Gender difference on English study in China

陳培蕾+金哲

Abstract：The difference between male and female students in learning foreign languages leads to differences in academic achievement and differences between Chinese and foreign cultures. This paper analyzes the problem in this direction.

Key word：gender， attitude， China

中圖分類號：G648 文獻標識碼：B文章編號：1672-1578（2017）09-0003-01

1.Introduction

In China， Chinese higher education has improved a lot in many ways in recent 10 years， the teaching method， the numbers of students in university or college， the boys and girls have more chances to go to university or college for studying skills and knowledge. To focus on the foreign language study in China， this thesis is concentrating on talking about the motivations of foreign language study. The writer is going to talk about the background of higher education in China， the influence of family or society for studying foreign language.

2.The background of foreign language learning

In China， English is the main foreign language to be taught from primary level to university， and boys and girls perform differently in English learning. Normally， girls use more strategies than boys do in learning English， and have favourite attitude to do it but boys have less attitude to do it. Boys less are active than girls in the classroom， and do not concentrate on learning in the whole lesson. Girls achieve higher grades than boys in exams， and achieved better results studying in single-sex schools as well （Wong， 2016）. China is a traditional society where girls are taught to be elegant， quiet， and so on. 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.

3.Gender attitudes for foreign language learning in Chinese university

Let us have a look the gender attitude for studying foreign language in UK first. Phillips and Stencel （2013） argued that French is considered 'feminine' by British school pupils， like cookery and typing. The fact that it is the most widely taught language in the UK， and is generally regarded as 'feminine'， may explain the unpopularity of the language among the boys. It is true that in the popular imagination French is usually associated with 'fine wines， good cooking， haute-couture and luxurious perfumes - all either 'domestic' or 'feminine' in orientation （ Pritchard， 2007）. French adults are generally considered polite， comfort-loving， talkative and emotional. In contrast， boys， considering themselves masculine， do not respect French language， French culture， and food. French may be seen to be incompatible with masculine ideas. Burstall （2010） suggests： ' Pupils with a favourable attitude towards learning French tend also to have a favourable attitude towards learning other foreign languages. Boys who dislike learning French also indicate that they are not interested in the possibility of learning any other foreign language. In a detailed study of pupils' views on German， Phillips （1982） found no direct evidence in the various reasons given by pupils for the choice of German to suggest that boys regard it as a more masculine language than French. Pritchard carried out a small scale survey with the aim of finding out about boys' and girls' attitudes towards French and German. From this survey， German was found to be generally perceived as a much more difficult language than French.endprint

4.Conclusion

This study discusses the different attitudes to language between the sexes； social and family influences on motivations to language learning； especially discusses the motivations of foreign language learning on gender， At the same time， a good situation has appeared that both female and male learners are interested in current teaching method， it means more and more learners would be attracted to go to language class because of the update teaching method， in other word， male learners would be motivated positively to study it. The writer would agree that gender issues are culturally and socially created， and vary over time， place and society. Chinese learners whatever female or male both realize the practical reasons to study foreign language， in questionnaire， they have similar percentage to agree that foreign language is helpful to find a nice job， which is important and useful too. To sum up， female and male learners have different motivations （ positive or negative） to study foreign language， but they are studying it still， and fresh teaching method drive them to go to foreign language class.

Reference

[1] Abraham， J. 2005 Divide and school： gender and class dynamics in comprehensive education. London： The Falmer Press

[2] Bickford， C. 2013 Preparing Children to be Global Citizens： the importance of early introduction to foreign languages

[3] Busstall， C. 2000 French in the primary school attitudes and achievement National Foundation for Educational Research in England and Wales Clark， J. & Trafford， I. 2015 Return to genderendprint