RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Name: Gally D. Verdigar Date: March 07, 2023

Integration of Gender - Sensitive Language in ELT

1. Identify your
research topic
and provide a
working title.
2.1. I chose this topic because it is mandated that Higher Education
2. Why did you
Institutions all over the Philippines must serve as a support structure
choose to
for the efficient and effective mainstreaming of gender plans,
work on this
programs, and activities in the areas of instruction, research,
research
extension, and production in the Institute and the local community for
topic?
the advancement of RA 7192 and CHED Memorandum Order No. 1
series of 2015 “Establishing the Policies and Guidelines of Gender
What makes your
and Development” in all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). It is
study
also included in the United Nation’s Sustainable Development
significant?
Goals specifically SDG 5: Gender Equality.
What gap in
2.2. This study will be beneficial to the teachers/mentors to provide
research does the
encouragement to think of ways or ideas to integrate gender sensitive
study address? language in English Language Teaching in the teaching – learning
process. This may also increase their competency or skill in using
gender sensitive language in classroom instructions.

2.3. Despite of the concerted efforts of all the educational sectors

across the Philippines, especially the Commission on Higher
Education (CHED) and the government’s enacted laws on integrating
Gender and Development (GAD) initiatives specifically the use of
gender - sensitive language and expressions into the educational
system, it has been found out that these policies and guidelines have
no teeth in the implementation process and their power to reject such
integration attempts. English Language Teaching (ELT) of Filipino
educators find it difficult to fully incorporate the micro-aspects of
gender equality into their teaching methods such as gender - sensitive
language, topics, and gender-inclusive pedagogical practices (Harbin,
2016) because gender-sensitivity training programs rarely cover
integration to this degree.
3. Identify a
This study generally aimed to determine the integration of
research
gender - sensitive language in English language teaching in the
question (and
higher education department.
sub-
 questions, if
Specifically, this study sought to answer the following questions:
any) for your
1. What is the demographic profile of the respondents in terms
study
of:
1.1 Gender;
1.2 Course/Program
2. What is the level of perception of the college students
regarding the integration of gender-sensitive language in
English Language Teaching?
3. What is the level of integration of gender - sensitive language
in English Language Teaching in terms of:
3.1. Learning Assessment
3.2. Learning Materials
3.3. Didactics
4. Is there a significant difference on the students’ level of
perceptions in the integration of gender sensitive language in
ELT when grouped according to gender?
5. Is there a significant relationship between the students’ level
of perception and the level of integration of gender sensitive
language in ELT in terms of learning assessment, learnings
materials, and didactics?
6. Based on the findings of the study what instructional
enhancement can be proposed?

Hypothesis of the Study

Ha1: There is no significant difference on the students’ level
of perceptions in the integration of gender sensitive language
in ELT when grouped according to gender.
Ha2: There is no significant relationship between the students’
level of perception and the level of integration of gender
sensitive language in ELT in terms of learning assessment,
learnings materials, and didactics?
Foreign Related Studies
4. Identify 3-5
related
Integrating notions of gender sensitivity in language teaching
studies and
have been mostly conducted in Argentina (Banegas, 2020), South
briefly
Africa (Jimmyns & Meyer-Weitz, 2019), and Poland (Pakuła et
describe how
al., 2015). Most of these studies focused on integrating a lived or
each study
person-based curriculum (Banegas & Velázquez, 2014; Norton &
relates to
Pavlenko, 2004) that incorporates gender as part of a human’s
your identity and lived experiences. A number of researchers have also
proposed assessed gender representation in textbooks (Ariyanto, 2018;
research Curaming & Curaming, 2020; Lee & Mahmoudi-Gahrouei, 2020;
project. Tarrayo, 2014). In terms of the teacher-perspective ELT, notable
discussions have centered on the experiences of Argentinian student-
teachers in incorporating the gender perspective in ELT (Banegas et
al., 2019; Mojica & Castañeda-Peña, 2017). Collectively, ELT
educators first struggled in incorporating minute notions of gender-
fair language (Lomotey, 2020) and issues in their classroom
discussions, but they gradually appreciated the importance and
benefits of integrating gender-equality values into their pedagogical
practices (Banegas et al., 2019; Norton & Pavlenko, 2004). These
studies have concluded that the integration of the gender perspective
into ELT pedagogy leads to (1) creating a supportive and open space
for LGBTQIA+ learners (Sauntson, 2012), (2) educators reflecting on
and challenging their own gendered beliefs and experiences, and (3)
teachers being more conscious of other people’s diverse gendering
ways (Banegas, 2020; Banegas et al., 2019; Mojica & Castañeda-
Peña, 2017).

Local Related Studies

In the Philippines, the research, to date, has tended to focus on

extreme ends of the implementation process, such as the awareness of
educators about the gender perspective (Sumadsad & Tuazon, 2016)
or the success in incorporating gender in their pedagogical practices
(Lualhati, 2019), rather than an in-depth analysis on
the overall experience of educators in the government’s attempt to
mainstream GAD education in Philippine colleges and universities.

