1.

Introduction

Learning a language is something, which everyone seems to have an opinion on, even a
casual conversation with a seatmate in the doctor’s waiting room evokes opinions about
language teaching. In the recent time, especially since the rapid growth of immigration,
language plays a significant role when it comes to solve specific problems in society.
Language-related problems in society is a field, which is dealt by Applied Linguistics. It
aims to develop knowledge of methods used in, amongst others, language teaching and
communication, which build the main focus of this research. Looking of spontaneously
occurring spoken interaction, this paper aims to cover the importance of language-
related problems in the EFL classroom. Although there are many exceptions, one of the
major problems results from gender differences. As a prospective teacher, I am
interested in reflecting issues of language use from a gender perspective which is one of
the main purposes of disparity in classrooms. This paper aims to enlighten about why
gender matters in the classroom and what should be considered in a mixed-sex
classroom. Furthermore, this research enables an overall insight for those who whish to
know enough about the relation of language and gender to evaluate its usefulness for
their own purposes, such as the classroom. It will be clarified that language teaching
evokes diversity which means that girls and boys use language differently in class.

Firstly, chapter 2 will give a general overview about applied linguistics and how
far better teaching is linked with a better understanding of language. Chapter 3 will
point out the subdiscipline Conversation Analysis with regard to language classroom
interaction. It will be shown which role the teachers play and how far it portrays a
support for them to figure out what happens in their classes. Then in chapter 4, it will be
presented certain differences between male and female in conjunction with the
classroom. It will be examined how psychological processes, such as thinking, affects
the way we speak. Chapter 5 will finally discuss the importance of gender in the
classroom and what is meant to be a teacher of a classroom with gender disparity.

With so much talk in education about differences between boys and girls there
has been a topic that has not gotten the needed attention. Diversity has made teaching
more fulfilling but also challenging, thus it is important for teachers to understand its
features and functions.

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2. An Introduction to Applied Linguistics – Towards Language Education

This chapter is presenting a view of what Applied Linguistics is about and what Applied
Linguistics do. Like every academic subject do, AL also need explanation for its origins
and its history in order to understand its relation to more and different areas of research
with relevance to language over the years. Applied linguistics is not considered to be an
easy definition, as Vivian Cook (2004) mentions: “Applied linguistics means many
things for many people”.

One of the widespread definitions is linked to real-world problems and is broad

enough to illustrate what applied linguistics purposes are. Christopher Brumfit (1995
cited in Hall, Smith and Wicaksono 2011: 15) takes the focus on “the theoretical and
empirical investigation of real-world problems in which language is a central issue”.
The terminology ‘Applied Linguistics’ points out a broad range of exertions which
concern language-related problems or even multiple areas in society in which language
plays a significant role. It comes to the general agreement that the goal is to use the
concerns and techniques of applied linguistics to solve practical problems. Central to the
field of applied linguistics today is its rapid growth as an interdisciplinary field,
including language teaching. The key purpose is to examine ways of improving
language teaching which is based on a better understanding of language (cf. Cook
2004). According to the International Association of Applied Linguistics (IAAL),

applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary field of research and practice dealing with

practical problems of language and communication that can be identified,
analysed or solved by applying available theories, methods or results of
Linguistics or by developing new theoretical and methodological frameworks in
linguistics to work on these problems (Cook 2009).

In this context consideration is given to the question what counts as a problem because
it is an abstract matter which may be discussed. According to Brumit, suppositions
should not be made by applied linguists but by individuals involved in the problem who
experience it and can decide whether there actually is a problem (cf. Hall, Smith and
Wicaksono 2011). The relevance of individual experience of institutional language
problems succeeds in teaching AL. Pedagogical grammar as an example demonstrates
that activities in AL present as problems for which clarification is required. A pedagogic
grammar is intended for pedagogical purposes, like language teaching or the preparation
of teaching materials. It should focus, amongst other things, on the examination of the

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grammatical problems of learners. Some textbooks employ accounts of linguistics
discourse which are not actually used in human interaction but ensure that the items
raise the understanding of different grammatical mechanisms to express a variety of
intended meanings (cf. Davies 2007: 21). Therefore, a pedagogical grammar need to
teach about the language instead of teaching the language. The problem that has been
considering is how to prepare learners to approach the resources of the English
language. According to Keith Mitchell (1990 cited in ibid., 23), there is evidence that
the applied linguist correlates practical questions of how best to teach the language with
theoretical points of how the language arranges itself to mean to make intended
meanings possible.

