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How Gender Affects Speech Patterns In the essay "How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently" by Deborah Tannen, she describes how females and males differ when they both use and respond to language or certain speech patterns, especially when the setting is in a classroom. The author notices how the males tend to act or be more aggressive and assertive with their language and action especially when in bigger groups they tend to compete when they voice their opinion. Opposite of the males, females are more delicate when they speak and when in bigger groups they hold back their voice but end up feeling more comfortable to talk in smaller groups more than likely with other females. Tannen tests her theories in her class and they seem …show more content…
to be true. I agree with Tannen's personal on how male and female students approach language differently.
In my personal experience, males will always be the ones who take control on the conversation, especially if it is in a larger group. However, there are usually one or two females who will step in and say what they have to say. I think the reason is because females don't want to be judged by anyone and want everyone to just agree with them; also most women do not want to be dominant or to dominate a situation. The situation is very similar to when I was in high school but changed significantly when in college. Women usually express their ideas or thoughts more often to one another. I also agree with the author, Tannen, in my own experiences I am more comfortable usually when I am in a larger group. I also usually would not like my point of view to be tested, and rather just accepted, but if it is challenged I like to respond to it. I don't find that to be cruel or embarrassing. An example is in the third paragraph when Tannen states, "Typically, a girl has a best friend with whom she sits and talks, frequently telling secrets."(Tannen 308). Exchanging secrets between one and the other creates a bond and a stronger relationship. When males bond, the males tend to do so through a common activity, such as sports or any group that requires teamwork. Most of these activities create a sort of hierarchal complex in these …show more content…
groups. Tannen starts off by stating the topic in question, "..., I began to suspect some of the causes of the troubling facts that women who go to single-sex schools do better in later life, and young women sit next to young men in classrooms, the males talk more."(Tannen 308) Tannen talks about her experiment in her own classroom and the different strategies at making everyone comfortable in the classroom.
Having only female students in a college can increase the amount of participation with one and another significantly. Tannen then talks about her observation by stating, "I could see plainly from my observation of the groups at work that women who never opened their mouths in class were talking away in the smaller groups."(Tannen 314) After talking about her observation, she tells us her conclusion, "My experience in this class has convinced me that small-group interaction should be a part of any class that is not a small seminar." Deborah Tannen opens her essay with examples of Anthropologist and Sociologist experts right away to give the reader background knowledge on the research that has already been done on how boys and girls use sign language differently. Also with the help of these experts she is going to be able to compare her observations of the different class’s dynamics with the research of the
experts One of the first ways that boys and girls differ from each other is that girls like smaller groups and “it’s the telling of the secrets that makes them best friends”, but on the other hand boys prefer larger groups and “boys are expected to use language to seize center stage: by exhibiting their skill, displaying their knowledge, and challenging and resisting challenges.” That been said is one of the clear ways that mostly in men, trying to achieve “ritual opposition” (Tannen 309) is the best way to approach any activity. Ritual opposition is trying to fight argumentatively to win the debate and win the opposite side. I thought that Tannen brought up a lot of strong and effective points in her essay. But there were points in the essay where it was just her opinion and there were not many facts to support her opinion. She seems to say what she believes and thinks what she says is right. I thought her overall stance on the subject was strong, but it wasn't supported one hundred percent of the time. Before I commenced writing my essay, I analyzed few other responses from other readers and found a similar pattern. Readers had found that Tannen's paper lacked legitimate evidence, which pointed me across another perspective. This paper does not lack evidence, the essay itself is evidence. Tannen's essay is not an essay but a report. This report is based on an experiment that she made and her information that has been claimed to lack evidence are just assumptions that are all based on common knowledge or research which was only used as a starting point for further investigation.
Tannen points out “a greater percentage of discussion time is taken by men’s voices.” (2) She tells us why this is a disadvantage to the women in the classroom. She then continued to separate the two genders into their given stereotypes. Girls tend to separate themselves from large groups; they talk amongst
In part two the book is about the view of American Sign Language and the way people have naturally created grammar and the arrangement of words and phrases to create well-formed sentences in a language from basically nothing. He demonstrates that this languag...
Men and women are not made equal. At least this is what Deborah Tannen believes in her article “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently.” Tannen is a professor at Georgetown University, and is often highly revered for her work in linguistics. The article is meant to show the differences in communication learned at an early age by boys and girls. However, in the article, Tannen shows lack of direction with thought and evidence that should be apparent in the work of someone on the collegiate level.
In recent years, gender differences have already been one of the most controversial issues in various research. As an important communication tool of mankind, language is inevitably involved in controversies. However, Rachel Rafelman, a Canadian journalist and the author of “The Party Line” express her thought and opinion in her essay. She not only have some great points on what and how women and men are likely to talk, but also have different points on the talking environment. She comes up with facts and fit real and particle examples in her essay to make it understood. Whereas, Ronald Macaulay, a professor of linguistics and the author of “Sex Difference” uses words of novels to argue and promotes them as a cause of reinforce to men’s and women’s stereotypes in his essay. He argues through his whole as rebuttal and gives some examples to oppose the preconceived notion of sex differences. Over all, both Rafelman and Macaulay are the good writer but Rafelman is having upper to prove her essay better organized using her tones as per requirement.
