Resumo

JANSEN, Lincoln Lee  e  SCHECKLE, Eileen. Beyond Gender: Insights from Grade 2 Chinese Learners About Bravery and Strength Through Drawings. Educ. res. soc. change [online]. 2026, vol.15, n.1, pp.71-87. ISSN 2221-4070.  https://doi.org/10.17159/2221-4070/2026/v15n1a5.

By employing participatory visual methodologies ¡n the form of drawings, this study sought to explore Grade 2 Chinese learners' insights into the notions of strength and bravery as represented in traditional and diverse children's literature. The study demonstrated the premise that notions related to bravery and strength are socially constructed, and that traditional literature has firm gendered connotations related to these notions, often favouring male characters. For 16 weeks, learners at a bilingual school in Beijing, China gathered for a reading club where they engaged with traditional and diverse children's literature. In response, participants were invited to create drawings, accompanied by written and verbal feedback of book characters they thought were brave and strong. The results showed that after engagement with more diverse literature, the participants had more flexible and nuanced conceptualisations of bravery and strength that extended beyond gender and that were not confined to physical attributes. Rather, participants associated these attributes with resilience, perseverance, helpfulness, and moral courage. The study highlighted both the importance of diverse literature as a way of promoting social change and disrupting rigid gender norms, as well as the usefulness of drawings as a way of capturing nuanced insights, especially in a foreign language context.

Palavras-chave : bravery; strength; gender representations; diverse literature; drawings; meaning-making.

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