Gender Divide and Learning Outcomes in the Use of English Classroom
Uzoma Amanze
General Studies Department
Edo State College of Agriculture
07039828959
ABSTRACT
the question of genderlect may not be as debatable as the issue of influence of teachers’ gender on learners of English language. Current socio-linguistic studies reveal a trend – learners performing better under teachers of a particular sex than the other. To study this trend, a group of learners of English language in Edo state College of Agriculture were investigated. The performance of subjects in relation to their gender and that of their teachers was evaluated. Results show that, in students’ performance in previous examinations and in classroom situation, girls performed better under female teachers while their performance under the male teachers was also very competitive in comparison to that of their male counterparts. In other words while female students did better with the female teachers, their performance ratio compared to male teacher – male student, was still better. While 68% of the girls representing 40% of the study population scored between ‘A’ and ‘B’, only 32% of the boys representing 60% of the population made same grades. This indicates that while teachers’ gender has influence on students’ performance, the male/female teacher’s influence on students of same gender is disproportionate.