The Influence of the Gender Factor to the Learning Styles of Secondary Students in the Process of Language Learning

Abstract

The paper concludes investigations of the different aspects of the theory of learning styles connected with the gender factor. There are a number of definitions of learning styles, the theoretical study of gender differences in different aspects of the learning process and its connection with the learning styles of secondary students. The author of the present article investigates gender differences in patterns of knowledge in the process of language learning. The distinction between “sex” and “gender” is a frequent topic for debates within feminist research and epistemology. A common use of the term “sex” is to restrict it to referring to biological distinctions between males and females, while reserving the term “gender” to refer to the psychological features or attributes associated with these categories (Deaux, 1985). The use of gender is more accurate for the connection to “the gender system” identified by feminist researchers, since it marks the cultural and structural dimension. The most studies are concerned with gender differences in classroom interaction. This problem is of obvious scientific and pedagogical interest since one goal for education is to provide equal opportunities for males and females. The necessity of research on gender differences in the process of learning the language is obvious nowadays. The societal needs, peoples’ belief system, the power of large-scale studies, the pedagogical need to understand educational performance and measures, the feminist need, have framed the importance of the matter to many researchers in this field. And one of the major problems in the field is the limited number of female researchers. From educational point of view, the less a problem is understood or the more complex the problem is, the harder it is to act upon gender differences and learning styles.