Queer Beats – Gender and Literature in the EFL Classroom

Maria Eisenmann holds the Chair for Teaching English as a Foreign Language at the Julius-Maximilians-University of Würzburg. She studied English, German and Pedagogy at the Universities of Würzburg and Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Her main research interests are in the areas of teaching literature, media literacy as well as inter- and transcultural learning. She has edited and co-edited numerous books and published widely in the field of teaching literature and literary literacy.Christian Ludwig is currently a substitute professor for American Cultural and Literary Studies at the University of Education, Karlsruhe, where he is also the Head of the English Department and Director of the Language Learning Centre. His teaching and research interests include enhancing learner autonomy in the EFL classroom as well as Computer-Assisted Language Learning. His focus of research lies in the reconstruction of gender and other identities in contemporary young adult dystopias and South African literature.

• Fostering gender competence through music videos – A literary approach to US toilet politics – Gender awareness and language awareness – Playing with identities and role stereotypes – Teaching homosexuality – Interrogating and (re-)defining gender roles – Exploring gender with science fiction – Queer questions about the construction of identity – Trans issues – Canadian trans* literature – Reading an aboriginal life story – Teaching family structures and gender roles – Teaching gender reflection – Creating queer text ensembles – Gay-themed narratives – Exploring LGBTQ life through American TV series – Deconstructing gender stereotypes – Judith Butler’s critique of binary gender opposition