The book You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation, written by Deborah Tannen, is an analytical book offering scientific insights on the conversational differences between women and men. The book is copyrighted 1990 and is still read and widely talked about all over the world. Tannen is a Professor of Linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Tannen is a graduate of the University of California-Berkeley and has a doctorate’s degree in linguistics. She is a highly creditable author who has written many books on social differences between women and men. Some of her other books include: That’s Not What I Meant: How Conversational Style Makes or Breaks Relationships and Talking From 9 to 5: Women and Men in the Workplace. Her books have been translated into 26 languages and are still read by thousands of people every year (Tannen 13).
According to Mills (2005), the relation between gender and impoliteness is important because it is the way that the participants view their gender identity and the way that they think others will judge them. In her study, Mills (2003) argues that women are more polite than men because they are expected to speak and act in a certain way in our society. On the other hand, she argues that men regard the world as a battlefield in which they tend to attack in order to achieve something or maintain their social status. Aydınoğlu (2013) conducted a study to find out if there were any gender differences when participants were presented with a scenario that showed impolite acts. In this study, participants were divided into two groups. Participants in the first group were given scenarios that showed impolite acts such as insults, threats and disapproval. In the second group, participants were given scenarios were impoliteness was showed in a form of sarcasm, teasing and complains. The results of this study concluded that men responded to impoliteness more offensively when they were shown acts of insults, threats and disapproval, while the women reflected more on the passive roles showed in the
Teachers are using spoken English in a mainstream class because majority pupils' native language. However, in a specialised unit, teachers would use ISL because there are only D/HH pupils in the unit. All participants pointed out the need of Irish Sign Language to overcome the communication barriers in the mainstream setting.
According to Eagley, Wood, and Fishbaugh (1981), women are more concerned than men about the quality of interpersonal relationships. Women take greater responsibility for establishing and maintaining interpersonal bonds, whereas men do not. Also, women are more empathetic and more accurate at decoding nonverbal communication than males. Male gender roles also claim that men should remain independent and not agree closely with others, while it is seen as acceptable for women to conform to group behaviors.
Lieberman, Simma. “Differences in Male and Female Communication Styles” Simma Lieberman Associates (undated). Retrieved February 25, 2010<
This paper will define the term sign language, give a brief history of how sign language was created, types of sign languages, grammar and syntax within American
These claims that are made basically say that the way men and women speak has no differences and that all the other theories that say there are differences are mainly based on experiences and that the scientific research that they have done says otherwise. One of these claims in made by Deborah Cameron who is a language professor at Oxford University. In her article, What Language Barrier? She goes against the theory that was put up by Simon Baron-Cohen, which says that there are two kinds of brains that exist, the female brain which is made for nurturing and the male brain which specializes in creativity and mechanical work. Cameron argues that these claims have been made by looking at the fact that most men have jobs that require those skills and most women have jobs that require nurturing. She says that these generalizations are not based on scientific study or research. She also counters another claim which says that women talk more than men. She said that people used statistics to make that claim but when Mark Liberman, a professor of phonetics, looked at these statistics, he did some other research and found out that these numbers and statistics were not backed up by any research and there was nothing that was there to support this theory. This information was not credible. This meta-analysis by Cameron used statistics and pointed out the flaws and
Tannen, D. (2007). You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. New York, NY: Harper.
After reading the different studies and research in the chapter I have a much different view than before. I reflected on my whole life and noticed that when I am in a more private and relaxed setting my wife usually does a lot of the talking. But in more formal settings like when we attend seminars together or when we took a college class together, I am doing more of the talking. This is just one example of how this study actually reflects my everyday life. Another example of how this chapter changed my view is the way male and female speech occurs in my class. I was really taken back from my teaching and I noticed that this is true of my classroom and I didn 't even know this! Many times when a girl answers a question or tries to provide her different insight of the question provided I sense that many feel she is trying to show off. This chapter honestly will helped me get rid of many assumptions I 've always had. I will also try to ensure all my students have the social confidence in my classroom and try to help all students contribute to the
How does language affect our interaction with other genders? Language is the basis of all interaction. The language we use is essential to other’s perceptions of us. We instinctively know this, so we cater our language to suit how we want to be perceived by others. Language is not the only factor in perception though. Other’s interpretation of our language is as important an ingredient in their perception of us as the language we use is. Our perceptions of each other, more than anything else dictate our interactions with each other. The essential question is does interpretation of language vary between genders?
Wardhaugh states different social norms defining the standards of being men or women, which has a profound influence on the language behavior shown by different genders. In other words, both men and women should possess the ability to show either masculinity or feminity through the language they use. When this ability overlaps with the other gender, however, one might be considered as as outsider of their own gender. He then lists the main differences between males and femals with the connection with language: genetic differences, social differences (e.g. various roles people take within a certain society), and linguistic differences (e.g. speech style and word choice). Doing so, he gives readers an indepth idea about how gender differences link to various language behaviors. He further explains how these differences are possibly created and constructed in society. Wardhaugh also examines a few common gender stereotypes, such as women talk more than men, and proves most of the stereotypes are wrong.