Ressource pédagogique : Polina Shvanyukova - Language Education and Gender Studies: Focus on Italy, 1975 – 2015

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In this contribution I shall explore the link between language teaching and the topical research area of Gender Studies (cf. Sunderland 1994, Pavlenko et al. 2001, Decke-Cornill and Volkmann 2007, Linke 2012) in the Italian context. I will do so by focusing on the activities of two well-established Italian associations, Lingua e Nuova Didattica (Lend, https://www.lend.it/eu/2016-01-12-11-13-15/chi-siamo) and Gruppi di Intervento nel Campo dell’Educazione Linguistica (GISCEL, https://giscel.it/), both founded in the 1970s with the aim of bringing together language teaching professionals. By examining a range of publications on the topic of gender and language education produced by the two associations (e.g., Lingua e nuova didattica: Rivista di lingua e di didattica, Quaderni del GISCEL and others, https://giscel.it/documenti/pubblicazioni/) in the period between 1975 and 2015, I aim to address the following research questions: How have language teaching professionals in the Italian context dealt with the “gender issue”? What kind of proposals for gender-informed and gender-conscious approaches have been put forward and implemented in the period under investigation (for example, by influencing materials selection or by providing specific suggestions for thematic and other classroom activities)? In other words, how has the theoretical perspective of Gender Studies been incorporated in language teaching and what is the general level of awareness of gender-related issues among language teaching professionals in Italy? This investigation will be carried out against a backdrop of persistent gender inequality in the Italian education system. As Biemmi (2015) has recently shown, three key topics (gendered subject choice in education; sexism in textbooks; teachers’ lack of awareness of gender issues) currently dominate the Italian academic debate on gender and education, with gender issues in education having only recently “become the focus of unprecedented political and public attention and the subject of important legislative actions” (Biemmi 2015: 813). Keywords: gender, language education, Italy, textbooks, stereotypes References Biemmi, Irene. (2015). “Gender in schools and culture: Taking stock of education in Italy”. Gender            and Education, 27-7: 812-827. Decke-Cornill, Helene and Laurenz Volkmann (eds.). (2007). Gender Studies and Foreign           Language Teaching. Tübingen: Narr. Linke, Gabriele. (2012). “Geschlechterforschung und Fachdidaktik: Sprachdidaktik Englisch”. In Marita Kampshoff and Claudia Wiepcke (Hrsg.). Handbuch Geschlechterforschung und   Fachdidaktik. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag fu?r Sozialwissenschaften. Pavlenko, Aneta et al. (eds.). (2001). Multilingualism, Second Language Learning, and Gender.           Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Sunderland, Jane (ed.). (1994). Exploring Gender: Questions and Implications for English           Language Education. New York et al.: Prentice Hall.

"Domaine(s)" et indice(s) Dewey

• Enseignement de la langue française (440.71)

Thème(s)