“Male Delivery”: What Some Boys Say About the Influence of Male English Teachers

• In Event: Roundtable Session 73
  In Roundtable Session: The Challenge of Schooling With Males at Every Level

Abstract

This paper, by drawing on data collected from two cases in a larger qualitative study, raises critical questions about dominant discourses that claim male English teachers are better equipped to improve boys’ literacy achievement on the basis of gender affiliation. This Ontario study created “spaces” (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, p. 23) for secondary-school male English teachers and their male students to speak about the multiple and complex contextual and pedagogical factors (i.e., teacher knowledge, socioeconomics, streaming) influencing their literacy experiences. Their localized, nuanced stories point to the limitations of reform initiatives advocating the recruitment of male English teachers to address boys’ literacy underachievement, as the majority of the boys understood the gender of their English teachers as an insignificant factor.

Author

• Anne M. Watson, The University of Western Ontario