For or against gender equity: Gender positioning and classroom discourse in Secondary School Liberal Studies

In line with Cameron (2005)’s notion of postmodern feminism, the paper explores the ways in which senior secondary boys and girls and teachers construct and position gender through actions, gestures and talk in Hong Kong... [ view full abstract ]

In line with Cameron (2005)’s notion of postmodern feminism, the paper explores the ways in which senior secondary boys and girls and teachers construct and position gender through actions, gestures and talk in Hong Kong Senior Secondary Liberal Studies, a core school subject aiming to develop students’ analytic capacity on social issues including gender. Classroom observation, interviews, and document analysis were carried out in Secondary 4 Liberal Studies classrooms in Hong Kong (students aged 15 years). The paper draws upon conversation analysis to show that when everyday classroom practices are viewed in relation to multiple fields of actions, i.e. the societal, the institutional, and in the micro dynamics of classroom interaction, gender comes into view in a variety of ways. Particularly, mainstream prototypes of femininity and masculinity are found to be perpetuated in the Liberal Studies classrooms, such as gender duality and traditional gender norms, which appears to defeat the subject’s purpose to encourage diversity of gender subject positions and critical reflection on traditional gender values. The paper highlights how classroom language and literary events may subtly reproduce gender inequality in schooling contexts and suggests how teachers can create heteroglossic discursive space to nurture gender equity among adolescent students.

Reference

Cameron, D. (2005). Language, gender, and sexuality: Current issues and new directions. Applied linguistics, 26(4), 482-502.