The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

participation, the observational work raises some questions about possible varia-
tions among classes and schools in this regard. Overall, both survey and observa-
tional research suggest that students frequently have different responses to law
school teaching along lines of gender as well as of race and class. We turn now to
the findings from the present study on gender.
Classroom Patterns: Floor Time and the Socratic Dilemma
Our data tend to confirm the findings of previous studies, which focused only on
turns, that male law students generally participate at greater rates than females. In
addition to tracking numbers of turns, we also analyzed overall time. In six of the
eight classrooms we studied, men spoke more frequently than women and for longer
periods of time. These six classrooms included all of the classes taught by men and
one of the classes taught by a woman professor (in an elite law school). In these
classes, men students had between 10% and 54% more turns than did women (pro-
portionate to their numbers in the class; see Table 8.4). Similarly, men took be-
tween 12% and 38% more time in speaking. Notice that the greatest overall gender
disparity in participation from the perspective of turns taken (1.54) occurred in

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Student Participation and Social Difference
191
Class #8, a class in an elite law school taught by a woman of color and also the
smallest class in the study. In the five classes taught by men, male students spoke
from 10% to 17% more frequently than did women. Disparities in terms of time
were still sharper (23–38%) in four of these five classes (those taught in the higher-
status law schools of that group).
By contrast, women spoke slightly more, proportionately, than did men in the
two remaining classes, both taught by women in nonelite schools. These classes
were also the most egalitarian in terms of overall distribution of times and turns
by gender; they were the only ones with disparities between men and women stu-
dents under 10%. Thus, even where women’s participation exceeds the men’s, it
does not reach the level of disproportion found in classes where men predominate
in classroom discussion.
87
 One of these two classes in which women students pre-
dominated was also the most egalitarian in terms of the percentage of students who
participated, with all students in the class participating at least once during the
semester (see Table 8.5). The egalitarian class, taught in a local law school by a
table
 8.4
Summaries of Participation Ratios by Gender
Class
Total Time
Total Turns
Elite/Prestige
2
1.23
1.10
8
1.38
1.54
5
1.31
1.17
Regional
4
1.23
1.17
7
1.38
1.17
Local
1
1.12
1.15
6
.93
.95
3
.93
.95
Ratios are calculated by dividing the men’s participa-
tion rate by the women’s participation rate. 1.0 is the figure
that would represent equal participation by women and
men. Figures over 1.0 represent an imbalance toward male