Language, Gender and Education: a critical review linking social justice and power

Abstract

Since the mid‐1970s studies of language and gender have been increasingly concerned with social justice issues. One aim of these studies has been to identify the role that language plays in the location and maintenance of women in a disadvantageous position in society. This article looks at the role that education plays in creating unjust gender arrangements in society through its language policies and the discursive practices that it legitimates. It begins by critically reviewing many of the studies that have found differences in the respective discourses of men and women. It then reviews the smaller corpus of studies that describe differences in the discourse of preschool and school‐age girls and boys. It then reviews the language policies and discourse practices that schools often adopt which seem to create and reinforce disadvantages for girls and women, suggesting how unjust power is exercised through the medium of school discourse and through taken‐for‐granted school language policies. The article concludes with recommendations for school language policy action.