This study outlines the language and gender studies in Korea over the past 30 years and derives some prospect of the future research. Following the epitome of the beginning and development of the studies in the framework of modern sociolinguistics, this article reviews the relevant studies on both Korean and foreign languages. The review shows that the works on this topic can be broadly classified into three main research areas; language variation, utterable genderlect and objective genderlect. Though having entered upon this research area two decades later than those in Amercian and European countries, Korean sociolinguists have produced significant results, especially in the gender-specific utterances in Korean. Works on other languages have been also carried out, often with applied linguistic purposes of cross-linguistic/cultural analysis, foreign language education, translation as well as consciousness raising of gender issues. Emphasizing the need for interdisciplinary approaches both in perspectives and research methods of the future studies, this article expects continuation of variation studies for completing the description of ‘language variation and change’, sociolinguistic efforts and movement against the gender bias and discrimination, and analysis of various types of communication in cyber space. It is also pointed out that language use of sexual minorities is one of the most untapped and subtle sociolinguistic topics in Korea.
It is generally believed that teachers are important both to student learning and achievement. Apart from teacher qualification and experience, some studies have shown that teacher gender may relate significantly to student achievement. The purpose of the study was to find out the following- (a) Does teacher gender significantly influence student academic achievement in English Language Arts at the junior secondary school level? (b). Does teacher gender significantly influence student academic achievement in Mathematics at the junior secondary school level? (c) Does teacher gender significantly influence student academic achievement in Biology at the junior secondary school level? Data was obtained from 570 students in seven junior secondary school students in South-East area of Nigeria. An analysis of data showed the following- In the English Language Arts area, and at the junior secondary school level, female students performed significantly higher than male students under a female teacher and male students performed better (but not statistically significant) under male teachers. In the area of Mathematics, female students performed significantly higher under male teachers. Based on the findings, recommendations were made on improving the teaching of English Language Arts, Mathematics and Integrated Science in Nigerian junior secondary schools.