英語語言性別變異與英語教學

Abstract

本文試從女性主義者以語言為社會與文化機器之論點，揭示英語語言反映男女兩性差異之現象，解析性別歧視之定義、肇因與例證，並針對女性主義者批判英語之效應，省察國內英語教學因應之道。冀期了解英語語言性別變異了歷史沿革後，亦能從眾說紛紜之兩性話語風格論述中，辨別「事實」與「意見」、「定型」與「概化」、「研究假設」與「研究發現」，進而使用無性別歧視之英語用語。

This paper explores educational advantage of the interest in sex-linked language generated by the women's movement and carefully examines the issues raised by feminists. After a brief introduction reviewing the recent history of lauguage and gender, sex variation in English is explored from the perspectives of sexism in language, the use of language, and conversational strategies. Sex variation is then discussed in terms of (1) the effects of the feminist critique on English and (2) activities for teaching about sex variation in English. It is hoped that Chinese teachers of English will be able to distinguish between fact and opinoin, stereotype and generalization, hypothesis and research findings and at the same time to help their students avoid using words and expressions that are no longer acceptable to many people and organizations.