Complexity of Grammatical Gender in French: Perceptions of Learners and Teachers in an Australian University Context

This study investigates learners’ and teachers’ perceptions of grammatical gender in French in an Australian university context. The French language features a binary grammatical gender system that labels every noun as either masculine or feminine and treats the former as the default gender. The debate on gender-fair language (GFL) in French is therefore more complicated than in English. An online questionnaire completed by 36 students was used to assess their attitudes toward grammatical gender in French. Eight teachers were interviewed regarding their language attitudes and pedagogical practices. The students were generally supportive of GFL innovations, despite finding them complicated. The teachers’ attitudes diverged, but they generally accepted the usage of innovations. The findings suggest that GFL innovations are potentially useful pedagogical resources to teach French grammar. The study contributes to the debate on GFL in French and offers insights on queer-friendly language pedagogy.