Gender Differences in Using Complex Structures in Group Discussions and Learners’ Attitudes towards Group Discussion Assessment

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were twofold. First, this study investigated gender differences regarding complex structure use in group discussions. Participants included 15 females and 15 males, aged from 18 to 35, who studied the same book with the same teacher in a language institute in Shahreza, Iran. These learners, who had been screened by the Oxford Quick Placement Test and found to be upper-intermediate, took part in a group discussion for their final oral exam. Using a scoring rubric, the researchers and their co-rater examined the oral productions of both male and female learners. Frequency counts and percentages of the different types of complex structures used by the learners were tabulated, and the chi-square test was conducted to analyze obtained data. The findings revealed that there were no significant differences between female and male learners in using complex structures containing noun clauses, relative clauses, and adverbial clauses. The second objective of the study was to find out the learners’ attitudes towards group discussion assessment; a researcher-made Likert-scale questionnaire was handed out to the participants, and the results revealed that the majority of the learners, both female and male, felt less stress in group discussion assessment, and that it was believed that this type of assessment was very fair. The only attitudinal difference between male and female learners was germane to peer pressure: 73% of male learners in comparison to 40% of female ones thought peer pressure stopped them from expressing their ideas in groups. The results bear implications for both language teaching and assessment.