Theme-based language instruction isan effective way of providinga meaningfu1 context forthe acquisition of Englishlanguage skills. ESLfEFL instructorswho.
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229 4o, Fec)k!iic]
(2010)
ISSN:0917-3536229-242
Teaching Women's Issuesinan EFL CIassroom: wnat Do StudentsLearn? YOSHIHARA
Reiko
Abstract Theme-based language instruction isan effective way of providinga meaningfu1 context forthe acquisition of English language skills. ESLfEFL instructors who support theme-based lamguageteachinghave often introduced social and global issues.Howeveg women's issues
have been conspicuously absent from ESLIEFL classes, even though many would acknowledge thataddressing women's issuesas a matter ofhuman rights isimportant. For this studM I introduced domesticviolence as a topic fbra cellege-level EFL writing class in Japan. The violence purposeof this study isto jnvestigateifstudents change their perceptionofdomestic and what students learn ina femmistlanguage classroom. In thisstudM Iattempt to determine students' gender awareness by analyzing pre- and post-questionnaires on domesticviolence, students' final written products,and open-ended thatstudents reevaluquestionnaires.I fbur]d ated theirunderstanding of domesticviolence and exprcssed theirinsights intothe tepic.
"As
language teachers in the 21Stcentury,
we
facesserienvironmental de-
livein critical times. Our
world
and globalissuesofterrorism, ethnic conflict, social inequality struction. How can we prepare eur students to cope with theseproblems? What isour responsibility as 1anguageteachersina world ofwar, poverty, prejudice,and pollution?" ous
2002, p. 41) (Cates, "As
educators,
and ski11s
we
butal so
have
an opportunity,
consciousness
To paraphrase what Lenin once en: Those who want to vanqulsh thousands most
ofnew
suitable
of
methods,
them."
even
an obligation,
to teach not
only
information
issuesofj ustice. Our teaching hasa ripple effect. about capitalism, letus say aboLtt inequityfbrwoTn-
about said
means
sexism and
must weapons
have the perseveranceto tryhundredsand ofthe
struggle
in order
to elaborate
the
1995, p. 6) (Vandrick,
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1. Introduction
I beginwith
these quotationsbecausethey ask us to consider
I think thatour
language educators.
our soeial responsibility
to teach grammar,vocabulary, jobisnot just
and
as
com-
freedom,and human rights peace,justice, among all peoples.The importanceof soci'al responsibility as ESLIEFL teachers has been by Cates (2002), who highliglrted pointsout that our responsibility as languageeducators is skills,but also to promote equalitM
munication
addressingglobal issuesefterrorism, destructionin ESL!EFL sponsible
world
ESLAiFL
classes, even
a matter
classes
citizens.
ofhuman
and
educating
However, women's
theugh many
conflict, social
acknowledge
would
isimportant. One
rights
inequality, and environmental our language students to become socially reissueshave been conspicuously al)sent from
ethnic
that addressing
for this absence
reason
issuesas
women's
isthatESLfEFL
teachers
2006). I often hearfrom ESLIEFL teachers phobiaabout feminism(Ybshihara, some kind of hesitation or resistance to addressing women's issuesin ESLIEFL classes 1998; Ybshihara,2006). Especialiywhen I argue thatwe should includenot only (Benesch, have
may
a
gender equality
hesitation and
and
on wages resistance
tioned,addressing not taught about
these
laws butalso
firomESLIEFL diMcultwomen's
violence
against
teaehers arise.
women
and
harassment,
sexual
However, as Vandrick(1995) men-
issuesisimportantbecausegirlsand
"are
women
'i:ight or given tools to sexism" gender issues (p.4). She concluded thatthis should not be criticized as indoctrination, and that a language teacher's re-
kindofteaching sponsibility isteaching consciousness In this study, I explere
issuesofjustice in order to end sexism. feministlanguageclassroom in which I introduced
about
a theme-based
domesticviolence as a topic in an EFL' 'vvritingclass. The purpose ofthis study isto investitowards domesticviolence and what they learnfrom gate ifstudents change theirperception the class. Likernany feminist languageinstructors, I am interested inconsciousness-raising and social change rather than simply initiating students intoestablished academic settings. One
I chose domesticviolence was thatdomesticviolence isone issues.As Vandrick(1995) mentioned, ESL texts and portantwomen's reason
limited to wage violence
the
role
think
EFL
against ofbusiness
classes
legalissuesand have hardlydiscussed bnt importantissuesas sexual women, ha/rassment, the infiuenceofreligion on theroles ofwomen, and the media inreinfbrcing negative stereotypes about women" (p,4). I "difficult
and
thataddressing
class.
