Cover not available
Article published In:
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 38:1 (2015) ► pp.24–49

Chairperson or chairman? – A study of Chinese EFL teachers’ gender inclusivity

 | The Hong Kong Institute of Education
Given the potential influence of teachers’ linguistic practice on children’s language use and gender role development, the present study seeks to examine the extent of linguistic discrimination present in teachers’ language. A total of 215 Chinese EFL teachers were invited to participate in the survey, which included a series of elicitation tests on their selection of English words for occupational titles, and the choice of generic pronouns anaphoric to people of unknown gender. The findings revealed that, while gender-biased language is still widely used, non-sexist linguistic reform has had an impact on Chinese EFL teachers, some of whom have expressed a concern with regard to avoiding sexist language. The study also found that choice of generic pronouns co-varied with such factors as semantic meaning, word structure and the gender stereotypes associated with particular occupations.
Keywords: gender, China, sexism, occupational title, generic pronoun
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at [email protected].

Published online: 1 January 2015
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.38.1.02lee
References (76)
All-China Women’s Federation. (2009). Female-heavy gender imbalance of primary school teachers. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from [URL].
Allen, R. (2008). Common errors and problems in English. London: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Amare, N. (2007). Where is she? Gender occurrences in online grammar guides. Research in the Teaching of English, 42(2), 163–187.Google Scholar
Andrews, G. (2011). China makes unprecedented English-language push. Retrieved August 15, 2014, from [URL].
Baker, P. (2010). Will Ms ever be as frequent as Mr? A corpus-based comparison of gendered terms across four diachronic corpora of British English. Gender and Language, 4(1), 125–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baranowski, M. (2002). Current usage of the epicene pronoun in written English. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 6(3), 378–397. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Baron, D. (1986). Grammar and gender. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Benatar, D. (2005). Sexist language: Alternatives to the alternatives. Public Affairs Quarterly, 19(1), 1–9.Google Scholar
Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of spoken and written English. Essex: Longman.Google Scholar
Bodine, A. (1975). Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar: Singular ‘they’, sex indefinite ‘he’ and ‘he or she’. Language in Society, 4(2), 129–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Burchfield, R. (1981). The spoken word: A BBC guide. London: British Broadcasting Corporation.Google Scholar
Carter, A. (1980). The language of the sisterhood. In L. Michaels & C. Ricks (Eds.), The state of the language (pp. 226–234). Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Choi, P. K. (2012). 香港性別平等教育狀況考察 (A study of gender equity in Hong Kong education). In P. K. Choi & K. W. Chan (Eds.), Gender perspectives in education: Empirical research into schooling processes (pp. 179–192). Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.Google Scholar
CNTV. (2013). Male nurses needed in Chinese job market. Retrieved July 7, 2015, from [URL].
Cochran, E. P. (1996). Gender and the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly, 30(1), 159–162. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Commercial Radio Australia. (2004). Codes of practice and guidelines. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from [URL].
