Epicene pronoun usage in the social sciences: The case of research articles

“What do they mean?” a systematic review on the interpretation, usage and acceptability of “they”

“…Stormbom (2020) conducted a search of gendered language in open research articles and reported that singular "they" was the most commonly used pronoun (46.8%). Similarly, Yakut et al (2021) found that the usage of the pronoun "they" as a non-binary singular pronoun considerably increased from the year 2010 to the year 2019 in Social Science academic journals. In Chinese University students' English writing, Zhang and Yang (2021) found that singular "they" accounted for 15% of the total pronoun usage in comparison to gendered pronouns.…”

“…(p. 1694) LaScotte ( 2021) "This demonstrates that regardless of proficiency level, international students use a range of pronouns to refer to singular, non-gender specified antecedent -even singular 'they, ' which is not typically taught. " (p. 92) Yakut et al (2021) "In this study, we focused on linguistic sexism in the pronoun system in several social science academic journals. With some fluctuations, the usage of they as a nonbinary singular pronoun has moved from a small percentage (…) to a noticeably larger percentage (...) across the years examined in this research; our observations also showed that the usages of he (...) and she (...) have maintained their dominance throughout 2010-2019 compared to 'they' . "…”

A discursive exploration of gender in primary textbooks of English in Pakistan

“…As situated above, the English language has become a norm to acquire modern knowledge to (re)construct and maintain identities in this global world (Pun, 2019; Stormbom, 2019). However, there is a scarcity of research investigating unequal gender identities (Goyal and Rose, 2020; Koster and Litosseliti, 2021; Lee and Chin, 2019; Yakut et al ., 2021) in the teaching of ESL. Thus, the current paper investigated gender disparity in English textbooks taught at the primary level in four provinces (Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) of Pakistan.…”

“…Language is the primary source of (re)constructing social realities such as gender is accomplished through language use or discourse (Fairclough, 2015; Lee and Chin, 2019). Rather language serves as the primary source to represent gender differences (Yakut et al ., 2021). This interplay of language and gender was first highlighted by Lakoff (1973) who exposed the ways adopted to demean women.…”

“…However, there is a scant amount of research scrutinizing this ideologically laid gender depiction in the educational arena (Goyal and Rose, 2020; Yakut et al ., 2021). Hence, the core aim is to demystify the pivotal role of English language textbooks in representing gender asymmetry, adhering to feminist critical discourse analysis (FCDA) in the context of Pakistan.…”