Namangan davlat universiteti ingliz filologiyasi fakulteti amaliy ingliz tili kafedrasi

AGE AND ACQUISITION:THE ROLE OF GENDER IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION


Aims: to introduce students with the role of gender in language acquisition


Objectives: to discuss the role of gender in language acquisition

Gender in the language classroom

Classroom issues connected to gender and interesting ways of using that topic in classes of various ages
Very young learners
Although it is still controversial, researchers seem to be coming round to the idea that some interests and behaviours are naturally more prevalent in one sex than the other. Even by the age of two, some culturally determined roles will also be obvious in the kids. It may therefore be able to judge something about your class just from the number of boys and girls on the register. What we can say for sure is that every class you have will have differences in interests and behaviour, some of which will echo what are generally considered to be gender differences. If your assumptions about gender and the class turn out to be wrong, you should still find that you have planned a good mix of activities that appeal to everyone, e.g. some cute animal flashcards and some fierce and scary ones, and some running around games and some sitting down crafts. If you make sure you keep an open mind, you can then adjust your classes depending on how well they go down, all the while still making sure that students with minority interests are catered for.
It is also possible to use gender as content of the class, even at this young age (and usually low language level). One nice one is to ask students to pretend to “put on a hat”, “put on some socks” and “put on a skirt”, with the boys hopefully listening and thinking carefully enough to refuse to do the last one. Stories for young children often have clear gender differences in them, especially when it comes to Mum and Dad. You can use these to get students predicting what the characters will do, but you might want to try and find some materials where the gender roles are less stereotypical.