Cronin, C., & Jreisat, S. (1995). Effects of modeling on the use of nonsexist language among high school freshpersons and seniors. Sex Roles, 33(11–12), 819–830. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Crystal, D. (2003). English as a global language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). How language works: How babies babble, words change meaning, and languages live or die. Woodstock, N.Y.: Overlook Press.Google Scholar
Eckert, P., & McConnell-Ginet, S. (2003). Language and gender. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ettner, C. (2002). In Chinese, men and women are equal – or – women and men are equal? In M. Hellinger & H. Bußmann (Eds.), Gender across languages: The linguistic representation of women and men (vol. 21) (pp. 29–55). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fowler, H. W. (1965). A dictionary of modern English usage (rev. ed. by Sir Ernes Gowers). Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014). An introduction to language. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.Google Scholar
Geng, J. (2007). Removal of toxic English teaching and learning styles in China. US-China Education Review, 4(5), 42–45.Google Scholar
Gibbon, M. (1999). Feminist perspectives on language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
He, D., & Zhang, Q. (2010). Native speaker norms and China English: From the perspective of learners and teachers in China. TESOL Quarterly, 44(4), 769–789. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hellinger, M. (2001). English – Gender in a global language. In M. Hellinger & H. Bußmann (Eds.), Gender across languages: The linguistic representation of women and men (Vol. 11) (pp. 105–113). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Henley, N. M. (1989). Molehill or mountain? What we know and don’t know about sex bias in language. In M. Crawford & M. Gentry (Eds.), Gender and thought: Psychological perspective (pp. 59–78). New York: Springer-Verlag. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Holmes, J., Sigley, R. J., & Terraschke, A. (2009). From chairman to chairwoman to chairperson: Exploring the move from sexist usages to gender neutrality. In P. Peters, P. Collins & A. Smith (Eds.), Comparative studies in Australian and New Zealand English: Grammar and beyond (pp. 183–204). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, G. M., Zhuo, Q. Y., Jocson, P. C., Ong, C. W., & Austria, M. E. D. (1996). Asian secondlanguage educationists’ views of gender-inclusive English. TEFLIN Journal, 81, 86–103.Google Scholar
Jochnowitz, G. (1982). Everybody likes pizza, doesn’t he or she? American Speech, 57(3), 198–203. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Johnson, K. (1996). The politics of the revival of infant abandonment in China, with special reference to Hunan. Population and Development Review, 22(1), 77–98. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kingston, A. J., & Lovelace, T. L. (1977). Guidelines for authors: A new form of censorship? Journal of Literacy Research, 9(1), 89–93. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, R. (1975). Language and woman’s place. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Lee, F. K. J. (1999). Acceptability and usage in Australian English and Hong Kong English. Unpublished PhD thesis. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.Google Scholar
Lee, J. F. K. (2001). Attitudes towards debatable usages among English language teachers and students. Hong Kong Journal of Applied Linguistics, 6(2), 1–21.Google Scholar
(2007). Acceptability of sexist language among young people in Hong Kong. Sex Roles, 56(5–6), 285–295. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009). Perceptions of ELT among English language teachers in China. Education Journal, 37(1–2), 137–154.Google Scholar
Lee, J. F. K., & Collins, P. (2006). Linguistic acceptability in Hong Kong English. Asian Englishes, 9(1), 24–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009). Australian English-language textbooks: The gender issues. Gender and Education, 21(4), 353–370. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martyna, W. (1978). What does ‘he’ mean? Use of the generic masculine. Journal of Communication, 28(1), 130–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
McCormick, T. M. (1994). Creating the nonsexist classroom: A multicultural approach. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University.Google Scholar
Miller, C., & Swift, K. (1976). Words and women. New York: Anchor Press.Google Scholar
Mills, S. (2008). Language and sexism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mills, S., & Mullany, L. (2011). Language, gender and feminism: Theory, methodology and practice. London: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Mittins, W. H., Salu, M., Edminson, M., & Coyne, S. (1970). Attitudes to English usage. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Nilsen, A. P. (1987). Guidelines against sexist language: A case history. In J. Penfield (Ed.), Women and language in transition (pp. 37–64). Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
(2001). Why keep searching when it’s already “their”? Reconsidering “everybody’s” pronoun problem. English Journal, 90(4), 68–73. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Partridge, E. (1965). Usage and abusage. London: Hamish Hamilton.Google Scholar
Pauwels, A. (1997). Of handymen and waitpersons: A linguistic evaluation of job classifieds. Australian Journal of Communication, 24(1), 58–69.Google Scholar
(1998). Women changing language. London: Longman.Google Scholar
(2000). Does language reform lead to linguistic change? Australian Language Matters, 8(1), 3.Google Scholar
(2001). Non-sexist language reform and generic pronouns in Australian English. English World-Wide, 22(1), 105–119. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pauwels, A., & Winter, J. (2004). Generic pronouns and gender-inclusive language reform in the English of Singapore and the Philippines. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 27(2), 50–62. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). Gender inclusivity or ‘grammar rules OK’? Linguistic prescriptivism vs linguistic discrimination in the classroom. Language and Education, 20(2), 128–140. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pauwels, A., & Wrightson-Turcotte, K. (2001). Pronoun choice and feminist language change in the Australian media. Australian Journal of Communication, 28(1), 69–82.Google Scholar
Peters, P. (2004). The Cambridge guide to English usage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Poynton, C. (1989). Language and gender: Making the difference. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rainer Dangel, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. Young children, 65(1), 74–78, 80–81.Google Scholar
Ravitch, D. (2003). The language police: How pressure groups restrict what students learn. New York: Knopf.Google Scholar
Sadker, D. M., & Silber, E. S. (2007). Gender in the classroom: Foundations, skills, methods, and strategies across the curriculum. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Schneider, J. W., & Hacker, S. L. (1973). Sex role imagery and use of the generic ‘man’ in introductory texts: A case in the sociology of sociology. American Sociologist, 81, 12–18.Google Scholar
Shaffer, M. A., Joplin, J. R. W., Bell, M. P., Lau, T., & Oguz, C. (2000). Gender discrimination and jobrelated outcomes: A cross-cultural comparison of working women in the United States and China. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 571, 395–427. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Shan, X. (2002). Guangdong badly in need of male nurses. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from [URL].
