Constructions of gender and literacy practices in a primary school.
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Date
2004
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Abstract
This study sets out to examine the process through which gender is constituted
in the English classroom in relation to the teaching of one comprehension lesson
at Springfield Model Primary School in KwaZulu-Natal. The study looks at one
lesson in-depth and delves into the representations of gender in the lesson.
Using qualitative methods and drawing from a comprehension passage entitled,
"Shining moon and his toy canoe" (Appendix 1) the study examines the ways in
which boys and girls in a grade 7 classroom made sense of the comprehension
passage and how that sense-making relates to their understanding of what it
means to be male and female. The study shows how resource materials (like the
prescribed comprehension, for instance) used in the English classroom articulate
young children's knowledge about gender and how they position themselves in
the discourses of gender. An analysis and examination of how the learners
understood the passage is undertaken, to see how gendered messages were
generated within the English lesson. An interview with the teacher was
conducted to examine how gender is constructed in the teaching of the
comprehensions lesson.
Two important findings are highlighted in this study. The text is an important tool
through which gender is elaborated. The boys and girls in this study positioned
themselves in contradictory ways to dominant perceptions about gender.
However, largely they draw on dominant ideas about gender and maintain the
status quo. The research also demonstrates further the ways in which the
teacher reinforces notions of 'masculinity' and 'femininity', despite her best
intentions.
Description
Thesis (M.Ed.) - University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2004.
Keywords
Sex differences in education--KwaZulu-Natal., Masculinity., Feminism., Theses--Education., Gender identity in education.