ELT Research Papers 15.03 Gender and Sexuality in English Language Education: Focus on Poland Authors: Łukasz Pakuła, Joanna Pawelczyk and Jane Sunderland Gender and Sexuality in English Language Education: Focus on Poland Authors: Łukasz Pakuła, Joanna Pawelczyk and Jane Sunderland ISBN 978-0-86355-776-7 © British Council 2015 Design /F119 10 Spring Gardens London SW1A 2BN, UK www.britishcouncil.org Contents The writers ............................................................................................................................................................................. 3 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 1 What are the issues? .................................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 What is gender? ............................................................................................................................................................................. 9 1.2 Gender and sexuality ................................................................................................................................................................10 1.3 Sexuality and heteronormativity .........................................................................................................................................10 1.4 The EFL classroom as a community of practice ........................................................................................................... 11 1.5 Naturally occurring classroom interaction ..................................................................................................................... 11 1.6 Representation and construction .......................................................................................................................................12 1.7 Masculinities and femininities ...............................................................................................................................................12 1.8 ‘Gender differences’, ‘gender similarities’ and ‘gender-blindness’ .......................................................................13 1.9 Educational disadvantage ......................................................................................................................................................13 1.10 Gender and Sexuality in English Language Education: Focus on Poland; this study and this book......... 13 2 Gender and sexuality research in EFL to date: a review .................................................................................15 2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................15 2.2 Classroom interaction ..............................................................................................................................................................15 2.3 Classroom materials ..................................................................................................................................................................19 2.4 ‘Talk around the textbook text’ .............................................................................................................................................21 2.5 Sexuality: needed developments ........................................................................................................................................21 2.6 Intersectionality: sexism and homophobia .....................................................................................................................23 2.7 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................24 3 The Polish context: politics and education .........................................................................................................25 3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................25 3.2 The Polish context ......................................................................................................................................................................25 3.3 Struggles: the ‘ideology of gender’ ....................................................................................................................................27 3.4 Diversity and ex/inclusion? The broad educational context ..................................................................................29 3.5 Sexism in Polish EFL textbooks: now and then ..............................................................................................................32 3.6 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................33 4 Exploring gender and sexuality in Polish classrooms: methodology .........................................................35 4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................35 4.2 The textbooks and data selection .......................................................................................................................................35 4.3 The classrooms and data collection ..................................................................................................................................36 4.4 Identifying teachers’ and students’ perspectives: focus group interviews......................................................39 4.5 Identifying Ministry of Education textbook reviewers’ perspectives ..................................................................42 4.6 Analysing the data ......................................................................................................................................................................42 4.7 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................43 Contents | 1 5 Gender and sexuality in textbooks .......................................................................................................................45 5.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................45 5.2 Gender representation in textbooks .................................................................................................................................45 5.3 Sexuality representation in textbooks ..............................................................................................................................54 5.4 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................56 6 Gender and sexuality in naturally occurring classroom interaction ..........................................................57 6.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................57 6.2 Classroom discourse: gender and sexuality made (ir)relevant .............................................................................57 6.3 ‘Gender critical points’ .............................................................................................................................................................57 6.4 Gender and sexuality in classroom interaction ............................................................................................................58 6.5 Dealing with grammatical gender in Polish ....................................................................................................................71 6.6 Conclusion .....................................................................................................................................................................................72 7 Exploring the perspectives of students, teachers and textbook reviewers ............................................73 7.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................................73 7.2 Insights from students .............................................................................................................................................................73 7.3 Insights from teachers .............................................................................................................................................................78