Historically, language education has always been a large field in AL. Education
is a critically important rule of language use and therefore, AL should closely elaborate
proposals about how to arrange, introduce and evaluate the methods language is used in
schools. One of the major focuses, in which AL have been active in a variety of roles,
are “teacher methods and techniques: the concept of method and methodology,
approach, procedure, research on methods and innovation in method, maintenance of
innovation, cultural appropriateness and methods development” as well as “description
of language itself, in general as grammars […] and the specific descriptions of the way
language works in the situations facing the learner […]” (McDonough 2002: 13f.).
Concerning its origin, applied linguistics showed the same bases as in contemporary
involvements. It is claimed that the term ‘Applied Linguistics’ came about in the 1940s
in association with “a group of English composition teachers who wanted to be
identified with scientific linguistic concepts rather than with less precise literary
concepts” (Kaplan and Baker 2010: 4). In its past years, it was considered to be solely
restricted to teaching English as a second language. Although the interest has extended
considerably since the past years, the attraction towards language teaching and learning
still comprises a significant view of AL (ibid.). An eminent account of the growth of
applied linguistics comes from the journal Language Learning: A Journal of Applied
Linguistics by the University of Michigan (Catford 1998 in Davies 2007: 4). The
journal Language Learning, published in 1948, was the first in the world that realized
the term ‘Applied Linguistics’ in its title, implying the application of linguistics (ibid.).
In the 1990s, the journal welcomed a more varied representation: “The 1993 editors
remark on ‘the wide range of foundation theories and research methodologies now used

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to study language issues’ […]” (ibid.). Therefore, the term ‘Applied Linguistics’ was
relinquished and replaced by the title Language Learning: A Journal of Research in
Language Studies to make known clearly what applied linguistics is. The character of
AL was broadly discussed to be “the wrong term in the first place, introduced only to
give academic respectability to degrees, courses and departments.” (ibid.). In the 1960s,
this view ruled: The title ‘Applied linguistics’ was regarded as deceptive because it did
not consider many features of linguistics and language teaching, e.g. sociolinguistics,
psychology and educational theory (cf. ibid.). In the 1960s and 1970s, it was admitted
that AL dealt with language teaching. Especially after the Second World War, the
increase of language teaching disclosed that many teachers do not possess enough
knowledge about language and AL was instituted to balance this disparity.
Consequently, linguistics became prevailing since it was adjusted for teachers to have
already studied aspects of linguistics (cf. ibid.,5).

Linguistics had become mainstream. That was its success. At the same time applied
linguistics had also been successful. Its dedication to language teaching had been
remarked in other areas of language use, especially institutional language use
(Howatt 1984), leading to an explosion of applied linguistics training,
methodology and, perhaps above all, labelling in those other areas (ibid.).

In sum, it has been presented that AL reflects a historical diversity and therefore, it is
improbable to persuade a single theory, nor research techniques. It is worth mentioning
that AL is interdisciplinary: the language teaching view of applied linguistics looks at
ways of improving language teaching and brings it to the motivation that better teaching
is linked with a better understanding of language. Thus, the closeness to linguistics is
compelling since many applied linguists rely on linguistic categories or on the EFL
grammar tradition. As we see from the definitions, AL goes together with many other
areas, but concerning its origin it draws on language teaching as primary concern of
applied linguistics.

3. Conversation Analysis in Language Learning Processes

In the previous chapter an insight into applied linguistics and one of its sub-categories,
language teaching and learning, has been introduced. It has been shown how far these
subjects correlate with each other. Now, this chapter is demonstrating how far

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conversation analysis (CA) and its crucial interest with language as a pattern of social
action implies a natural link with the development of applied linguistics. Since AL finds
its origin in language, it is realized through action and approaches of bringing both
together as part of understandable analysis and description which propose a significant
reception. In the following, issues related to language classroom interaction is displayed
from a CA perspective and its importance to language learning processes lies in focus.

