Struggling for Equality/Struggling for Hierarchy: Gender Dynamics in an English as an Additional Language Classroom for Adolescent Vietnamese Refugees

In this article the author explores how the specific gender dynamics among newly arrived Vietnamese children influence classroom behavior in unanticipated ways. By focusing on specific ethnic experiences and data, analyzing similarities and differences, and offering other major findings on gender and power dynamics, she adds to the literature on gender in the classroom. The author highlights specific characteristics and interprets the cultural meanings of, and reasons for, these behaviors. Also shown is how new participants in the U.S. educational system try to understand and negotiate new and sometimes inexplicable dimensions of power. Specifically, it was found that students were aware that boys caused disruptions and everyone was jeopardized by this behavior. The results from this study are important because they highlight practical and theoretical difficulties in creating an egalitarian classroom--even when the teacher envisions one. The author concludes that girls often need special encouragement to be assertive in the classroom and command attention while boys frequently need special support to show emotion and ask for help because, according to their gender roles, they are not entitled to exhibit these behaviors. This area requires more holistic and inclusive studies that examine culture, ethnicity, class, gender roles, and social dynamics in the classroom. (Contains 4 endnotes.)