How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently by Deborah Tannen In Deborah Tannen’s essay How male and female students use language differently explained’ she describes the difference in the way men and women communicate in class. Ms. Tannen has years of experience in the classroom, and has inked several books on language. Deborah Tannen can be considered and specialist on this subject. In this essay she tries to convey the message to her readers that women and men communicate in differently inside the classroom by sharing her experience during an experiment that she had conducted in her own class.I believe in the message she is arguing.
Deborah Tannen is effective in convincing the readers that men and women do communicate differently. She was able to paint a picture to me that described how the men usually respond more to arguments, debates, aggression and verbal challenges. Tannen was also effective in depicting how women tend to be more responsive to open ended questions that are unopposed and valued.I do however feel that if you are unfamiliar with this type of study or this is the first piece of information you have read on the subject of learning styles and languagegw1c2g65sewqsde, that this essay would be ineffective.
I believe the lack of statistics and backed up facts would make it hard for people not aquatinted with this subject to understand and therefore making them skeptical of this experiment and essay. There is also the fact that Tannen’s classroom experiment was conducted with out the knowledge her students.This piece of information could be considered unethical to some readers and there fore be very off putting on personal beliefs. In my belief there was no damage done to those that unknowingly participated in this experiement, but they should have been aware of the study they were participating in. I do agree with most her findings in this essay but there were several variables I do not think Tannen accounted for.
Her experiment did not support her statements because she found that race and culture did affect the way her students wanted to distinguish their learning and communication styles.Tannen is most likely correct when she hypothesized that women and men communicate differently in the classroom. However there are times where I find that his may not be 100% accurate. Tannen stated that men usually have the tendency to argue or debate and to use powerful and controlling language patterns.
In my personal observations, men can like to debate and argue. And sometimes men would use language that I am not comfortable with personally but that is not always the “rule”.There are also those who choose to talk clearly and politely, but still coherently and respectively make their point clear. Simultaneously, my personal experience with women is they are also extremely capable of actively participating in debate and can be quite bold. Also, women Tannen states can shy away from being put on the spot because it can be uncomfortable and scary.
There a defiantly women who like the spot light (myself included, and many others in history) and these women can effectively command that attention and get their message through.My personal observations are different than this article due to my personal experience with communication. However I do agree with her that men and women use language differently and of course learn and interact in classrooms differently. Tannen saw her students in class and how they participated in her setting, do I think it was a complete study? No, however the evidence is there, it is supported and can be proven.
I just don’t think it was presented effectively based on my personal experiences, other research papers I have read and Tannen’s presentation of her experiment.
