We perceived that there was a co-construction in the production of new meanings regarding these pedagogical tasks. Despite the complexity of the small-scale research and the difficulties that STs reported while doing it, we found that this task allowed them to become aware of the importance of a gender view in their teaching contexts. Several STs reveal in their oral and written reports that they managed to discover and learn different issues in terms of their roles as English teachers, their possibilities to use this information to make changes in their teaching practices, and the importance of these views for their teaching practices.
All of them were analyzed with a gender orientation and comprised a fundamental element of analysis. This section will present some of the aspects that STs identified through their small-scale research exercises with respect to the gender analysis in their teaching contexts. This narrative account displays the moment of an English class in which teenage students coordinate a role play activity in the restaurant.
Unlike other examples in which gender is identified by explicit gendered discourse, this extract reflects that gender becomes an issue of reflection as the ST problematizes the way her students assigned gender roles that represent symbolically more advantageous social positions for boys than for girls—girls played more domestic roles and did not have important social parts in the sketch, e.
We perceived in this interpretation an ability that the ST gained since this situation could have passed unnoticed if she had not drawn on a gender view to understand this situation which was due to the routinized dynamics of organization in these sorts of typical English class activities. This analysis allows one to understand that through these subtle forms of organization the legitimation and reinforcement of gender relations and gender social positioning arise. When the ST tries to inquiry what is going on in the group he obtains the following reply from the boy:. The question that remains in this case is how teachers deal with these types of gender relations in class.
Teachers cannot simply insist students work without having any conflict during their group work. One ST designed a story using role reversals to study the topic of professions and illustrate some gender stereotypes. The ST wanted to expose her students to the idea that both women and men could be good housekeepers. At first, the ST was interested in learning the type of gendered discourses that emerged when her students read the story. As a result of this, this ST raises questions about her own role and the possibilities that might be available to her in order to promote more progressive ideas about gender beliefs and imaginaries.
STs realized that it was complex to react counter-hegemonically.
We identify a concern towards this issue as they felt accountable for tackling those meanings that were taking place in their contexts. It would require that STs continue this process, as we believe it is through experience and in the exercise of their practice that teachers can gain expertise and a better understanding of how to deal with these responses in the classrooms. We also believe that the course did not directly provide STs with the tools to transform these situations.
Yet, we find it valuable that STs acknowledged that their roles as English teachers should go beyond teaching a linguistic code. As a matter of fact, STs manifested an interest in becoming agents of change in ways to create equal opportunities for participation and generating more progressive discourses as part of their practices. The next extract shows this point:. Based on this discovery, the ST created a pedagogical intervention changes in her class participation dynamics in which students who did not participate in class increased their opportunities in their class participation; as the ST says, she empowered them to do so.
Although we acknowledge the complexity of the course tasks, it was through the analysis of the data STs collected in their teaching settings that our participants started to discover particular things and meanings that had not been evident to them before. Hence, knowledge and abilities STs gained were not a product of empty readings or of trying to imagine what it would be like to consider gender as an analytical category for their teaching practices. These things learnt—translated in products such as the materials for TEFL, discoveries and reflections, and decisions—were produced in the engagement and the complexity of their daily practice Wenger, This course aimed at helping English teachers raise awareness on gender issues that occur in their classrooms or teaching practices.
As a result of it, STs were able to achieve most of the learning objectives we had set up for this course. Thus, for example, STs managed to discover and identify some problematic situations that had usually passed unnoticed by them; for instance, aspects related to the identification of unfair situations, sexist discourses and behaviors, and asymmetry in class participation.
These STs would not have been able to recognize all these problematic matters if they had not participated in this optional course and developed small-scale research in their teaching contexts.
Addressing Gender Equality with Teaching Strategies
The analysis of the data indicates that these courses prevent English teachers, as we explain in the conceptual framework, to fall into instrumentalist views of their roles as English instructors. STs broaden their perspective of their roles as English teachers embracing a position as English educators with a social responsibility; this can be perceived in this reply of the final questionnaire, where we asked them openly if they would recommend the course to other English teachers:.
Nevertheless, we also observed that not all of the teachers were able to transform the issues they identified as problematic in their teaching contexts; this is meaningful within the teaching experience of this course as it allows reflecting on what is needed to be included in the course program. For this reason, we think it would be relevant to offer another course in which STs are provided with the necessary support and follow-up so as to find practical solutions to transform the issues of gender inequality identified in their classes.
We are aware of the fact that there may be other ways to do this.
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Additionally, we expect to account for this course with the spirit and hope to initiate a debate, based on this experience, on what we think is meaningful and important in order to include the gender perspective within the field of TPD programs in TEFL. Some people see the concept of equality as a more general objective, and equity is understood as a stage or strategy to achieve the first one UNESCO, We will use here the term gender equity.
Hruska, ; Litosseliti, ; Norton and Pavlenko, ; Sunderland a, b.
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Addressing Gender Equality with Teaching Strategies
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