The Different Attitudes To Learn Languages Between the Different Genders

齊芳

This study discusses the different attitudes to language between the different genders.There is a social cultures, family pressure and other reasons to cause the different marks or results of foreign language study, especially the students would have totally different marks with different motivations of English study. Much has been written about gender issues in education in recent year. Gender impacts on all areas of education, including foreign language learning.

Differences in attitudes about English education in China

Differences in attitudes between the sexes towards the study of language has become a widespread area of investigation in China. It has been argued that the successful acquisition of a foreign language is to a large extent determined by attitude. According to this view, high or low acquisition of a language depends on positive or negative attitudes towards learning languages. Learners who have favourable attitudes towards a language, towards its speakers and their culture tend to be more successful in their learning than those who have negative attitudes (Loulidi 1990; Burstall 1974). In general, boys and girls have different attitudes relating to language learning. Girls have more positive attitudes than boys, and this is reflected in the significantly higher percentage of girls liking French, and consistently expressed more favourable attitudes towards foreign-language learning than boys. ( Burstall, 1974 p.58 )In 1985, Powell and Batters conducted an attitude survey involving 953 pupils at the beginning of their second year of French or German, in six mixed comprehensive schools. Again, the general findings supported the common view that girls express a more positive preference for foreign languages than boys. For instance, Patterson (2003) says girls choose and study an additional foreign languages in schools. Evidence from other studies as to why boys and girls display different attitudes towards language learning suggest that these differences stem mainly from social and cultural pressures. This topic will be explored further. In the context of co-educational schools, a significantly higher percentage of boys believed learning French to be a waste time and found it more difficult than other subjects. It has been discovered that boys can feel inhibited whenever they attempt to produce ‘unusual sounds, and the presence of the girls can be a stumbling–block to their improvement, especially with the recent emphasis on oral work. Following this argument, Hingley has said: ‘ it must have been uncomfortable for the educational establishment to recognize that mixed schools were dividing, rather than integrating. It is suggested that boys and girls might benefit both psychologically and academically in single-sex groups for foreign language learning (Hingley, 1983 p.100; Loulidi, 1990 ).

Foreign language learning in China and critical analysis

China is a traditional society where girls are taught to be elegant, quiet, and so on. They tend to be patient, peaceful and better with communication or negotiation because they are encouraged to listen rather than talk. Girls who grow up in a male-dominated society know that they have to work harder in order to succeed. The social conditions affect their learning motivation and make girls work harder than boys. Eventually their efforts pay and girls get higher grades than boys (Wu, 2003). People think that boys are good at analyzing problems, and are supposed to use mental processes more often then girls. It is girls who are encouraged to learn a foreign language by their parents. They may even be encouraged to be an English teacher while at school. In contrast, boys are taught to have different ideas of what they should do or should be when they are children. They receive the idea that a man should be brave, fight for his power and take the main decision-making role. They get less encouragement from their parents to study ‘feminine foreign languages. They are encouraged to be a big business man, successful scientist or powerful person in this society. Moreover, most parents encourage their boys to learn English by paying a lot of money for their extra English tuition on their weekends. Parents want their boys to achieve higher marks in English exams and enter university, but do not want their children to be an English

teacher in the future. Boys and girls are given different opinions about their social roles. Boys are encouraged to be strong, brave, and play an important role, but girls are considered to be quiet, feminine. With the law of "one family, one child" in China, boys are expected to do their best to secure a complete education with the highest marks possible, and successful careers in the future. Girls are considered to be less important role in Chinese society.

References：

[1]Burstall, C., and Hargreaves, M. 2007 Primary French in the balance NFER Publishing Company Ltd.

[2]Clark, A. 1998 Gender on the agenda: factors motivating boys and girls in MFLs London: CILT.

[3]Delamont, S. 2006 Sex roles and the school.

[4]London and New York: Routledge.