLAM lipstick and lipgloss shades are now available in stores in the US!” 7.11.2015), she states in the description of the mission of her nonprofit Happy Hippie Foundation (HH), “Our Work”: “Our mission is to rally young people to fight injustice facing homeless youth, LGBTQ youth and other vulnerable populations” (Cyrus 2014). By such statements, she expresses her support for diversity of sexual orientation, which may be another point of departure for productive tasks. Since “Wrecking Ball” has inspired many parodies, YouTube can also be explored for such video clips (e.g. by Bart Baker or Ron Jeremy) and their play with the lyrics and male/female body images. Any comparison of the lyrics and videos of the two songs, “Superman” and “Wrecking Ball”, with regard to the verbal gender images/stereotypes/ perspectives and the visual construction of femininity, masculinity and gender relations will enhance an understanding of the diversity of representations of gender in popular music and reveal the role popular music plays in the social negotiation of the meanings of gender. Various classroom activities are possible, for example, learners working in groups and providing arguments critiquing/attacking and praising/defending a song. It is relevant here that learners can choose different viewpoints.

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Vlogs Brief description of material: As Anna Poletti and Julie Rak (2014: 5ff.) have pointed out, vlogs are one of a number of new media tools that lend themselves to the deliberate construction of the self, that is, of aspects of the self such as looks, style, activities and social and natural environments, including the possibility to comment on oneself. It has to be taken into consideration, though, that today, many channels on YouTube, the most popular platform, are not creative expressions of the individual but professionally managed short films that mainly serve commercial goals by transporting advertising messages. The construction of gender is an essential part of any vlogs that feature men and women although it is not necessarily foregrounded deliberately in publications on vlogs (e.g. Nuxall & Rolvering 2011; Thaler 2008b). Because of the sheer number of channels and vlogs on YouTube, the continuous addition of new material and the often covert circumstances of their production, it is not easy to select suitable material. However, vlogs offer an opportunity to look at the performance and construction of gender in contexts where it is not the central issue. For exemplification, three different vlogs will be discussed here, which are Julien Solomita’s “Gym Vlog” (111 226 views by 13 November 2015), Colleen’s "Strangers Pee on Me: Houston Vlog” (684 276 views by 13 November 2015) and Zoella’s “Giving Tyler Oakley a Makeover” (4 344 215 views by 13 November 2015, and her channel has over 9 million subscribers). The numbers of views show that vlogs are a truly popular culture that predominantly appeals to, and features, young people. Solomita’s “Gym Vlog” offers a young American’s self-ironic, humorous treatment of the male body image and a glance at everyday life and dining out at a special restaurant. By contrasting himself with his fitness-conscious brother and teasing him in the gym rather than working out himself, he provides various points for identification while avoiding being didactic. Colleen’s “Houston Vlog” is a rather slow piece about the singer’s trip to Houston, Texas, with gender images only implicit in Colleen's presentation of her everyday self. Zoella is a highly-rated, professionally managed British vlogger with high advertising value, in whose vlogs the (playful) treatment of femininity and masculinity is a major selling point. In her “Makeover” vlog, she puts make-up on her friend Tyler’s face, applying a traditionally feminine and theatrical technique to a young man’s face. Tyler demands a make-over that is “dramatic pop queen diva”, and providing it, she delivers a step-by-step course on make-up. The discussion may address to what extent the vlog endorses androgyny or negotiates masculinity and femininity. Goals and classroom techniques: For vlogs, the presentation phase needs to be prepared by a reflection on the medium, its conditions of production and consumption. In some cases, it may be advisable to introduce some lexical items from the thematic field (e.g. gym; cosmetics), in others, the focus will be mainly on the visual aspects. Solomita’s “Gym Vlog” contains material for various topics (e.g. dinner in a restaurant), but the first section about the gym visit with his brother can be used separately to explore gender. Tasks for a (second) viewing of the gym section (0-2:30 min) and discussion may focus on a comparison between Julien and his brother, what is shown of them (face, hair, body, clothes), in which environments they are shown

performance and construction of gender

Solomita’s “Gym Vlog”

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(home, gym) and what they do. A good interpretive task is to speculate about Julien’s attitude to the work-out and to discuss how this impression can be supported visually, by his actions and verbally.

Illustration 4: Julien Solomita, “Gym Vlog” (01:48 min)

Colleen’s “Houston Vlog”

Creative-productive tasks for gender awareness could compare gyms and work-out practices for men and women to highlight the construction and affirmation of gender differences, but it is even more important that Julien and his brother as well as different gyms and experiences are used to highlight the diversity of attitudes and images among men and women and the fuzziness of gender differences. Colleen’s “Houston Vlog” offers no reflection on gender but still constructs the person’s self-image as a woman. Since the verbal part contains little information pertinent to gender issues, the gender-awareness-raising activities recommended are mainly tasks involving observation as a basis for reflection and discussion. After watching the vlog, learners could be asked if they wanted to subscribe to Colleen’s channel and why or why not. Looking for reasons for yes or no may reveal a gender component in the arguments but may also indicate that there are assessments of the entertainment and information values that have little to do with gender, which is as relevant. Another task, to be given after a first and before a second viewing, requires the spotting of gender-specific markers of behaviour and appearance. Does Colleen present herself explicitly as female? What are the cues to her femininity? Here, performance will be emphasised, the way she absentmindedly strokes her hair, looks flirtatiously up into the camera, teases the Mickey Mouse sculpture like a baby. For example, learners may shout “Stop!” when they have noticed a gesture, then immediately discuss their impressions and try to determine the meanings of a gesture as expression of femininity (tender, caring, maternal, …), possibly later developing a performance of gender as a creative theatrical sketch.

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Illustration 5: Colleen, “Houston Vlog” (02:51 min) Zoella’s “Makeover” vlog focuses more explicitly on the construction of gender but, at the same time, cleverly blurs visual gender boundaries playfully and highlights the constructedness of gender. The acceptance and practice of make-up will differ vastly among and between groups of learners, which means that teachers have to find tasks that fit the situation. Since it can be assumed that both make-up as such and ‘make-up for men’ are contested issues among learners, they are an excellent topic for debate.

Illustration 6: Zoella, “Giving Tyler Oakley A Makeover” (02:17 min)

To initiate a debate, the following questions may be addressed: Who applies make-up? Why does Tyler/do people apply make-up? What is emphasised by make-up (which features?)? How does make-up change Tyler’s appearance, or the appearance of men/women? Implicit in all these questions is the issue of the constructedness of gender images as well as their changeability and diversity. It is probable that issues of the construction of gay masculinity are

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addressed, especially as it is first mentioned in the introductory dialogue that Zoella and Tyler used to be a couple but also that she once “did five gays’ make-up in one day”. Creative-productive tasks may make learners look for other uses of make-up in connection with the construction of personality and individuality (and gender), for which especially pop musicians have provided many examples (e.g. Marilyn Manson), and present and interpret them in class. 5. Summary Popular culture as both cultural practice and media culture is rich in gender images and contributes to the permanent negotiation of gender stereotypes, heteronormativity and performativity of gender. However, the selection of materials suitable for the EFL classroom requires the consideration of many factors, which are, on the one hand, general criteria such as linguistic difficulties, age group, scope and availability or access, and on the other, their specific potential for the raising of awareness with regard to gender images, their social constructedness and the omnipresence of heteronormativity. Especially popular media products on the internet provide materials with a wide range of different representations. Their use in the classroom, though, needs to be adequate to the medium and therefore thoroughly prepared. Review – Reflect – Research 1. 2. 3. 4.

The concept of popular culture has been defined in many different ways. Please revise some major conceptualisations and find one or two examples from contemporary culture for the respective definition. Select one of the techniques Helene Decke-Cornill suggests and apply it to a popular text of your choice. Discuss the pros and cons of the uses of popular culture materials from the internet in EFL classrooms devoted to gender issues. Choose one popular song and one vlog and develop tasks that raise awareness of the construction and performance of gender.

Further Reading Betts, Raymond F. & Bly, Lyz (2013). A History of Popular Culture (2nd ed). Abingdon: Routledge. McRobbie, Angela (ed.) (2000). Feminism and Youth Culture (2nd ed). New York: Routledge. Milestone, Katie, & Meyer, Anneke (2012). Gender and Popular Culture. Cambridge: Polity. Storey, John (ed.) (1998). Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader (2nd ed). Athens: University of Georgia Press. Volkmann, Laurenz (2010). Fachdidaktik Englisch: Kultur und Sprache. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

Chapter V

Gender, Topics and Media

Topics in the EFL Classroom – Are They GenderBalanced? Engelbert Thaler, University of Augsburg, Germany

In this chapter you will learn how to deal with gender in the EFL classroom. You will realise that it can be divided into five dimensions concerning the male-female and other relationships: man or/and/versus/ is/without woman. If these five dimensions are integrated, the 6th Place may be reached. The focus will be on topics and tasks, with the latter showing that the subject of gender can also be treated in a light-hearted manner. Pre-Reading Tasks 1. 2. 3.

0.

Thinking back on your school days, what aspects of gender were treated in your classroom? What do you understand by the term “gender balance” in the context of TEFL? List two topics that may be worked on in a gender-sensitive EFL classroom. The Five Dimensions of Relationships

This chapter consists of five sub-parts each focusing on one of the five dimensions of the male-female relationship: man or/and/versus/is/without woman. Each sub-part itself is divided into the four aspects of lead-in, evidence, topics, and task. The first part just serves as a lead-in for the reader, and thus forgoes any methodological suggestions; if it is used in class, the teacher should refrain from any guiding questions and treat it as an open impulse, which may sensitise students to the respective dimension. It is followed by the description of a few indicators which are evidence of the dimension in question. After that, a number of possible topics to be dealt with in an EFL classroom are enumerated, before a sample task demonstrates in an exemplary way how to work on the specific dimension. To conclude with, the 6th Place of gender competence, which integrates the five dimensions, is described.

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1. lead-in

Man OR Woman

To raise your awareness of the OR-dimension, let us have a brief look at a popular song by the Irish singer Hozier. Combining passion and sexuality with criticism of the church and homophobia – the Irish singer Hozier is much discussed. Yet, this moving track, his energetic voice, and the critical lyrics have earned him a nomination for Song of the Year at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. I'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies I'll tell you my sins and you can sharpen your knife Offer me that deathless death Good God, let me give you my life […] (Hozier: Take Me to Church 2014)

evidence

The lyrics in this popular music video describe the artist’s relationship with his girl-friend and may be regarded as one large metaphor comparing a lover to religion. In the video, however, a same-sex relationship and the homophobic backlash, which ensues when the community gets to know one of the men's sexual orientation, are portrayed. Hozier's video criticises inequality and discrimination based on sexual orientation, as Hozier himself declares on USA Today on February 2015, “Regardless of the sexual orientation behind a relationship, it is still a relationship and still love.” In other words the question man or woman seems to be outdated with regard to relationships.1 There are several indicators making the OR-dimension obvious. From a molecular-biological perspective, man differs from woman in the sexdetermining chromosomes (XY in contrast to women’s XX), which results in various anatomical characteristics. Contrary to the biological sex, gender denotes the social or psychological “sex” as a construct of a person. “One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman”, goes the famous aphorism by Simone de Beauvoir. Gender is regarded as a construction of sex and as such described as a product of performance – ‘doing gender’ – and not to be mistaken as fixed status. Socio-cultural gender differences are hard to deny, and they have a long tradition. For example, in 1974 the sociologist Saltzman Chafetz identified “7 areas of masculinity“:       

physical (athletic ...) functional (breadwinner ...) sexual (aggressive ...) emotional (don’t cry ...) intellectual (logical …) interpersonal (dominant …) residual category (success-oriented …)

1 To get further illuminating background information on the intertextual references and historical genesis of the song, go to www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=32921 (on dealing with music videos: cf. Thaler 2014).

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In contrast, so-called female characteristics have been enumerated. In most cultures, women have been charged with blatant discrimination for the missing Y. And still today, women’s activists are fighting discrimination in political, economic, and social fields. The next stage of emancipation is now being demanded by more and more men. A new men’s rights movement is arising, campaigning against the discrimination of the – in old times, strong – sex (Initiative MANNdat, cf. also Hoffmann 2007; Hollstein 2008). Masculinists identify the public discrimination of the weakened sex in many areas:           

compulsory service in the army neglect in educational policy disadvantages in health policy one-sided portrayal of domestic violence legal discrimination of fathers and divorced men disadvantages at lawsuits over-representation at the bottom of the social pyramid doing dangerous, dirty, exhausting jobs recruitment as soldiers (death toll) shorter life expectancy discrimination in applications for university professorships

What is of special relevance for students is the so-called “boys’ disaster”, the “overchallenged sex” („Jungenkatastrophe“, „überfordertes Geschlecht“) in educational realms (Beuster 2006). Boys seem to be the losers of our educational system, which can be deduced from grades, comparison tests, and school leaving certificates. An educational gender gap was verified in a current study for British universities. The majority of students are women, they dominate the most coveted courses, and they obtain better grades and degrees (Coughlan 2009). As well as the evidence, the topics relating to the OR-dimension are manifold:         

topics

biological, social, cultural, and behavioural differences between man/boy and woman/girl background information on sex, gender, gender identity, (historical development of) gender roles the Vatican’s views on female features and homosexuality the portrayal of women in music videos (hip hop, heavy metal) working with the movie „Mona Lisa Smile“ typical male/female jobs genderlect/linguistic sexism the construction of beauty in advertising comparing chick lit(erature) and lad lit

Get together in gender-mixed groups. Study the cartoon on the male/female brain, discuss and design a female/male equivalent.

task

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Illustration 1: The male brain (Thaler 2008a: 11)

Illustration 2: The female brain (Thaler 2008a: 11)

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These cartoons display the male/female brains in a humorous but extraordinary stereotypical form. They can be dealt with in a three-step approach: description – critical analysis – evaluation. Students work in gender-mixed groups and receive one of the brains for discussion. Afterwards they design a brain of the opposite sex on a big poster in the same manner. Presumably, girls and boys will get confronted with prejudice and will start to think about their own preconceptions about the other sex but also about their own. It is important to raise awareness in class that both illustrations are commonplaces and that we encounter gender statements like these every day. This way, gender is constructed socially, everyone is influenced by images, stereotypes, metaphors and symbols, and the person receiving all these influences should process them critically. An alternative option is to use brain silhouettes (without words) for individual work. Each student is asked to design their own image of their brain on a small poster, regardless of gender clichés. Names of the authors/artists are written on the back and the illustrations are hung up in the classroom. Then students walk around and guess whose brain it is. Realising that female and male brains cannot generally be told apart, but that each of us has his/her individual thoughts, the stereotyped brains will be discussed in a critical way. Where do the assumptions that are depicted in the male/female brains come from? Should we try to deconstruct them – and if so, how? 2.

cartoons

Man AND Woman

As an introduction to the gender dimension man AND woman, read the following text about the perfect couple. It somehow makes clear, in a very sarcastic way, how our culture is saturated with the notion that there's one ‘perfect partner’ out there. The Perfect Couple Once upon a time, a perfect man and a perfect woman met. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect. One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve, this perfect couple was driving their perfect car (a Grand Caravan) along a winding road, when they noticed someone at the side of the road in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on Christmas Eve, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. The mind numbing question is: Who was the survivor? Carry on for the answer ... The perfect woman survived. She's the only one who really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.

lead-in

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Women stop reading here. That is the end of the joke. Men keep'a readin’ ... So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving. And that explains why there was a car accident. By the way, if you're a woman and you're reading this, this illustrates another point: Women never listen, either. evidence

topics

The copulative dimension of the relationship between the two sexes becomes most manifest in the concept of love. Based on Plato‘s trichotomy (Platon 1986), it can turn up as sensual-erotic love (Éros), mutual respect (Philia), and altruistic love (Agápe) – and in lots of shades in between. Explanations for this sort of relationship between the genders can be found in various disciplines (Lewis 2004): neurobiology (studying the neural correlates of subjective mental states with brain imaging techniques), evolutionary psychology (love as a mechanism to promote mutual parental support of children for an extended period of time), system theory (discovering patterns in inter-personal relationship systems), theology (love as the core principle in the bible), mythology (romantic and tragic love stories in Greek myths). There is no lack of possible topics to be treated in connection with the ANDdimension:        

task

ideal images of partner subjective theories of love courtship, dating, bonding love portrayals in poems (Shakespeare, Adrian Henri) presenting one’s favourite love song studying academic excerpts (Niklas Luhmann, representatives of neurobiology and evolutionary biology) reading speeches by the Pope discussing the concept of „temporary marriage“ (Gabriele Pauli: marriage for a period of 7 years, option on prolongation by request)

Study the descriptions of the seven types of girl-friends (or boy-friends respectively) and find your ideal type. The 7 types of girl-friends Name

Identity tag

Also known as

Advantages

Disadvantages

1. Ms. Nice Girl

Tickets to the boxing match? Oh darling, your’re wonderful.

