Gender- and Sexuality-Inclusive Curriculum (GSIC), an ELT Initiative – Collaboration with local professionals

On Saturday morning, May 25, Gender- and Sexuality-Inclusive Curriculum Task Group (GSIC) in collaboration with SUGender launched the GSIC ELT Initiative by conducting a meeting at Karaköy Minerva Palace with local ELT professionals and graduate students. Ten attendees were present in this first meeting. The participants gathered from Bahçeşehir, Beykent, Koç, Medeniyet, Medipol, MEF and Sabancı universities.

The GSIC ELT Initiative aims to make university-level ELT gender- and sexuality-inclusive in Istanbul. Earlier this year, the initiative invited local ELT professionals who are either doing research and working in this area or are interested in gender and sexuality topics to join the initiative. The initiative plans to have monthly meetings for a year and encourage collaboration among academics, instructors and ELT graduate students to develop materials that are gender and sexuality inclusive.

Why the need for this initiative?

The desire to do active work on queer inclusion in education, particularly in ELT, began when the task group members found common ground after a presentation on intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) that they both attended, which sparked a series of conversations on gender and sexuality, heteronormativity¹, personal educational experiences and histories, and the common concern for the general lack of legitimate gender and sexuality representation and inclusion in learning and teaching environments. Heteronormative constructions often present a narrow view of identity that permeates many aspects of pedagogical materials and practices. By privileging heterosexuality, heteronormativity leads to misrepresentation, marginalization, and/or an ignorance of queer identities which could have detrimental implications, pedagogically and otherwise on people who identity as queer. It is important to include explicit and complex representations of non-normative identities in order to combat discrimination and raise awareness on how heteronormativity interacts within institutional systems and creates inequalities and oppression.

Initially the GSIC task group was formed to analyze the degree to which route four materials of the foundations development year are gender and sexuality inclusive in order to determine relevant and/or explicit strategies and approaches for better inclusion in existing materials. The task group found the materials limited in  representation of a wide spectrum of identities. This catapulted the group, with a sense of urgency, to endorse better inclusion within their local context by adopting Queer Theory² as an approach following Cynthia Nelson’s (1999) guidance that proposes to utilize inquiry and problematize all sexual identities rather than assert minority identity categories in order to allow for the participation of a variety of viewpoints and an investigation of a more diverse set of experiences and perspectives. To gain a wider perspective and insight on student sentiments and perceptions, the group decided to involve route four students in the research and designed a mini-lesson on content analysis to help identify how students understand subordinated (in particular, gender and sexual) identities represented, or not, in course materials. Following Nelson (1999), the group chose an inquiry-based approach informed by Queer Theory to analyze course texts and asked students to look at the identities represented and hidden (Vandrick, 1997) or lacking in the text and the identities represented and hidden (Vandrick, 1997) or lacking as the audience for the text. Apart from GSIC task group members, some SL instructors also participated in this research and although there were other SL instructors who expressed an interest, due to scheduling constraints, they were unable to participate.

To further extend the project to include collaborations with teachers and student teachers working or studying in ELT departments in local institutions, the group has been collaborating with SUGender on the GSIC ELT Initiative. The overall aim is to raise awareness and make ELT more inclusive.

First meeting: aims, expectations and some terminology  

We started our presentation with an introduction to the initiative’s mission and aims and shared our story with the attendees. We then invited the attendees to write down their expectations regarding the proposed monthly meetings; effectively working together as a cohesive group and attending meetings. We followed this with a whole group discussion. To provide an opportunity for some team-building and have the attendees start thinking about sexual and gender identities, we used the sample class discussion questions in Nelson’s article* (1999) for a group mingle activity. The participants shared and expressed their thoughts with one another in a lighthearted and non-threatening way.

