The Relationship Between Language Learning Strategies and Gender in Learning English as a Second or Foreign Language

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tran

doi:10.32996/jeltal.2021.3.6.17

Abstract

In Viet Nam and many other nations, people tend to make general assumptions about language learning like that “Females are better at language learning than males”, “Languages are females’ subjects”. Those assumptions have caused a negative impression on males about language learning. As a result, there is a remarkable worldwide inequality in the number of male and female English majors. Are females really superior to males in language learning? Do their different ways in language learning play an important role in their success? If the differences in learning methods are said to be responsible, their learning strategies may account for their different level of success in language learning. Those questions inspired the author to determine whether there are any significant differences in learning strategies due to gender. The paper first synthesized previous research to have an overview of learning strategies males tend to prefer and those that females favour. Then, from the awareness of the differences, some pedagogic implications were raised for English teachers who share the same interest in dealing well with learners of each sex.

Highlights

1 In the last decades, through globalization and integration, English has become an international language widely used in all fields of society, ranging from formal to informal ones
It is believed that autonomous learning will be enhanced by the language learner’s conscious use of learning strategies
To sum up, what the paper has contributed to the field of second/foreign language learning strategies is a critical review of previous studies on the impact of gender on strategy choice

Summary

Introduction

In language learning strategies, since the late 1970s there have been many efforts in identification, classification of those terms, and suggestions for teaching and learning English as a second or foreign language (ESL/EFL). Due to the lack of thorough studies on gender as a factor affecting strategy use, there has not been a clear-cut interaction between different learning strategies and gender in second language acquisition. According to her, in other research done by Dadour and Robbins in 1996 in two Middle Eastern cultures and by Nordin-Eriksson in 1999 among Serbo-Croatian refugees in Sweden, the results were reversed Those results suggest that gender-role socialization might be a factor in these differences. In this book, Oxford (p.172) recommended that “the frequent gender differences in English learning as a second or foreign language strategy research deserve further investigation”

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Conclusion