Shaw, S., & Hoeber, L. (2003). ‘A strong man is direct and a direct woman is a bitch’: Gendered discourses and their influence on employment roles in sport organizations. Journal of Sport Management, 17(4), 347–375. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Snooks & Co. (2002). Style manual for authors, editors and printers. Canberra: John Wiley – Sons.Google Scholar
Spender, D. (1980). Man made language. London: Routledge – Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Sunderland, J., Cowley, M., Abdul Rahim, F., Leontzakou, C., & Shattuck, J. (2000). From bias ‘in the text’ to ‘teacher talk around the text’: An exploration of teacher discourse and gendered foreign language textbook texts. Linguistics and Education, 11(3), 251–286. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swan, M. (2005). Practical English usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Swim, J. K., Mallett, R., & Stangor, C. (2004). Understanding subtle sexism: Detection and use of sexist language. Sex Roles, 51(3–4), 117–128. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tao, B. (2007). Research into sexism in language testing and its implications to language testing in China. Paper presented at the International Conference on Language Testing, China.
Wang, Y. (2010). 從 從 ‘ta’ 看 ‘他’ 與 ‘她’ (A study of ‘他’ and ‘她’ through ‘ta’). 《大 眾 文 藝》 61, 78.Google Scholar
Winter, J., & Pauwels, A. (2006). Men staying at home looking after their children: Feminist linguistic reform and social change. International Journal of Applied Linguistics, 16(1), 16–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yu, T. (2010). Businesswomen show mettle in man’s world. China Daily. Retrieved August 14, 2014, from [URL].
Yu, W. M., et al. (2012). 香港教師培訓課程中的性別教育元素初探 (Gender education in Hong Kong teacher training programs: A preliminary study). In P. K. Choi & K. W. Chan (Eds.), Gender perspectives in education: Empirical research into schooling processes (pp. 135–148). Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press.Google Scholar
Zhao, H. (2011). Gender construction and negotiation in the Chinese EFL classroom. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Pub.Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Tarrayo, Veronico N.
2024. Does gender-fair language matter?. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics DOI logo
Tarrayo, Veronico N.
2024.  Using the third-person singular pronoun they in academic writing: perspectives from English language teachers in Philippine universities . Language Awareness 33:3 ► pp. 625 ff. DOI logo
Tarrayo, Veronico N., Jiaqi Tian & Darío Luis Banegas
2024. Language Education and Gender. In Reference Module in Social Sciences, DOI logo
Yang, Hengwen & Xiufeng Zhang
2024. Chinese EFL Students’ Awareness of English Epicene Pronouns: Towards a More Gender-Inclusive Language. Sage Open 14:4 DOI logo
Zhang, Xiufeng & Hengwen Yang
2021. Gender voices in Chinese university students’ English writing: A corpus study. Linguistics and Education 64 ► pp. 100935 ff. DOI logo
Zhang, Xiufeng & Hengwen Yang
2024. Perception and usage of English epicene pronouns among L2 teachers in China‐focusing on he, he or she and they. European Journal of Education 59:3 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 31 december 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.