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Language, Sexuality, and Education

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Discourse and Education

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

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Abstract

Studies which examine intersections between language, sexuality, and education are relatively few in number and this field is still arguably in its relative infancy. With a few exceptions, what much current work on sexuality and education lacks is an explicit focus on the role that language plays in constructing discourses around sexuality in schools. And while work in the field of language and sexuality has examined the diverse ways in which sexual identity can be linguistically enacted, little of this research has yet been applied to educational settings. In the work on language, sexuality, and education that does exist, most major contributions fall into two broad areas: those which focus on discriminatory language practices relating to sexuality (especially homophobic language); and those which investigate more broadly the discursive construction of sexuality in educational settings. Within the first area, a number of studies have examined homophobic language use in schools and other educational settings. Some work has examined how homophobia is not always overt and is more often construed as a discursive effect of silence and invisibility. In work which examines the discursive construction of sexuality in educational contexts, some use has been made of narrative analysis and classroom interaction analysis. This chapter provides an overview of work within these two broad areas. Alongside work which focuses on schools, there is a growing body of work which examines the discursive construction of sexual identities specifically within language education (especially English language education). This chapter also provides an overview of work which examines language and sexuality in these different educational settings.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Some research focuses only on lesbian, gay and bisexual identities (LGB) where other research incorporates transgender identities (LGBT).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. York St John University, York, UK

    Helen Sauntson

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  1. Helen Sauntson
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Correspondence to Helen Sauntson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, Univ of Pennsylnia Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

    Stanton Wortham

  2. Tampa, Florida, USA

    Deoksoon Kim

  3. University of Auckland, Auckland, Australia

    Stephen May

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© 2015 Springer International Publishing AG

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Sauntson, H. (2015). Language, Sexuality, and Education. In: Wortham, S., Kim, D., May, S. (eds) Discourse and Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02322-9_14-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02322-9_14-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02322-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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