Gender gaps in group listening and speaking: issues in social constructivist approaches to teaching and learning

Abstract

Because of its centrality to school success, social status, and workplace effectiveness, oral and aural skills development has been increasingly emphasized in Canadian curricula, classrooms and, very recently, large‐scale assessment. The corresponding emphasis on group processes and collaborative learning has aimed to address equity issues in schools. However, a 1998 Canadian assessment of students' speech communication skills (N = 551 groups) yielded many significant gender differences in individual listening skills, group production, and self‐efficacy. The oral production in small groups of majority‐ or all‐male groups lagged significantly behind that of all‐female groups. The girl–boy gaps in oracy parallel those evident for literacy in provincial (state), national and international studies among adolescents. Implications are drawn for social constructivist pedagogy, for curricular, instructional, and evaluation practices, and for redressing gender differences.