Training in gender and sexual identities in EFL teaching. Participants’ contributions

Abstract

This paper is based on a training course which took place at the University of Granada (Spain) with the general purpose of introducing and discussing queer issues in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teaching. The specific aim was to empower primary and secondary school pre-service EFL teachers in order to take pedagogical action in favour of LGBTIQ+ persons’ equity. In this action research study, emphasis was put on practical activities, including the production of original queer teaching materials, and class interactions based on queer theory and transformative pedagogy. Qualitative data, emerged from the participants’ written and oral course evaluations as well as class observations, were examined through thematic analysis, which served to improve further editions of the course. The main results of this study suggest that this type of training should begin in early childhood education, that it is necessary to train EFL (as well as any other discipline) pre-service teachers in these issues and that progressive Spanish legislation for LGBTIQ+ people might not be sufficient in itself unless it is adequately implemented in education.