What a gal, Doormat

Cheerful, agreeable

May wise up someday

2. Old Yeller

Can’t you see you’re making me miserable?

She-Devil, Warthog from hell

Pays attention to you

Screeches, throws frying pans

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3. Sickly

Oh, my head. My feet. My cellulite

Whiner

Predictable

Contagious

4. The Bosser

Stand up straight. Put on a different tie. Get a haircut.

Ms. Know-itall

Often right

Often right, but so what?

5. Ms. Vaguely Dissatisfied

I just can’t decide. Should I switch my career, goals, home?

Worrywart, Aw c’mon Honey

Easily soothed

Even more easily confused

6. Wild Woman out of control

I’ve got an idea. Lez get drunk an’ do s’m crazy thing.

Fast girl, Freewheeler

More fun than a barrel of monkeys

Unreliable, can drink more than you

7. Ms Dreamgirl

I am utterly content with you the way you are, my genius of a boyfriend.

Ms Right, Goddess, Perfection

Funny, intelligent, uninhibited

Will have nothing to do with you

Table 1: Girl-friend types

Table 1 offers a humorous and stereotypical collection of seven types of girlfriends (Thaler 2008a: 24f., including a list on boy-friends as well), which can help students become aware of their gender-related preferences and dislikes. The teacher can copy the survey on a transparency, cover one of the five columns (e.g. name or advantages or disadvantages) and make the students speculate on the contents. Another procedure would be to hand out the texts to the other sex respectively (boy-friends list for girls, girl-friends list for boys), asking them to find their presumably ideal type as a starting point. To go one step further, students can design their own list, also including other types of relation- and/or friendship, developing awareness that the lists handed out are stereotypical and that expectations can be very individual. 3.

Man VERSUS Woman Churchill anecdote

lead-in

Lady Astor once remarked to W. Churchill at a dinner party: „If I were your wife I would poison your tea.“ Without showing any agitation Churchill replied: „If I were your husband I would drink it.“

Men and women need each other, yet they often have to realise how badly they get on with each other. The battle of sexes had long existed before Olympe de Gouges proclaimed the “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and

evidence

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the Female Citizen” (1791) – and was executed by guillotine by a hangman for her courage to question male dominance. Conflicts between the two sexes turn up in open, spontaneous, and simmering variations – and become manifest in aggression, rejection, indifference, or escape. A widespread example is domestic violence, which may arise between partners, against children, and old people – and which is on an equal footing between the sexes. topics

You may choose between the following topics:        

task

aphorisms on gender conflicts background information on feminism domestic violence (either side) sexual harassment misogyny misandry YouTube videos on partner conflicts LGTB discrimination

Match the two halves of these aphorisms about conflicts between man and woman. Gender aphorisms The following aphorisms are in jumbled order. Put the corresponding halves together again. 1. A woman has to be twice as good as a man …

a. … never did run smooth. (William Shakespeare)

2. The great question – which I have not been able to answer – is, …

b. … Then God created woman. Since then neither God nor man has rested.

3. In the beginning God created earth and rested. Then God created man and rested.

c. … Both are disappointed. (Oscar Wilde)

4. A man in love is incomplete until he is married.

d. … do not marry. (Anton Chekhov)

5. Men marry because they are tired; women because they are curious.

e. … Those on the outside are trying to get in, and those on the inside are trying to get out.

6. A woman marries a man expecting that he will change, but he doesn’t.

f. … to be regarded as half that clever.

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Gender aphorisms The following aphorisms are in jumbled order. Put the corresponding halves together again. 7. What is the difference between a marriage and a war?

g. … Then he is finished. (Zsa Zsa Gabor)

8. The course of true love …

h. … “What does a woman want?” (Sigmund Freud)

9. Marriage is like a mousetrap.

i. … A man marries a woman expecting that she won’t change – but she does.

10. If you are afraid of loneliness …

j. … A marriage is a war in which the enemies can sleep together.

Table 2: Gender aphorisms

In this collection of gender quotations, the beginning and the end of the ten quotes are in jumbled order. In a matching task, the students have to put them into the correct order again. The teacher may add a playful element by cutting all parts, giving each student one slip and starting a “find-yourmatch” task, in which all students walk through the classroom trying to find the fitting half of their quote. Afterwards students are asked about their favourite quotes, and they have to justify their choices; likewise they pick an aphorism which they disagree with and explain why. As a follow-up, they may also research for other aphorisms or even write their own ones, including those about homosexual or other relationships. 4.

Man IS Woman Bruce/Caitlin Jenner

lead-in

Bruce Jenner was one of the greatest sportsmen in the last century, winning the gold medal in the men’s decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. In April 2015, Jenner came out as a transwoman, saying she had dealt with gender dysphoria since her youth, and that, “for all intents and purposes, I’m a woman.” Jenner is the first openly transgender woman featured on the cover of Vanity Fair, with the cover shot including the caption “Call me Caitlyn.

Recent scientific findings in neurobiology, psychology, and discourse analysis indicate that the differences between man and woman are not as big as is commonly assumed (Die ZEIT Wissen 2007). A lot of female myths, e.g. on communicative behaviour, aggressiveness or sexuality, are being deconstructed in this discourse.

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Another evidence of the IS-dimension may be seen in the Treaty of Amsterdam (1999), which proclaims gender mainstreaming as the official aim of the European Union. With the help of the buzzword of “gender-sensitive impact assessment” and an annual budget of one billion euro, the federal government of Germany intends to put into practice gender equality in all social areas. In contrast, the men‘s rights movement attempts to expose gender mainstreaming as a concealed preference of women, demanding that women should not only enjoy the same rights, but also accept the same duties and drawbacks of male existence, e.g. do their military service or clear half of the seats in lifeboats. Not only men, but also feminists claim that the gender gap is decreasing not because women are better off now, but the situation of men has deteriorated (Faludi 1999, Voss 2007). It is primarily men who face problems coping with the changes of their girl-friends, wives, daughters – and the muddle in their own role requirements (Voss 2007). topics

There are also a few issues pointing to the IS-dimension:       

task

clichés in gender research questionnaire on male/female behaviour statements on masculinity/femininity equal rights – equal duties? transgender cross-dressing overlapping of gender with other categories (culture, class, stratum, milieu, age etc.)

Tick off this questionnaire and find out if popular statements about women are truths or myths. Questionnaire: truth or myth? Question 1: How many words does a woman speak a day on average? Question 2: Who is more aggressive by nature?

Question 3: What about emotions?

Question 4: Who can stand pain better?

a) 16,000 b) 7,000 c) 40,000

a) man b) woman c) both the same

a) women are more emotional than men, often act irrationally b) men are less in control of their emotions c) both have and show the same feelings a) woman b) man c) no sex difference

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Questionnaire: truth or myth? Question 5: Men like beautiful women. What about women?

Question 6: Who is better at maths? Question 7: Who reacts to sexual stimuli faster?

a) men don’t have to be attractive, money is what counts b) money isn’t important, a man must be handsome c) money and beauty count the same a) man b) woman c) it depends

a) man b) woman c) both as fast

Table 3: Questionnaire on female myths2

In this questionnaire, the questions of an online survey by the German quality weekly Die ZEIT were translated by the author into English (Thaler 2008a: 50f.). The survey is presented as a transparency and gradually uncovered, one question after the other is read out by the teacher, the students get a few seconds time to write down the letter, and finally, the – partly very surprising – answers are presented and discussed. Due to pedagogical reasons, the last question may be cancelled. To finish with, a conclusion on female myths may be drawn: Many statements about women are myths. Man and woman are closer to each other than most people think. It has to be stated as well that differences and similarities can be very individual and are not only sex-related but a result of identity-related constructs. Pupils may, in a next step, also think of other myths about the difference between men and women and try to find evidence that dissipates or confirms the myths. 5.

myths

Man WITHOUT Woman/Woman WITHOUT Man See the difference a comma makes:

lead-in

A woman without her man is nothing A woman, without her man, is nothing. A woman! Without her, man is nothing!

If man and woman do not match, it is only logical that they stay apart from each other – “rather alone than lonesome as a pair”. Being single seems to be an attractive alternative, as statistical data show3, e.g. there has been an Solutions: cf. Thaler 2008a – 1a: According to a 2007 American study, women and men talk the same amount of words; 2c: provided women can stay anonymous, and their gender is not known; 3b; 4b; 5c … but a and b are not really wrong; 6c; 7c 3 cf. www.bmfsfj.de, 3/20/2016 2

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increase in the divorce rate, the marriage age, and the number of one-person households (though in Germany, the divorce rate has seen a slight decrease over the last decade). In accordance with the evidence, these topics may be worked on:   

task

analysing discontinuous texts (statistics on divorce, marriage age, households, homosexual relationships, homosexuals and children) discussing different living patterns (not only phenomena such as patchwork-families but also same-sex parentship etc.) researching causes of staying single

Debate the motion: Staying single is better than living together. As a debate is a formalised discussion following certain fixed conventions, the 16-step approach (Thaler 2007) may be employed, adapting the traditional rules of a British debating society for TEFL. It starts with the official greeting by the chairman, who introduces the motion, and ends with a vote taken on the motion. Apart from making the students familiar with British customs, this technique fosters mono- and multilogic speaking competence, and contributes to language awareness by drawing attention to the proper register (formal style, debating vocabulary). Representatives from as many perspectives as possible should participate (traditional/conservative, someone advocating LGTB rights, liberal and so on). 6.

The Sixth Place

Within the discourse on intercultural learning, Claire Kramsch (1993) pleads for a Third Place between one’s own and the foreign culture. In TEFL, the intermediation process can be guided by adopting four perspectives relating to the two cultures (C): C1 – C1, C1 – C2, C2 – C2, C2 – C1 (Thaler 2012: 30). Kramsch’s Third Place, by the way, corresponds to the concept of understanding as Horizontverschmelzung (fusion of horizons) proposed by Gadamer (1990), in which the interlocutors, via their interaction, adopt a new perspective which transcends the one they originally had when entering the dialogue. awareness and tolerance of other identities

In analogy to Kramsch (and Gadamer), a ‘Sixth Place’ may be postulated as the ultimate aim for gender competence. At this (imaginary) ‘6th Place’, the five dimensions of or/and/versus/is/without are transcended. Dealing with the other sex/gender is not intended to lead to a deprivation of one’s own gender identity, incorporating the new is not supposed to weaken but rather enrich one’s identity and at the same time raise awareness and tolerance of other (sexual and/or gender) identities.

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Sixth Place of Gender Competence

Man

Man

Man

Man

Man

OR

VERSUS

AND

IS

WITHOUT

Woman

Woman

Woman

Woman

Woman

Illustration 3: The 6th Place

7.

Summary

This chapter focused on topics and tasks which can be employed when teaching gender in the English language classroom. It was demonstrated that the five dimensions in the relationship between the sexes/genders (and/or/versus/is/without) can also be explored in a motivating and lighthearted manner. The title question whether topics in the TEFL classroom are gender-neutral may be answered by adopting a balanced approach: Some are gender-neutral, some are gender-specific, and if you teach the 5 dimensions, you reach the gender-transcendent 6th Place. Review – Reflect – Research 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Review the five dimensions: Do you agree that they exist? Which is the most widespread one? Is there another dimension? What is your attitude to the 6th Place? Explain how you will care for gender-balanced topics or a gendertranscendent 6th Place in your classroom in the future? Study and research Hozier’s song “Take me to church”. Then design a double lesson for an advanced class, making use of the audio track as well as the music video, and focusing on the OR-dimension. The Perfect Couple (No. 2): Explain in what way various dimensions of the male-female relationship are present. Bruce/Caitlin Jenner (No. 4): Research his/her biography and discuss the transgender issue involved. Research some statistics on divorce, marriage age, and the number of households in Germany and the US over the last 20 years, trying to find out whether the downward trend is still valid.

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7. 8.

Study two German EFL textbooks, one for 5th grade (e.g. “Access”), and one for 11/12th grade (e.g. “Summit”), focusing on aspects of gender such as topics, characters, relationships, authors. Analyse the tasks provided in this chapter and find out whether some of them could be re-designed in a more gender-sensitive way.

Further Reading Suggestions Schrick, Annegret (2011). Gender Roles: Equal but Different? München: Langenscheidt. Thaler, Engelbert (2008). Gender Matters – Exploring Male-Female Relationships. Paderborn: Schöningh. Thaler, Engelbert (2009b). Frau oder/und/versus/ist Mann. Gender im Fremdsprachenunterricht. Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht 06, 8-13.

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective Nora Benitt & Jürgen Kurtz, Universities of Lüneburg and Gießen, Germany

In the following text, we discuss a range of issues related to the representation of gender in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbooks. As a starting point, we offer an overview of current research trends dealing with gender in the field of language teaching and learning, focusing in particular on studies examining gender representation in English language instructional materials. We then report on a qualitative mini-study conducted by us to investigate representations of gender in a small selection of EFL textbooks published in Germany since 1957. Finally, we refer to a brief but valuable Canadian gender-bias evaluation instrument which we think is of interest for further discussion, both in research and in practice. Pre-Reading Tasks 1.

2.

3. 4.

