Results: Intercultural Competence and Gender-Neutral Language

In this chapter, I address research questions 8a, 8b and 8c from the survey given to language teachers; these questions focus on gender-neutral language. I begin with question 8a, which asked the teachers: Do gender-neutral expressions or pronouns exist in the L2 you are teaching? Teachers were provided with four possible preset answers—yes, no, don’t know and no comment—plus a free-text option so that they could type their own alternative response. Teachers who selected no, don’t know or no comment were then asked to proceed to the next question block (i.e., question 9). Teachers who provided an affirmative answer to question 8a were asked to continue on to question 8b, which asked: If gender-neutral language options exist in your L2, do you teach them? Teachers who answered yes to this as well were then asked to proceed to question 8c (If you are teaching gender-neutral language options, you can share your reasons for doing so here), while teachers who answered no were asked to proceed to question 8d (If you are not teaching gender-neutral forms, you can share your reasons for not doing so here). Both 8c and 8d had free-text answers.