Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Research in English: Males and Females as Writers

Purpose of this blog: Reviews of interesting research in English education journals. When possible, I suggest how I might apply the findings to my own classroom.

10-second review;: “Overall, the results of this study warrant the view that the writing of men and women is far more similar…than different.”

Title: “Gender-Typical Style in Written Language.” DL Rubin and K Greene. Research in the Teaching of English (February 1992), 7-40.

Quote: “Women used far more exclamation points than did men.”

Quote: “Women were more likely than men to acknowledge the legitimacy of opposing points of view.”

Comment: The authors begin with the following quote: “Everyone ‘knows’ that girls and women write differently from—i.e., better than—boys and men; that is part of the common wisdom of the classroom.” This research, however, finds that males and females are more alike than different in writing.


I never regarded my student writers as different in gender. I did notice that they were significantly different as individuals regardless of gender. RayS.

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