Gendered Discourse in EFL Speaking Classrooms: Patterns of Participation and Response Among Pesantren University Students
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Keywords:
gendered discourse, EFL speaking, pesantren students, classroom participation, sociocultural theory, learner investment, qualitative case studyAbstract
This study investigates whether tutor questioning mediates gendered participation of non-English-major students with pesantren educational backgrounds in mixed-gender EFL speaking classrooms in Indonesia. Previous studies have documented how classroom discourse and participation occur in different educational settings under gendered terms. Nonetheless, little research has examined how students' previous educational experiences – especially those of students from pesantren traditions, with teacher-centered authority, primarily single-sex education, and strong communal values – affect their participation in tutor–student interaction in the university EFL classroom. Based on Vygotsky's (1978) Sociocultural Theory, Norton's (2013) theory of learner investment, and gendered communication theories, this qualitative multiple-case study analyzed two mixed-gender EFL speaking classes within a university in Indonesia. Data were obtained through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires administered to students. The results show tutor questioning served as a mediational tool, facilitating student participation through probing and follow-up questions, translanguaging, lexical assistance, and positive reinforcement. Although female students tended to volunteer more frequently and provide more elaborate responses, while male students were more likely to need tutor prompting before extending their contributions, these differences in responses seemed to rely on interactional tendencies rather than fixed gender characteristics. Students' lived experiences of learning contributed to their management of speaking anxiety, to their interpretation of tutor questioning, and to their participation in class. The study adds to the literature by illustrating the role of tutor questioning in promoting participation through interaction and showing that the correlation between gender and classroom discourse emerges from learners' sociocultural educational backgrounds rather than from gender alone.
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