Dear teachers of English and other languages,
I have been teaching English at the tertiary level since 1994. For about 15 years I have taught General English and ESP courses in India and abroad. Currently, I teach Engineering English and Communication Skills at an engineering college in Chennai, India.
I have always found that female students are better than male students at learning languages. Almost every year my students debate the issue. Most students do not agree with my statement that women are better than men at learning languages. They say that language is not specific to any one gender and language proficiency of a person depends on their interest and exposure to a particular language. Yet, some students believe that women are good at languages. Some of the reasons given by the students are:
- Women love chatting.
- Women read a lot.
- Women do the work (language homework) assigned to them.
- Women are result-oriented.
- Women are more imaginative than men.
I would like to know how teachers of English across the globe react to the statement "Women learn languages better than men"
I look forward to reading your comments.
Albert P'Rayan
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Hi Albert,
Excellent question! I feel it's partly true. I'm not sure whether it's innate or cultural conditioning? My experience in India is that women tend to be outwardly more submissive and thus more teachable, but at the same time some women really don't expect to do much with what they learn. Additional degrees and certifications simply add to their "marriageability CV".
There is a sort of 'cultural' shyness among women in India, something of a charade which can get in the way of learning especially with the middle-class.
Maths teachers tell me that boys are better at maths especially as the kids become adolescents. So if women are better at learning languages, then we're even, I guess!
Hi Albert,
In fact, up to some point I think that what you have said doesn't apply in my case! I too have been teaching at tertiary level for several years now, and I believe that a larger percentage of females (as opposed to males) are more responsible in the way that they regularly write their homework and do all the assigned reading. But I wouldn't like to overly generalize, that's why I'm saying a larger number of females.
On the other hand, males in my teaching experience have always been more creative, no matter what kind of activity we are working on, and certainly more imaginative (especially when given a writing assignment!). They don't like sticking to rules so much, as writing homework, but that doesn't mean they don't do any kind of homework! It's clear that even though I don't give any longer reading (like novels) in the course of the semester, they still read at home (literature that they specifically like!). So I tend not to scold them so much if they haven't written a few pieces of homework, yet most of them excel in their knowledge of different word meanings and sentence structure!
A.
Dear Albert,
Women outwit men in learning languages in spite of their limited exposure to education.moreover they are less distracted and with limited freedom they are more crazy in learning new technology.as you have mentioned they are target oriented and follow the deadlines strictly.
Men are exposed to education and learning right from the beginning,but at the same time they have lethargic attitudes in learning. they read a lot than women but they are action oriented, not fearing much about deadlines.as a result they lag behind females in learning many a language.
If chances occur, women learn quickly than men in all fields
regards
dr.mangay
Dear Phil,
Many thanks for your comments. Your comments make me raise many questions.
What makes you say that women in India are more submissive? If you have any interesting experience, please do share with us.Do you mean that women in this part of the world accept whatever their teachers say? Do they lack critical thinking?
Yes, I do agree with your statement that there is a sort of 'cultural' shyness among women. Does in anyway affect their language learning? What about women in other parts of the world? Isn't 'cultural' shyness common among women everywhere?
I look forward to reading your response.
Albert
Hi Anaumoska
You say that men are more creative than women. I would like to know in what way one's creativity contributes to their learning a language effectively.
Albert
Hi Albert,
Your query has once again given me food for thought. The reasons mentioned by students:
Chatting - how is it connected with honing your speaking skills
Read a lot - Read what and how
Committed to work - what is the quality of homework and how does it ensure, it adds value
Result oriented - what is the benchmark
Imaginative - on what basis
As of today, English has become the global language. Any individual wanting to start his carrer on a sound footing, needs to ensure that he is comfortable with all aspects of the English Language, as in, speaking, reading, listening and writing. Moreover the learning process as far as the English Language is concerned, never stops. It is a life long process.
Hi Girish
Whatever the students have said is self-explanatory. Chatting is very much connected to speaking (and writing too if it is on-line chat), reading books help learners develop their learning skills, doing homework related to English learning enables them to enhance their language skills, etc. Yes, all these contribute to developing learners' LSRW skills.
My intention was not to explain in detail how these factors contribute to the effective learning of a language. Anyhow, thanks for your comments.
Best wishes
Albert
You have very good observation. And at the end you said Women learn languages better than men. I completely agree with you on this. Bceause mine observations also tell this truth.
Hi everybody!
I can tell you that I totally agree with this question of women being better at languages than men, broadly speking.
Maybe, this is related to our brains. There are people who say that men's brains "work" in a more "analitical" way, and that is why they are, generally, better at Maths and those kind of subjects than women.
We, women, on the other hand, tend to be more "intuitive" and "language oriented" (generally when I teach girls they are all chatter boxes, whether boys tend to be more "silent") so therefore, it may be true that women learn languages better than men because we like "talking" more than me....
In my case, I have two children, my daughter, who's the oldest, excels at English. My son, the youngest, always finds it difficult and his pronunciation is not as good as my daughter, despite having had the same teachers!
Perhaps, we, as teachers of English, should try to find "the way" to get to "male's brains" and help them become better learners! (though I am still wondering how to!)
I don't like the way this could be heading, but.......................... In my 7 years I have to say that women I have taught have out-shone the men by miles.
Why I don't know but it seems to be that way. It might be women feeling a need to be better than guys in this area. An area in which size and strength have no place in ability.