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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 9, No. 7

Publication Date: July 25, 2022

DOI:10.14738/assrj.97.12606. Ahmed, K., McCarthy, P., Kaddoura, N., Thomas, A., & Al-harthy, A. (2022). Inclusive Language in Student Writing: Awareness and

Innovation. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(7). 54-75.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Inclusive Language in Student Writing: Awareness and

Innovation

Khawlah Ahmed

American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Philip McCarthy

American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Noor Kaddoura

American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Anuja Thomas

American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Ayah Al-harthy

American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

ABSTRACT

The goal of inclusive language is to replace terms and phrases that may cause

offense or denigrate a particular group of people. One of the major issues stymieing

a broader application of inclusive language is simply awareness, especially for

those who speak English as an additional language. Given that few places focus on

wording issues more than the writing classroom, it is surely there that instruction

and its associated Automated Writing Evaluation tools need to make appropriate

contributions. Accordingly, this paper assesses faculty, student, and technology for

their respective current levels of awareness. The results of our study suggest that

both faculty and students appear to be inconsistent and lacking in awareness on

many issues of inclusive language. Meanwhile, our analysis suggests technology

appears to have many opportunities to both improve and increase its role in

assisting with a greater understanding and application of inclusive language.

Keywords: Inclusive language; academic writing; Automated Writing Evaluation, Auto- Peer

INTRODUCTION

Despite the numerous accomplishments of women and minorities, issues such as inclusiveness,

justice, and equality remain stubbornly and unacceptably unresolved. On a societal level, the

struggle towards the resolution of these issues is reflected in movements such as Me Too and

Black Lives Matter. Meanwhile, on the academic front, the movement towards social justice is

reflected in the growing movement for greater deployment of inclusive language. To be clear,

progress requires all such movements, for while societally driven laws may protect the

vulnerable and punish the perpetrators, it is only behavioral awareness of our actions and

words that can ultimately render such legislation superfluous.

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Ahmed, K., McCarthy, P., Kaddoura, N., Thomas, A., & Al-harthy, A. (2022). Inclusive Language in Student Writing: Awareness and Innovation.

Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 9(7). 54-75.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.97.12606

Inclusive language, as explained by the Seattle University’s Writing Center [1], is language that

does not advocate discrimination towards specific groups of people. As the center explains,

language can either intensify or weaken such harmful rhetoric. Therefore, the use of language

that is inclusive is important as it fosters understanding and cooperation and helps dispel

outdated or bigoted views.

The push for inclusivity in academia is reflected in approaches such as culturally responsive

instruction and teaching [2]. These approaches emphasize the importance of considering

students’ backgrounds, contexts, and cultures for more effective teaching and learning.

Research shows that a lack of incorporating these differences into the curriculum and the

classroom can have negative consequences on students’ literary performance [3] [4]. However,

as Armstrong, Armstrong, and Spandagou [5] assert, inclusive education has been much more

complicated in practice than anticipated. Thus, it is important that we continue to explore

practical approaches to fostering inclusive teaching and learning.

Despite the recent rise in momentum towards inclusivity, research shows that issues of social

justice remain prominent, even on university campuses [6] Such issues are exacerbated by the

use of non-inclusive language, which are often made manifest through microaggressions.

According to Barlow [7], the term microaggressions refers to the use of language that

unconsciously and/or unintentionally isolates individuals belonging to minority or under- represented groups. A famous example of a microaggression occurred when Joe Biden

commented in 2007 that Barack Obama was “the first mainstream African-American who is

articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” [8]. As a subsequent MSNBC interview

made evident, Obama’s vice-presidential pick was not meaning to be intentionally

condescending; however, it is reasonable for any person of color to be offended by the notion

that Obama was America’s first ‘clean’ African-American. Biden later explained that the

intended meaning of ‘clean’ was to describe Obama as ‘fresh,’ ‘new,’ and ‘exciting’. However, it

is this very notion of meaning-perceived verses meaning-intended that is at the heart of raising

awareness of inclusivity through language choice.

