Gender and Social Identity in SLA

Kryzsko Commons Ballroom

In recent years, society has held a strong spotlight on gender and social identity. Fourth-wave feminism has pushed for intersectionality, the empowerment of women, and the expulsion of gender norms and conformity. These changes in topics of discourse and ideals have rippled out into fields that may initially seem unexpected, such as into theories of second language acquisition. However, social identity, including gender, is undoubtedly a huge set of factors involved in second language acquisition and the successes (or failures) of L2 learners. Choosing to ignore these factors in research and considerations leaves us drawing conclusions which aren't based on the whole picture. Thankfully, there has been a shift to this aspect of research within the past 30 years, and we are continuing to develop it today. It is of the utmost importance to remove learners from an abstract environment in research and consider 27 real factors that are a part of their everyday lives. Afterall, it seems highly unlikely that any learner is placing themselves into an isolation chamber to learn a language. Language learners weave their learning into their complex, unique daily lives. Gender and social identity are major key factors to consider when discussing the acquisition of a second language.