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Do you remember any of the characters in the EFL textbooks you used during your time in school? What names did they have? What did they look like? Were there more male or more female individuals in these books? Which roles do the male and female characters typically take over in those text books? What do male and female characters typically do? What do boys and girls like to do in their leisure time? What kinds of sports do they play? What kinds of jobs do men and women typically have in EFL textbooks? Can you imagine how families were represented in EFL textbooks about 50 years ago? What clichés of family life come to your mind when you think about representations of gender in previous EFL textbooks? How would you describe a typical family today? Consider your own family and other families you know (e.g. relatives’ and friends’ families or families depicted in films and TV shows). How would you expect a ‘modern’ family to be represented in EFL textbooks? What role do globalisation and migration play in this context? Gender: Current Research Strands

Over the past decades, gender has become an increasingly visible topic in various academic disciplines. Gender – as opposed to biological sex – is conceptualised as a socio-cultural construct, including a person’s gender identity

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(defining oneself as man, woman, genderqueer), gender expression (expressing masculinity and/or femininity), attraction (sexual/romantic/asexual), and biological sex (male, female, trans, inter) (cf. König et al. 2015b: 6). Hence, the notion of gender transcends the binary categorisation of biological sex as well as the concept of heteronormativity by including lesbian, gay, bi*, trans*, inter* and queer (LGBTIQ) persons and lifestyles. In the context of national and international research on foreign language teaching and learning, different research strands focusing on gender-related issues have emerged in recent years. One area of research deals with gender differences in language learning and gender-specific approaches to teaching foreign languages. In Germany, largescale studies, such as DESI (Deutsch Englisch Schülerleistungen International/German English Student Assessment International) (cf. Klieme 2006; DESI-Konsortium 2008), have examined correlations between gender and success in language learning with the result that girls generally outperform boys in language-related subjects already at primary school level, especially in the area of written skills. Interestingly, the opposite is the case in oral language production in English. Whereas girls are stronger in vocabulary use, boys show better results in terms of pronunciation and fluency (cf. Klieme 2006; DESI-Konsortium 2008). Consequently, some scholarly discussions focus on gender-specific approaches to language learning and develop learning materials tailored to the apparently different needs of male and female language learners. The project “Boys and Books” (Garbe & Reifenberg 2014), for example, aims at triggering boys’ interest in reading books and enhancing their reading skills. Another area of research is dedicated to the very reasons for gender differences in the overall performance of language learners. For example, Schmenk (2002) in her meta-study argues that language learning success is the result of self-fulfilling prophecies, hence, is based on gender specific presumptions and stereotypical ascriptions. In other words, girls are better language learners because parents, teachers, researchers and society in general expect them to be. Schmenk further explains that the widespread belief in gender differences is firmly anchored in our common knowledge and, therefore, is being reproduced in empirical studies as well. Yet another area of research deals with teaching gender explicitly (e.g. Wedl & Bartsch 2015; König et al. in this volume). Scholars of this research strand argue that teaching gender is particularly suitable for the foreign language classroom as the target language may function as a kind of ‘buffer’ between the student and the rather sensitive topic. The foreign language, in this case English, allows students to talk about such topics more freely and with a certain distance because the linguistic form of the foreign language is less culturally loaded than it is in their mother tongue (cf. König et al. 2015b: 4). The area of research we would like to look at and discuss in more detail in the section below focuses on the role of gender in instructional materials (e.g. Stockdale 2006; Bittner 2011). Here, the central question is how gender is represented in materials especially designed for learning and teaching in institutional settings. Not only quantitative measures, such as the number of male and female characters, but also qualitative aspects, e.g. the physical

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appearance, character traits, hobbies and profession of the characters, are of interest in this context. 1.

Research on the Representation of Gender in EFL Textbooks

As the section above shows, research interest in gender issues is growing. Nevertheless, as Gutenberg (2013: 208) notes, gender topics have been widely neglected for a long time in scholarly discussions and, consequently, they do not (yet) play a major role in textbook research. This is particularly alarming because textbooks do not simply mirror various forms of existing knowledge and patterns of behaviour, but contribute to constructing new knowledge and behavioural modes. In this way, they influence social reality (cf. Bittner 2011: 13). Looking at instructional materials from this perspective, it is quite reasonable to assume that representations of gender in textbooks and other teaching materials and media used in EFL classrooms can have a certain impact on the learners’ perceptions of gender roles and norms. Thus, research in this area should begin with an analysis of typical topics, tasks and activities we can find in current instructional materials. As Jenderek (2015: 62) points out, there are hardly any gender-specific or gender-differentiating topics, tasks or activities available in textbooks and in accompanying materials and media today; however, she notes that many teachers who assume that boys and girls learn differently and require specific materials and topics, usually rely on homemade materials to cater for individual, gender specific needs. Wedl and Bartsch (2015: 17), referring to Faulstich-Wieland (2005), speak of “dramatising gender” in this context, i.e. focusing on (assumed and/or exaggerated) difference rather than on similarity. So, apparently, gender-specific instruction is largely driven by individual teachers’ beliefs and assumptions about gender difference, not so much by the textbook and its accompanying materials and media. This raises a number of questions concerning the role and changing representation of gender in EFL textbooks. A number of studies carried out in the 1970s and 1980s show that male characters used to significantly outnumber female characters in EFL textbooks at the time (cf. Stockdale 2006: 1; Bittner 2011: 6; Gutenberg 2013: 113). However, male dominance and the stereotypical representation of males and females is not only an issue in textbooks, but also in grammar books. This is particularly problematic as learners generally conceive of grammar books as authoritative, rule-governed guides (cf. Gutenberg 2013: 113). If, for example, male nouns and pronouns are generally introduced first, an implicit gender bias in favour of males is produced, which may have an impact on the learners’ perception of gender norms. Nonetheless, gender representation in grammar books is still a widely under-researched field (cf. ibid). In the following parts, we will look at the central findings of two exemplary studies in more detail. Stockdale (2006) examined the EFL textbook “Impact Values” (2003) published by Longman Asia using four analysis categories: ‘visibility’, ‘firstness’, ‘nouns/pronouns’ and ‘discourse roles’. “Visibility refers to the relative numbers of males and females” (Stockdale 2006: 1). In terms of the ‘visibility’ of

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male and female persons in the textbook “Impact Values”, Stockdale found that there is a slight imbalance of quantitative gender representation in favour of males. According to her study, 55% of all persons in the textbook are male and 53% of the people portrayed in pictures and photographs are male. Furthermore, 39% of the listening activities are male-centred (i.e. the main character of the activity is male), whereas only 26% are female-centred. Correspondingly, 35% of the activities feature both male and female characters. The notion of male- and female-centred topics in “Impact Values” is also interesting from a content-based perspective: topics related to people and family are predominantly female-centred whereas topics featuring the workplace or society are predominantly male-centred (cf. Stockdale 2006: 12). With regard to ‘firstness’, Stockdale (2006: 15) found that 55% of the mixed-gender dialogues in “Impact Values” are initiated by males. There is also a male bias in the presentation of nouns and pronouns (72% male first), i.e. when noun pairs such as father/mother, brothers/sisters or pronoun pairs, e.g. he/she, his/her, as well as proper name pairs (67% male first) are introduced. The number of nouns referring to male and female characters is almost equal; there are 215 nouns referring to females and 220 nouns referring to males (cf. Stockdale 2006: 17). Yet, there are differences regarding the contexts in which the nouns are being used. Whereas feminine nouns dominate in the topic areas related to people and family, masculine nouns are prevalent in professional contexts. However, “it should be noted that among high status nouns like author, engineer, and president there are also rather negative terms like stalker, liar, klutz, and alcoholic” referring to males rather than females (Stockdale 2006: 18). In other words, male characters are being stereotyped both ‘positively’ and ‘negatively’ through the male dominance in a variety of contexts. The amount of talk (55% male talk) as well as the type of talk (59% male-initiated talks) further emphasises the slight male dominance in “Impact Values” (2003) (cf. ibid.). In a more recent study, Bittner (2011) looked at the representation of gender in history, biology and EFL textbooks used in German educational contexts. For her analysis of EFL textbooks, she focused on six different textbooks: “Camden Town I” (2006), “Camden Market 1” (2005), “G21 A1” (2007), “G21 D1” (2006), “Let’s go 1” (2005) and “Red Line 1” (2005). From a quantitative perspective, Bittner found that the number of male and female characters is well-balanced in all of the textbooks she took a look at. However, a qualitative analysis of how male and female characters are represented revealed some remarkable stereotypes. With the exception of older women, i.e. mothers and grandmothers, the great majority of women and girls have long hair in all the textbooks examined (cf. Bittner 2011: 37). The character ‘Vanessa’ in “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015) is the only girl not fitting ‘the norm’ – her hair is short and she plays football. However, at the same time she is being feminised by wearing a skirt and earrings when playing football (cf. “Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 24). Male characters, on the other hand, have short hair, with the exception of black men who are portrayed fairly stereotypically wearing long dreadlocks in two pictures (cf. Bittner 2011: 37). However, going beyond their physical appearance, male behaviours, friendships and hobbies are also represented rather stereotypically in all of the EFL textbooks analysed (cf. Bittner 2011:

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

38). On the positive side, Bittner found that the textbook “Camden Town I” (2006) avoids creating gender stereotypes related to the main characters’ favourite school subjects. For example, the male character George is very strong at English and Arts, i.e. in subjects that are stereotypically often related to girls (cf. ibid.). In addition, Bittner looked at the depiction of sports and, more particularly, professional sports in EFL textbooks. She found that in “Camden Town I” (2006), boys and men are more frequently shown engaged in sports than girls and women (cf. ibid). The fairly stereotypical depiction of male and female sports in EFL textbooks is also a topic dealt with by Herrmann-Cohen (2015). According to Herrmann-Cohen (2015: 21), the stereotypical representation of so-called ‘male’ and ‘female sports’, hence, the implicit creation of gender normativity, is very common in EFL textbooks today. In order to illustrate how aspects of gender can be dealt with in more balanced ways in the classroom, HermannCohen (cf. 2015: 22) creates a gender-sensitive teaching sequence based on the film “Billy Elliot – I will Dance” (2000). Ballet dancing is often conceived of as a ‘female’ activity or sports in general, and for white, thin girls with long hair in particular (cf. Hermann-Cohen 2015: 21). By focusing on dancing as a professional sport for boys (men) and girls (women), and as something you can dedicate your entire life to, Hermann-Cohen aims to reduce gender-stereotypical thinking in the EFL classroom. The author also comes up with some valuable questions for gender-sensitive textbook analysis: 1.

2.

2.

What do the boys do in your English textbook?  Find out which hobbies they have and what they do in their free time. Also, take a look at the pictures. State name, page and activity.  Find boys in your class with different hobbies. Can you find hobbies that are not in your English book? What do the girls do in your English book?  Find out which hobbies they have and what they do in their free time. Also take a look at the pictures. State name, page and activity.  Find girls in your class with different hobbies. Do you think there are activities ONLY girls should do? Which? Why? Gender Representation in 10 EFL Textbooks

In this section, we present the central findings of our own (small-scale) study on gender representation in EFL textbooks. We looked at a total of ten EFL textbooks published between 1957 and 2015. Sampling decisions were guided by a number of criteria. First of all, we were interested in analysing textbooks from the past decades, beginning with the very first generation of EFL textbooks published and used in (West-) Germany after World War II. This way we wanted to get an impression of how representations of gender have changed over time. Second, we were interested in looking at EFL textbooks created and distributed by all three leading publishing houses in Germany, i.e. Cornelsen Verlag, Berlin, Diesterweg Verlag (Bildungshaus Schulbuchverlage),

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Braunschweig and Ernst Klett Verlag, Stuttgart. Since Bittner (2011) analysed “Camden Town I” (2006) and “Camden Market 1” (2005) (Diesterweg Verlag), “G21 A1” (2007) and “G21 D1” (2006) (Cornelsen Verlag) and “Let’s go 1” (2005) and Red Line 1 (2005) (Ernst Klett Verlag) in detail in her study, we did not include these textbooks in our little research project. Third, we decided to reduce our study to EFL textbooks for beginning learners in grades five and six, mainly because family, school, hobbies, etc. are gender-sensitive topics in the early grades already. Fourth, largely for research-pragmatic reasons, we decided to select textbooks only that were easy to access, i.e. that were available either in the university library or that were in private possession. Based on these sampling decisions, we included the following ten EFL textbooks in our study:          

“Peter Pim and Billy Ball Band 1 – Erster Teil” (1957), 1st edition. Berlin: Cornelsen. “Peter Pim and Billy Ball Band 1 – Zweiter Teil” (1957), 1st edition. Berlin: Cornelsen. “The New Guide, 1. Teil” (1967), 9th edition. Frankfurt/Main: Diesterweg. “The Good Companion, Ausgabe A, Teil 1” (1970), 2nd edition. Frankfurt/Main: Diesterweg. “Green Line 1” (1990), 1st edition. Stuttgart: Klett. “Red Line New 1” (1995), 1st edition. Stuttgart: Klett. “English G 2000 A1” (1997), 1st edition. Berlin: Cornelsen. “English G 2000 D1” (1997), 1st edition. Berlin: Cornelsen. “Bayswater” (2000), 2nd edition. Frankfurt/Main: Diesterweg. “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015), 1st edition. Frankfurt/Main: Diesterweg.

As is evident, our study is limited to a few EFL textbooks created by German publishers for beginning learners of English only. Therefore, the data presented here is neither complete nor representative for all EFL textbooks published in Germany within the last 60 years. Our examination rather aims at suggesting possible analysis procedures and focal points in order to raise awareness of quantitative and qualitative gender representation in EFL instructional materials and media. In the following, a number of examples from four topic areas that were found evocative of gender stereotypes will be discussed. These topic areas are very common in grades five and six, i.e. in the early years of learning English: ‘People & Family’, ‘Housework’, ‘Leisure Time & Hobbies’ and ‘Profession’. People and Family The major questions that guided our analysis in this topic area were: How are male and female characters represented in the selected EFL textbooks? What are the families in EFL textbooks like? How many family members are there? How have family representations in the EFL textbooks chosen for evaluation changed over time? To begin with, we took a closer look at the formerly widely used textbook “Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1, Erster Teil” (1957):

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

Illustration 1: Book cover “Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1” (1957). Hildegard Cornelsen, née Friedrichs

The title page of this book shows a picture of Betty, Peter and Billy standing next to each other. Betty is standing on the left; thus, she is the first person in the picture (reading from left to right). Yet, at the same time, she is marginalised by not being linguistically visible in the title of the textbook, which only names the two male characters. The illustration below shows Billy and Betty, Peter’s younger sister. The way these two main characters are introduced shows some overt as well as some more covert stereotypes of gender:

Illustration 2: Billy Ball and Betty Pim (“Peter Pim and Bily Ball – Band 1, Erster Teil” 1948: 5). Hildegard Cornelsen, née Friedrichs A closer look at the composition of this picture and the linguistic elements of the short descriptions underneath reveals gender stereotyping both visually and verbally. First of all, the male character Billy is depicted and mentioned first and is also placed above Betty on the page. Whereas Billy appears quite self-confident and strong (upright posture, crossed arms, smiling and holding his head up high), Betty looks shy, fragile and modest, glancing down at her doll in her right arm, holding her left arm behind her back. This picture deploys stereotypical masculine and feminine character traits and further implies women’s traditional role in parenting. Similarly, the Pim family is depicted rather traditionally in Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1, Erster Teil (1948: 14). In the picture (see illustration 3) introducing the four family members, we see (from left to right): Mr. Pim, Mrs. Pim, Betty Pim and Peter Pim. The typical family structure of the postwar era is represented here. The father is recognised as the breadwinner (Mr. Pim is wearing a suit and a tie, implying a profession), the mother as the ‘angel of the house’. The notions of gender conformity and expectations are

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being expressed through dress code and haircut; Peter’s red hair and haircut indicate that it is accepted as ‘normal’ for (teenage) boys to be less conformist, adapted and perhaps more rebellious than girls.

Illustration 3: The Pim family (“Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1, Erster Teil” 1957: 14). Hildegard Cornelsen, née Friedrichs

The typical family structure of father, mother and two children, usually a boy and a girl, can also be found in “The Good Companion” (1970: 37). Furthermore, as in “Peter Pim and Billy Ball” (1957), girls and women typically wear skirts in EFL textbooks of that time. In “The New Guide” (1967: 12, 33), for instance, we see a girl wearing trousers in two pictures only, in all other instances girls and women wear dresses or skirts. In contrast to that, more recent EFL textbooks tend to depict people differently. Firstly, women and girls are not restricted to wearing skirts and dresses anymore. Secondly, girls and women are not always portrayed as being well-dressed and conformist. For example, Vanessa, a main Character in “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015), has short red hair, prefers to wear trousers and a hooded sweatshirt, and her room is very messy. In contrast to that, the male character Rajiv wears matching clothes and his room is very neat and tidy, as the two illustrations below show:

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Illustration 4: Vanessa’s room (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 76). Diesterweg Verlag

Illustration 5: Rajiv’s room (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 76). Diesterweg Verlag Families are depicted somewhat differently in more recent textbooks as well. For example, in “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015: 109), there is a family tree showing the family of the two cousins Gillian and David. It is noteworthy that Gillian’s parents, Gwen Collins and Paul Collins, are divorced, which is also indicated in the family tree. Divorced marriages are also depicted in “English G 2000 D1” (1997: 35). The fact that EFL textbooks include failed marriages does justice to the rising annual rate of divorces in Germany (cf. Grünheid 2013: 8f.). Hence, the overall trend towards an increasing divorce rate is reflected in EFL textbooks. The divorce of Gwen and Paul Collins in “Notting Hill Gate 1” is also interesting from another perspective. As the “Notting Hill Gate 1, Teacher’s Manual” (2015: 20) reveals, Gillian lives together with her mother, Gwen Collins, and Gwen’s partner Anna Coleman. The homosexual relationship between Gwen and Anna is not dealt with explicitly; however, it is implied in the introductory picture showing all the main characters of the textbook. Here, Anna Coleman and Gwen Collins are standing next to each other in the same manner as the other married couples. A very close look further indicates that Anna Coleman puts her arm around Gwen Collins – we can see her hand resting on Gwen’s left shoulder (cf. “Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 18). Howev-

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er, when dealing with Gillian’s daily routines, which would usually involve her parents, i.e. Gillian’s mother and her partner, we only encounter Gwen Collins. Her partner Anna Coleman remains invisible. An example of this can be found in unit 5 (‘My School Day’), in which we learn about ‘Gillian’s afternoon’ in a gap-filling exercise. One of the sentences reads: “Gillian often helps her mum in the kitchen and makes a salad for dinner.” (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 101). The same-sex relationship is not dealt with explicitly; however, teachers using the textbook and the teacher’s manual may choose to discuss the topic in class. Homosexuality is not represented in any of the other textbooks we examined. The question is why contemporary EFL textbooks still seem to refrain from depicting atypical families. TV sitcoms such as “Modern Family” portray homosexual relationships and blended families. Communication applications for mobile devices as, for example, the mobile phone messengers ‘WhatsApp™’ and ‘Telegram™’, naturally include emoji portraying same-sex couples as well as same-sex parents with their children. In contrast to that, EFL textbooks are quite conservative and stick to heterosexual relationships (cf. Bittner 2011: 38), with the exception of “Notting Hill Gate I” (2015), as discussed above. Gutenberg (2013: 113) employs the term ‘ideological neutrality’ to refer to textbook publishers’ (sales) strategies. She points out that one of the reasons for contemporary textbooks to represent balanced numbers of male and female characters is addressing a broad ‘pedagogical market’ as learners typically identify with characters of the same gender (ibid.). Do the same (sales) strategies apply to the question of whether or not to include LGBTIQ persons and relationships in contemporary textbooks? As textbook publishers aim at selling their products to as many people as possible, they may be cautious to stay within the ‘ideological mainstream’; that is to say, they may prefer to represent people and family structures from a heteronormative perspective. In this context, it is important to note that in Germany, all EFL textbooks and accompanying materials and media need approval by federal education authorities before they can be used in schools. This may also contribute to the long-standing dominance of mainstream representations of gender (at least in Germany, where teachers typically use local textbooks produced by German publishing houses for the German school sector). At any rate, not including LGBTIQ persons and relationships in EFL textbooks can hardly be conceived of as ‘ideologically neutral’. Housework In the context of examining our second topic area, i.e. housework, we paid special attention to the question of how male and female characters are depicted in domestic contexts and what kind of responsibilities they have. Here again, we took a closer look at pictures, photos and dialogues. Not surprisingly, the textbooks from the post-war era featured rather stereotypical gender roles. In “Peter Pim and Billy Ball” (1957: 6), for example, a chapter is entitled ‘Mother’s Kitchen’, explicitly naming the woman/housewife as the person responsible for this part of the house. The pictures and dialogues in this chapter can be interpreted as representations of the gender-specific norms and values of the 1950s and early 1960s: women were responsible for

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

the household. In “The Good Companion” (1970: 35), a unit is titled ‘housework’ and deals with domestic responsibilities explicitly. The first part of the dialogue involving the parents, Mrs. and Mr. Black, as well as Pat, their daughter, and Bob, their son, reads and is illustrated as follows:

Illustration 6: Housework (“The Good Companion” 1970: 35). Ingeborg Bukor

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This dialogue clearly shows how gender stereotypes are being transmitted. Mrs. Black and her daughter Pat both perceive of themselves as more knowledgeable in the field of housework than the male family members. Even though Pat finds it unfair that her mother and her have to do all the work, while her father and her brother just walk away, she accepts her mother’s ‘explanation’ (about males preferring not to engage in housework) without any further protest. One of the following scenes, which takes place several hours later, depicts Mr. Black and Bob sitting in the car, reading a book and a newspaper, complaining about the fact that there is no room in the house where they can read, because Mrs. Black and Pat are cleaning everywhere (cf. “The Good Companion” 1970: 36). This scene further highlights how naturally the household duties are assumed by all characters involved. In comparison, in the more recent book “English G 2000 D1” (1997: 43) we found a scene which is quite different. While Nick is cleaning the bathroom, his sister Debbie, who is supposed to help him, is hiding under the table in the hallway reading a book. Sometimes, textbook illustrations are misleading. In the “The New Guide” (1967: 10), for instance, a scene depicts a father and his son in the kitchen. The father is wearing an apron. Under the headline ‘Daddy makes a Cake’ [sic], a few pictures and a dialogue tell the story of father and son making a cake. At first glance, one might be inclined to think that showing two male characters in the kitchen seems to be quite avant-garde in the 1960s. However, a closer look at the pictures as well as the dialogue reveals that strong gender stereotypes are being transported through the scene. The father is in the kitchen with an apron making a cake, but, in fact, he spills the milk and does not succeed in his endeavour. He quickly gives up on the task and sends his son off to the (male) baker. It is implied that baking and cooking etc. are primarily female domains and that women are better at making cakes than men – unless they are professionals in this area. Interestingly, this pattern is still visible in contemporary EFL textbooks. In “English G 2000 A1” (1997: 83), for example, we witness the two characters Debbie and Nick helping in the kitchen. When Nick drops a plate, Debbie laughs at him. Similarly, in “Notting Hill Gate I” (2015: 80), the character Charlie is supposed to look after his younger sister Sharon, because their parents are not at home. The text reads: “Charlie often looks after Sharon on Friday evenings. He makes beans on toast. Sometimes he forgets about the beans. But Sharon helps him.” Charlie is older and in charge of looking after his younger sister, yet he does not act conscientiously and forgets about the beans on the stove. In the picture, we see Sharon wearing kitchen gloves when she takes the burning pot off the stove, while Charlie has turned his back to her and says: “It’s a good thing I’m here to look after you.” This picture contains a number of humorous elements, as Sharon, the younger one, is actually the one in charge. At the same time, the picture as well as the dialogue can be read in line with the two examples discussed above: the girl acts more skilfully and responsibly (e.g. paying attention to the pot on the stove, wearing kitchen gloves) in the domestic sphere than the boy, who does not look at the pot on the stove and fools around in the kitchen instead.

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

Another task in this unit invites learners to discuss whether boys have an easier life than girls have, after Vanessa and Charlie talk about their duties in and around the house on the phone (cf. “Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 78). When Charlie invites Vanessa to meet him in the park to play football, Vanessa says: “No, sorry, I can’t! I have to clean the bathroom. I know you don’t have to do anything. Boys have an easy life! They never do jobs at home.” They both realise that Vanessa has many more responsibilities and duties in the house than Charlie. Learners are asked to reflect on the following questions: 1. 2.

Listen to the CD. What are Vanessa and Charlie talking about? How do you think they feel? What do you think? Do boys really have an easy life?

These questions can be considered gender-sensitive to a certain degree, because they encourage learners to think and talk about gender roles and gender-stereotypical duties in and around the house. According to Bittner (2011: 41), EFL textbooks are still largely consistent with the traditional gender division of family duties and housework allocation in real life, where the number of females responsible for parenting and household is still much higher than the number of males – not only in Germany but all over Europe (cf. also Mischke & Wingerter 2012: 48). However, as the kitchen scene analysed in more detail above and many other examples in more recently published EFL textbooks show, male characters are increasingly placed in household or housework scenarios, i.e. they cook (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 108), wash the dishes (“English G 2000 D1” 1997: 43, “Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 108), clean (“English G 2000 D1” 1997: 43; “Green Line 1” 1984: 16, 33; “Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 78, 108) make breakfast (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 41), or prepare pizza for a birthday party (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 104). Hence, there is a visible shift away from gender-stereotypical representations of the domestic sphere in our sample. Leisure Time and Hobbies The third topic area examined in more detail is leisure time/hobbies. According to Bittner (cf. 2011: 45), the depiction of hobbies and professional sports in EFL textbooks is still fairly stereotypical. In this part, we discuss how the representation of girls’ and boys’ hobbies and leisure time activities has changed in the last decades. In “The New Guide” (1967: 12f.), lesson four deals with leisure time and outdoor activities. The lesson starts with the topic ‘picnic’. The text reads as follows: “Father has a red car. He takes Peggy and Tom to the river. Father puts the picnic basket on the grass. Tom catches a fish in the river. Peggy makes coffee and cooks the fish.” The picture above the text shows Tom with a fishing pole pulling a big fish out of the river, proudly smiling while Peggy is sitting on the ground in front of the frying pan waiting for the fish to be ready for cooking. Their father is standing behind Peggy, both of them looking at Tom, who is clearly in the centre of attention in this scene:

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Illustration 7: Picnic (“The New Guide” 1967: 12). Gerda Radtke

In view of the two children’s leisure time activities, we see the typical gender roles of the time mirrored. The man is responsible for breadwinning, whereas the female’s duties lie in the domestic sphere. Also, the notion of the strong and the weak gender is implied in this scene. Whereas the man is standing and engages in the physically challenging part of the job (pulling the fish out of the water), the female is sitting on the ground, waiting for the fish to be caught. In the next scene which is called ‘A Big Dog is in the Garden’, this pattern is repeated, as the following picture illustrates:

Illustration 8: A Big Dog is in the Garden (“The New Guide” 1967: 13). Gerda Radtke

We see two different characters, Fred and Molly, outdoors. The text below the picture reads: Fred and Molly are in the garden, Fred is digging, Molly is playing with the dolls. A big dog dashes along the fence. He catches the cock. Molly says: “Fred, look at the big dog!” The dog sees Fred with a spade and a stick – and he is off! Molly picks up the grey feathers.

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

As in the previous example, the different outdoor activities confirm the traditional gender roles of the 1950s and 1960s. While the male character engages in physical work, the female character sits on the ground playing with her dolls. Furthermore, Fred holding a spade symbolically protects Molly from a potentially dangerous situation, which is another indicator for stereotypical gender roles. How has this depiction of stereotypical gender roles changed over time? In more recent textbooks there are examples of girls and boys engaging in nonstereotypical hobbies, e.g. girls playing football (e.g. “Green Line 1” 1984: 110) and boys doing horseback-riding (e.g. “Bayswater” 2000: 60). In “English G A1” 2000 (1997: 121), for example, the female character Katrin talks about football with her friend Nick and is interested in watching a match. Another example is to be found in “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015: 58), in which a scene revolving around a school football match explicitly addresses gender issues. Looking at a poster advertising the ‘Holland Park School Boy’s Final Cup’, Gillian and her friend Li decide to organise a friendly match for girls. One of the boys comments on the conversation between the two by saying: “A football match for girls? Haha, very funny. Girls can’t play football.” (ibid.). Another interesting scene in the same textbook which is also related to gender-stereotypical views of sports deals with children’s ballet dancing. Charlie visits his sister in her ballet lesson and tries to dance as well; on the next day, he shows his friends what he has learned:

Illustration 9: Girls’ sports and boys’ sports? (“Notting Hill Gate 1” 2015: 80). Diesterweg Verlag

Football is clearly conceived of as a male sport that affirms masculinity, whereas dancing, in this case ballet dancing, is still considered a female sport. Whereas older textbooks predominantly show scenes in which girls play with dolls and help their mothers and in which boys have very traditional, stereotypical toys and hobbies and help their fathers, more recent textbooks par-

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tially succeed in overcoming stereotypical gender representations like these. Nonetheless, in many of today’s EFL textbooks, girls and boys are still associated with outdated concepts of femininity and masculinity in sports and other leisure time activities – boys doing horseback-riding and girls playing football remain a rare exception. Profession The significant rise in woman’s labour force participation represents one of the most profound changes of the past century. The question is: Has the representation of male and female workforce participation in the EFL textbook changed accordingly? World War II drew women into the workforce in large numbers. After the war, many of them returned home again and became the mothers of the baby boom. Hence, it is not surprising that the majority of workforce participants depicted in EFL textbooks of the post-war era are male, as the following activity from “Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1, Zweiter Teil” (1957: 36) shows:

Illustration 10: Professions (“Peter Pim and Billy Ball – Band 1, Zweiter Teil” 1957: 36). Hildegard Cornelsen, née Friedrichs

In the drawing, we see a male tailor, a male butcher, a male baker, a male grocer, a male shoe maker, a female greengrocer and a male ice cream vender. The example sentence given underneath the picture explicitly describes a male professional: “This man is a tailor. A tailor is a man who makes suits, jackets and trousers.” Not only are women underrepresented in the picture, they are also undetectable in the target language cue. In “The Good Companion” (1970) and “The New Guide” (1967), there are no women in labour contexts whatsoever. Prestigious jobs, such as teacher and doctor, are represented exclusively through men in textbooks like these. Women are, if at all, represented in lower-level, less prestigious positions, for example as a salesperson at the market place. Contrary to this, in more recent textbooks, we can find numerous examples of women in the workplace. They work in various professions and in a number of jobs that are prestigious and/or lie within what is usually referred to as a typical male domain. For example, there is a female bus driver in “Green Line 1” (1984: 54, cf. illustration 11), a female doctor and a female

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective

police officer in “Red Line New 1” (1995: 91). Furthermore, there are female teachers in “Red Line New 1” (1995: 16) as well as in “English G 2000 D1” (1997: 10, 14).

Illustration 11: Bus driver Wendy (“Green Line 1” 1984: 54). Wolfgang Metzger

However, the overall number of male and female participants in the workforce is not always well-balanced. In “Green Line 1” (1984), for example, there are ten men depicted in professional contexts, whereas only five women are to be seen at work (not counting housework). In “English G 2000 D1” (1997), however, there are 14 male and 16 female characters shown in professional environments. The most recent textbook examined, “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015), contains a total of 30 men in professional contexts, but only five women. Two of the women are venders at the market place, one is a receptionist, one is the shopkeeper of a fashion store and one is a teacher. The latter, however, can be found in the vocabulary section only; all characters portrayed as teachers in the main part of the book are male. Throughout the book, men are depicted in a variety of jobs: teacher, headmaster, waiter, vender at the market place, police officer, detective, shop keeper, jeweller, construction worker, farmer, shepherd, magician, clown, zoo keeper and parcel deliveryman. Through this probably unintentional, grossly unequal representation of men and women in labour contexts, gender stereotypes are being reinforced. – In terms of promoting gender equality in and beyond the EFL classroom, this observation is as unexpected as it is disturbing, especially when considering the ‘textbook as agent of change’-metaphor, as proposed by Hutchinson & Torres (1994) and criticised by Kurtz (2001) long ago. To sum up the main results of our mini-study, gender representation in the EFL textbooks examined has changed – more or less. First of all, the representation of males and females has slowly started to develop away from traditional gender roles and norms. Also, families in EFL textbooks do not exclusively consist of mother, father, son and daughter anymore, but include only children, divorced parents and single mums, not yet single dads or same-sex parents, at least not explicitly. Regarding housework, males become more visible in the domestic sphere, even though females are still overrepresented in taking over household duties, mirroring the imbalance in this area in social reality even today. In terms of hobbies and leisure time activity, a slight shift towards non-stereotypical representation is observable in the textbooks examined; some characters engage in non-stereotypical hobbies and sports, but remain the exception. The same holds true for the

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depiction of male and female characters in professional occupations. In the ten textbooks examined, women become more visible outside the house, but are still underrepresented in the workplace, especially in prestigious jobs. In all topic areas we focused on, there is further room for development of a qualitative balance between male and female characters and for an inclusion of LGBTIQ people and relationships. In the following section, we present a brief but useful evaluation instrument to identify and understand gender bias in EFL instructional materials. 3.

