The International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies

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The Relationship Between an EFL Teacher's Gender and Students' Willingness to Communicate


Affiliations
1 Sharif University of Technology, Iran, Islamic Republic of
2 Alzahra University, Iran, Islamic Republic of
     

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Learning a foreign language encompasses a process of trial and error that can lead to the progression of the learner's interlanguage, meaning that the learners make use of their language knowledge that receives feedback and brings about progress through diagnosis of the problems and being corrected by the teacher. Therefore, there exists a need to analyze the underlying reasons causing the students to remain taciturn with a low willingness to communicate (WTC) during a language class. There has been much work done investigating the role of the learner's stable personal characteristics (traits) along with their situational changes at a specific time (states) that influence the student's participation and interaction. In this study, we analyze the effect of a teacher's gender on female /male student's WTC in language classes where speaking is the focus. The research focuses on the potentials of male or female EFL teachers in isolation, and their varying roles in language classes of the opposite and same gender students. The analysis proposed here establishes that some of the effects found are due to different characteristics of men and women, and some are influenced by social/cultural orientations.

Keywords

Foreign Language Teaching, Willingness to Communicate, Gender, Social Factors, Cultural Orientations.
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  • The Relationship Between an EFL Teacher's Gender and Students' Willingness to Communicate

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Authors

Parvaneh Khosravizadeh
Sharif University of Technology, Iran, Islamic Republic of
Sarah Sadat Pakzadian
Alzahra University, Iran, Islamic Republic of

Abstract


Learning a foreign language encompasses a process of trial and error that can lead to the progression of the learner's interlanguage, meaning that the learners make use of their language knowledge that receives feedback and brings about progress through diagnosis of the problems and being corrected by the teacher. Therefore, there exists a need to analyze the underlying reasons causing the students to remain taciturn with a low willingness to communicate (WTC) during a language class. There has been much work done investigating the role of the learner's stable personal characteristics (traits) along with their situational changes at a specific time (states) that influence the student's participation and interaction. In this study, we analyze the effect of a teacher's gender on female /male student's WTC in language classes where speaking is the focus. The research focuses on the potentials of male or female EFL teachers in isolation, and their varying roles in language classes of the opposite and same gender students. The analysis proposed here establishes that some of the effects found are due to different characteristics of men and women, and some are influenced by social/cultural orientations.

Keywords


Foreign Language Teaching, Willingness to Communicate, Gender, Social Factors, Cultural Orientations.

References