Abstract
This study explored the differences in the writings produced by both male and female students in colleges of education in Ghana with respect to syntactic complexity. The study was based on a corpus of two hundred examination essays which were collected from two hundred students in Assin Fosu, Wesley and Presbyterian colleges of education who took the English language Studies course (FDC 211) in 2018/2019 academic year. The study adopted a descriptive design, involving qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis showed that the male students were more syntactically complex than the female students in their writings. The study established clear variations in the areas of length of production unit, sentence complexity, amount of subordination and coordination and particular structures. It has therefore upheld the difference version of gender and language theory as compared to the discursive theory. Implications and areas for further research are also discussed.
Highlights
TO THE STUDYIn recent times, the language of males and females has been studied scientifically
This study explored the differences in the writings produced by both male and female students in colleges of education in Ghana with respect to syntactic complexity
The study was based on a corpus of two hundred examination essays which were collected from two hundred students in Assin Fosu, Wesley and Presbyterian colleges of education who took the English language Studies course (FDC 211) in 2018/2019 academic year
Summary
TO THE STUDYIn recent times, the language of males and females has been studied scientifically. Graddol and Swann (1989) have hinted the possibility of some form of gender variation in any language at all linguistic levels. Lakoff (1975) reports the use of hedges, tag questions, intensive adverbs, hyper-politeness, etc. As typical of women’s language, and Mulac, Weiman, Widenmann, and Gibson (1988) have confirmed the excessive use of questions in women’s contributions to dyadic interactions. Some studies have revealed gender variations in the likelihood of being wordy (Mulac & Lundel 1994), offering opinion (Mulac, Studley, & Blau, 1990), and negotiation (Mulac, Seibold, & Ferris, 2000). Other studies have failed to confirm these findings
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