The Nova Scotia Bias Evaluation Instrument

In order to systematically assess teaching and learning materials for a potential gender bias, the ‘Bias Evaluation Instrument’ of the Nova Scotia Department of Education (2001: 13) proposes the following questions to be applied to instructional materials:     

Do the learning resources emphasise gender-inclusive examples and activities such as girls and boys playing a variety of sports or engaged in a variety of activities with both genders? Do family scenes and the range of occupations, inside and outside of the home, show both men and women fulfilling a wide range of roles and functions? Do the learning resources equitably acknowledge the contributions and achievements of both women and men in society, and acknowledge the broad range of occupational and life pursuits for all? In historical material, are both women and men portrayed in ways that accurately reflect society at the time? Does the language avoid making judgements about female and male behaviour (e.g. oversensitive women, assertive men) and use genderneutral terms (e.g. firefighters, fishers, postal carriers)? Is the language gender-inclusive? (e.g. both genders are represented in the text).

The underlying rationale is as follows (Nova Scotia Department of Education 2001: 13): Learning materials should    



contain equitable representation of both women and men as important figures who deserve recognition and respect. present authentic role models in a variety of careers, demonstrating that successes are achievable by both genders in all racial groups. show females and males confronting and solving problems with equal skill and resourcefulness. represent the potential of girls and boys, women and men accurately, and apply attributes such as confidence, decisiveness, willingness to take risks, empathy, kindness, generosity, and courage equally to both genders. include the historic and social contributions and achievements of both women and men.

Gender Representation in Selected EFL Textbooks – A Diachronic Perspective



acknowledge that an individual’s sexual orientation does not reflect his or her ability to lead a satisfying, productive life.

The Bias Evaluation Instrument (2001: 12) can also be used to examine how families are portrayed in instructional materials. Here, the central questions offered are:      

Do the learning materials portray a variety of family structures? Are the various kinds of family structures portrayed positively? Does the material show various ways families demonstrate love and provide security to family members? Do the learning materials show family members assuming a variety of roles and responsibilities? Do the learning materials recognise that the roles and responsibilities of family members differ within cultures? Do the learning materials portray family members involved in various forms of conflict resolution and problem solving?

The underlying rationale is: Learning materials should show how various cultures meet the needs of children and family members inside and outside the home environment – in the extended family, through community activities and through family relationships. Evaluation checklists like these may help raise awareness about genderstereotyping in EFL textbooks and other teaching materials. However, it is important to reflect on the underlying concepts of gender and/or family before using these instruments, because these can differ considerably from culture to culture. 4.

Summary

As this chapter has shown, the representation of gender in EFL textbooks has changed considerably in Germany within the last 60 years. Yet, there is still a lot of room for further improvement away from outdated conceptions of normality and normativity and stereotypical representations of masculinity and femininity. Even though the number of male and female characters is relatively balanced in current instructional materials, in terms of their outward appearance, leisure time activities and professional occupations textbook characters still tend to be presented according to rather traditional gender roles. All in all, though, a substantial shift in the visibility of female characters can be observed – girls and women are becoming more visible in a variety of life contexts. In all textbooks observed, there is no explicit representation of LGBTIQ people and relationships; the only exception is “Notting Hill Gate 1” (2015), in which a homosexual relationship between two women is implied. However, our own study is far too limited to warrant any final judgments. Far more diachronic and synchronic research will be necessary to shed further light on gender representation, stereotyping and gender bias in EFL textbooks.

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Review – Reflect – Research 1.

2. 3. 4.

Reconsider your answers to the pre-reading questions. Have your initial assumptions about gender representation in EFL textbooks been challenged in any way? Based on the major findings of our little study, what changes to the representation of gender in EFL textbooks and accompanying materials and media would you recommend? Do you think blended families, including families with same-sex parents, should be represented in EFL textbooks? Why/why not? Look through a current EFL textbook of your choice. Can you find any visual and/or linguistic cues that might be worth discussing from the perspective of gender representation? Consider ways of how to approach this issue with your learners and think of one or two tasks focusing on the analysis of potential gender asymmetries in EFL materials.

Further Reading Suggestions Bittner, Melanie (2011). Geschlechterkonstruktionen und die Darstellung von Lesben, Schwulen, Bisexuellen, Trans* und Inter* (LSBTI) in Schulbüchern. Frankfurt/Main: Gewerkschaft, Erziehung und Wissenschaft. Hutchinson, Tom & Torres, Eunice (1994). The Textbook as Agent of Change. English Language Teaching Journal 48: 4, 315-328. Jenderek, Lydia (2015). Der Einsatz von geschlechterunterscheidenden Materialien in der Schule. In: Wedl, Juliette & Bartsch, Annette (eds.). Teaching Gender? Zum reflektierten Umgang im Schulunterricht und in der Lehramtsausbildung. Bielefeld: Transcript, 47-65. Kurtz, Jürgen (2001). Das Lehrwerk und seine Verwendung nach der jüngsten Reform der Richtlinien und Lehrpläne. Englisch 36: 2, 41-50. [The textbook and its use in English teaching following the latest educational reform.]. Stockdale, Ashley D. (2006). Gender Representation in an EFL Textbook. Paper submitted to the School of Humanities of the University of Birmingham, UK. [Online: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-artslaw/cels/ essays/sociolinguistics/DAStockdale-Sociolinguistics.pdf, 3/20/2016]. Wedl, Juliette & Bartsch, Annette (eds.) (2015). Teaching Gender? Zum reflektierten Umgang mit Geschlecht im Schulunterricht und in der Lehramtsausbildung. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Girls Chat, Boys Hack? – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Gender Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

This chapter introduces you to how gender and perceptions of gender roles can impact computer-assisted language learning (CALL) in the classroom. You will understand the notion of the “digital divide” in its historical and current form and learn more about computer use and computer skills by male and female teenagers. Hereafter, three scenarios in which gender impacts a CALL scenario will be discussed: sharing a computer, students choosing to work with/not to work with technology in the classroom and avatar design. These three scenarios will help you to develop an awareness of key decisions you must make when implementing CALL in the classroom, and how each of these decisions may impact specific genders or specific students. The chapter ends with recommendations regarding gender and CALL.

Pre Reading Tasks 1. 2.

0.

How confident do you feel in regards to computers and similar technologies? Do you think your gender has an impact on how you feel? Are there any challenges relating to gender when using ICT in the classroom? CALL: Computer-Assisted Language Learning

Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is concerned with how we can teach and learn languages using some types of media, specifically “computers” in a very broad understanding of this term, including for example PCs, laptops, tablet PCs, smartphones, and interactive whiteboards. There is the danger that when we talk about CALL, we focus on the C. In reality, the C is the most unimportant part about CALL. The important part, in fact, is LL. CALL is language learning, just as BALL (Book-assisted language learning) and TALL (Teacher-assisted language learning) are ways of language learning. Computer-assisted language learning means: we use technology as one aspect of our teaching and/or learning, without this necessarily being the most important part. When you read a text, do an exercise, play a game, participate in a debate – the reading, doing, playing, participating are the important parts, not if you do them on printed paper, or on a screen, with people present, or through the internet. At the same time, just as we

CALL: Computerassisted language learning CALL is not ‘all about’ computers.

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can discuss what makes a good textbook, or how the presence of a textbook impacts a classroom, we can discuss how computers can support specific activities, deliver content, or provide feedback – and what effect this has on the classroom and on the individual learner. 1.

Media and Gender: Use of ICT Outside the Language Classroom

With regard to gender and language learning, Schmenk (2007) states: gender is a category that is extraordinarily difficult to study in our field. Not because it is not important, not because it does not play a role, but because there are certain ‘truths’ in and about the field that have long been established and are continually reproduced. (Schmenk 2007: 123)

She could have been talking just as well about gender and ICT (Information and Computer Technology). There are certain ‘truths’ that are commonly shared. ‘Truths’ about who is good at computers, who likes computers most, who puts them to good use, and who uses them unwisely. Gender is a key element in these ‘truths’. To provide an extreme example: In 2010, Mattel produced a book for the Barbie Franchise with the title “I can be a computer engineer”. Unfortunately, it was not a book about how Barbie actually CAN BE a computer engineer. It was a story about her asking boys to help her with a computer virus, and about her developing a design for a computer game, for which her male friends then did the programming. One dialogue between Barbie and her sister Skipper is especially memorable: “Your robot puppy is so sweet,” says Skipper. “Can I play your game?” “I’m only creating the design ideas,” Barbie says, laughing. “I’ll need Steven’s and Brian’s help to turn it into a real game!” preconceptions about gender and ICT skills

We all ‘know’ that boys are more into computers, that they are better at computers, that they are more passionate gamers, that all the really good programmers are male – and that if you are a girl taking a computer science class at school, it involves drawing pictures of cute little puppies .1 Some of these assumptions of course conflict with reality. There are plenty of large-scale studies on ICT usage and skills that can provide a reality check. Please keep in mind that these statistics are statistics. They cluster people together based on which box they ticked off, the box labelled “male” or the box labelled “female”. It is easy to forget that these clusters of people consist of very diverse individuals, and that gender or sex, understood as a binary category on a questionnaire – while often a helpful category for simplification of quantitative data – is not the only relevant thing about a person. Still, the most popular alternative to simplification has been completely ignoring questions of gender (United Nations: Division for the Advancement of Women: Department of Economic and Social Affairs 2005: 20f.), an approach likewise fraught with problems. The author is certain that, while writing this sentence, she can hear Ada Lovelace rotate in her grave.

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The Digital Divide

There are many domains where we talk about the haves and the have-nots, using metaphors such as gap, divide, or, in German, Schere (‘scissors’), especially if the difference is increasing. In the field of ICT, not surprisingly, we also have those that have access, and those that do not. This is traditionally referred to as the “digital divide”. In 1998, the JIM study, a bi-annually conducted study on media use of teenagers in Germany, reported, that while most teenagers used the computer at least multiple times per month, 20% of teenagers aged 12 to 19 has never had contact with a computer, mostly children at the “Hauptschule” educational track as well as girls and young women: Fast jeder zweite Jugendliche zwischen 12 und19 (sic!) Jahren nutzt zumindest mehrmals in der Woche einen Computer. Nimmt man als Maßstab „nutze ich mindestens mehrmals im Monat“, so erhöht sich dieser Anteil auf 67 Prozent. Allerdings kamen zwei von zehn Jugendlichen dieser Altersgruppe noch nie mit diesem Medium in Kontakt. Dies sind vor allem Mädchen und junge Frauen sowie Jugendliche, die zum Zeitpunkt der Befragung die Hauptschule besuchen oder besucht haben. (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 1998: 22; my emphasis)

This kind of digital divide has disappeared. If we look at current numbers, we see that a ceiling has been reached, leaving very few teenagers without access to computers (cf. also illustration 1, with the dark shaded bars representing girls and the lightly shaded bars representing boys).

Illustration 1: Current levels of possession of various digital devices by teenagers (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2014: 8)

the digital divide has changed

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ICT use by male and female teenagers

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First off, please note that these are numbers about technology possession. The numbers for tool access are even higher – not every teenager owns a computer, but most can use a computer at home or at school. Looking at the gender distribution, some differences are visible – e.g. regarding possession of digital cameras and game consoles – but these tools are not as fundamental for access to information, communication, and publication. This does not prove that there is no structural inequality – these numbers do not include considerations of the quality of the tools (top-of-the-range up-todate computer versus hand-me-down device), or the costs invested. It does show, though, that the dramatic differences in possession levels of basic digital tools have mostly disappeared. Based on these numbers, we should expect a digital bridge, or even a digital freeway, rather than a digital divide – at least related to gender (age is another question entirely), and within Germany (the digital divide is still very much alive in many countries worldwide). So, both boys and girls have access to ICT. But, how do they use it? Do girls chat whereas boys hack? Let’s focus on the “chat” side of these questions. One of the clichés about women is that they are more talkative. Ask yourself for a moment: How do you personally assume boys and girls use the internet to communicate? Who uses which tools? How often? For how long? JIM findings indicate that while girls and young women use a larger percentage of their online time for communicative tasks, boys and young men use specific communication tools as often or even more often than girls/young women, especially game platforms as communication tools and Skype. They use the internet with similar frequency for communication, only the duration of use and the platforms used differ. Obwohl Mädchen und junge Frauen einen höheren Anteil der persönlichen Internetnutzung für kommunikative Tätigkeiten verwenden, weisen Jungen und junge Männer bei der regelmäßigen Nutzung konkreter Kommunikationsformen einen gleich hohen bzw. sogar höheren Anteil als Mädchen und junge Frauen auf. Dies gilt vor allem für die Kommunikation auf Spiele-Plattformen (Jungen: 29 %, Mädchen: 5 %) und das Skypen (Jungen: 30 %, Mädchen: 10 %). Die Geschlechter sind also hinsichtlich der Kommunikationshäufigkeit ähnlich aktiv, nur die Kommunikationsdauer und die Kommunikationsplattformen unterscheiden sich. (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2014: 27; my emphasis)

The study found differences in the total self-reported duration of communicating online, but it did not find that girls chatted more often than boys. The most interesting fact here is that the two genders reported on the usage of different tools. Chatting with friends through a game console is fairly typical for boys, but very rarely done by girls. Even with the voice chat/video chat tool Skype, we find a thrice as big usage among boys than among girls. Let us look at another domain, often associated with the male gender: Gaming. JIM data suggests that while traditional gaming through computers, consoles or online games is used more by male than by female players, this does not apply to cell phone games, which are used by both male and female individuals equally.

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Die „traditionelleren“ Spielmöglichkeiten über Computer, Konsole oder online werden von 45 Prozent der Zwölf- bis 19-Jährigen regelmäßig genutzt, wobei hier die männlichen Spieler (70 %, Mädchen: 17 %) deutlich dominieren. (…) Handys stellen eine Besonderheit innerhalb der verfügbaren Endgeräte dar, da Handys oder Smartphones im Alltag immer mitgeführt und bei Langeweile oder Wartezeiten schnell für kurze Spiele zwischendurch genutzt werden können. Diese Möglichkeit nimmt offensichtlich ein Großteil der Jugendlichen wahr: Handyspiele werden von 78 Prozent zumindest selten genutzt und sind als einzige Spielform für beide Geschlechter gleichermaßen interessant.” (Medienpädagogischer Forschungsverbund Südwest 2014: 41f.)

Again, a similar result is presented here. Yes, boys tend to spend more time on “World of Warcraft” than girls, but when you include casual games such as “FarmVille” or “Angry Birds”, statistics change, and suddenly, games are not a ‘boys’ thing’ anymore. To summarise: Do girls chat, and boys hack – well, hack zombies? Or, to put it more simply, is there a difference in media usage between the genders? Yes, there is a difference in media usage, statistically speaking, but if you look at the complete ecology of media use, the difference is not as major as one would expect. Based on this data, we see that while usage patterns still differ, this may be less than we commonly expect them to. But one question remains, are boys still better in ICT? After all, it is technology, and boys are better with technology than girls, right? The answers to these questions of course depend on the definition of ‘good with computers’. Let us, for the moment, adopt the definition used by the ICILS – the International Computer and Information Literacy Study, which assessed ICT skills in 9 EU and 9 non-EU countries and territories, including Germany. The researchers used a four-level system, Table 1 and 2 give examples of what a low level and a high level of ICT skills respectively look like. Level 1 (from 407 to 491 points)

Students working at Level 1 demonstrate a functional working knowledge of computers as tools and a basic understanding of the consequences of computers being accessed by multiple users. They apply conventional software commands to perform basic communication tasks and add simple content to information products. They demonstrate familiarity with the basic layout conventions of electronic documents.

