Do Teachers Speak to Boys and Girls Differently?

When we were children (and still believed the opposite sex were gross) we often believed our teachers treated us differently, but did they really?

 

Today, it would be considered unacceptable to address boys and girls differently, for example, calling boys by their surnames and girls by their first names, as this is unequal and implies that boys are superior to girls as they are spoken to with more respect. However, according to those who attended school at this time, this was common practice in the early twentieth century, particularly at stricter schools. This may have been more common amongst male teachers, as stereotypically men are stricter, hence why the term 'man of the house' is used much more often than 'woman of the house'.

 

Female teachers, on the other hand, are generally assumed to be kinder, even 'maternal figures' according to a survey conducted on primary school teachers found at www.benthamscience.com/open/toalj/articles/V003/1TOALJ.pdf. This would suggest that they treated their students more equally than their male counterparts; however this would have differed from school to school.

 

We could apply the Politeness Theory by Brown and Levinson to this to somewhat explain the difference in address. Using surnames is a form of negative politeness; the speaker distances themself from the subject to respect their independence, something that was valued more in men than women before. Using first names for girls would be an example of positive politeness, which strives to appeal to the subject's positive face, which desires to be liked by others. Tannen's Gender Theory also reinforces this, as she believed that men desired independence whilst women strove for intimacy, of course this model will not be accurate for every case.

 

The differences in address were much more common in secondary schools than in primary schools, as younger children are much more likely to be spoken to using their first names, as they are lower in status and it is more appropriate to address a child with the name they are familiar with being called.

 

In the present, these differences are not prevalent, and are more common in certain Eastern countries where women are still not considered equals. That being said, in Japan students in secondary schools are addressed equally; teachers use their surname and add the honorific 'san' to the end. For younger boys 'kun' is used, and for girls 'chan'.

 

According to www.teachpreschool.org teachers use different lexicon when speaking to boys and girls; for example, teachers will speak more about sports and building (boys play with building blocks) with boys and will speak about artistic interests such as drawing and painting with girls. However, teachers often don't realise they treat children differently.

 

It is believed that generally, female teachers will use more politeness strategies, e.g. using interrogative forms when the function is a command as that can appeal to a student's negative and positive face needs, whilst a male teacher is more likely to be bald on-record; a face-threatening act that asserts his authority. An example is shown here: http://www.asian-efl-journal.com/march_05_lghj.php.

 

By Sara Hemsley