In order to better understand and identify the needs of the participants joining the initiative, we designed a needs analysis survey. As some participants did not get the chance to take the survey before the meeting, we asked them to spend some time answering the questions. The results show that all teachers who took the survey had no training on LGBTQIA+ inclusive pedagogies/practice. They all stated that they would like to have training on LGBTQIA+ terminology, themes and issues. 66.7% said that they had not used materials that are inclusive of LGBTQIA+ people, topics and issues in their lessons. Of the 33.3% who used inclusive materials before, five stated that they adapted their institution’s or outside materials while only two stated that they designed their own materials. 75% responded that they had raised LGBTQIA+ themes and/or issues in class without planning. Some said that the topics arose as a result of student initiative, while others said that they avoid heteronormative inquiry and use gender-neutral language, impart positive and inclusive thinking, raise students’ awareness of sexism and address discrimination.

We followed this with a presentation on basic terminology on sexuality, focusing on defining gender identity and sexual orientation as distinct categories. Our next topic was intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989). Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989) is a helpful tool in investigating heteronormativity and systems of oppression and inequities. Elizabeth Coleman kindly accepted our invitation to give a brief introduction to Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality. Coleman shared a short definition of the concept, talked about how the concept emerged and explained it with a few examples. She mentioned that an individual may experience multiple forms of oppression and/or discrimination. She added that by taking into consideration how these identities overlap within a person, an intersectional approach helps in understanding the complex and multiple forms of disadvantages a person may face. Lastly, we talked about the importance of allyship and what defines an ally.

Both Justin and I chose three foundational articles each as suggested reading for the next meeting in June and gave short summaries of them. We also shared with the participants our online literature folder so that everyone could have easy access to the articles and invited all to share their own articles to add to the folder for future suggested reading. We proposed summer reading and invited everyone to make contributions to the reading list.

Future meetings will begin with discussion of literature to provide everyone foundational knowledge on queer topics in ELT and inspire ideas for developing materials. We found that this first meeting was very promising and productive. We are eagerly looking forward to our second meeting in June.

¹According to the European Institute for Gender Equality, heteronormativity refers to the assumption that everyone is heterosexual, privileging heterosexuality as the only natural sexuality and superior to others. Accessed May 2019.

²Queer Theory asks for an interruption of the limiting structures and forms of thinking created by heteronormativity to broaden the experiences of perception, interpretation, representation and imagination. (See Sumara & Davis, 1999)

References

Crenshaw, K. (1989). Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics. The University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8.

Homophobia and Discrimination on Grounds of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the EU Member States, European Institute of Gender Equality, 2009. http://www.eige.europa.eu/thesaurus/terms/1237. Accessed May 2019.

Nelson, D. C. (1999). Sexual identities in ESL: Queer Theory and classroom inquiry. TESOL Quarterly 33(3), 371-391.

Nelson, D. C. (2002). Why Queer Theory is Useful in Teaching: A Perspective from English as a Second Language. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 14(2):43-53

Sumara, D. & Davis, B. (1999). Interrupting Heteronormativity: Toward a Queer Curriculum Theory. Curriculum Inquiry, 29(2), 191-208

Vandrick, S. (1997). The Role of Hidden Identities in the Postsecondary ESL Classroom. TESOL Quarterly 31(1), 153-157.

*Guess the Question activity: We are including the activity instructions and the set of questions here for those who might be interested in using them in their classes.

Each participant receives a slip of paper with a question to stick to another person’s forehead. The task is to mingle for ten minutes and guess the question by listening to how people are responding to their question. Some two or three part questions were separated and some were adapted to also include gender. Thus, there are more questions than those provided in the article.

