Ideologies about Gender and Literacy in the Academic Lives of Young Men: A Qualitative Study in Three High School English Classrooms

Abstract

Since the turn of the 21st century, the media and educational scholars have both responded to, and fostered, panic about the alleged literacy deficits of young men (e.g. Smith & Wilhelm, 2002; Martino & Kehler, 2007; Sommers, 2013). This dissertation instead asks how gender matters to students in English class (if at all) and how students access and navigate circulating stereotypes about gender and literacy, including deficit-based stereotypes. The qualitative study draws on interviews with 31 male and female high school students at three college-preparatory high schools (one coed, one all-female, one all-male) to investigate the ways in which locally circulating ideologies about gender and literacy (Street, 1995; Butler, 2007, West & Zimmerman, 2005) contribute to student practices and perspectives on English Language Arts (ELA) literacy. The study reveals consistent patterns of belief about gender and English class across all sites; but, for students, these shared ideologies served as raw material for idiosyncratic performances of identity relative to ELA literacy practices. Students almost unanimously accessed the belief that female students have more success and engagement in English class. Students also believed, somewhat paradoxically, that specific ELA literacy events (e.g. writing a literature analysis essay) are gender neutral—just a part of doing school. In Street’s terms, students understood literacy events as ideologically autonomous even as literacy practices were affected by ideologies about gender and literacy. These explanatory ideologies included beliefs about gender and communication style, emotional maturity, work ethic, and commitment to gender-justice. In particular, the circulating ideology about gender-justice, in which female students should be engaged with such issues while male students should only be exposed, highlights potential limitations for making gender an explicit topic in class. Still, since conditions appear favorable for renewed panic about the education of young men (Weaver-Hightower, 2009), this dissertation concludes by promoting meta-analytic approaches to gender in ELA classrooms that potentially increase all students’ repertoires for critical gender awareness and encourage them to disrupt the perceived neutrality of literacy event.