Gender Disparity of Translanguaging in Language Forms—A Case Study of Excellent English Teachers in Chinese Secondary Schools

Abstract

Translanguaging is an important part of research in language and characters, although it has not reached a unanimous definition. It exists in the process of teaching in different forms of language, and the use of it may vary according to individual differences among teachers. This paper explores the use of different forms of language and gender differences in translanguaging among 10 excellent English teachers in Chinese secondary schools, with records on a classroom observation sheet. After a combination of quantitative and qualitative analyses, results show that differences appear among individual teachers in the use of different forms of language in class, and male teachers tend to use more body language than the target language and students’ native language, while female teachers tend to use more target language than body language and students’ native language. The results offer us a more thorough understanding about gender differences in translanguaging.