International Journal of Language & Literature

Culture, Gender, Language and Literature Relationship: 4th Year Elt Students’ Perceptions of Female Issues in American and British Literature
Associate Professor Aysun Yavuz

Abstract
In this paper; culture, gender, language and literature relationship is discussed from the sociolinguistics perspective. This complex relationship is analysed in relation with cognitive categories, Whorfian Hypothesis, grammatical markers, natural, grammatical and social gender and the notion of gendered language. Social gender is also examined within a literary lens through female issues raised by 4th year ELT students in analysing literary texts in ‘Selections from Western Literature’ as an elective course at an ELT department at a Turkish University. Five (5) thematic categories are gathered through inductive analysis of the presentation data as female issues which are namely; obedient and modest; beautiful, seductive or destructive; underappreciated and emotionally trapped woman; woman as an object of love and female writer expressing her love. Female issues are examined in relationship with social gender and drawing from the thematic categories; suggestions and implications regarding how to integrate literature, culture and gender relationship as a tool of teaching English in the ELT curriculum are discussed.

Full Text: PDF      DOI: 10.15640/ijll.v3n2a4