Man Students Are More likely to Fail than Woman Students in English Final Examinations

浦春莉

【Abstract】By conducting a survey， the writer finds an interesting phenomenon at Honghe University （HU）. The number of boy students who can not pass the English final examination exceeds the number of girls. What the reasons are？ From the aspect of gender， this thesis tries to discuss the possible reasons which lead to the special phenomenon. It has some practical values both to Chinese college English teachers and the boy students.

【Key words】gender； supplementary examination； attitude

English learning is a very complicated process， it involves a lot of factors， especially the learners own factor. It is the most direct and the most important factor. By conducting a survey， this thesis tries to figure out the reasons why boy students are more likely failed in the English final examination.

The author always has the work of invigilating in the college English supplementary examination. She finds that the number of boy students taking the supplementary examination outnumbers girl students. Its a very special phenomenon. What are the reasons which lead to the unique situation？

Altogether， there are 255 students are interviewed by the author. These students are college students from （HU）. HU is located in Mengzi， a central city of southern Yunnan Province. HU is named after the “Honghe” （which means “red river” in Chinese）， an international river flowing from Dali through eight counties of the Red River Prefecture of Yunnan Province all the way to Vietnams Hanoi. The predecessor to Honghe University – Mengzi Teachers Training School – was established on April 4， 1978. The name was changed to Mengzi Normal College on July 9， 1978. On April 16， 2003， the Education Department permitted Mengzi Normal College to merge with the Honghe Branch of the Yunnan Broadcasting University to form Honghe University， and on September 28， 2003， HU was formally established. Most of the 255 students are sophomores. Their ages range from 18 to 22. They take College English III as their optional course. After finishing learning the course， they will achieve the extra four academic scores.

The author is the English teacher of the 255 students. These students are divided into three classes. In the 255 students， boy students are 107. Girls are 148. In order to find out how many these students have experienced the supplementary examination， the writer interviews them. Among the boys， the 107 students， there are 35 students have experienced the supplementary examination. Instead， only 20 girls have ever experienced the supplementary examination. It is not difficult to find out that boys are more likely to fail in an English final Examination. The failed proportion of boys is 32.71%. On the contrary， girls proportion is 13.51%. There is a big gap of the failed proportion between girls and boys. The next challenge is to figure out what are the reasons which lead to the great difference.endprint

Social factors

When children are born， their gender is certain. They are putting on different clothes， playing different toys. They are expected to grow into different persons. To some extent， they future is determined by their parents and the society surrounding them. Boys are expected to be real men. Girls are expected to be gentle and kind women. Parents expect their boys to must have achievements， to compete， to know how to control emotions. Parents ask their girls to make the best of communication skills and know how to express their feelings. Boys are encouraged to be assertive， aggressive and have the spirit of adventure. Girls are supposed to be soft and passive. The following express such idea exactly：

“Arab males， who are expected to be the breadwinners of their families， enjoy more freedom outside the home and， therefore， are exposed to diverse experiences， allowing them to become more innovative and daring to seek out new possibilities. Females， on the other hand， are expected to stay indoors and live in a routine， secure， and predicable environment， where they perform daily household chores and take care of their children. In such confined environment， females can have more time to use sensory experiences， whereas， they have little opportunities of risk taking or ventures outside the home.” （Alumran， 2008， p 311）

All the expectation has great influence on them. As a result， males are good at logical thinking. Their thinking has the feature of extensiveness， flexibility and creativity. They are superior to in natural science， such as mathematics， physics， chemistry， philosophy. But females are good at image thinking. Generally speaking， they like English， literature， art， biology and other disciplines and they are easier to achieve more than males. Therefore， girl students will be better able to recite more words. Boys will find it is a tough task for them to remember words.

Different attitude

Personality has big influence on students academic learning. Female students attitudes towards English are somewhat higher than male students（Abidin， 2012）. Though different person has different personality， on balance， males are impulsive. Females are relatively gentle. “A positive attitude should be the umbrella of language learning （Abidin， 2012， p126）. ”Inductive method is adopted by most Chinese English teachers. They give some examples， and then summarize the rules of grammar. Girls get more from this kind approach. Girl students hold the dominant position in language learning. The difference in learning attitude and personality affects their English learning.endprint

Learning interest

Shoaib and Dornyei （2005） advocated that gender is an important perspective under second language learning investigations and concluded that females show more interests， positive behaviors and performances compared with the males. It is well known that interest is one of the most important elements in ones learning. Boys have much more hobbies and interests than girls. So much hobbies and interests will distract them from their English learning. On the contrary， girls are willing to spend much time in their English learning. It is unlikely for most girls to fail in the final English examination.

Learning process

This process refers to the school session. On the session， during the class， woman students will behave more actively than man students. If they want to be treated equally by their English teacher， they must pay more attention to their English learning. Otherwise， their teachers will not show solicitude for girls. Why the author state like this. In China， majority English teachers are woman teachers. Because of the gender difference， woman teachers like to focus on man students. It is accepted by sociolinguistics. Woman English teachers are strict with girl students. For a long run， woman students will achieve more in English learning. And then it is impossible for most girl students to fail the examination.

Time spent on the English examination

Woman students would like to spend much time on the reviewing work before the examination. Most of the content of the examination are related to the course book. Girls are more careful. They take more notes than boys in English class， for they remembered more English words， （the other part of this thesis has discussed this issue）. Their notes are a good help to make preparation for students. In a word， girls will feel relaxed in the preparing process than boys.

Different attitude towards failure

It is known girls are more embarrassed when facing the same thing. Because of this peculiarity， Girls care about the examination result than boys. Girls will feel ashamed if they fail an examination. Instead， boys have a liberal attitude on failure. It is not a so bad thing to fail an examination. To some extent， it tells why more boy students are likely to fail an English examination.

Different learning styles

Males and females adopt different learning styles （Boverie， Huffman， Meier， & Philbin， 1995； Keri， 2002； Miller， Finley， & McKinley， 1990）. According to Alumrans idea， males are intuitive learners and females are sensing learners （Alumran， 2008）. Sensing learners are specializing in memorizing， solving problems. However， understanding abstractions and discovering possibilities and relationship are intuitive learners department （Felder， 1996）. Most of the test contents are closely related to the text book. Girls are good at memorizing something. That is one of the reasons why most girls can pass a English examination easily than boys do.endprint

Conclusion

From the above aspects， the writer figures out some of the reasons why male students are more likely to fail in an English final examination. It has something to do with the students gender， learning attitude， learning interest， learning styles and even their attitude towards failure. This thesis has some values both to students and some Chinese English teachers. If they can take these reasons into consideration， both of them will get development.

References：

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[7]Shoaib，A.&Dornyei，Z.（2005）.Affect in lifelong learning： exploring L2 motivation as a dynamic Process.In P Benson&D.Nunan（eds.），Learners Stories：Difference and Diversity in Language Learning.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press，22-41.endprint