Culture and Gender Influences: Language Development

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Culture and Gender Influences: Language Development

There are many facets of language development including: the brain, delayed speech, and expected milestones. Biological factors in newborns are—for the most part—the same across the world. However, once introduced into their culture the differences begin to emerge, and it appears that there are some biological factors that influence gender based language development.

Craig and Dunn (p 164) identifies play differences as one of the determining factors of gender differences in language development. It was found that it does not make a difference if a girl or boy plays with a doll, they will both have a higher level of interactive language response. Nurturing language from both parents and children emerged when dolls were the subject of playtime. Conversely, when trucks were the used as toys, there was little verbal exchange. Studies such as the following from Hammer and Maczuga, have identified that girls tend to develop language skills faster than boys. However, this may not be a determination of nature, but instead nurturing qualities derived from gender based play.

Children’s gender can add to the likelihood of language difficulty. According to Hammer and Maczuga (2010) “males appear to be at a greater risk than females for speech-language impairment. The majority of studies that have investigated rates of impairment in males and females have found larger proportions of males with this diagnosis”.

Researchers, For-Wey, et al. (2009) used the Bayley scale to look at the validity of language development of children at 6 to 36 months. The research showed a basic disparity between the character and temper of male and female children. Biologically, the most well-kno...

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...es in Schools.

Spinelli, C. G. (2008). Addressing the Issue of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity and Assessment: Informal Evaluation Measures for English Language Learners. Reading & Writing Quarterly.

Furnes, B., & Samuelsson, S. (2009). Preschool cognitive and language skills predicting Kindergarten and Grade 1 reading and spelling: a cross-linguistic comparison. Journal of Research in Reading.

Newman, M. L., Groom, C. J., Handelman, L. D., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2008). Gender Differences in Language Use: An Analysis of 14,000 Text Samples. Discourse Processes, 45(3), 211-236.

Craig, G.J., & Dunn, D. (2010). Understanding human development (2nd ed.). Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brereton, A. (2008). Sign language use and the appreciation of diversity in hearing classrooms. Early Years: Journal of International Research & Development, 28(3), 311-324.

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