Stereotype Threat Undermines High School Boys' Performance in the Domain of Language Arts

• In Event: 31.091 - Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: 31.091-8 - The Role of Choice, Stereotype Threat, and Identity in Reading and Literacy Contexts

Abstract

In light of large scale studies showing that boys consistently lag behind girls in school, particularly in the domain of language arts (OECD, 2010), the underachievement of male students has become an international concern. Based on the stereotype threat theory (Steele, & Aronson, 1995), this study examined whether verbal stereotypes alleging a female superiority suppress high school boys’ language arts performance. Therefore, 297 grade 10 French-speaking students completed two 20-minutes spelling tests respectively in a control and a stereotype threat condition. Results revealed that females’ performance remained similar across the two conditions whereas males made more spelling mistakes under the stereotype threat condition. Such findings suggest that in school, stereotypes may contribute to language arts gender gaps.

Authors

• Simon-Benoît Kinch, Université du Québec à Montréal

• Isabelle Plante, University of Quebec - Montreal

• Jonathan Bruneau St-Onge, Université du Québec à Montréal