The impact of gender in learning English as a Second Language; A case study in the faculty of Management at University of Ruhuna

Abstract

The number of female students is rapidly increasing than male students in universities in Sri Lanka showing the contribution of women in future workforce. Entering to new life of university, equally both male and female students face many difficulties due to the adoption of English Language as the medium of subjects they are studying in their faculties. Nevertheless, analyzing their academic performances, it is significant the fact that the female students demonstrate better academic performances than male students. Being aware of the fact, hypnotising their gender has an impact learning the English Language, a survey was done taking 104 students (52 females and 52 males) from the faculty of management at the University of Ruhuna. In order to accumulate the necessary data both quantitative and qualititative methods were used. A test paper was given to the students and the test paper included vocabulary, grammar, sentence structures and reading comprehension. To ensure the effectiveness of the test, the paper was checked by several experienced English Instructors. Several students were randomly selected and interviewed to check their speaking abilities. As far as speaking skill is concerned, both female and male students seemed to be excited and they were ensured to have a casual chat about their everyday life by the interviewer (the researcher). Marking the papers gave the evidence that the girls achieved significantly better than boys, supporting the fact that the girls are more open to new forms of a new language. When speaking as well the girls showed better fluency than boys. Gathering more information on the subject, some other articles, journals and research papers which had been done on the same topic were read. More importantly, it is found that there is not a direct connection between gender and learning English language but it depends on the motivation, commitment, enthusiasm and social background they are living in which is different from the hypothesis. Moreover it is noticed that the girls‘ interaction is higher than boys in the class and in the society. Thus the reason behind why girls are more motivated than boys is that the girls‘ attitudes learning English, is very positive. Nevertheless, the previous researchers present that the results of doing such investigations are still controversial and what makes better learners is not the gender but the effective education. Therefore, the study concludes outlining some implications for the educational policy makers.