"I Use Whatever": Cross-Linguistic Self-Expression Among Nonbinary High School Students Learning French and Spanish

• In Event: New Normatives in K–12

Abstract

As states and schools increase attacks on transgender youth, French and Spanish foreign language classes pose particular constraints to non-binary students due to the binary gendered construction of the languages. This exploratory study investigates the strategies that non-binary adolescents use to express themselves in French and Spanish classroom settings. A qualitative survey of 263 non-binary high school students reveals varied and dynamic strategies that students use to navigate grammatical gender, including using traditional gendered pronouns and agreement, mixing gendered forms, using gender-neutral neologisms, combining gendered and non-gendered forms, and avoiding grammatical gender entirely. Findings illuminate the creativity and agency of non-binary youth as well as the need for further research into the context-specific constraints and affordances of their classroom settings.

Author

• Julia Donnelly Spiegelman, University of Massachusetts - Boston
  Presenting Author