Teacher’s Role in Eliminating Stereotypes in Class

Abstract

The paper Teacher’s Role in Eliminating Stereotypes in Class deals with stereotypes in education, takes a closer look at gender stereotypes in EFL, and focuses on the teacher’s role in eliminating stereotypes in the classroom. A major part of children’s socialisation occurs in schools, through formal education. School is the place where children consciously and unconsciously learn about stereotypes. This paper examines whether stereotypes exist in school, in EFL, and in what way and how to overcome them. In the beginning it describes stereotyping, sexism, gender roles and how they are present in the (EFL) classroom. It furthermore discusses the problem of stereotypes and sexism in education and the period of middle childhood in terms of the development of self-image. The central part of the paper focuses on ways of overcoming stereotypes in the EFL classroom and emphasises the role of the teacher. In terms of methodology, the paper is theoretical in nature and uses the descriptive and comparative research method as it describes some findings on the topic and comparative research method when comparing professional and scientific findings of different authors. The paper also provides some examples and is an output of the author’s ongoing personal research and work in the area of English language teaching.