Students working at Level 1, for example:      

Open a link in a new browser tab; Use software to crop an image; Place a title in a prominent position on a webpage; Create a suitable title for a presentation; Demonstrate basic control of colour when adding content to a simple web-document; Insert an image into a document;

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 

Identify who receives an email by carbon copy (cc); and Suggest one or more risks of failing to log out from a user account when using a publicly accessible computer.

Table 1: Level 1 (European Commission: Education and Training 2014: 21)

Level 4 (above 661 scale points)

Students working at Level 4 select the most relevant information to use for communicative purposes. They evaluate usefulness of information based on criteria associated with need and evaluate the reliability of information based on its content and probable origin. These students create information products that demonstrate a consideration of audience and communicative purpose. They also use appropriate software features to restructure and present information in a manner that is consistent with presentation conventions. They then adapt that information to suit the needs of an audience. Students working at Level 4 demonstrate awareness of problems that can arise regarding the use of proprietary information on the internet.

Students working at Level 4, for example: 



 

 

 

Evaluate the reliability of information intended to promote a product on a commercial website; Select, from a large set of results returned by a search engine, a result that meets specified search criteria; Select relevant images from electronic sources to represent a three-stage process; Select from sources and adapt text for a presentation so that it suits a specified audience and purpose; Demonstrate control of colour to support the communicative purpose of the presentation; Use text layout and formatting features to denote the role of elements in an information poster; Create a balanced layout of text and images for an information sheet; and Recognise the difference between legal, technical, and social requirements when using images on a website.

Table 2: Level 4 (European Commission: Education and Training 2014: 20)

Some computer skills are absent in these lists. There is no item about changing hardware components, setting up a server, or writing a JavaScript programme. It does not include ‘hacking’ either, neither in the sense of penetrating computer systems nor in the sense of creatively using resources. Instead, many of these skills are those directly relevant for school contexts: Finding

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information online, evaluating this information, or creating effective presentations. ICILS does not only report students’ ICT skills in different countries, butit also looks at gender differences within each country, finding a surprisingly large and consistent difference between boys and girls (see illustration 2).

Illustration 2: Gender differences in ICT skills across countries (European Commission: Education and Training 2014: 10)

Before you continue reading: How did you interpret this image? Are boys better at ICT skills – or girls? Ask yourself, why did you interpret the image the way you did? There is a need to address gender gaps and assure a comprehensive approach to the development of digital competences in school. Digital competences cover a varied set of skills, knowledge and attitudes, as defined in the competence reference framework for learners (DIGCOMP) currently being adapted and used by several Member States and regions. ICILS shows that there is a need to examine how boys can be encouraged to develop the less technical aspects of digital competence to the same level as that of girls. On average girls outperform boys in computer and information literacy in all participating EU countries. (European Commission: Education and Training 2014: 5; my emphasis).

One can be critical of the items used to test skills in this study – but if you believe that these represent the kind of minimum computer and literacy skills students need to successfully use the computer and internet for a broad range of educational and professional goals, then girls – on average – are more proficient in basic computer use than boys – on average – are. When you use ICT in the classroom, you can usually assume that access to technology is comparable between the genders, and that girls will not be – on average – less skilled than boys – quite the opposite. But do not expect that both genders will be equally confident about demonstrating their skills in the classrooms. Both boys and girls may have internalised assumptions

what can you take from all this data? practical consequences

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about their assumed gender-specific skills or absence of them. Some boys may worry about looking less ‘manly’ if they reveal their lack of skills, and some girls might assume that they cannot do it anyway, even if they possess good ICT skills, as this is a ‘boys’ domain’. Of course, confidence in one’s computer skills is not just an automatic consequence of one’s gender, but also impacted by one’s social context, personal experiences, and other characteristics (including disability status and ethnic background). Every child, every classroom may differ here. In the following three sections, we will look at three specific scenarios of ICT use in the language learning classroom, and discuss how gender impacts them. 3.

Scenario 1: Sharing a Computer

In the ordinary school, you may not always have enough computers to go round for all students. For pragmatic reasons, you might ask students to form pairs or small groups and to share a computer. Even in situations where this is not strictly necessary, you may consciously choose to let students work in pairs or groups. Then this is not just about limited resources, but about negotiation of meaning, about verbalising strategies, etc. In short: The interaction of the students is not a mere accident, but part of your teaching strategy. There is a wealth of research on cooperation and teamwork as it relates to gender, some of which look specifically at the context of computer-assisted language learning. I believe that these studies are illuminating – not only because of their findings, but perhaps even more because they highlight that research on CALL, and CALL itself, do not happen in a vacuum. The first study I want to discuss is Abraham and Liou (1991). They looked at six adult learners of diverse linguistic backgrounds learning English. They were grouped into two mixed dyads (one man and one woman each), and one women-only dyad. In these dyads, they worked with three different computer programmes, both programmes designed specifically for language learning, and those that were re-purposed for CALL purposes. The authors counted the number of words per person in each dyad: A: 57% vs B: 43% C: 79% vs D: 21% E: 49% vs F: 51%

Keeping in mind that there is one dyad with only women, and two mixed dyads: Who of these, do you assume, is a woman, and who is a man? Why do you assume this? After you have noted down your assumptions, and your arguments underlying them, check the footnote for the correct gender attributions.2 What can we learn from this data? Do women talk less during computerassisted language learning than men do if they work in mixed dyads? This conclusion is risky for two reasons. First, these are only six individuals. With 2

A and C are male, B, D, E and F are female.

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such a small sample size, checking for statistical significance is a fool’s errand. I did it anyway: The differences between men and women in the mixed dyads are not statistically significant (two-tailed t-test p=.147). Secondly, we should be careful not to just assume that gender is the most important factor in determining different communication patterns. Here, for example, subjects were of diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds: The male students were from Egypt and Malaysia, the female students from Brazil, Japan (2x) and China. The authors, naturally, caution readers that these numbers are based on a very small sample size, and that other factors besides gender have not been controlled. They were aware of the limits of their study. As a reader of research, though, one has to make sure to be in the same way aware of these limits, to avoid overinterpreting findings like these. In a next step, the authors report their observations: “In the mixed pairs, the female assumed the role of typist, perhaps encouraging the male to dominate the discussion and decision making.” (Abraham & Liou 1991: 93). Referring to the person who types as a typist evokes specific association. A typist – like the German Typist or Typistin – is a secretarial position. Secretarial positions, in turn, are often associated with women – and typing is valued less by society than composing the text to be typed. Secondly, “encouraging the male to dominate the discussion and decision making” implies that the increased word count of men was a consequence of women having control of the keyboard: Men talk more than women, because of women’s behaviour. Not because of men’s behaviour. Could these two observations – different word count, different keyboard control – be alternatively interpreted? Of course, for example as follows: “In the mixed pairs, the female assumed the role of typist, as men dominated the discussion, they could merely note down their male partners’ ideas.” “In the mixed pairs, the female took over keyboard control, reducing the role of men to givers of key words to be entered into the programme by women.” Words spoken, words typed are one thing, our interpretation of these another.

Going through the literature, you will find quite different observations. For example, you can find authors that observe that men have more keyboard control, and that this good for them (Meunier 1995), and that women have more keyboard control, and that this is bad for them (Abraham & Liou 1991). You find authors that observe that speaking much during CALL is associated with women – and merely not a problem because “[g]irls, it would appear, have less need of silence to develop their inner thoughts and are not distracted if they all talk at the same time or overlap” (Cummings 1985: 157). Other authors, though, imply that men speak more during CALL activities – and that this is great for them (Abraham & Liou 1991). This little list does not have the intention to ridicule existing research, or to imply that research is necessarily contradictory – the context and the learning goals will, of course, impact if a specific behaviour is found to be beneficial or not. The intention rather is to point out that our interpretations of specific behaviour types may be influenced by our conceptions of gender.

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198 the importance of a reflexive stance

Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

In qualitative research, there is a strong tradition of reflexivity – of awareness that who we are and what we believe is not entirely separate of how we read our data. Assumptions about gender and gender-typical behaviour affect how we interpret data, including how teachers interpret what happens in their classroom. This impact cannot be avoided – but a reflexive stance allows us to be aware of it. Let us keep these warnings in the back of our mind when we look at a study that focuses on the impact of gender on interactions when sharing a computer (a topic that was addressed, but not centrally, in the article discussed above), and that uses a larger and better controlled sample. Meunier (2013) looks at 60 learners of French who work with the French version of a commercial game, 20 in female-only dyads, 20 in male-only dyads, and 20 in mixed dyads. In addition to a pre- and post-test regarding French vocabulary (describing people; geography facts) personality traits (Myer Briggs Personality Indicator personality profile test) were assessed. The interactions of the dyads were videotaped and the recordings were used to assess keyboard control. Meunier, again, found differences based on gender: Men learned significantly more geography facts vocabulary than women, who learned more describing people vocabulary. What kind of a dyad a person was in had no statistical significant effect, though. Still, a trend might be identified: Results indicate that in mixed-gender dyads, females tend to acquiesce to male factual preferences by learning more vocabulary pertaining to geographical facts and by lowering their interest in vocabulary related to story characters. On the other hand, males tend to assert themselves -with geographical facts in mixed-gender dyads, and there is no adjustment on their part to female interests, i.e. story characters. Relatively lower scores of males in MM groups for the acquisition of geographical facts may stem from a lack of cooperation between males or from a lack of motivation on their part. (Meunier 2013: 54)

intragroup differences can trump intergroup differences

Yet, the differences based on personality were stronger than those based on gender: “learning achievement and interaction patterns at the computer are more strongly related to personality differences and keyboard control than to gender differences.” (Meunier 2013: 47). When we look at the effect of gender alone, we can quickly get the impression that it is the most important factor. But if it is the only factor we looked at, we can easily miss interactions with other factors, or factors that overall had a stronger effect than gender had. Decke-Cornill (2007) discusses in more detail the problems associated with a quantitative approach in the area of gender and interaction. One of them especially deserves being pointed out here: intragroup differences should not be forgotten. Even if male and female students differ statistically, female students will differ from other female students, and male students from other male students. In my own work, where I observe students interacting in dyads with multilingual virtual storybooks, I can see first-hand how differently different girls approach the interaction in the dyad. Knowing a person’s

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gender tells you nothing about this specific person’s behaviour. Averages happen in statistics, they do not happen in the classroom. Overall, the results differ so much between the different studies, that I am unwilling to turn this into any specific summary – let alone a recommendation. But I do suggest that when you use computers in the classroom, you keep an eye on how students work together, and whether the division of labor at the keyboard is such that it encourages learning of all students involved. When two students completely refuse to work together, and can ‘cooperate’ only by fighting about keyboard access, this is not an optimal learning situation – regardless of the gender of the learners involved. 4.

Scenario 2: Letting Students Choose

One of my research interests is learning with blogs. In my work on the use of blogs in different school subjects, I encountered the following scenario: A teacher decided to offer students the opportunity to blog for the duration of a teaching unit, or, alternatively, to do the same writing, but offline, paper-based. In this specific classroom, all students who chose to blog were boys. No girl volunteered. In such a scenario, two questions arise: Is this an effect of gender (gender roles/gender stereotypes)? And is this a problem? Regarding the first question: How likely is it that gender impacts such choices? Certainly blogs are gender-neutral? After all, do we believe that pencils are girlish while biros are boys only? Usually not!3 The tool itself, one may assume, is just that, a tool. Just that it is not. First, of course, the broad majority of students have never used a blog. In my research on this topic, I interviewed a range of teachers, many of whom reported that students often did not even know the word ‘blog’. It happens that blogging is actually a fairly simple thing to do: If you can share a status update on Facebook, you have all the skills needed to compose a blog post. But students do not necessarily know this, and the willingness to transfer one’s existing skills to a new context, and perhaps extend these skills, depends on the learners’ confidence. In other words, it depends on their technology-related confidence, which in turn can be related to their gender. Additionally, blogging is not as neutral regarding gender as one would believe. McNeill (2009) describes how, historically, there were two traditions of blogging, filter blogging and journaling, the first of which is associated with maleness, the second with femaleness and highly criticised by ‘the real bloggers’, i.e. the non-journaling bloggers, as ‘just diaries’. Today, most A-list bloggers, the most successful bloggers world-wide, at least those included in such lists, are men. Secondly, is it a problem? In many contexts, students make choices that have no potential for negative impact. If you consider the use of computers in the Interestingly, the stationary brand BIC experienced viral online critique – known informally as ‘shitstorm’ – when it strongly gendered a range of writing implements, selling a “For Her” range of ballpoint pens.

3

is blogging ‘gender-neutral’?

can choice pose a problem?

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classroom just to be the ‘spoonful of sugar’ that makes a disliked assignment more palatable, then there is no issue with some taking up this offer, others not. If you have two alternatives that are both equally good for your learners, there is no issue either. This changes, though, as soon as you believe that the computer-based activity has added benefits the paper-based activity does not have – improved learning of English, additional computer literacy skills developed, higher motivation, perhaps. At this point, one group systematically choosing to blog and another choosing not to blog, may be disadvantageous to a subgroup of students, especially if such choice is available often, and no other activities can cancel out the effect of this regular ‘opt out’. What is the alternative, though? Making blogging mandatory? This might be ethically problematic, as publishing on a public blog – unlike working with a learning-management system or a password-protected, school-server hosted blog – should involve explicit consent from students, specifically because of the public nature of the work. If you assume that an activity such as blogging has benefits for learners above and beyond the paper-based activity, and if you assume that gender might impact the choice for or against this activity, you should attempt to present the activity in such a way that it appeals to both genders, or to provide appealing alternatives that have similar benefits. Explaining the benefits of bloggings, explaining all the help available for those who need it, and giving a fair estimate of the actual level of complexity, might help. As may help the way the choice is framed (“adventure”? “technical”? “communicative”?). As a teacher, you should aim to be aware of the potential impact of gender and gender roles on choices like these, and observe what impact the choices you provide, and the way you present them, has. Generally, choices are a good thing. Paying attention to the consequences of offering choices can make them an even better thing. 5.

what messages about gender and gender roles do apps transport? girls as app characters

Scenario 3: Avatar Choices

Gender is not something that just happens to us – we all are constantly involved in co-constructing gender. We orient ourselves towards the category of gender as we understand it and help shape perceptions of gender. Media can transport very strong messages about what boys and girls ought to be like. This can be in subtle and less subtle form. Look, for example, at the point Madeline Messer (Messer 2015) makes. She is a 12-year old girl, who did a research project about the gender of characters in iPhone apps: One day I noticed that my friend was playing a game as a boy character and asked why she wasn’t a girl. She said you couldn’t be a girl; a boy character was the only option. (…) I found that 18 percent had characters whose gender was not identifiable (i.e., potatoes, cats or monkeys). Of the apps that did have gender-identifiable characters, 98 percent offered boy characters. What shocked me was that only 46 percent offered girl characters. Even worse, of these 50 apps, 90 percent

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offered boy characters for free, while only 15 percent offered girl characters for free. (…) In one game, “Survival Run with Bear Grylls,” you can put the character in a Santa Claus suit for $1.98, but there is no girl to be had at any price. Does this mean that girls aren’t capable of escaping a bear, but Santa is? And one of the few games to be centered on a woman, “Angry Gran Run,” still offers a large number of boy characters — even when the game is about a grandmother, game-makers still make sure there are boy characters. (…) I found that when an app did sell girl characters, it charged on average $7.53, which is a lot in the world of apps. (…) These biases affect young girls like me. The lack of girl characters implies that girls are not equal to boys and they don’t deserve characters that look like them. I am a girl; I prefer being a girl in these games. I do not want to pay to be a girl. (…) If our character choices tell us these games aren’t for us, eventually we’ll put them down. (Messer 2015)

Male characters are considered the norm, the normal, the standard, the unsurprising part. Female characters are the deviation, the extra, the surprising.4 This can also affect CALL. Even if you have both male and female avatars, an app is not ‘neutral’ regarding gender. Look for example at the “Tellagami” app5. You can enter written text or make an audio recording, and the app turns this into a video of an avatar speaking that text – allowing your students to create professional-looking English language videos in class. Each avatar can be modified in many ways – one can chose between male and female avatars, dress them differently, change their haircolour, skin colour, eye colour. But many choices are not available: (this applies to their paid-for version, which offers more choice than the free app)      

Women cannot wear masculine clothes. Women must have breasts. Women must be slim. Women cannot wear a pantsuit, or a jacket. Women cannot have very short hair. Women cannot be bald. Women must not have visible disabilities or use visible assistive technologies.

