Preview

Deborah Tannen

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
490 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Deborah Tannen
In “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently” by Deborah Tannen illustrates the day to day gender differences in institutions. Tannen is an author and professor that researched the difference in genders in school. Tannen successfully enlightens her colleagues about men and women differences in education institutions by, establishing her credibility through research, observations and using her logic. Tannen did research and wrote a book comparing men and women in education institutions. She focuses on the linguistics and uses other studies to prove her point. “The research of sociologist and anthropologist such as Janet Lever, Marjorie Harness Goodwin, and Donna Eder has shown that girls and boys learn to use language differently in their sex-separate groups.” (Tannen 1). Girls interact with other girls on a more personal and emotional level. Boys tend to act with other boys on a physical level; sports and hobbies. Tannen uses distinct research to identify key variables and to show her credibility. The logos appeal is evident in the way in which she uses other facts along with her original research. Secondly, Tannen does observations that allow her to show how men and women tend to have discussions. While men tend to be more joking, women talk more about their problems. “When …show more content…
Men tend to be more vocal in class and want to talk. Women on the other hand, usually sit back and listen. Though this is not for every situation studies have proven this to be true. “…men speak more in class more than women…many of them find the “public” classroom setting more conducive to speaking, whereas most women are more comfortable speaking in private to a small group…” (Tannen 4). Classrooms are more comfortable for men to speak, they enjoy the public setting with the freedom of debate or discussion. Women prefer smaller, more compact groups for a discussion in “private” in order to express

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Brooks goes against females to focus on males, while Tannen goes against males to focus on females. Brooks claims that, “Some of the decline in male performance may be genetic. The information age rewards people who mature early… Girls may, on average, do better at these things” (Brooks 11). On the other hand, Tannen admits that, “Whether women or men are direct or indirect differs; what remains constant is that the women’s style is negatively evaluated- seen as lower in status than the men’s” (Tannen 9). Brooks is suggesting that females mature faster than males, which is why they progress more than males. Tannen is suggesting, on a different note, that women are looked at different because of the way they speak, whether it be direct or…

    • 1026 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Summary of Boyz N Books

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In her article, Mary Grabar, author of “Boyz n the Book”. The article begins to explain the enrollment into a college by gender, as told by Department of Education, they recorded in 2005 the total fall enrollment made up to be 57 percent and knowing that gender discrepancies will increase in further dates. Grabar explains how women tend to excel in an English career and men typically in a mathematical, engineering career. To support, the article says that boys in high school fall lower in a reading test score than girls, but that’s justifying that the girls read every day rather than once a week. The article, “Boyz n the Book” emphasizes that males in schools tend to care more about what they want to read or what is more exciting to them and maybe what they would rather do instead of focus on an academic acceptance.…

    • 668 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    He then says that he tried Tannen’s method, which involved discussing the importance of the reading and in what ways it is useful, and noticed that the girls in his class that the girls clearly felt more comfortable with this approach than his usual debates. Notably, Tannen mentioned the fact that girls that attend all-girl schools are more likely to be more successful in life than those that attend co-ed schools. She believes that this is due to the fact that they not only feel more comfortable speaking in a different manner than men, but that they also feel more comfortable speaking to other woman. This is not because girls do not fight, but because, as Tannen says, “they don’t ritualize opposition.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our society’s perspectives on gender roles and gender identities are immensely biased affecting both males and females in workplaces, occupational choices and especially in educational institutions. This bias toward both sexes inevitably exists in our education system and our minds. Many articles, news on social media and magazines are bringing attention to male students who have begun falling behind their female peers in an academic perspective. In the article “Too Cool For School,” Edward W. Morris studies two different educational institutions. The educational institutions that were studied were made typically of white students and the other was primarily made up of African American students. Based on his observations, Morris claimed that…

    • 296 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a large problem when it comes to communication between men and women, whether it is between children, teenagers, or adults; because of a cross gender society. Once both sides understand this "cross-culture communication" problem, so that no gender is blamed, improvement will naturally occur. Deborah Tannen, is an award winning writer and a best selling author for her eccentric essays based on differences of male and female conversations. In the essay, "Sex, Lies and Conversation" she writes on the many distinctions of the style of conversations on both men and women.…

    • 853 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    How male and female pupils and teachers act towards each other has a major effect on pupils experiences of education. Sociologists are interested in the reason why gender relations take the form they do and their relationship to classroom interaction, subject choice, achievement and identity.…

    • 332 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Deborah Tannen

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages

    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.…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is interesting to look at the history of gender differences in education to see how it has developed in order to gain greater understanding of the current situation. Boys and girls were taught together for the first time in the 1960s, with the development of new comprehensive schools. However, opportunities were not equal for both genders in society at this time, and these values were reflected in the school environment. For…

