Examining gender and cultural influences on classroom participation and interaction of students in and ESL and General education classroom.

Abstract

English Language Learner (ELL) is a term used to describe a student whose second language is English and is not fully proficient in English (Coleman & Goldenberg, 2009). In order for ELLs to become proficient in English they need opportunities to speak and practice using the language (Vogt & Echevarria, 2008, Wright, 2010). According to Higgins (2010) gender discrimination occurs in classrooms in the form of teachers calling on males more often than females. Research has shown that males speak out of turn more frequently than females and when they do, they use longer utterances (Hruska, 2004; Parker & Riley, 2010). This may put female ELLs at a disadvantage in terms of becoming proficient in English and their academic success.