© 1999 by Oxford University Press
Articles |
Gender differences and equal opportunities in the ESL classroom
Assistant Professor at the Department of English, University of Aleppo, Syria (and currently at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University, Saudi Arabia). He got his MA (1988) and PhD (1991) in applied linguistics with special reference to second language acquisition (SLA) and TESL/TEFL from the University of Durham, England. He has taught several under- and postgraduate courses in linguistics, applied linguistics, research methodology, and writing and composition, in Syria and Saudi Arabia. His areas of interest are SLA, teaching methodology, and the comprehension–performance relationship of L2 learners. E-mail: ashhada{at}ksu.edu.sa
There is good evidence from cross-gender conversations between the various possible combinations of native speakers (NS) and non-native speakers (NNS) to suggest that men and women tend to use conversation for different purposes. It would appear that men take advantage of the conversation in a way that allows them to promote their performance/production ability, whereas women utilize the conversation to promote their comprehension ability. The main pedagogical conclusion to be drawn from the available evidence is that the ESL/EFL teacher, equipped with a good syllabus and a good methodology, should be able to engineer situations that create equal opportunities for both males and females in all aspects of classroom interaction. However, the article also suggests that more empirical research needs to be done into (a) the origin(s) of gender difference (biological/innate, psychological, or socio-cultural), and (b) its effect on second language learning.