The interest in CA and its use in the study of language learning and language
teaching has grown noticeably over the last years. CA was established by sociologists
Sacks and Schegloff as a worldwide theoretical and empirical attempt related with the
social scientific belief and analysis of interaction. It is an approach for the analysis of
spoken interaction which occur spontaneously (cf. Paul Seedhouse 2005). CA is based
on naturally occurring interaction which means that the utterances are set in the ordinary
evolving activities of the people (cf. Hutchby & Wooffitt 2008: 12). Regarding its
purpose, CA points at the mutual understandings and responds of the participants in a
conversation focusing on how their actions are arranged. Besides, it is to disclose the
sociolinguistic abilities, and as a result it can be concluded that CA is not just the study
of talk, but of “international organization of social activities” (ibid.). The result of the
utterances is seen as a constructive social skill, that is, words used in conversation are
considered as results which are arranged and resolved in terms of the activities being
adapted in the talk. The talk in interaction is connected to the local circumstances in
which the participants are producing the utterances (cf. ibid.). Therefore, CA devotes
effort to the construction and the analysis of ‘talk-in-interaction’ and is regarded as a
sequential attainment that is determined by the participants themselves (cf. ibid.,13).
The sequence is composed during the conversation, in which the speaker reveals an
understanding of what the interlocutor’s turn was about. The revelation can coincide
with the interlocutor’s statement or not, but in both cases the utterances are getting
revealed in the upcoming turn in the sequence. This so-called “next-turn proof
procedure […] is the most basic tool used in oriented to accomplishments of
participants, rather than being based merely on the assumptions of the analyst.” (ibid.).
In this regard, conversation analysts concentrate on the understandings of the
participants and which meaning they assign to any given utterance. In the ambiguous
case of an utterance, for instance, the next turn proof procedure makes it possible to
analyse the mutual understanding because every next turn in a sequence demonstrates

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its producer’s understanding of its interlocutor’s utterance. If the understanding does not
coincide, then it can be clarified in the following turn in the sequence (cf. ibid., 14).
Thus, this sequence indicates that the participants’ actions in conversation are not
inevitably influenced by their individual assumptions or moods but rather by their
adaptation to the organized structure of the conversation.

When it comes to the EFL classroom, it must be considered how far CA has an
influence on the language learning processes. As it has shown previously, naturally
occurring interaction plays an important role for its analysis. Therefore, the teacher has
to prepare students to perform efficient communication in the target language. However,
there is a lack of knowledge about the types of oral interaction which occur in the target
context. Apart from this, the teaching coursebooks do not always correspond to
communication reality in which the students literally have to perform. CA should
explore and present more of spoken interaction in professional circumstances in order to
seek distinguishing characteristics of interactional patterns. Language teaching is not
exclusively involved with sentence structures, pronunciation and vocabulary of the
target language. “The aim of grammar explanation and of structural pattern practice [is]
to provide the learner […] with the capacity to form sentences in the new language with
which to express, ultimately, anything they wanted to say.” (McDonough 2002: 41). In
the ordinary human practice, the participants in a conversation prefer to master that
capacity. Thus, with the progress of the conversational means, the exercises aim
attention at the communicative application of language so that the learners become
aware of expressive resources of the language.

Necessarily, the change has refocused attention beyond construction of sentences and
sense relations between the words, on to patterns of language use exhibited in
the communicative events brought into the classroom. Consequently, language
teaching has sought and stimulated investigations into the ways people actually
use language in different kinds of situations. (ibid.)

It is assumed that the EFL classroom is an unnatural environment in which the learner is
exposed to unreliable interaction and could not disclose authentic proof of how natural
language learning processes function. In classroom situations the learning processes are
regarded to be associated with instructive interference which is derived from
methodological practice rather than real-world evidence. However, when teachers apply
cooperative teaching and learning methods, they increase the range of communicative

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participation in which the participants not only familiarize but also diminish the
assigned successive communication practices which are led by the teacher.

