The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

participate more in called-on as compared with volunteered turns. Indeed, in
Class #5, taught by a male professor in an elite/prestige law school, there is a
dramatic shift in favor of male participation in the volunteer turns category: a
difference of 100%. Overall, women’s participation ratio is 32% lower in volun-
teered than in called-on turns in male-taught classes. Again, there are some in-
teresting complications; in Class #4 (another more Socratic class in which women
fare better in extended dialogues), women actually have slightly better ratios in
volunteered than in called-on turns. It is likely that some of the more fine-grained
aspects of classroom atmosphere in that class, which have already been discussed,
may have introduced intervening factors that influenced students’ feelings about
volunteering. But in two of the three Socratic classrooms, it is plausible that
women’s reluctance to volunteer contributes to their better participation ratios
for Socratic as opposed to shorter exchanges: in these classes, professors gener-
ally called on students during Socratic dialogues, so that most voluntary partici-
pation occurs in the shorter exchanges (see Table 8.7).
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Another interesting finding emerging from analysis of volunteered versus
called-on turns sheds some light on the very different features of two classes taught
by women, Class #8 (elite school) and Class #6 (local school). Recall that both classes
are taught in informal style, but that they are at opposite ends of the scale in terms

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Student Participation and Social Difference
195
of gendered participation, with Class #8 having the highest asymmetry in favor of
men, and Class #6 (along with Class #3) having the best for women. As noted ear-
lier, these two classes spend the highest amounts of time in the study using unfo-
cused, shorter dialogues between professor and student (46% and 42%). But when
we compare the two classes in terms of voluntary participation, we see that women
in Class #8 volunteer 70% 
less
 than do men, whereas women in Class #6 volunteer
20%
more
 than do men. This could have particularly significant impact in light of
how much time is spent in shorter, often voluntary exchanges in these classes. In-
terestingly, during their interviews students from Class #6 commented with ap-
proval on the degree to which their professor kept control of the exchanges in the
classroom.
92
 Thus, although there was an equivalent amount of shorter, volunteered
discussion in the two classes, it may be that the degree of professorial control of
those exchanges differed.
93
 A number of issues for further study are thus suggested
by the comparison between these two classes: in asking about possible connections
between pedagogical style and gendered participation, we need to investigate the
effects of professor gender, particularly in relation to different kinds of law school
settings; the distribution of volunteered versus called-on turns; and aspects of pro-
fessorial control even in relatively informal classrooms. In addition, although we
were unable to track students’ ages in the study, there is anecdotal information
suggesting that the two schools in which women spoke more may have had more
older students.
94
 Thus, we might also ask about the differences between older and
younger women in terms of their assertiveness in less structured dialogues.
95
table
 8.7
Comparison of Called-on and Volunteered Participation Rates, by Gender
Ratio of Total
Ratio of Total
Shift in Women’s Participation
Class
Called-on Turns
Volunteered Turns
 from Called-on to Volunteer Turns