Are Girls One Step Ahead when Learning English? : A Study of Gender Differences in Language Acquisition

Abstract: This essay was underpinned by the premise that boys and girls receive an equal education in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) in Swedish schools. The purpose with this essay was to examine whether there are any differences between boys and girls when it comes to understanding grammatical structures and listening comprehension in English in a county in central Sweden. The investigation focused on tests that were carried out after every section of teaching in the various areas. A descriptive method was used which consisted of quantitative approaches; i.e. content analysis of questionnaires answered by 60 pupils in the ages of 10-11. A following analysis was thereafter conducted with reference to the theories by Vygotskij, Piaget and Skinner that are used in the investigation. The results showed that the girls had slightly better results in all of the tests in grammatical structures except one, and in all of the listening comprehension questionnaires, which indicates a better understanding of these parts in EFL learning. It remains to be established why these differences have occurred as the number of pupils in the study cannot be considered valid as representations of Swedish pupils in general. The conclusion of the result however, was that educators in EFL need to increase their knowledge concerning differences in learning between boys and girls. They also need to consider whether the EFL lessons being delivered in classrooms are equally beneficial to both sexes.