Diverse Communication within Men and Women as Students

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Diverse Communication within Men and Women as Students Noted linguist and scholar Deborah Tannen in her essay “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently” discloses the differences between men and women’s informal styles in classroom conversations. She argues that different forms of teaching can open interaction between both genders. She says young men and young women use verbal communication in dissimilar groups for instance when women talk to their friends, they tell secrets; when boys talk they like to have an audience. She also says that woman like undersized groups who talk about their difficulty whereas men like to offend each other. Tannen develops a plan to break up the classroom into sections that would be sociable to both men and women. She decides to divide the class into three smaller groups: one by college course, one by sex, and the last one by an informal method. The observation of my music class supports many of Tannen’s assertions more often than not. While studying my classroom, I have learned that gender somewhat has a huge effect on conversation and conduct in the schoolroom. Gender can have an effect on how the instructor teaches in the classroom, or how we are to get along with other classmates. Some of the effects can be language since we are all from different ethnic backgrounds. Right away, I notice that there are more women than men in my class. I partly agree with Tannen when she explains that men “find the ‘public’ classroom setting more conducive to speaking, whereas most women are more comfortable speaking in private to a small group of people they know well.” (Tannen 304). The few men in the classroom are more timid than the women; therefore,... ... middle of paper ... ...es by singing and listening. We also break into groups to help each other remember the sound of the notes. We sit and stand to sing. Once we are ready, we perform for an audience. One way of teaching, will not help every student to get involved in class activities, but using different methods of teaching will include everyone and show who a student is, individually. We all are not the same, we may learn differently, but we learn. Work Cited Tannen, Deborah. "How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently." The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Eight Edition. Ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2008. 361 - 367. Work Cited Tannen, Deborah. "How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently." The Prentice Hall Guide for College Writers. Eight Edition. Ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2008. 361 - 367.

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