In this paper, we address two major issues related to the importance of inclusive language in

academic writing. First, we assess current levels of awareness of inclusive language from

students and faculty. Understanding current awareness levels is important if appropriate

pedagogical practices are to be developed. Second, we assess the role of technology in

facilitating awareness of inclusive language. As with pedagogical practices, appropriate

technology can only be improved if current assumptions are fully identified and relevant

interventions are incorporated into the software.

MARGINALIZED GROUPS

According to the Sapir–Whorf hypothesis, the words we use are ideological and play a major

role in shaping our perceptions and forming preconceptions of the world and those in it [9].

This theme is elaborated on by Kapitan [10] who observes that the language we use to describe

and discuss marginalized groups can serve to either further marginalize these groups or to

facilitate their acceptance and normalization. It is within this context that inclusive language

needs to operate so as to reduce, minimalize, or negate the potential harm that can be caused

by insensitive word choices.

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 9, Issue 7, July-2022

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

Inclusive language often reflects three prominent categories of marginalized groups: gender,

race, and disability. Although such a categorization suggests discrete forms of discrimination, it

should be noted that the three aspects listed here will often intersect. Moreover, other

categories most certainly exist (e.g., class, age, sexual orientation, language, religion etc.) and it

is in no way our intention to suggest that inclusive language should not apply appropriately,

continuously, and equally to all. As Andersen [11] explains “race, class, and gender are

interlocking systems of inequalities, subordination, and domination” (p. 76), meaning that

while we often must focus our discussion on a particular social issue, we should not assume

that a hierarchy of discrimination is a useful lens through which to conduct such examinations.

Gender

Considerable research has examined the issue of gender bias in language (e.g., [12] [13][14]

[15]. According to Rothchild [16], gender bias can be described as “[A] behavior that shows

favoritism toward one gender over another [and is most often] the act of favoring men and/or

boys over women and/or girls” (p. 1843). In academic English, the clearest example of such

gender bias is presumably the use of sexist language. Sexist language (and/or sexism)is defined

in the Encyclopedia Britannica [17], as “prejudice or discrimination” that is “based on sex or

gender,” especially that which is against women and girls, and portrays the idea that “one sex

is “superior” and “more valuable than another” (para 1). Evidently, in terms of both gender bias

and sexist language, there is a reasonable focus on ‘women and girls’, meaning that we need to

be clear that assumptions concerning males are also important, not least because of how these

assumptions negatively impact women and girls. For example, nurses who are male prefer to

be termed ‘nurses’ rather than ‘male nurses,’ not least because ‘male nurse’ implies that nursing

is ‘women’s work.’ As such, even sexism that seemingly disenfranchises a privileged group is

important to consider because its ramifications can ripple through to further negatively impact

the marginalized [18].

One of the most prominent examples of sexist language in English is the default use of the

masculine pronoun: i.e., he, him, his[19]. Although the masculine pronoun has been deemed the

default in English for centuries, it is now becoming more appropriate to use gender-neutral

language [20]. Gender-neutral language refers to “a generic term covering the use of non-sexist

language, inclusive language or gender-fair language” [21] and can help dispel the notion that

one sex is either superior or the default. Indeed, this shift towards the normalization of gender- neutral language is reflected in the style manuals for academic disciplines like APA and MLA.

Nonetheless, addressing gender bias language is still a challenge both in the classroom as well

as with automated language tools [13] and greater awareness of appropriate wording needs to

be considered.

Race

Although many of us may think that we are in a ‘post-racial’ era, race still plays a very important

role in an individual’s life outcomes [22]. It seems reasonable to argue that at the forefront of

this issue are legal and policing issues, as was brought home to the world by the 2020 murder

of George Floyd. But while such incidents certainly garnered worldwide attention, it is

important to be clear that race affects each and every facet of life, including education [23]. As

such, the challenge of improving racial equality and fairness must also include classroom

teaching and the associated technologies that adopt and integrate racially sensitive inclusive

language.