“Talking was a great experience” : gendered communication in ESOL workplace education.

Cuban, Sondra (2009) “Talking was a great experience” : gendered communication in ESOL workplace education. International Review of Education, 55 (5-6). pp. 579-596. ISSN 0020-8566

Abstract

An evaluation of a workplace course in England for English for Speakers of Other Language (ESOL) learners who were caregivers to the elderly found that while the curriculum emphasised sex differences, the participants voiced ideas and negotiated identities that sidestepped gendered conventions. Their refusal to adopt the workplace communiqué in the curriculum was hidden from management, raising questions about informal resistance strategies among immigrant women in tightly controlled workplaces.