• In this country, what do people do or say (or not do or say) if they want to be seen as gay [lesbian] [straight]?
• In this country, people may do or say (or not do or say) certain things if they want to be seen as gay [lesbian] [straight]. How is this different in another country?
• In this country, people may do or say (or not do or say) certain things if they want to be seen as gay [lesbian] [straight]. How is this similar in another country?
• Why do people sometimes want to be seen as straight [bisexual] [lesbian]?
• Why do people sometimes not want to be seen as straight [bisexual] [lesbian]?
• Why do people sometimes want to be able to identify others as straight [gay] [bisexual]?
• When is it important to identify someone as straight [gay] [bisexual]?
• When is it not important to identify someone as straight [gay] [bisexual]?
• Is it easy to identify someone as gay [straight] [lesbian]? Why or why not?
• Does it make a difference if a person is old or young, a man or a woman, someone you know or someone you only observe to identify them as gay [straight] [lesbian]?
• What things can make it easier or more difficult to identify someone as gay [straight] [lesbian]?
• Are there people who think their sexual identity is more [less] important than another part of their identity? Explain.
• In this country [in this city], which sexual identities seem natural or acceptable?
• In this country [in this city], which sexual identities do not seem natural or acceptable?
• How can you tell which sexual identities seem natural or acceptable in this country [in this city]?
• How can you tell which sexual identities do not seem natural or acceptable in this country [in this city]?
• After people move to this country, do they change how they think about sexual identities? If so, how? If not, why not?
• Are there people who think their gender identity is more [less] important than another part of their identity? Explain.
• What things can make it easier or more difficult to identify someone as trans [non-binary] [cisgender]?
• Is it easy to identify someone as trans [non-binary] [cisgender]? Why or why not?
• When is it important to identify someone as trans [non-binary] [cisgender]?L
• When is it not important to identify someone as trans [non-binary] [cisgender]?

Link to Sabancı University School of Languages blog post:

https://sl.sabanciuniv.edu/sl-blogs/gender-and-sexuality-inclusive-curriculum

GSIC* at TEVITÖL on LGBTQIA+ Terminology

“Why do pronouns or gender and sexuality issues matter?”

Learning is about disruption and opening up to further learning, not closure and satisfaction. -Kevin Kumashiro

One student in the middle row raised her hand and asked, “I don’t understand why these issues, like the pronouns people use, are so important and that we need to take these seriously. I mean when there are so many problems in the world that need addressing, why do we have to think of gender and sexuality issues as important?” Justin and I looked at each other briefly after the student posed this question. It was disheartening to hear someone exerting almost a resentful opinion. The voice was indignant, asserting a  stance against LGBTQIA+ issues being everyone’s issues. “We are certainly not saying LGBTQIA+ issues are more important than other issues. There are many problems in the world that indeed we should be aware of and address. What we are saying is that LGBTQIA+ people have historically been a minority group in the world who have systematically been discriminated against and whose voices have repeatedly been silenced; that LGBTQIA+ people constantly have to fight for their basic human rights, and in some places they have been criminalized for being who they are. There are so many problems in the world, we are not saying this is the most important problem, what we are saying is that discrimination against LGBTQIA+ people is real” Justin replied. After our talk, the student approached Justin and apologized for sounding aggressive and stated that they themself had questioned their sexual orientation and requested a certificate and wanted to stand in solidarity as an ally.

There were many inquisitive questions that TEVITÖL high school students asked us, questions that ranged from why there is a need for the word queer since the acronym LGBTQIA+ stands to mean the same, to what it is like to transition in Turkey legally. Our audience was engaged, very attentive and eager to share their thoughts and perspectives with us when we posed them questions. We were thrilled to openly discuss gender and sexuality categories with them.

Considering high school age an important time when many youth might begin to explore or question their own sexual and gender identities, but are rarely afforded the affirming resources or opportunities to do so, being invited to give a talk on LGBTQIA+ terminology was indeed a great opportunity to help provide an avenue to discuss gender and sexuality topics with the students. Many educational systems and institutions exercise and augment heteronormative structures and reinforce limiting beliefs of categorizing and seeing the world we live in. Societal and cultural heteronormativity expands into curricula in restrictive analyses and definitions of the concepts of gender and sexuality and often deprives youth from even a fair exposure to non-normative information on the fundamentals of human existence, on topics relating to understanding one’s relationship to the self and to others while exploring gender and sexuality as a spectrum rather than a binary. For those students who may identify as LGBTQIA+, the lack of legitimate representation can be deeply damaging and may easily result in an all-consuming internal struggle not only to sustain and affirm their identities, but also to cope with the feeling of exclusion and injustice as subjects vulnerable to discrimination or oppression.

