Language and Gender in EFL classrooms

Gender plays an important role in education because children tend to
act and to react according to a specific gendered pattern where
stereotypes come from. If teachers paid more attention to the
environment created in the classroom according to gendered behavior,
learning and teaching would be more effective because children would
feel safe in the classroom- which is what they need the most. For
example, boys tend to greet their teacher more than the girls and
girls are more likely to speak into unison to prove their
superiority.
In order to create a better learning environment, the teachers
should analyze their own interaction with students. It has been
proven that task-based language teaching is the best method to
enhance student engagement and dialogue. It focuses on bringing the
real-world scenarios into the classroom. For example, teaching
grammar was a difficult task for me in the beginning, but after I
integrated situation or people they were familiar with, the children
began to understand better. This type of teaching is engaging for
students. Task based language teaching approach improves speaking
fluency. Communicative Language Teaching activities can also be
classified as fluency and accuracy activities because one of the
main goals of CLT is to develop fluency in a language. Fluency
occurs when a speaker engages in meaningful interaction and
maintains communication despite limitations. Activities focused on
fluency produce meaningful use of language. Traditional classrooms
provide systematic presentation and acquisition of knowledge and
skills under the guidance of a teacher, but offer very little chance
to develop skills for interaction in real world scenarios. One of
the most successful methods is integrating the role play technique
in the classroom. In this way, there are presented real-life
scenarios such as ordering food at a restaurant, giving directions,
presenting their best friend and so on. This technique can be
suitable for all ages or levels of proficiency.
Let’s discuss the following phrase: The carpet is lavander. Who is
most likely to use this sentence? A man or a woman? If a man would
speak like this, it would be considered that he imitates women in a
sarcastic manner, he is homosexual or an interior designer. Women
are more precise than men in describing colours. Women’s
vocabulary regarding colours is much more active. They can easily
use words like burgundi, beige, aquamarine,magenta and so on. As a
counterexample, men find discussions about colours amusing. It is
hilarious for them to decide if a shirt is turquoise or aquamarine
because they consider it irelevant and the real world does not need
it. Men tend to associate colour discrimination with women because
it does not represent a crucial topic. More crucial topics such as
money or job related are associated with men because women are not
expected to talk about important topics or to take decisions.
(Lakoff, 2004: 43)
It is concluded that before the age of 4 girls talk and are more
fluent than the boys. The girls tend to speak more to their mothers
and to other children. On the other hand, Joan Swann (1998) analyzed
the classroom talk (ages 9-11) and showed that boys are more
talkative in the classroom. She also indicates that it is a
tendency to achieve male dominance in the classroom. The teacher
contributes to the male dominance environment by paying more
attention to the boys who contribute more given the interactional
resources.
In terms of interruptions and simultaneous speech, research shows
that by the age of 15 boys interrupt more to dominate the
communication. This can be interpreted as a way to control the
conversation. It is proven that fathers control the conversation
more than the mothers and both parents try to dominate the talk more
with girls than with boys. On the other hand, girls have the ability
to talk in unison and they use this strategy to prove to the boys
their unity and coalition. The skill of unison talking has to be
admired because such kind of interactive skills are not easy to
accomplish. (Coates, 2013: 156)
In conclusion, gender is an indispensable tool in our life,
controlling most of its aspects from food preferences to job
categories. It is embodied in our actions, styles or beliefs and we
do it unconsciously. It is due to the reason that gender seems so
natural and we take it for granted. Gender seems so evident in such
a way that its construction is interesting and challenging to
uncover. When they are little, girls are taught to talk feminine not
rough like a boy. The girl grows up following this rule and when she
becomes an adult she is accused of not knowing how to express
herself properly. This situation is presented nowadays in many
cultures. According to Robin Lakoff, the mother’s influence is
visible when the children are little and both boys and girls learn
the woman’s language as their first language. When they grow
older, around ten years old, the boys separate themselves from the
girls and they start learning the rough talk which is discouraged in
little girls. In this stage, children split in same-sex groups where
two languages are spoken. This scenario places the little girl in a
situation where if she doesn’t speak as a lady she is ridiculed
and criticized and if she does she can’t handle a serious
conversation because she doesn’t speak clearly. To resume, it is
observable that society imposes constraints on performing a gender
and certain behaviors correspond to one biological sex. In our
society, the gender built on biological sex is exaggerated because
it influences domains where it should be irrelevant.
Bibliography
1. Coates, Jennifer. Women, Men and Language. New York: Routledge,
2013;
2. Lakoff, Robin. Language and Woman’s Place. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004;
3. Linsin, Michael. The Classroom Management Secret. San Diego: JME
Publishing, 2013;
4. Walsh, Steve. Exploring Classroom Discourse. New York: Routledge,
2011;