The gender gap is widely acknowledged among researchers of both first and second language acquisition, with many studies reporting a female advantage. However, findings have not always been consistent and seem to vary... [ view full abstract ]
The gender gap is widely acknowledged among researchers of both first and second language acquisition, with many studies reporting a female advantage. However, findings have not always been consistent and seem to vary according to a number of factors, such as the learning context, the skill being tested, and the stage of learning. Researchers have also examined gender differences in second language (L2) motivation, and have so far noted male and female variances in attitudes towards the target language, identity, and integrative motivational factors. Few studies have investigated the effect of gender on L2 phonology.
This presentation will discuss findings from a study into factors that affect the degree of foreign accent in Mandarin as a second language. In this study, 70 L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese recorded speech samples which were then rated for degree of foreign accent by native Mandarin speakers. Although the mean accent rating scores for female and male participants were not statistically significant, marked gender differences were revealed when Pearson bi-variate correlations were conducted, with a split data set of males and females, between mean accent scores and independent variables.
Whereas females’ degree of foreign accent was strongly correlated with amount of L2 instruction, no significant relationship was found for males. Interestingly, female participants were also more accurate self-raters of their foreign accent than males. Furthermore, motivational factors such as the importance of sounding like a native speaker and reasons for learning the L2 showed a medium correlation for females but no correlation for males. These findings contribute to existing research on gender differences in L2 learning and motivation.