butimhave been
ofdifficult
Another
such reason
difficult but importantwomen's I chose domesticviolence was
issuesischallenging in an ESLI that a 2009 study fbundthat 33.29t6
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women
bandsand
atthe handsoftheir boyfriends Equality Bureau).Domes(Gender
psychologicalviolence
tic
231
have been physicallyor psychologieallyabused by their partnersor husthat 13.6% ofJapanese girlsintheir teens and twentieshad experienced physical
ofJapanese
or
TbachingWbmen'sIssuesinanEFLCIassroom
violence
women's
is not only issuebut also
but rather
issuebut also a men's issue,not only a middle-aged a young women's issue, be not only discussed quietly and itshould order to save women's lives,
openly-in
a women's
2. A Womell's Isslle as
[[bpicin ESLIEFL CIasses
a
there are (2003),
Accordingte Brinton,Snowi and Wesche
three content-based
teaching
at the university level; theme-based language instruction, sheltered content instruc-
models
languageinstruction. Sheltered courses are taught inthe target languageto learners by a content instructor, not a languageinstructor.Adjunct courses are
tion, and adjunct a
group of
"1inked"
or concurrently
offered
instructors respectively. plemenrtedin EFL content
Thus, the
in English Ll
universities
content
sheltered
On the
contexts.
contexts
and
be
can
Snew, (Brinton,
specialist
and
language classes taught by content and
adjunct
by
an
implemented at
are usually
hand, the theme-based
other
taught
models
EFL teacher who
& Wesche, 2003). Brinton, Snow,
language
and
is often
model
isnot
necessarily
Wesche
and
of theme-basedlanguageinstruction and providedexamples provideda definition courses
ima
(2003) of the
thatimplemented the medel:
Theme
or topic-based
language courses
are one way
to increasethe use ofsubject
matter
in languageclasses. In such courses, the languageclass is structured around The topicsor themes, with the topics formingthe backbone ofthe course curriculum. eontent
presentedby the language teacher providesthe basisforlanguageanalTo illustrate, a 1O-week theme-based language course might be organpraetiee.
material
content
ysisand
izedaround and
several
television news
reading
selection,
sions, related activities, and would
round
the topic
finallMa
as
For example,
coverage.
audio-and/or
out
topics,such
unrelated
and
vocabulary
videotaped writing
noise heartdisease, pollution,solar energM the topic rnight be initially presented as would
materials
assignment
then be would
synthesizing
recycled
a
in guided discus-
providethe basisfbr listening the various
source
materials
(pp.14-15)
the topicunit.
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In theme-based languagecourses, theteachercreates a course or five-weekthernatic units on particular topics. In each unit,
ofstudy comprised
fbur-
of
reading, practices
students
listening,and grammar in an integratedway. ImportantlM theme-based Ianguageinstructien isflexible in terms of institutional setting and student proficiency leyel. speaki]g,
writing,
Itcan be applied
to
students
with
TOEFL
Ieveldeemed necessary forstudents who language of instruction 2003). (Davies, Recent
both
vided
Snow, (Brinton,
studies
and
empirical
anecdotal
intherage 350
scores
want
to 500, below the proficiency
to study at universities
English isthe
where
& Wewshe, 2003; Kasper, 2000; [[bpcu, 2005) have proevidence demonstrating that theme-based college ESL!
EFL instruction effectively increases students' Englishlanguageproficiency, teaches tihemthe skills necessary forsuccess inmainstream eollege courses, and helpsto ease theirtransition from the ESL program to the academic cellege specifically investigating what hErppens when a a
theme-based languageeourse by Benesch
conducted
ESL
i'n an
writing
Participants were
course,
15 students
from diversecountries
wornen's
or eontent-based
One importantstudy thatlookedat the was
course.
use ofa
She used (1998).
