Helen Sauntson

Sexual diversity and illocutionary silencing in the English National Curriculum

Schools are sites in which heterosexuality is constructed as normal and sexualities which transgress this norm are silenced, often tacitly rather than actively. In this study, linguistic analysis is used to argue that, in school environments, homophobia and heterosexism are discursively realised as much through what is not iterated as through what is explicitly stated or enacted. Elements of critical discourse analysis and speech act theory are used to examine how the language used in the English curriculum programme of study documents constructs certain ideologies about sexuality, and how this may be linked to the cultures of heterosexism and homophobia which, according to recent research, pervade UK schools. Findings reveal that there are marked absences around sexuality in the English curriculum encoded in the experiential values of its vocabulary. These silences are identifiable in classification schemes, over-lexicalisation of ideologically contested words and the semantic profiles created by the collocation patterns surrounding particular words. Drawing on speech act theory, I argue that the cumulative effect of these features is an ‘illocutionary silencing’ around sexual diversity in the English curriculum, which, in turn, effects a discourse of heterosexism.

‘Business-facing motors for economic development’: an appraisal analysis of visions and values in the marketised UK university

Universities in 2011 find that they must justify their existence in economic terms, not intellectual ones. To this end, mission statements locate the university in an environment of increasing competitiveness and commodification. In this paper, we take a sample of 10 mission statements from the UK research-intensive Russell Group and the business-focused University Alliance. We use appraisal analysis to explore how the evaluative language used in the statement embodies the value of the universities. In the statements examined, we find that differences between the mission groups are realised most notably through appraisal markers of judgement and appreciation. We find a greater emphasis on markers of value in the University Alliance statements. We suggest that these newer universities are required to discursively echo the governments call for universities to ‘add value’ to graduates. The Russell Group, encoding greater use of markers of appreciation: reaction, is perhaps more influenced by the call to demonstrate ‘impact’.

Approaches to gender and spoken classroom discourse

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Introduction: Language, Gender, Sexuality and Schooling Data and Methods From Form to Function: Structural-Functional Discourse Analysis From Structural to Post-structural: Critical Feminist Approaches Beyond Gender Identity: Queer Theory Moving Forward? Some Conclusions Appendix Bibliography Index

Girls' and Boys' Use of Acknowledging Moves in Pupil Group Classroom Discussions.

This paper reports on research that examines the use of acknowledging moves in the single-sex group discussions of 12–13-year-old girls and boys in their Key Stage 3 Design and Technology lessons. Within structural-functional models of discourse analysis, acknowledging moves are a discourse feature that perform the function of providing feedback to another speakers utterance. Cullen (2002) has noted that little attention has been paid to the use of these moves in classroom interaction, arguing that this is a serious oversight as this part of the classroom exchange can perform important educational functions. The study of acknowledging moves has been even more neglected in the study of pupil group discussion, especially in relation to gender, and this paper aims to provide a contribution towards addressing this research gap. Employing techniques of functional discourse analysis, the findings of this study show that there are considerable differences in both the amounts and types of acknowledging moves used by the girls and boys in their respective group discussions. I suggest that, and attempt to illustrate how, these discoursal differences may contribute to our understanding of gender-differentiated attainment levels in Key Stage 3 Design and Technology.

Discursive Silences: Using Critical Linguistic and Qualitative Analysis to Explore the Continued Absence of Pleasure in Sex and Relationships Education in England.

In this paper, we present an analysis of ‘pleasure’ in sex and relationships education (SRE) in England. Drawing together two distinct sources of data and different but complementary analytical frameworks, we argue that pleasure is largely absent within SRE and that this discursive silence serves to produce highly gendered and heteronormative understandings of sexual agency, autonomy and empowerment. A critical linguistic analysis of the current Department for Education (DfE) SRE guidance for England reveals that sex is positioned as a ‘risky’ and dangerous activity, which is clearly linked to child protection; sex is not discussed as pleasurable. Focus group discussions conducted with young women in the North East of England highlight the ways in which gendered discourses about pleasure construct expectations for ‘appropriate’ sexual identities and behaviours. These may be linked to negative experiences such as sexual harassment and bullying and compromised sexual subjectivity. We suggest that existing DfE SRE guidance in England be re-examined with particular reference to addressing gender equality, including in relation to access to a discourse of sexual pleasure and rights.

Global perspectives and key debates in sex and relationships education: addressing issues of gender, sexuality, plurality and power

Electronic reproduction. ; Palo Alto, Calif. ; Available via World Wide Web. ; Description based on print version record. ; Original ; 9781137500205 ; 1137500204 ; (DLC) 2015037405 ; 4 ;

Investigating sexuality discourses in the U.K. secondary English curriculum.

This article reports on findings from a small-scale study that investigated sexuality discourses in the U.K. secondary English curriculum. In addition to conducting a critical analysis of English curriculum documents, interviews were also conducted with some English teachers and young lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)-identified people who attended, or had recently left, secondary school in Birmingham, U.K. Key findings indicate that issues around sexual diversity are noticeably absent from the curriculum, while other forms of diversity are more visible. This means that teachers are not explicitly encouraged to explore sexual diversity in their teaching, and the effects of this on young LGBT-identified people are overwhelmingly negative.

Discourse and Identity in a Corpus of Lesbian Erotica

This article uses corpus linguistic methodologies to explore representations of lesbian desires and identities in a corpus of lesbian erotica from the 1980s and 1990s. We provide a critical examination of the ways in which “lesbian gender,” power, and desire are represented, (re-)produced, and enacted, often in ways that challenge hegemonic discourses of gender and sexuality. By examining word frequencies and collocations, we critically analyze some of the themes, processes, and patterns of representation in the texts. Although rooted in linguistics, we hope this article provides an accessible, interdisciplinary, and timely contribution toward developing understandings of discursive practices surrounding gender and sexuality.

Language, sexuality and education

Presenting a range of data obtained from secondary schools in the UK and US, this path-breaking book explores the role played by language in constructing sexual identities. Analysing the often complex ways in which homophobia, heterosexism and heteronormativity are enacted within school contexts, it shows that by analysing language, we can discover much about how educators and students experience sexual diversity in their schools, how sexual identities are constructed through language, and how different statuses are ascribed to different sexual identities.

Discursive Silences: Critically Analysing the Presence/Absence of Sexual Diversity in the Sex and Relationships Education Guidance for England and Wales

The content, role and place of sex and relationships education (SRE) are under scrutiny in England and Wales. SRE has been described by Ofsted (2012) as ‘weak’. Accounts of the current crisis in SRE provision ourish, with particular attention being paid to the focus on biological aspects of puberty, reproduction and sexually transmitted infections. Conversely, discursive silences persist around issues such as gender and sexual diversity and plurality (Sex Education Forum, 2013). The SRE guidance for England and Wales was updated in January 2014, but the new guidance does not profoundly address these issues. Fundamental issues around gender, sexuality and diversity remain invisible or only tokenistically addressed (sometimes inaccurately). This is despite robust evidence that young people’s expectations and experiences of intimate relationships are mediated by their gender and sexual identities (Holland et al., 1998). In light of recent work which advocates the use of applied linguistics within work on sexuality and education (Nelson, 2012), we use the systematic linguistic analytical framework of critical corpus analysis (Baker et al., 2013) to investigate these issues and to examine the linguistic practices which function to construct ideologies and discursive silences around gender and sexuality. While previous thematic analyses of SRE guidance (e.g. Alldred and David, 2007) have been helpful for revealing overarching discourses and prevalent themes, the advantage of using linguistic analysis is that it reveals systematic patterns (including absences) in language use which cannot always be identified through thematic analysis alone.