Abstract
The aim of this paper is to unravel some of the controversies which have often shaped the findings drawn from prior studies germane to the area of male-female differences in relation to language learning. Educationalists in Morocco have hardly looked at the sex variable as a potential parameter which may explain some of the differential success of students in schools, and little if not daring to say none is known about it in the Moroccan context where there is still much to be done in terms of research and investigations. This study sets out to fill in this gap in research by analyzing male-female differences in language leaning. Using results of a test battery, regional exam GPA, and a standard EFL achievement test, quantitative data of a large group of senior high school students constituting a non-probability convenience sample (N = 152) drawn from the official records of Zerktouni high school, Beni Mellal directorate, have been explored to gather information about the issue in question. The results from the Chi-Square test and the independent samples t-test prove very convincingly that female learners unequivocally outperform their male peers at almost all basic language skills. The paper ends up with a conclusion and some pedagogical recommendations.
Highlights
In line with the recent trends which have endorsed the learner-centred approach, a host of many research studies have shifted the focus of their emphasis from teacher-centred approaches to consider the importance of learners’ variables as potential determinants of success or failure in language learning
A closer analysis of the available results demonstrates in concrete fashion the fact that sex differentiations in attainment are of overwhelming and considerable magnitude, as they do suggest that females outperform males with regards to the three English achievement tests in addition to the general composite EFL score
The evidence previously summarized seems to be in accord with the claim that female learners have the tendency to outperform their male peers with regards to language learning abilities
Summary
In line with the recent trends which have endorsed the learner-centred approach, a host of many research studies have shifted the focus of their emphasis from teacher-centred approaches to consider the importance of learners’ variables as potential determinants of success or failure in language learning. Research on sex differences in relation to language learning has evolved out of this steady surge of interest in individual learners’ variables and on humanitarian approaches to education. Much research has been undertaken to explore the effects of individual learners’ variables namely age (Schumann, 1980; Burstall, 1981; Flege, 1987; Ellis, 1995; Svanes,1987; Johnson & Newport, 1989), personality traits (Brown, 1986; Dulay et al, 1982; Strevens, 1983), and attitudes and motivation (Lambert, 1969; Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Gardner, 1985, 1988; Dornyei & Ottó, 1998; Dornyei & Csizér , 2005), the variable of sex remains one of the learners’ factors which has seldom been isolated for scrutiny in research studies pertaining to language learning (Oxford, 1992; Bacon & Finneman, 1992; Sunderland, 1994; Ehrman & Oxford, 1995). The paucity of cross-sex comparison is considered to be “lamentable” (Alexander & Eckland, 1974), and arguments have often been voiced to note that the issue has not received as much attention as it really deserves (Boyle, 1987; Oxford, 1992; Sunderland, 1994; Byrne, 1994; Bacon & Finneman, 1992; Ehrman & Oxford, 1995)
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