The Department of Education (DepEd) and the Commission

on Higher Education (CHED) have yet to successfully remove the
persistent misogynistic narratives ‘naturally’ hiding in textbooks and
other instructional materials (Curaming & Curaming, 2020; Tarrayo,
2014), curricula, and classroom discussions (Evangelista, 2017). It
has been identified that the use of various learning materials has been
proven to be an important media of gender fair beliefs discussed
between teachers and students. These educational materials play a
critical role in perpetuating sexist narratives, as teachers use these
materials as their main sources for lesson plans (Salami & Ghajarieh,
2015). In a study conducted by Tarrayo (2014), it emphasized that
Philippine English language textbooks and other learning materials
are still rife with sexist ideologies. These narratives were apparent in
textbook examples and images such as males being more visible in
terms of appearances, or females being dominantly assigned to
reproductive roles such as doing household chores. Circumventing
gender-based discrimination, it has been identified that it starts with
language and the systematic use of gender-biased terminologies.
Furthermore, it can also be said that the integration of gender
sensitive language into the teaching – learning process specifically in
the area of English Language Teaching (ELT) is an attempt to
address gender discrimination through pedagogical practices (UNDP,
 USAID, 2014). It is also imperative on the part of the teachers to
come up with learning materials which observe gender - sensitive
language.
5. Identify
possible
theoretical/
conceptual
frameworks for your
study

Research Design
Briefly describe your
The present study will utilize mixed method, it will employ
research
both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative method
methodology,
will be used to determine the level of perception of the student -
including method of
respondents in terms of the integration of the gender sensitive
analysis of data
language in the ELT, while qualitative method will be utilized in
exploring the teacher – participants’ insights about gender
perspective in ELT.

Research Environment
The study will be conducted at St. Louise de Marillac College
of Bogo, Cebu, Inc. It is a private sectarian school which is managed
by the Daughters of Charity. It is located at Sor D. Rubio St., San
Vicente, Bogo City, Cebu. One of the missions of the institution is to
serve the poor, transform the students into a holistic individual and
inculcate in them the values of Vincentian charism.
 Research Participants
The participants of the study are the college students across
departments from first year to third year. The number of respondents
corresponds to the seventy - five percent (75%) of the total
population of the college students from first year to third year. On the
other hand, one hundred percent (100%) of the of instructors who are
handling English language courses are also included as teacher -
respondents.
Simple random sampling will be used to select the student –
respondents, while purposive sampling will be employed for the
teacher – participants.

Research Instruments
In gathering the data needed for the study, the researcher will
use a modified survey questionnaire to measure the level of
perceptions of the college students in terms of the integration of the
gender sensitive language in English Language Teaching (ELT).
Moreover, three (3) standardized questionnaire will be adapted from
the study of Resueňo (2021), to measure the level of gender
sensitivity in terms of learning materials, didactics, and learning
evaluation employed by the teachers during the teaching-learning
process. Finally, focus group discussion (FGD) will be employed to
gather data from the teacher-participants.

Research Procedure

Data Collection
The researcher will solicit permission from the college dean
as well as from the respondents. Upon authorization, the researcher
will ask the help of the ELT teachers for the questionnaire
administration. A short informal interview will be conducted to the
respondents to gather more information about the study.
Data that will be collected will be reviewed, assessed, rated,
and processed by weighted mean, and percentage. Accurate
interpretations and analysis of the data will allow the researcher to
develop strategies to improve the responsiveness of gender sensitivity
in the classroom.
Treatment of Data
To statistically analyze the data, frequency percentage,
weighted mean, and Pearson Product Moment of Correlation
Coefficient will be used.

References:
Costa-jussà, M. R. (2019). An analysis of gender bias studies in natural language processing.
Nature Machine Intelligence, 1(11), 495-496.

Litosseliti, L. (2014). Gender and language theory and practice. Routledge.

Menegatti, M., & Rubini, M. (2017). Gender bias and sexism in language. In Oxford Research
Encyclopedia of Communication.

Remigio, Ma. Theresa R. & Talosa, Arlene D. (2021) Student’s general attitude in gender-
inclusive language. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (IJERE).Vol.
10, No. 3, September 2021, pp. 864~870. ISSN: 2252-8822, DOI: 10.11591/ijere.v10i3.21573

Resueňo, Celso P. Jr. Gender sensitivity in language teaching classes in the 21st century.
Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied and Basic Subjects (2021), 1 (2), 135-143

Smith, F., Hardman, F., & Higgins, S. (2007). Gender inequality in the primary classroom: Will
interactive whiteboards help?. Gender and Education, 19(4), 455- 469.

Sara Mill, S., & Mustapha, A. S. (2015). Gender representation materials: International New
York, NY: Routledge.

An introduction to the theory of gender-neutral language, Munich, GRIN Verlag,

https://www.grin.com/document/42742

This table is adapted from Martin (2017), Course Material for Descriptions of English,
Ateneo de Manila University