Yin and Yang in Teaching English: An Overview of Gender-based Techniques

Abstrakt

The aim of the paper is to highlight some gender differences, which justify the necessity to use different techniques for boys and girls in teaching a foreign language. Over the past decades, various correlations, such as gender and achievement, gender and cognitive abilities, gender and learning styles or gender and techniques, received considerable attention. Many scholars came to the conclusion that the relationship between gender and second language success is affected by a series of factors making boys’ and girls’ performance different. Male students are more interested in games and exercises that involve the use of flashcards; they pay attention to the visual context, and simultaneously make use of their tactile preferences. Males’ reasoning seems to be more general and deductive. They often employ memory strategies connected with physical response. As for female students, they are very keen to participate in the lesson with a song or a role play, in which they have a chance to practice their skills. Research findings indicate that girls prefer inductive reasoning, in which they use a great number of examples. When teachers are familiar with the number of difficulties their students may encounter, they are able to teach them effective strategies. Thanks to the fact that teachers are becoming more and more attentive to gender problems, every student in the classroom may have more opportunities to succeed in second language learning.