Baetay!’ ‘Bachay!’ ‘Yaar !’, ‘Oye !’: Learners’ Perceptions about Classroom Discourses of Male and Female Pakistani ESL Teachers

Abstract

The current exploratory study was designed to investigate differences in the male and female ESL teachers’ discourses in ELT classrooms. Insights from the discipline of discourse, Sinclair & Coulthard’s (1975) model, Difference theory and Social Constructionist theory formed the theoretical framework of the study. Data of the study was collected by using convenient sampling technique. The sample of the study was 100 students of Master’s Program at the department of English of a public university in Pakistan. The results of the study show that majority of the learners (around 60%) are of the view that the classroom discourses of the female ESL teachers are different from the male ESL teachers discourses in their nonverbal classroom behaviours, use of hedges, softer expressions and modal verbs. The greater and clearer indicators of differences of the classroom discourses of the teachers appeared in their paralanguage, nonverbal behaviour and prosodic features.