This chapter has highlighted conversation analysis as an empirical approach to

the examination of spoken interaction within applied linguistics, looking at language
classroom interaction. Teachers are natural consumers of CA for language teaching
research. CA maintains the actions of the participants as the main part of the analysis
and is hereditarily connected to second language teaching research. When teachers
provide the learners with communication-based task, does it matter whether what they
talk about is linguistically correct or not? Does it matter what they talk is unreliable and
inauthentic? From a language learning perspective, pedagogically created
communication also provide language learners with relevant insights into interactional
features that would enlarge their communicative competence and give them the
possibility to transfer those recourses in different kind of situations. The use of CA for
language teaching techniques is a resource that can support language teachers figure out
what happens in their classes and how it happens.

4. Language and Gender

This chapter aims to stress the importance of the study of gender in language and its
relevance in the EFL classroom. When we consider the definition of applied linguistics
introduced in chapter 2 and refer to CA as spontaneously occurred spoken interaction,
then it is worth mentioning that looking at everyday thinking which is shaped by
gender-specific actions, beliefs and desires plays an essential role when it comes to
conversation analysis. For CA approaches it is not enough to examine speeches without
regarding at issues related to our thoughts and understandings. The interest in the way
women and men interact has grown considerably since the past decades and it is now
known far more about the ways in which their patterns of talk differ. “Gender roles are
the patterns of behaviors, attitudes, and expectations associated with a particular sex –
with being either male or female.” (Seifert & Sutton, 2009). Nearly in all known
societies women’s ways of talking are considered to be as opposed to men’s. The
classroom is one place in which children learn social roles and socially appropriate

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behavior, along with gender-appropriate behavior. For that reason, researches that focus
on mixed-sex talk should be integrated in language teaching.

4.1 Gender Differences

It is believed that women are more talkative than men, but studies proved that men talk
more in mixed groups than females, such as in the workplace or in the classroom (cf.
Coates 1998: 2). While men feel more comfortable by speaking publicly, women tend
more to private speaking. There is also a distinction between report-talk and rapport-
talk. For most women speaking is a rapport-talk, which is a way of connecting things
and arranging relationships. They prefer private speaking, whereby they feel themselves
more comfortable (cf. Tannen 1992: 111). For men, however, talking is preserving
independence and negotiating status in a hierarchical social order. They mostly use
language for verbal performances such as, storytelling, joking, or mediating
information. (cf. ibid., 112). From childhood, men tend to use language in order to
attract attention, thus they prefer the public talking. Examining how far the speech
styles of men and women are differentiated from each other, it can be noted that women
talk much more than men and men get more air time. Women build relations whereas
men negotiate status and avoid failure. Female language is more balanced as men’s, but
women are overlapping by talking while men are speaking one at a time, which means
that women talk more simultaneously during their conversation (cf. Talbot 2010: 36).

According to Lakoff, women have more definitions for colour such as beige,
ecru, aquamarine, lavender and so on. Those words are very typical for women´s active
vocabulary (cf. Lakoff 1973: 49). Besides there are definitions used by women which
are regarded as grammatical meaningless, but which define the social context of a
statement or determine the speaker’s relation to the interlocutor. Moreover, there are
some adjectives, that describe approbations or admirations for something, for instance,
which are used by both genders like great, terrific, cool, neat, on the other hand there
are words, which are only specific for women such as adorable, charming, sweet,
lovely, divine (cf. ibid., 51). The particularly characteristic of women’s way of language
use is, that they speak in general more politely than men.

