THE EFFECTS OF GENDER ON COMMUNICATION

STRATEGIES OF VIETNAMESE EFL

LEARNERS

PRESENTER:

ĐINH NGỌC HẠNH

People’s Police College

CS: Communication strategyCSs: Communication strategiesSs: Strategies

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

• Studies on communication strategies (CSs): for nearly four decades.

• The studies contribute to applied linguistics and second language acquisition.

• They are still inadequate; remain controversies over certain issues.

REASON FOR RESEARCH

- CSs are “strategies which a language user employs in order to achieve his intended meaning on becoming aware of problems arising during the planning phase of an utterance due to (his own) linguistic shortcoming” (Poulisse, 1900; cited by Ellis, 1994, p.44).

LITERATURE REVIEW:COMMUNICATION

STRATEGIES

Target language proficiency and CSsLearning and communicating contexts and CSsTask types and CSsGender differences and CSsPersonality and CSsFirst language and CSs Teachablity and teaching of CSs

LITERATURE REVIEW:FACTORS AFFECTING THE CHOICES

OF CSS

• Fishman (1983): Men tried to be dominant in the conversation while women used more questions; sometimes men and women might have different initial purposes when using the same CS.

• Hou (1998): no obvious difference in the narrative task; female learners tended to use more strategies of code-switching and asking for help than male learner did in the interactional task.

LITERATURE REVIEW:GENDER AND CSS – PREVIOUS

STUDIES

• Wang (2008): female learners used borrowing strategies more often than male learners did.

• Lai (2010): male and female learners were not significantly different in the use of CSs but female learners seemed to use CSs more efficiently than male learners did because they carried out the execution phase of production more effectively.

LITERATURE REVIEW:GENDER AND CSS – PREVIOUS

STUDIES

• Lack of consensus on the effect of gender on the use of CSs among the researchers.

• Researches: carried out in different situations, with different participant levels of proficiency and cultures, and with different instruments.

LITERATURE REVIEW:GENDER AND CSS – PREVIOUS

STUDIES

• In Vietnamese language learning context: male learners use more types of CSs and use them more frequent than female learners do.

HYPOTHESIS

The study was conducted in the People’s Police College located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.Participants: 60 students (40 males and 20 females) - intermediate level

Methods: Questionnaire

Observation (Video-taped)

METHODOLOGY

The study was conducted in the People’s Police College located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

METHODOLOGY

Questionnaire:• Developed from the Questionnaire on

Communication Strategies for Chinese Learners of English (Yang and Gai, 2010) and Faerch and Kasper’s typology of CSs

• Used to assess learners’ attitudes toward using CSs and the frequency of using CSs.

• Five-point scale.Video Recording: • 12 female and 12 male learners performed a

concept identification task.

METHODOLOGY:INSTRUMENTS

METHODOLOGY:PROCEDURES

FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE:ATTITUDES TOWARDS CSS OF MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

2,51,2

3,54,6 4,2

2,82,35

1,3

3,125

4,8 4,5

2,67

012345

Chart 1. Attitudes towards CSs of Male and Female Learnres

Male

Female

There was no significant difference between the attitudes of male and female learners towards CSs.

Both groups of gender have:• positive attitude towards L2-based strategies and

cooperative strategies, • neutral attitude towards code-switching strategies

and non-linguistic strategies, • negative attitude towards reduction strategies and

especially retrieval strategies. Learners seem to prefer compensatory strategies to

reduction strategies and retrieval strategies.

FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE:ATTITUDES TOWARDS CSS OF MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE:FREQUENCY OF USING CSS BY MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

3,45

2,253,12 3,25

3,83 3,53,52,875 2,5

3,25 43,6

0

1

2

3

4

5

Chart 2. Frequency of Using CSs by Male and Female Learners

Male

Female

FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE:FREQUENCY OF USING CSS BY MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

• Gender factor seems to have no obvious effect on the use of CSs.

• Both female and male learners use cooperative strategies, non-linguistic strategies, and reduction strategies more often than retrieval strategies, code-switching strategies, and L2-based strategies.

• Male learners use code-switching strategies more often than female learners do.

FINDINGS FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE

• Learners do not agree to the use of reduction strategies but they often use them in communication.

• Learners seem to be attracted by “positive” strategies which they think to be useful for their study but they use “negative” strategies in real communication because of their limited proficiency.

RESULTS FROM THE VIDEO-RECORDING:FREQUENCY OF USING CSS BY MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

0

10

2

22

13

107

5

9

1 20

5

10

15

20

25

Chart 3. Frequency of Using CSs by Male and Female Learners in Task

Male

Female

RESULTS FROM THE VIDEO-RECORDING:FREQUENCY OF USING CSS BY MALE AND FEMALE

LEARNERS

• Male learners spoke and used CSs more frequently than female learners did.

• Male learners were braver and more eager to take risks to communicate

RESULTS FROM THE VIDEO-RECORDING:TYPES OF CSS

0%

21%

4%

46%

27%

2%0%

29%

21%

38%

4%8%

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%45%50%

Chart 4. Types of CSs Used by Male and Female Learners

Male

Female

RESULTS FROM THE VIDEO-RECORDING:TYPES OF CSS

• Both male and female learners used L2-based strategies the most frequently; hardly used non-linguistic strategies and did not use reduction strategies.

• Male learners tended to use cooperative strategies more often than females while female learners chose code-switching strategies more than males

DISCUSSION

In the real performance

learners use L2-based strategies and retrieval strategies more frequent and do not use reduction strategies

learners tried to use L2-based strategies rather than code-switching

learners did not use non-linguistic strategies frequentlyfemale learners tended to use code-switching strategies more often than males learners while male learners tended to use more cooperative strategiesmale learners seemed to be more active in communication than female learners

DISCUSSION

• The findings proposed that male and female learners reported the same use of CSs; in the real performance, however, male learners were more active and eager to communicate; male learners tended to use L2-based strategies and cooperative strategies while female learners chose L2-based strategies and code-switching strategies.

• Learners should be organized in sex-mixed pairs and groups so that male and female learners can learn CSs from each other.

• CS training should be applied to help learners practice and be familiar with the CSs that are thought to be “positive” to their learning.

CONCLUSION

The results from the questionnaire might only reflect how learners perceive their use of CSs not how they use CSs in real communication

The use of CSs is also affected by task types The use of CSs was examined in the classroom

setting and might be different from the natural setting

Gender factor should be considered in relationship with other factors such as task nature, proficiency, personality, etc. to see which factor has more effects on CSs and how these factors affect each other when learners use CSs.

LIMITATIONS

Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Fishman, P. (1983) ‘Interaction: the work women do’, in Barrie Thorne et al. (eds) Language, Gender and Society. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House, pp. 89-101. First published 1978 in Social Problems, 25, 397- 406Hou, S. S. (1998). Effect of tasks and genders on communication strategies. Journal of PLA University of Foreign Languages, 21(6), 18-23.Lai, H. (2010), Gender Effect on the Use of CSs, English Language Teaching, 3(4), 28-32.Wang, L. M. (2008). A study of gender differences in communication strategies by EFL learners. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, 8, 37- 41.