Yağmur, a TEVITÖL student, invited us to give the talk at her school. Yağmur got in touch with us through Sibel Şimşek, an SL instructor. Yağmur is Sibel’s daughter and she had heard about the workshop we gave at SL on LGBTQIA+ common terms and was interested to have us give a similar talk on the same topic at her school. TEVITÖL is a boarding school for gifted and talented students, located in a beautiful lush green landscape by the sea in Gebze, Kocaeli. Once we arrived on campus, Yağmur, a very welcoming student, took us on a tour, sharing with us bits and pieces of history and stories relating to the people and various buildings along with the current issues and ensuing changes at the school. As we arrived at the building the auditorium was located in, she showed us an art exhibition in the gallery where some of her very creative artwork was on display.

We structured our talk, LGBTQIA+ Terminology, Common Terms in Use, in two parts: Sex vs. gender and sexuality. Closing with the importance of allyship, we invited students to make a pledge. This involved giving away postcard-sized cards that contained the words “I’m an Ally.”  The idea behind this was that students could take away something physical to remind themselves of what it means to be LGBTQIA+ allies. Students could sign their names on these and pledge to be allies. The high level of interest in these pledges showed us that the reception to our talk was overwhelmingly positive. We wished we had prepared more pledges to give away as we rapidly ran out of them and did not have enough to give to all those who wanted one.

LGBTQIA+ Terminology, Common Terms in Use

Our talk was centered mainly around definitions on some common LGBTQIA+ terms. Opening the talk with the category of gender identity, I shared with the audience my gender identity, communicating the fact that I am a trans person who identifies as male and followed this with definitions for trans man and woman and continued with an explanation of the process of transitioning and the importance of pronouns for trans people. Afterwards, I talked about the difference between sex and gender, gender identity and gender expression, and finally about concepts such as cisgender (not transgender), before speaking about transphobia and LGBTQIA+ bullying. In the second half, Justin shared his own coming out story and what this experience was like for him. He then talked about the difference between sexuality and sexual orientation and gave a variety of examples of sexual orientations. He explained what the letter Q in LGBTQIA+ stands for before talking about heteronormativity and how it may manifest. He then shared some ways in which oppression may function and the semantics of microagression, using an example to demonstrate how some common phrases may be insulting on an unintentional or subtle level. We then invited students to ask questions.

We asked students to share their thoughts on how they found the talk by filling out an online feedback form. It is worth noting what some students said in response to the question: In what ways has this workshop helped you in your understanding of inclusivity or diversity?

Hearing about LGBTQIA+ from LGBTQIA+ people is quite an opportunity to get rid of all the question marks about the LGBTQIA+ community; I learned about the gender spectrum and LGBTQIA+ terminology, I learned how to be an ally!; I noticed that I had known nothing about gender; I figured out that I am not the only one who gets in trouble with his/her/zer pronouns; The emotional aspects regarding the lives of LGBTQIA+ people; It made me understand the terminology which I had no idea about before.

It was wonderful to be invited to such a unique high school to talk about LGBTQIA+ terms with students and equally wonderful to have an audience who was attentive and asked inquisitive and insightful questions. We found the experience to be rewarding and enjoyed our time with the exceptional TEVITÖL faculty and students.

Many thanks to Yağmur Şimşek for recognizing the importance of LGBTQIA+ issues and striving to do proactive work on educating her peers on LGBTQIA+ people and issues as well as to the school’s counselor Betül Büyük and TEVITÖL for acknowledging the significance of creating a supportive learning environment that is accepting of and safe for queer students by providing a platform to discuss LGBTQIA+ topics and inviting us to give the talk.

Reference

Kumashiro, K. K. (2000). Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education. Review of Educational Research, 70(1), 25–53.

*GSIC (Gender- and Sexuality-Inclusive Curriculum)

April 23, 2019

Link to Sabancı University School of Languages blog post:

https://sl.sabanciuniv.edu/sl-blogs/gsic-tevitol-lgbtqia-terminology