4.2 Transfer to the Classroom

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As regards language teaching, classroom talk is a significant area of study because
many teachers defend that talk is an eminent tool for learning. Studies have shown that
girls and boys are treated differently. Pupils are often separated by gender in terms of
classroom organization, for instance, as a form of motivation pupils are told to do things
as boys or as girls, such as boys to sing as nicely as the girls (cf. Coates edt. 1998: 186).
Teachers endeavor to motivate learners by their individual interests and preferences,
consequently, they choose specifically certain topics to maintain the pupil’s interest. For
example, in a teaching module about sports, boys are told to concern themselves with
football, whereas girls with cheerleading. Therefore, talk takes its part alongside
structures of difference and discrimination. The characteristics of mixed-sex classroom
talk are similar in many aspects to general studies of talk between male and female. In
an American study of over 100 classes, it is found that boys speak approximately three
times more than girls and that they are likely to call out answers eight times more than
girls (cf. ibid.). Concurrently, there are differences that have to do with physical
behaviors, styles of social interaction, academic motivations, behaviors, and choices.
Physically, boys tend to be more active than girls and are also more disposed to rely on
physical aggression if they are frustrated. When it comes to the classroom life, these
characteristics are incompatible, thus the school portrays a difficult experience for boys,
even for those who do not identify themselves with the mentioned traits. In thinking
about these differences, it is to be regarded that they refer to average and that there are
several exceptions. On average, girls are more motivated than boys to perform well in
school. From kindergarten through twelfth grade, girls earn slightly higher average
grades than boys (cf. Seifert & Sutton, 2009).

4.2.1 Role of the Teacher

Other than that, the focus of classroom studies has to be on the role of the teacher
because one typical feature of classroom talk is that is it often directed by the teacher.
In other words, if boys are to dominate, it happens with the assistance of the teacher.
Therefore, it is important that teacher divide their attention equally between girls and
boys to enable an equal participation of the learners. Research has found that they
sometimes respond to boys and girls differently. Teachers are certainly not the primary
cause of gender role differences, but also parents and peers. In general, teachers interact
with boys more often than with girls, which surely depends on the grade level of the

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learner and the personality of the teacher. One possible reason is that boys are speaking
up more frequently in discussions, consequently the teacher to pay more attention to
them in order to create a fluent interaction. Another possibility is that some teachers
think that boys are more likely to get into troublesome behaviour, thus they pay
attention to boys to keep them concentrated.

As it has been discussed in this chapter, certain characteristics about gender

which are seen as stereotypes are widespread in most societies, more explicitly, in the
classroom. Looking at everyday speaking means looking at psychological processes
which are related to gender-specific thoughts and understandings. In other words, it is
not enough to look at language without considering how it relates to wider issues about
how we think and understand. Gender roles and preferences are built up by language,
thus, early learning about gender differences provide a strong grounding regarding
classroom management.

5. Conclusion

In the present time it is of vital importance that teaching methods and techniques aimed
to be adapted to the development of the society. The social development within a
classroom means investing in learners and requires the removal of learning barriers so
that all pupils can develop themselves individually across a diverse group of people
with diverse interests and preferences. Heterogeneity plays a significant role in the
language learning processes of adolescents. Heterogeneous language learning includes
various dimensions, such as cognition, motivation, interests and specific preferences.
The development of teaching concepts and school organisation brings forward a need
for higher levels of investment in diversity and individual learning opportunities.
Diversity results primarily from gender-based differences. This may occur in matters,
such as remembering, problem solving and discussions in the classroom. Since boys and
girls deal with the same difficulties in different ways, it is the teacher to provide various
learning strategies with which they can identify and explore their individual personality.
The teacher has to be conscious about the gender disparity within a classroom in order
to grade fairly and transparently. Indeed, it is possible that learners perform differently
depending on their cognitive ability. The fact that there are not similar achievements

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between the groups should not affect their grades because both act in a wider variety of
styles and situations. Likewise, the naturally occurring interaction within a classroom
differs in the nature of language use between male and female learners. There is a
difference between how boys and girls are talking in the classroom. Behaviour and
language go hand in hand, in other words, the way of speaking affect the way of being
and vice versa. The spontaneous occurrences of speech include a knowledge of socio-
cultural rules, norms and values which guide the behaviour of speech and other ways of
communicating in an interaction. For the classroom, it means differencing instructions
for those differences. If boys and girls have different learning and behaviour needs, then
teachers need to differentiate for those needs. One of the major facts of good teaching is
to know as much as possible about the learners and have the skills and techniques that
will allow to meet the learning and behavioural needs of male and female learners in the
classroom.

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