However,there are very few studies issueisseleoted as a topic ineither
language course.
issueas
wornen's
a women's
a topic
issue, anorexia,
about
the topic
on
responses assignment
how
male
male
a
such
as
student-generated
to thereading, aournals) anorexia.
on
students
students
and
expressed
By
adolescent
of the
topics
university. who
came
girlwith
anorexia
she assigned
reading
helddiscussions
and
were required to write their questions. The students the topicand the class discussion to produce a research
analyzing
students'
Benesch journals,
to
attempted
inyestigate
femalestudents reacted to thetopicdifferently. She fbundthata few strong discomfort and resistanee to studying anorexia or remained
She argued thatthe reason duringclass discussions. studying anorexia is not only a lackof interest in women's silent
reflection.
course
China,Russia, the Dominican Republic, Romania, Cyprus,
fictional case history ofan
using
as one
linkingitto a psychologycourse taught at the same inthefa11 semester and 1O students inthespring class
Nicaragua,Mexico, Pakistan,France,Bulgaria,and Argentina. Jn c]ass, material
inan ESL
On the otiher hand, she fbund ti)at most
ofthe
why
these male
issuesbut also
female students
students a
resist
lackof
empathized
with
selfi
the
in the reading material and reflected on personalexperience in theirjournals. protagonist Thus, female students showed their interestin the topic and committed to selfreflection. Some ofthe femalestudents examined the social causes ofanorexia and cultural constmction of
feminjnity.
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ln an EFL
sions
group. The group
study
of women's
underteok (1997)
Japan, McMahill
context,
conversation
TeachingWomen'sIssuesinanEFLCIassroem
and
environmental
a case
study
233
feminist English
ofa
ledby a Japanese feminist discuswho facilitated issues.McMahill attended discussion sessions as a
was
the open-ended fiIIedeut by 14 adult female parguestspeaker and analyzed questiormaires ticipants.The participants includedhomemakers, freelance writers, an elementary scheol teacher, an office worker,
a college
student,
an
assertiveness
McMahill hypothesizedthatthese feministlanguageclasses personalexperience and selfrefiection from the pointofview questionnairesand
open-ended
class
supported
observations
McMahill found that the feministlariguage class
encouraged
issuesthatthey had not considered deeplybefbre.Thus,using laiiguage learners to refiect more critically practiceencourages
trainer,and were
a slte
ofgender.
a
hair designer.
fordisclosure of
The
analysis
ofthe
her hypothesis.AdditionallM the participants to rethink the women's on
issuesas
their own
gender
a
topicfbr
socializa-
feminist consciousness. Whereas addressing women's issuesin ESL!EFL classes vvould be importantand have a use women's issuesas tepics in greatimpaet on learners,unfbrtunately very few instructors tion and
raises
theirlanguageclassrooms.
discussing women's ness
ofusing
AccQrdingly, little research has been done on the effectiveness
issuesin the ESLIEFL
women's
issuesin ESLIEFL
classroom, classes
Therefore, research
isrequired.
on
]n this study,
of
theeffectiveI attempted to
determinestudents' genderawareness by analyzing pre-and post-questionnaires about domestic violence, students' final written products, and open-ended about the questionnaires course. Two research questions will be investigated: 1.Does students' perceptionofdomestic violence change intheme-based language instruction? 2. What do students learnfrom the theme Violence"? "Domestic
3. Method
Participants While 61
students
to year,I was al)le cause
some
Allstudents them
were
and junior,
participatedin a
writing
class
duringthe spring term of2009 academic (29male students, 26 femalestudents) be-
dataprovidedby 55 ofthem students droppedout ofthe class or didnot complete pre-and post-questionnaires. were majoring in Businessat a privateJapaneseuniversityl and the majority of use
1 freshmen,though a few were juniors or seniors (50freshmen, 1 sophomore, 3 seniors). Atl participants were similar in terms of EnglishlanguageIeaming
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background.They had studied Englishinjuniorand them had studied
grarnmar,and translation and in preparation forthe demanding Japanese
vocabulary
high school forsix years. All of had memorized a targequantityof
senior
reading,
university
entrance
examinations.
