Speaking the Same Language? Gender-Based Teacher Performance in the EFL Class

ABSTRACT

The concept of the modern-day teacher and the development of ideas such as ‘teacher professionalism’ have historically been gendered, often reflecting male paradigms and political theories. At the same time, there is a large body of research which shows that gender is a relevant variable which must be taken into account when explaining the functioning of classes and teacher-student interaction. This study aims to investigate the influence of teacher gender on students of English as a foreign language (EFL) in southern Spain and provides qualitative and quantitative evidence collected from students (n=459) and teachers (n=35) from primary school through to university levels which challenges some of these gendered paradigms and provides contrasts with previous studies on preferences of teacher gender. Our contextualised investigation provides evidence to suggest that the construction of more supportive and democratic learning environments are more frequently observed in our specific context among female teachers, while more prescriptive environments traditionally associated with masculinized forms of teaching are perceived as being less helpful in obtaining successful learner outcomes

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