And this does not merely apply to female avatars: Similar limitations apply to the male avatars, reflecting the designers’ idea of what constitutes a ‘normal male character’. The mere availability of some choices, and lack of other choices, transports a message about what is an acceptable range of variation, and what is not acceptable or even envisioned as possible variation.

For current, frequently updated statistics on gender displays and gender choices, cf. also http://feministfrequency.com, 3/20/2016 5 https://tellagami.com/, 3/20/2016 4

avatar choices at “Tellagami”

202 avatar choices at “Through the wild web woods”

avatar choices at “Habitica”

Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Another problematic example is “Through the wild web woods”6", a game about online risks. Right at the start, you can choose your gender and your sex: the game assumes it is the same. You can take the pink XX chromosome avatar, or the blue XY one. Is it necessary to include chromosome status here? Chromosome status does not necessarily match gender – and chromosome status certainly is not binary, with variants beyond XX and XY existing. Can a player not choose the avatar he or she feels best represented by, or fancies the most for any other reason, rather than the character of the same (falsely binary) chromosome status? (This gets even more ridiculous when you consider that this is a game for rather young players – who probably have never heard of chromosomes anyway. The only players who might have heard about these X’s and Y’s would most likely be those who do not fit easily into the dichotomy suggested here.) The third example has very little applicability in the classroom, but is, unlike those examples above, a positive one: “Habitica”7, a game about avoiding bad habits and developing good habits: Write a paragraph on your next assignment and find a dragon egg. Study some vocabulary and you gain the power to battle against unspeakable monsters. But forget to do your homework, and you might lose health points. Habitica gives players a wide range of choices to design their avatars (cf. illustration 3). The avatar can have a broad or slim body, short or long hair, a full beard, moustache, or no facial hair. The avatar can wear a flower in their hair, a pink shirt, a bunny suit, or a knight’s armour. This can be in any combination, and without requiring the player to define a gender for the avatar. There is no assumption here that woman = long hair, pink clothing, XX chromosomes. There are just options. You want a moustache, a ponytail, bunny ears and rainbow-coloured armour? You can have it.

Illustration 3: Habitica avatars (based on sceenshots of habitica.com, 3/20/2016)

In a textbook, we might have a very limited number of characters, but in many ICT settings, learners can be given choices, choices to play a character with a female body, with long hair, male-style clothing, a female name and male pronouns. There is no reason in the software why a girl = specific body + specific style + specific name + specific pronouns – or even + specific set of chromosomes. In software, including language learning software, wider options, non-binary options, could be available with the click of 6 7

http://www.wildwebwoods.org, 3/20/2016 https://habitica.com, previously known as HabitRPG, 3/20/2016

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a button. In reality, CALL software generally does not provide such options, even though this would be technically easy to do. Until such products are available on the market, we need to be aware of the messages the CALL products we use – just like the textbooks and videos and newspaper clippings we use – transport. One final note on this topic: The avatar choices and designs itself may be given, but how students interpret them can still vary. For example, there are Habitica users who complain that they cannot have a male character, as they interpret the wizard robes as dresses and anybody who wears a dress/wizard robe as a female character. Likewise, there are students who are confronted with gender-specified content and choose to reinterpret this unlike the designers intended. In an ongoing study of how children learn English through multilingual virtual stories (cf. Elsner et al. 2015), I could once observe a wonderful discussion between two children about the gender of the character in a multimodal digital story. One child, a girl, was sure that Ruben was a girl, the other child, a boy, insisted that Ruben must be a boy. A lengthy discussion about gender roles resulted. A product offers gender-related material, but learners then interpret it. 6.

Summary

It is obvious that CALL is not ‘neutral’ regarding gender. On the one hand, one can view ICT as a tool or means of delivering content. Here, existing stereotypes about technical prowess and gender roles can impact CALL. On the other hand, one can focus on the content transported through this tool. The content delivered via CALL – for example games or websites – also transports assumptions about gender and can force these onto the user, for example by limiting avatar choices. So, how do I tell if a CALL product is for boys or girls? Ilustration 4 provides guidance.

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students interpret gender-related content

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Judith Buendgens-Kosten, Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Illustration 4: Guidance for identifying CALL products for boys/girls (Image by Kristen Myers – http://www.blog.kristenmyers.com/toys-a-guide/. Based on an idea from http://backinasex.tumblr.com/)

As a take-home message, here are three things you might consider for your teaching practice with media: 1. 2. 3.

Use ICTL in schools in a way that does not ‘lose’ those that are less skilled and/or less self-confident around ICT, or have slightly sub-par access – neither boys nor girls. Seek value in different media usage patterns; not only in those considered most valuable, do not automatically dismiss patterns of use associated more with one than the other gender(s). Be aware of your own assumptions when you use ICTL in the language classroom and when you do research/action research on CALL.

And number 4, the bonus take-home message for all of those who will not just use, but also design, CALL material: 4.

Provide choices. Do not just include a ‘girls’ mode’, but consider offering different characters, looks, etc. These do not need to follow a binary understanding of gender, nor a biological definition.

Review - Reflect - Research 1.

Choose an app that uses human avatars and that is used or could be used in the EFL classroom. Try to recreate yourself as an avatar. What choices are available? How easy is it to create an avatar that looks like you? Does your gender, body type, skin colour, or disability status impact how easy or difficult it is?

Girls Chat, Boys Hack? – Computer-Assisted Language Learning and Gender

2.

3.

Interview at least five people with a wide range of different backgrounds about what they think about ICTL skills and gender. Which gender(s) are more interested in computers? Which gender(s) are better at ICTL? Why? On which points do your interviewees agree? On which do they disagree? Use a media usage survey to check if there is currently a gender-based digital divide for the age group/in the country you teach (Resources: see Further Reading section).

Further Reading Suggestions Current statistics about media usage in Germany can be found in the current KIM (children) and JIM (teenagers) studies, and the ARD/ZDF media survey (adults):

KIM/JIM [Online: www.mpfs.de/, 3/20/2016]. ARD/ZDF [Online: www.ard-zdf-onlinestudie.de, 3/20/2016] More information about learning and teaching with media more generally: Lehrbuch für Lernen und Lehren mit Technologien [Online: http://l3t.eu/, 3/20/2016].

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Glossary of Gender-Related Terms Glossary of Gender-Related Terms Academic discipline A field of studies dealt with at universities, usually one branch (e.g. Fremdsprachendidaktik) that covers research, teaching, projects and that incorporates experts such as professors and research assistants Androgyny The concept expresses the idea that a person or a society may combine both masculine and feminine features, transcending gender role boundaries and minimising gender differences. It is difficult, though, to imagine a completely androgynous society. Avatar In computer games, the avatar is the (visual) representation of the player’s character, i.e. the character in which role the player acts. Bechdel test The Bechdel test has been considered an efficient way to detect the mis- and underrepresentation of women in film. It was suggested by graphic artist Alison Bechdel who suggested three criteria to reveal the heteronormative and masculine bias of most films: "(1) it has to have at least two women in it, who (2) talk to each other, about (3) something besides a man" (Bechdel Test Movie List n.d.). ‘Benevolent’ and ‘hostile’ sexism Both must be seen as complementary social practices, both are instrumental to maintaining unjust, asymmetrical gender relations (Glick, Fiske 2001; Jost, Kay 2005). Hostile sexism uses simple prejudices, marked by antipathy and discrimination and stereotypical labelling; strategies of ‘benevolent’ sexism seem less obvious, since these dimensions of sexism are “very often favorable in content and yet prejudicial in their consequences” (Jost, Kay 2005: 498)—they ascribe certain traits to women (domestic roles) and thus exclude them from certain allegedly male domains (competitive areas). Bias Gender-sensitive approaches need to be aligned with other critical approaches exploring social class, race, ethnicity, nationality, sexuality, ability status, age, ecological matters and other important global issues such as poverty, unequal distribution of wealth, etc. Children need to be empowered to detect prejudice, stereotypes, misunderstandings and superficial thinking, to recognise ‘bias’ in texts and in real life. CALL Computer-assisted language learning (CALL) is interested and concerned with how we can teach and learn languages using some types of media, specifically “computers” in a very broad understanding of this term, includ-

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ing e.g. for example PCs, laptops, tablet PCs, smartphones, and interactive whiteboards. Cisman/ciswoman Person whose gender identity, gender expression and biological sex match; often referred to as just ‘man’, or ‘woman’; coined to mark the norm instead of just assuming it as a norm and marking the ‘deviance’ (e.g. transgender) Coming out Process of finding out and/or telling others about one’s sexuality or gender identity (unusual in case of cispersons or heterosexuality) Culture Culture, in its wide sense, is a group of people's way of life. It is based on a system of shared meanings, which is passed on from generation to generation and structures perceptions of the self and the world. Digital divide Digital divide is the gap between those with access to ICT and those without. Focus is on groups, such as the comparison between inhabitants of different countries, different genders, different ages, different socio-economic backgrounds. The gap can refer to basic access to computers, access to the internet, and, occasionally, to differences in competency. Dramatizing gender The term dramatizing gender refers to the practice of emphasizing (perceived) gender differences rather than similarities. For example, some teachers assume that male and female students learn languages differently and require gender-specific materials and topics in order to engage in language learning. Dual positions Professorships for Literary Studies or Linguistics that additionally have to cover aspects of teacher training Femina A versified French vocabulary, which was composed around 1240, has survived in variously expanded forms in numerous manuscripts and documents the commitment of English mothers and other women belonging to the household to teaching the children French as a second language Feminisation (of labour …) The process in which women come to outnumber men in certain jobs or sectors of employment, especially ones previously monopolised by men. Most of the time, the term is used with bias and polemically, implying that the numerical preponderance necessarily means female hegemony and that this has negative consequences. Firstness Firstness refers to the order in which male and female persons as well as feminine or masculine nouns and pronouns are introduced in illustrations, dialogues, exercises, etc. of EFL textbooks and teaching materials. For instance, the following noun pairs are examples for female firstness: mother –

Glossary of Gender-Related Terms

father; sister – brother; aunt – uncle; niece – nephew; grandmother – grandfather. Formalistic versus utilitarian tradition of language education With regard to the overall aims of language education the former (also called monastery tradition) emphasises the formal elements of language education (for example, training logical thinking via learning grammar) whereas the latter rather focusses on the practical contexts of language use (for example, training conversation skills via trying out chunks of language). Fremdsprachendidaktik Fremsprachendidaktik is concerned with research as well as with the development of theory and methodology in the field of (institutional) foreign language teaching and learning. As such, it is part of teacher training programmes at universities. Gender A social and discursive construct based on – but not limited to – the cultural opposition of femininity vs. masculinity (corresponding adjectives: e.g. feminine, genderqueer, masculine); often differentiated from ‘sex’ as the idea of an anatomical opposition of femaleness vs. maleness (corresponding adjectives: e.g. female, intersex, male) Gender binary Traditional assumption that there are only two mutually exclusive genders, which are made up by mutually exclusive characteristics/gender binaries, such as male – female, masculine – feminine, active – passive etc. Gender blindness For example the tacit acceptance of “cultural meanings that the sexed body assumes” (Butler 1990: 6) is often reinforced through culture-specific stereotypes and clichés; teaching gender awareness must be considered as a vital step towards making learners aware of their preconceived notions about gender and to allow them to question them Gender competence Knowledge, skills and attitudes relating to gender and the relationship between the two sexes Gender inclusion A sub-strategy of educational inclusion that concentrates on the aim of creating equal, productive learning conditions for female and male learners, for example through the elimination or weakening of gender-related linguistic barriers Gender neutralisation The use of lexically gender-neutral linguistic forms to avoid asymmetrical gender representation (e.g. police officer instead of policeman or policewoman; singular they instead of generic he); this strategy is generally preferred in languages that do not possess a grammatical feminine-masculine distinction. Gender pay gap The disparity existing between male and female earnings; it is usually measured as the percentage of men’s earnings attained by women.

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Generic reference A linguistic usage type in which forms are used to refer to a social group or people in general, often irrespective of gender Gender specification The linguistic specification of both sexes, through a combination of male and female or masculine and feminine forms, to avoid asymmetrical gender representation (e.g. he or she instead of generic he; policewomen and -men instead of policemen); this strategy is generally preferred in gender languages with a feminine-masculine distinction. Genderqueer A gender identity which rejects a binary categorisation as either feminine or masculine Grammatical gender A grammatical property of nouns in gender languages that triggers formal agreement in satellite elements inside and outside the noun phrase (for example, in determiners, adjectives or pronouns); grammatical gender assignment is largely semantically arbitrary for inanimate nouns, but it is regularly determined by lexical gender in personal nouns (cf. German feminine die Tochter ‘daughter’, masculine der Sohn ‘son’). Hegemony Hegemony is a neo-Marxist term used by Antonio Gramsci and referring to the complex modes by which the dominant classes expend and maintain their domination and influence throughout society and culture. It implies that popular culture is not imposed by the dominant classes on the subordinate social groups but rather is the site of struggle between forces of incorporation to create consensus and forces of resistance. Heteronormativity It is the assumption that heterosexuality is the only 'natural' sexual orientation and the norm. This is based on the belief that there are only two sexes, male and female, which are linked with the respective gender roles. It further implies that sexual and marital relations should only exist between two people of the opposite sex, and it often results in homophobia. Higher education for girls Offers in education for girls following the mandatory eight years of compulsory schooling (Schulpflicht) höhere Mädchenschule The school type for girls following elementary school which became institutionalised during the last third of the 19th century Homophobia Irrational fear of or hate against gays and lesbians ICT Initialism for Information and Computer Technology

Glossary of Gender-Related Terms

Identities paradigm As opposed to binary concepts of sex/gender the identities paradigm stresses the social constructedness of concepts of ‘male’ and ‘female’ (or other forms of sex/gender); ‘naturalised’, that is widely accepted and propagated concepts of sex and gender are seen as socially constructed – every individual should, according to this paradigm, be seen or see themselves as active agents in constructing or ‘doing gender’. Lead-in In lesson planning, the term refers to the stage which leads to the subject of the lesson. It is meant to raise awareness, motivate the students and introduce the topic. Lexical gender The semantic feature [female] or [male] as part of the basic denotation of a linguistic form (for example, in nouns like woman, man, lady, gentleman, or pronouns like he, she) LGBTIQ* Acronym for Lesbian (woman attracted to women) Gay (man attracted to men) Bisexual (person attracted to men and women) Transgender (umbrella term for people who do not identify with the gender assigned to them at birth) Transsexual person who identifies as the binary opposite of the gender assigned at birth and might modify their body accordingly Intersexual (umbrella term for people who have biological characteristics (chromosomes, hormones, genitals or secondary sexual characteristics) that do not allow a clear distinction into female or male Queer (cf. below); * (wildcard for inserting individual identification) Similar acronyms may include references to other identities and sexual orientations such as being asexual (not wanting any sex) or pansexual (being attracted to people of all genders), questioning (still exploring their gender identity or orientation) or ally (straight person who supports queer people). Linguistic barriers Aspects in language and communicative practices that may constitute obstacles to the inclusion and learning success of certain (groups of) learners Male generics Lexically male forms that are used for gender-indeterminate reference (for example, generic man or generic he); male generics are only pseudo-generic, as they evoke largely male imagery in recipients. Masculine generics Grammatically masculine forms that are used for gender-indeterminate reference. Masculine generics are only pseudo-generic, as they evoke largely male imagery in recipients; they only occur in gender languages with a grammatical feminine-masculine distinction (such as German).