Twenty (36.4%) ofthe panicipantshad done discussion in Englishand twenty-twe (40.09i6) had written English essays on assigned topics.Seven (12.79t6) ofthem had experienced themeand basedinstruction
five(9.09'6) had studied
only
issuesin an English class.
women's
Materials and Procedures The
class met
oncc
for90 rninutes for12 weeks
a week
year. All participantsused
academic
the
duringthe spring
materials
same
and
term
ofthe
given the same
were
"Domestic based languageinstruction. Panicipants were instructed on the theme of lence"over fourweeks. In the first class, I providedstudents with reading material
tic Violence" in Gender
lssues7bclay, which
questionsto ensure that students ditionallM Iprovided with grammar exercises students
watched
eaptidns
and
with
video
the video
completed
"A
understood
In the third week,
accompanying
in Canada
made
inEnglish accompanying
students
("Domes-
a
watched
words)
domesticviolence was. Adthe reading. In the second week, with
JErpanese
thevideo. The reason I used
Japanese captions isthat itismost important forstudents to understand
at the outset.
Vio-
what
Love That Kills" (25min.)
a worksheet
theme-
I revised fbrlengthand diMculty,469
and reading
2009
the content
1O-minute Japanesenews
program about I provideddiscussion
had a group discussion about domestic violence, students to questionsdesignedto keep students fbcusedon the topic. While I encouraged discussthe questionsin English, Iallowed them to speak Japanese becauseoftheir low Englishspeaking abillty; I was primarily interested in activating discussion.However, students domestic violence
were sions
and
discussion theirdiscusquestionsin English.Next,I summarized in English.FinallM l taught students hovvto write a five-paragraphessay writing as a
asked
means minutes
to complete
of expressing
to write
a
theirideason the subject. finalfive-paragraph essay
duringthe fbur-weekcourse, theirreflections
on
outside
There
ofclass.
without
the reading, vvas
no
using
a
In thefourthweek,
about
domestic violence
students and
what
dictionary. In addition, theywere
the video, and
vvere
given40
they learned asked
to write
the class discussionin English every week
prescribedformat or
word
count
forthese
Procedures Data Collection In order to explore how students' perceptionof domesticviolence
refiections.
changed
after
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YOSHIHARA
the
fbur-weekunit,
naire, an open-ended
the
final version.
tained9
TeachingWOmen'sIssues in an EFLCIassroom of three
a combination
types of datawere
collected;
a
235
15-item question-
and the students' essays, including their reflections and questionnaire, I developeda 15-itemquestionnaireinJapanesebased on myths about do-
Demestic Violence Myths). The 15-item questionnaireeon(Women'sAid, 2, 3, 8, 9, 11, 12,13, 14, and 15),4 facts(item 1,4, 7, and 10),and 2 (item
vielence
mestic
Reiko
myths
(item5
statements
victim-blaming
and
6). A 6-peintLikert scale was indicatinga higher levelof
used
on the
pre- and
with higher scores agreement with statepost-questionnaires, ments. All panicipants were asked te fi11 itout in thefirst class beforethe topic was intre-
duced. Inthe fourthweek,
were participants
asked
to fiI]out the same
and also questionnaire refiective writing helpyou
in Japanese: questionnaire 'from write a final written product? How?" and didyou learnabout domesticviolence this course? Wtiteyour ideasfreely," Permitting the students to use theirnative language on ofthe data. theopen-ended questionnairewas expected to improvethe quality
to
to the
respond
"Does
open-ended
"What
Conceming the
ethical standards
used
in the studM I exp]ained
to the
students
that I would
liketo use atl the data in this class fbr research befbreI started to conduct thisstudy. Itold them thatessays would be graded but that questionnairere$ponses would not afllect their the permission to use the datacollected from students at the end ofthe grades. Ialso received semester.
4. Findings
genderawareness regarding domesperceptionof domesticviolence changed after the t-test on pre-and post-questionnaires paired-sample
Pre- and post-questionnaireitemsmeasured
To
tic violence.
explore
fbur-weekunit, Ianalyzed 1) and (fable
students'
2001) te control (SPSS, multiple
relationship.),
battereddo
not
a significant
leavea
learnedabout
that they wondered
domesticviolence
students'
theresu ltsofa finalwritten products. I also conducted a Bonferroni adjustment of [[Ype I Error fbrall pairwise comparisons. This study used 15
and thus
comparisons
Therewas in a violent they
how
students'
thealpha-level
was
set
to a:=
.O033,
Q6 (Thebatteredmight be wreng becausethey stay suggesting that students wondered why the rt54)=4.20,p