    • 4009 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The second text that is not hard to understand is “Teachers' Classroom Strategies Should Recognize that Men and Women Use Language Differently” by Tannen, Deborah. I had to zoom in and really focus on part I was reading to not get confused or mixed up, but Tannen’s points are really clear and straight forwards. Throughout the article she talks about how boys are different than girls, and that boys tend to be more involved in activities than girls. That in order to change that, teachers need to start making everyone get involved equally and they need to know how to approach them because they are not the same. Tannen gives examples of her own experiments and she states her evaluations. That’s why it was really easy to understand her message.…

    • 157 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this classic piece of feminist research, Michelle Stanworth highlighted the way in which sexual divisions and gender discrimination were reproduced in the school environment. She carried out individual, in-depth interviews with teachers and pupils (both male and female) in seven A-level classes in the Humanities department of a sixth form college. Her aim was to explore the extent to which gender affected the way teachers thought about their pupils’ career prospects, and consequently how male and female pupils might have different experiences of classroom interaction. Stanworth concluded that boys demanded and received more of their teachers’ attention than girls, who felt that they were marginalized in classroom encounters. Teachers also had lower expectations of their female pupils’ career prospects, because they expected them to get married and adhere to traditional stereotypes of domestic femininity. We can classify this project as having a case study research design, in that Stanworth was focusing on the social processes at play in one specific setting and at one moment in time; she did not want to compare the school to any others or to measure any changes in her participants’ attitudes over time. This was a qualitative research strategy, which Stanworth employed by using her detailed observations of one case to develop a more general theory of gender and education. It is likely to have been high in trustworthiness (if not validity), because the researcher used quotations from the interviews to support her arguments, and so seems to offer a genuine insight into how teachers and pupils perceive classroom interaction. She also provides a clear account of her methodology, which means that it would be easy to replicate the study. However, the personal and subjective nature of Stanworth’s observations mean that this piece of research would be low in reliability and external validity, for if the study were…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Based on Galley’s analysis, the lesson being deployed in these English classes was non-engaging for the boys in the classroom, and it shows. Additionally, Galley points out some facts about girls that seemed to ring true in this setting as well, “Girls … are, on average, able to read earlier and speak with better grammar. … girls are also able to hear, smell, and feel tactile sensations better; have better overall verbal abilities…” (Galley, 2003). These attributes, too, were evident in the girls’ participation in the reading, writing, and discussion portions of the class. When the teacher asked a question to the class or verbally read a part of the text, the girls would quickly articulate an answer or response. Consequently, Galley’s examinations seem to explain both the lack of verbal communication by boys when surrounded by girls in non-academic settings, as well as, the polling results of a majority of boys disliking English-Language Arts the most out of all the other…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There are some distinct differences between how men and women use and understand communication. There are differences in how we approach, laugh, or relate to a conversation based on the genders of each party that may arise in some challenges. Understanding of how each gender interacts with certain topics makes…

    • 612 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    You Just Don’t Understand Women and Men in Conversation by Deborah Tannen is basically an explanation on how women and men converse. Tannens main goal is to give advice to the different genders in order for them to avoid as much conflict as possible. Tannen’s main ideas are to explain how differently women and men react to each other’s way of being. It’s like they’re in their own little world while living in the same big world. Men tend to try to dominate situations and tend to always want to be at the top. Women do not tend to want to get into conflict but tend to show understanding. These big differences bring them into conflict. A Tannen explains, “What he wanted conflicted with what she wanted”. (40) Women and men are constantly clashing in opinions.…

    • 1042 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Compare and Contrast

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages

    * Be sure you have read the Sample Student essay and the Peer Review Guide prior to moving to…

    • 467 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Sexism In Classroom

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Sexism is another stereotype that is created in the classroom that can have social and academic effects on individuals. Research shows that an oppressive classroom environment impairs learning and academic performance for students oppressed with identities (Pitman, 2010). Sexism in education occurs at an early age. While children of both sexes typically play together, as they get older they spend less and less time playing with children of the opposite sex. When students are lined up according to gender, teachers are stating that boys and girls should be treated differently. When different behaviors are acceptable for boys and not girls because boys will be boys, schools and administrators continue the oppression of girls. Teachers tend to associate girls as being feminine and are praised for being calm, neat, and quiet, whereas boys are encouraged to be self-thinkers, participate, and speak up. By the time students have completed 12 years of schooling, the achievement gap has widened. Females, who generally outperformed the males in their early school years, now trail on all subsections of the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) and the American College Testing Program Examination (ACT), with the greatest discrepancies surfacing in the math and science areas (Dauber,…

    • 916 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays