Gendered Language in Digital Spaces: An Analysis of English Language Students’ Discourse on Facebook

Despite language and gender being widely studied across variables like communication styles and various digital contexts, few studies focus on how they occur in discourses of language-major students in today’s era, where ideas are easily shared and consumed online. Hence, this study determined how gendered language is reflected in the Facebook activities of the Bachelor of Arts in English Language students at a State University in Pangasinan, Philippines. A qualitative design of research was employed using a thematic analysis to identify patterns in the participants’ public posts, comments, captions, and other shared content on Facebook. A feminist lens was then used to interpret emergent themes. The results showed the prevalence of gendered language in the corpus of the participants’ online discourse, which may have, implicitly or explicitly, reflected, reinforced, or resisted norms and stereotypes on gender. The feminist analysis determined that norms were maintained through narratives indicating familiar social practices, while resistance reflected sensitivity and awareness. Therefore, students, regardless of academic specialization, may consciously or unconsciously reproduce gendered language in online interactions, which may either maintain or challenge dominant gender ideologies. This highlights the role of digital spaces as a medium where gender norms are continuously negotiated and redefined, contributing to the body of knowledge in feminist linguistics and digital discourse.