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Masculinity Studies As part of a larger approach to Gender Studies, Masculinity Studies, but also Queer Studies and Gay Studies, focus on how concepts of masculinity are shaped and formed in society, in media, films, texts, etc. Often, wide-spread concepts of masculinity are interpreted as potentially harmful to both men and women, boys and girls. Maternal wall Career obstacles encountered specifically by mothers on account of prejudices: discrimination against mothers; see also motherhood penalty. Modern foreign language teaching French and English which became mandatory subjects at higher schools for girls in the course of the 19th century Motherhood penalty “Punishment for being a mother”, discrimination against mothers; the disadvantages for their careers become most evident if their wages are compared with those of childless women (but, of course, also if compared with those of men with or without children). Thus, today mothers are the women that account for most of the (→) gender pay gap. Profession Traditionally, one of the few occupations with university training and corresponding high status; due to economic and social changes, particularly the great expansion of academic education, the enormous diversification of career paths and the altered nature of work in the wake of the IT revolution, the concept has increasingly become questionable, including its gender implications. Qualitative gender representation In contrast to quantitative gender representation, qualitative gender representation does not relate to the numbers of male and female characters represented in EFL textbooks and other teaching materials, but to the way they are represented and described. An analysis of qualitative gender representation may focus on outward appearance, character traits and hobbies of characters. Quantitative gender representation Quantitative gender representation refers to the number of male and female characters represented in EFL textbooks and other teaching materials. Queer A term formerly used as an insult for people not conforming to heteronormative standards, now appropriated by many of them a) as an umbrella term for LGBTIQ* b) as a term (and academic discourse) questioning identity categorisation and normalisation in general Referential gender A pragmatic feature of personal reference forms that depends on whether they are used for female, male, mixed-sex or generic reference in a given communication context; as opposed to lexical, social and grammatical gen-

Glossary of Gender-Related Terms

der, which form stable aspects of personal reference forms, referential gender may vary across contexts (for example, a noun like chairman may be used for male-specific reference in one context and for (pseudo-)generic reference in another). Reflexivity Our experiences and knowledge shape our observations and interpretations. By taking a reflexive stance we can acknowledge this impact in our work and research. Semi-profession An occupation that has not (yet) attained full recognition as a profession, often seen as characterised by the following features: attracting a high proportion of women, subject to tight external control, and involving a “caring” role Sixth Place Against the background of gender competence, the 6th Place denotes an imaginary place at which the five dimensions of the relationship between the sexes (man or/and /versus/is/without woman) are integrated. Social gender A female or male connotational value as part of the meaning of a lexically gender-neutral form, based on social stereotypes of whether typical representatives of a certain category are female or male (e.g. nurse is socially female; professor is socially male) Social media Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are internet-based applications that allow the creation, exchange and modification of user-generated contents Stereotype The term has surfaced in various disciplines and contexts. Here, it is used as a category of social perception with which people characterise members of another social group. Stereotypes help make sense of the world by simplifying and systematising information. They can be positive or negative, and they are often relatively stable. Structural gender linguistics A linguistic subfield that describes the structures that languages provide for gender specification and gender neutralisation, often from a contrastive linguistic or typological point of view; it typically focuses on personal nouns, pronouns, gender-related derivation and compounding, agreement, pronominalisation, personal names, and other types of gender-relevant language structures. Subculture A subculture is a group of people who share interests, tastes, styles, practices and ideologies. Subcultures used to be interpreted as a means to resist the dominant culture but recently, they have rather been understood as tastecultures that may be marginal but not necessarily concerned with resistance.

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Glossary of Gender-Related Terms

Task In TBLL (Task-Based Language Learning), a task involves a primary focus on (pragmatic) meaning rather than (linguistic) form, has some kind of ‘gap’ (information gap, reasoning gap, and opinion gap), and has a clearly defined, non-linguistic outcome. TEFL Acronym for “Teaching English as a Foreign Language”, common equivalent for the German Englischdidaktik Third Place In the discourse on intercultural learning, the 3rd Place (Space) denotes a place between and above the native and the foreign culture, overcoming the traditional dichotomy between (culture 1) C1 and (culture 2) C2 (Kramsch 1993). Visibility The term visibility refers to the relative numbers of male and female characters represented in illustrations, dialogues, exercises, etc. in EFL textbooks and other teaching materials and the frequency of their occurence in different contexts. For example, there may be a balanced number of male and female characters in an EFL textbook, but an unequal distribution of instances in which the characters occur. Vlog Vlog is the shortened form of 'video blog'. With blogs (the shortened word for weblogs) it shares the log character in that it consists of discrete entities (short videos) that are made and posted in the course of time. It is a kind of web television and mainly distributed through YouTube, where vloggers run their channels. It started as a grassroots video distribution but today, successful vlogs are often professionally produced in studios and carry advertising.

List of Contributors List of Contributors Thomaï Alexiou is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics, School of English, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She holds a BA in Preschool Education (Ioannina, Greece), an MA in TEFL from Canterbury Christ Church University and a PhD in Applied Linguistics from the University of Wales Swansea, UK. Since her employment she has been involved in various research projects focusing mainly on issues relating to young and very young learners. She is also the coordinator of the Module ‘Teaching English to Young Learners’ (at the postgraduate level) at the Hellenic Open University. Her research interests concern cognitive development for very young learners while her expertise is on early foreign language learning, methodology of teaching languages to young learners (preschool and primary education), and material development for very young learners. She has been invited to give teacher-training seminars and she has published several articles and book chapters throughout Europe. She has co-edited the Special Issue: “Vocabulary, Part II: Input and Uptake for Language Learning Journal“ (2012) and she is the co-author and co-editor of “Magic Book 1” (2014) and “Magic Book 2” (2013), EFL textbooks used by young learners in state schools in Greece. Nora Benitt is a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of English Studies at Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Germany working on her Habilitation in the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language. Her main research interests are foreign language teacher education, teacher learning, action research, language learner self-concept and autobiographic texts in the EFL classroom. In her teaching, she focuses on experience-based language learning, teaching (with) films and working with various texts and media on primary and secondary level. After her studies of ‘Modern Languages and Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ and ‘Teaching German as a Foreign/Second Language’ at Justus Liebig University, Gießen, Germany, Nora started working on a jointly supervised dissertation project (Cotutelle de thèse). She spent two years at Macquarie University, Sydney, working on her thesis and teaching German as a Foreign Language as well as European Studies in the Department of International Studies. In 2014, she obtained a PhD from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and Justus Liebig University, Gießen. Her book “Becoming a (Better) Language Teacher – Classroom Action Research and Teacher Learning”, a slightly altered version of the dissertation, was published in 2015. Judith Buendgens-Kosten is postdoctoral researcher at Goethe-University Frankfurt. She holds a doctorate degree in English Linguistics from RWTH Aachen university (topic: impact of linguistics on teachers' language attitudes), and an MA in Online and Distance Education from the Open University, UK. Her research focuses on computer-assisted language learning, especially in multilingual contexts. She is interested in all settings where media and lan-

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guage(s) meet, both in formal and informal contexts, for example games, blogs, and digital stories, as well as web2.0 practices. Sabine Doff holds the Chair of English Language Education at Bremen University where she is head of the Centre for Teacher Education. She studied English, German and Philosophy in Munich (Germany) and Glasgow (United Kingdom). After working as a teacher she did her PhD in Foreign Language Education at Munich University in 2002. She was a Visiting Scholar at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, (2002) and a Grantee of the Fulbright American Summer Institute at the University of Chicago, Illinois, in 2003. From 1999-2005 she worked as an assistant at the Chair of TEFL/TESOL at Munich University and as an English language teacher. In 2005 she was appointed full professor of English Language Education at the Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main (2005-2009). Her research interests include the history and theory of Foreign Language Education and English language teaching in Europe (18th-20th century), methodological questions of teaching English as a Foreign Language (for example Content and Language Integrated Learning, CLIL) as well as inter- and transcultural learning in the EFL-classroom (with a focus on Canada). Daniela Elsner is Professor for TEFL methodology at Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main. Before she started her career as a researcher, she worked as a primary and secondary school teacher, educating children in English as a foreign language and in German as a first and second language. She has published several teaching materials for the English language primary classroom. In her research she focuses on bi- and plurilingual approaches in classroom settings, multiliteracies, and early foreign language learning. In 2014 she was awarded with the Ars Legendi Prize for Teaching Excellence in Higher Education. Renate Haas is Professor Emerita at the University of Kiel. She has published widely on English literature, the history of English Studies and ELT, paying special attention to European and gender contexts. Her most recent book is “Rewriting Academia: The Development of the Anglicist Women’s and Gender Studies of Continental Europe”, for which she brought together twenty-five experts from Portugal to Armenia and Finland to Italy. The result is the first comprehensive overview. Lotta König is currently completing her PhD project on “How to reflect on gender with literary texts in foreign language teaching” at the University of Göttingen. She has published several articles on gender in foreign language teaching. Further research interests include: Teaching literature and culture, language learning beyond the classroom and inter- and transcultural learning processes. Jürgen Kurtz is Professor of English/Teaching English as a Foreign Language at Justus Liebig University (JLU) Giessen, Germany. He is also advisory board member of the German Association of Foreign Language Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung, DGFF), chairman of the HansEberhard-Piepho TEFL-Prize Committee, and editorial board member of the international, fully-refereed German Journal for Foreign Language Research (Zeitschrift für Fremdsprachenforschung, ZFF). He previously taught at the Uni-

List of Contributors

versity of Dortmund, at Karlsruhe University of Education, and at Saint Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada. Based on his ten-year experience as a former EFL teacher, curriculum advisor and textbook author in Germany, his current research focuses on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) textbook analysis, textbook use and development, on the role of improvisation and creativity in enhancing oral proficiency in EFL classrooms, and on culture-sensitive foreign language education in primary and secondary schools. Sonja Lewin studied English and French for teacher training and additionally obtained an MA in Gender Studies. From 2013-2015 she worked as an assistant at the Chair of English Language Teaching at the University of Göttingen. She has published several articles, and has taught university courses on how to teach gender awareness at school. She is currently working as a counsellor at the University of Göttingen, supporting students of the Social Sciences in planning their careers. Gabriele Linke is Professor of British and American Cultural Studies and English Language Teaching at the University of Rostock, Germany. After obtaining her PhD with a thesis in Applied Linguistics (listening comprehension) at the University of Jena in 1987, she shifted, in the 1990s, her focus in research and teaching to the filed of British and American Cultural Studies, where she completed her Habilitation on popular literature. She is author of “Populärliteratur und kulturelles Gedächtnis” (2003), in which she re-reads American and British popular romances as cultural memory. Since 2001, her research and publications have covered four areas, (transnational) film studies, the teaching of culture, gender studies and autobiography studies. Since 2006, she has been a member of the graduate school “Cultural contact and the discourses of scholarship” in Rostock. She is editor of the collection “Teaching Cultural Studies” (2011) and co-editor of 4 volumes of interdisciplinary gender studies, the most recent one carrying the title “Migration – Geschlecht – Lebenswege” (2015). She has also written about gender issues in the English language classroom and on English immersion, co-editing the collection “Immersion und Bilingualer Sachfachunterricht. Erfahrungen – Entwicklungen – Perspektiven” (2015, with Katja Schmidt). Viviane Lohe works as a research assistant at Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main in the department of Foreign Language Teaching, where she also teaches students. She currently works on her PhD “Developing Language Awareness through Multilingual Virtual Talking Books”. She has published several articles on language awareness. Her further research foci and interests include TEFL and multilingualism, educational standards and competence oriented English teaching as well as gender in the EFL classroom. Heiko Motschenbacher completed his PhD and postdoc research (Habilitation) at Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany. He has recently held temporary professorships of English Linguistics at universities in Bayreuth, Siegen, Braunschweig and Mainz. His research interests include language, gender and sexuality, critical discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, inclusion in English language teaching, language and Europeanisation, and English as a lingua franca. He is initiator and co-editor of the “Journal of Language and Sexuality” (John Benjamins). Among his recent book

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publications are the volumes “Language, Gender and Sexual Identity: Poststructuralist Perspectives” (John Benjamins, 2010), “An Interdisciplinary Bibliography on Language, Gender and Sexuality (2000-2011)” (John Benjamins, 2012), “New Perspectives on English as a European Lingua Franca” (John Benjamins, 2013), “Queer Linguistic Approaches to Discourse” (with Martin Stegu; special issue of “Discourse & Society”; Sage, 2013), and “Gender Across Languages: The Linguistic Representation of Women and Men. Volume IV” (with Marlis Hellinger; John Benjamins, 2015). His forthcoming book carries the title “Language, Normativity and Europeanisation” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016). Carola Surkamp is Professor of TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) at the University of Göttingen, Germany. After her studies in English, French and Spanish at the Universities of Cologne and Nantes (France), she taught English Literature and Film at the University of Giessen. She is the coauthor of various books on the use of literature and films in the foreign language classroom, among them “Englische Literatur unterrichten 1: Grundlagen und Methoden” (42016; with Ansgar Nünning) and “Filme im Englischunterricht: Grundlagen, Methoden, Genres” (2011; with Roswitha Henseler and Stefan Möller). She also edited the encyclopedia “Metzler Lexikon Fremdsprachendidaktik” (2010) and is co-editor of the journal “Der fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch”. Her main research interests include literature and film in the EFL classroom and at university, teaching reading, drama activities in language learning and (inter)cultural learning. Engelbert Thaler is Professor of TEFL at Augsburg University. After teaching English at Gymnasium for 20 years, he did his doctoral thesis on “Musikvideoclips im Englischunterricht” and his Habilitation at Ludwig-MaximiliansUniversität, Munich on “Offene Lernarrangements im Englischunterricht. Rekonstruktion, Konstruktion, Konzeption, Exemplifikation, Integration”. His research focuses on improving teaching quality (Balanced Teaching), teacher education and training, developing coursebooks, media literacy, and teaching literature. He has published more than 500 contributions to TEFL. His recent publications include “Englisch unterrichten”, “Teaching English with Films, Shorties – Flash Fiction in Language Teaching”, and “Standard-basierter Englischuntericht”. Thaler is also editor of the journal “Praxis Fremdsprachenunterricht” and of several coursebooks. Britta Viebrock, Dr. phil., is Professor of TEFL theory and methodology at Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main, Germany. Her research interests include: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), digital media and film in English language teaching, qualitative methodology and research ethics. As a mother of three she is also concerned with the question of how to combine a competitive work field with family demands. Laurenz Volkmann is Professor of EFL at Friedrich Schiller University Jena with a major interest in teaching English literature and culture. He is the author of the EFL textbook “The Global Village” (Klett) and the introductory study “Fachdidaktik Englisch: Kultur und Sprache”. He has co-authored the new introduction “Teaching English” (UTB, 2015) and edited (with H. DeckeCornill) “Gender Studies and Foreign Language Teaching” (2007).

Gender and Language Learning Elsner/Lohe (eds.)

Although Gender Studies have found their way into most domains of academic research and teaching, they are not directly in the spotlight of foreign language teaching pedagogy and research. However, teachers are confronted with gender issues in the language classroom everyday. By the use of language alone, they construct or deconstruct gender roles; with the choice of topics they shape gender identities in the classroom and their ways of approaching pupils clearly mirror their gender sensitivity. The book „Gender and Language Learning“ aims at raising awareness towards gender issues in different areas of foreign language teaching and learning. The primary objective of the book is to spark university students’, trainee teachers’ and in-service teachers’ analytical and reflective skills regarding gender relations in foreign language learning and teaching contexts.

ISBN 978-3-8233-6988-2

Daniela Elsner/Viviane Lohe (eds.)

Gender and Language Learning Research and Practice