Students’ Survey

To get another perspective on how interested Slovene secondary school students are in the topic, I conducted an online survey with 147 students across grammar and vocational schools. The aim of the survey was to find out if, how much, and what they learn about racial issues and discrimination in their English classes, as well as their opinion on the usage of films during the class, to learn about these topics. The survey was conducted in the Slovene language because the results would be more precise if students completely understood the question, and their English competence would not skew the results.³

The survey starts by asking “Do you think discussing the topic of racism and discrimination in English class is important?” (Student survey, question 4). As expected, the majority, 80.8%, answered “yes”, with 7.5% saying “no”

and 11.6% did not have an opinion.

Question 5 asks the students to explain why they answered the way they did. Here are some of the answers, both for and against discussing racism and discrimination in the English class.

Answers in support:

“That’s a topic we should talk about in every subject, because despite being in the 21^st century, racism and discrimination are still a big problem. In Slovenia,

3 All translations of the survey questions and replies are translated by the author. The original survey is available in Appendix B.

36 we especially don’t talk about it enough because we think it’s only happening in other countries.”

“This topic is very important, and because we often connect it to the English-speaking world, talking about it in the English class is very appropriate.”

“We should always talk about important topics and English lessons expand the vocabulary on such a serious global problem.”

“It is important to talk about racism and discrimination because we rarely talk about it in class.”

“It’s a prominent part of the history of English-speaking nations. At the same time, it is also a very current topic.”

“Addressing the problem is a step towards solving it.” (Student survey)

Answers against:

“The conversations are usually one-sided (on the teacher’s side), so a discussion doesn’t help anyone. I also think there are better subjects where we could talk about those topics.”

“I think every act of racism is wrong, but I don’t support current movements and ways of raising awareness, and we could live better without them in my opinion.”

“I agree that we should talk about it and raise awareness, but it makes no sense to discuss it in English class.”

“It has no connection with the knowledge of English and doesn’t belong in the English class.” (ibid.)

The majority of answers were in support of discussing racism and discrimination in the English class, and the answers not written here were very similar to those I selected.

Most students agree that racism and discrimination are something that is important to discuss in the English class because it is so tightly connected to the English-speaking world, its history and culture.

37 The answers against the discussion of racism and discrimination in the English class were mostly centered around it not belonging in the English class but to other “more appropriate” subjects, with the few answers of “I don’t care”.

I also asked “How many lessons have you spent discussing racism and discrimination during English lessons in secondary school?” (ibid., question 6). The results were surprising to me, as over 21% of students said that they had never discussed it in class, while 65.3% mentioned it a few times a year. 11.6% claimed that they talked about it a few lessons a month and 2% discussed the topic almost every English lesson. Relating to this question, I asked whether they wish they would discuss the topic of racial issues more (ibid., question 9). 57% answered with “Yes”, wishing they talked about the issue more. The answers for “no” and “I have no opinion” were similar, with 15% and 27.9%, respectively.

When asked “How was the topic of racism and discrimination presented in class?”

(ibid., question 7), the top answer was “by discussion” with 116 answers, followed by

“with films” with 43 answers, then “by oral presentations” with 20 answers, closely followed by “with books” with 15 answers, and “with the coursebook” in the last place with 8 answers. 17 students said they did not discuss that topic.

21,2

A few times a month Almost every lesson

57,1

Figure 2 - Question 6 Figure 3 - Question 9

38 I asked the students to list some of the themes they talked about while discussing racism (ibid., question 8). Many answers were about current issues, mentioning the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as other civil rights movements through history and slavery. They also mentioned a few famous or prominent people – Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, George Floyd and Martin Luther King Jr.

I also asked the students to elaborate on why they would like to learn more (or less) about racism and discrimination in their English class (question 10).

Here is a selection of a few answers by students who want more topics discussing racism:

“It’s important so we can recognize discrimination in the future and react properly.”

“It’s an important problem we aren’t aware of enough.”

“It’s a relevant topic which the future generations and us will have to know how to deal with.”

“It’s still a taboo topic and we should talk about it more.”

“I like broadening my horizons and wish to know more about the current problems.” (ibid.)

Students who are against more discussions about racial topics mostly answered as follows:

“No political topics belong to the English lesson. It doesn’t improve the English knowledge. English lessons are meant to improve English competence and not to talk about political activism.”

“One-sided conversations that spread single-minded propaganda don’t bring any changes.”

“I know enough from elsewhere.”

“I’m not interested in this topic.” (ibid.)

39

25,9 56,5 17,7

Did you ever watch films in your English class, the

Do you think the topic about racism and discrimination would be more interesting if you would watch films in class

about these topics?

Yes No No opinion

Figure 5 - Question 11 Figure 4 - Question 13

While answers in favor of more discussions about racism and discrimination are as expected – students wanting to know more and believing it is an important and very current topic, the answers against it surprised me. Most answers against it stated that they don’t care about the topic, however, a few of them were not expected – especially those believing raising awareness about racism is political propaganda. I was also surprised by the answer stating that an English class is only meant to learn the language, and anything else is unnecessary.

The second part of the survey was asking about the usage of films to teach about racism. Question 11 asks “Did you ever watch films in your English class, the point of which is raising racial awareness?”. 56.5% of people answered with “no”, 25.9%

with “yes” and 17.7% with “I don’t know”. The next question relating to this was whether they think the topic about racism and discrimination would be more interesting if they watched films about these topics (question 13). Unsurprisingly, 83.6% of students said “yes” and 8.9% said “no”. Film watching would raise the students’ interest in the topic which is by itself harsh and difficult to teach.

When asked to elaborate their answer to the previous question, students said that watching films is “more interesting and fun than a typical lesson, they’re enticing, they would make the lesson less boring, they can visualize it better, they add visual and audio input, they illustrate the problems, the students are more focused, and that the

40 film medium is closer to them than books are”. As for the students who do not agree that film watching is good learning material, their reasonings were that “films are open to interpretation, they are a waste of time, English teachers should not use films to spread their political beliefs, and that these topics do not belong to the English lessons”.

The survey also asks to list some of the films about injustice and discrimination that they have seen either in class or by themselves. The most frequently mentioned films are: Hidden Figures (2016), Green Book (2018), Suffragette (2015), Billy Elliot (2000), Get Out (2017), 12 Years a Slave (2013), 42 (2013), The Hate U Give (2018), Harriet (2019), Django Unchained (2012), The Help (2011), BlacKKKlansman (2018) and I Am Not Your Negro (2016).

As seen in the survey, most Slovenian secondary school students agree that education about racism and discrimination is important and that they would like to learn more about it to raise their own and the public’s awareness on the topic.

Many students mentioned that this topic should be discussed in English class because they are familiar with American history and are aware of the still ongoing issues with racism and discrimination. Many believe that acknowledging the problem and learning about it is essential to their future, so they can improve and change. The biggest issues students had with discussing racism and discrimination in the English class is that this is the wrong subject and would be better suited in history or sociology class. I do not disagree with that, but I would also like to point out that a large part of language learning is becoming familiar with the culture of the target language and when it comes to racism and discrimination, we can still see how the USA is influenced by its history of slavery and racism, as well as how these problems, the ideas and beliefs behind them, are then spread throughout the world via the social media and the films and TV shows they produce.

Most students also agree that the usage of films is a useful learning material to discuss and become familiar with racial injustice and discrimination, due to them being interesting and immersive, as well as presenting the themes differently. Students who

41 disagreed mostly claimed that the English class is not the correct subject, or that they are uninterested in the topic, no matter the media through which it would be presented.

42