ABSTRACT
The student population of Australian universities is increasingly diverse in terms of gender identity, and with this diversity comes pressing demands for gender-fair language use in all communication and teaching practices. Universities are generally open to such requests, as evidenced in the use of the singular forms they/them/theirs. However, such practices are more problematic to implement in the foreign language classroom of gendered languages, such as French. In these languages, grammatical gender duality is pervasive in all aspects of the language via the phenomenon of agreement and therefore cannot be reduced to the choice of a particular pronoun. Yet there are alternatives to the generic and mixed collective uses of grammatically masculine forms through the adoption of strategies of feminization—concerned with the equal inclusion of women in the discourse; and/or neutralization—aimed at eliminating gender distinction; as well as specific solutions to refer to individuals identifying as nonbinary with the use of increasingly recognized neo-forms (such as iel). Faced with a multiplicity of proposals, even the best-intentioned teacher may be unsure of the most appropriate strategy to adopt without compromising the demands of standard language teaching. This article, informed by examples of policies promoting nonsexist gender-inclusive language in universities and international organizations such as the United Nations, and informed by research on the cognitive effects of feminization and neutralization strategies, examines the use and teaching of a selection of nonsexist language practices within the French as a foreign language classroom, evaluating their advantages and disadvantages.
