The Language of Law School This page intentionally left blank

participation overall, a bias toward volunteers with the quickest response time
early in the class contributed to a growing hierarchy in participation overall.
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These results suggest that women might be disadvantaged in classrooms where
teachers rely heavily on volunteers (a finding that, as we will see, has been repli-
cated in multiple studies and settings).
A number of other observational studies have found similarly high participa-
tion rates (especially where students volunteer to speak) and frequent interrup-
tions on the part of male students when compared with females.
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 In survey studies
of college teaching, male students report higher rates of talking than do women,
and these reported rates of participation and interruption go up in classes taught
by women.
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 At the same time, a number of these studies have indicated that classes
taught by women might be more egalitarian in gendered dimensions of overall