CHAPTER 2................................................................................................................................... 16
2.7 Boys and language learning
Historically, boys have performed better than girls academically. However, there seems to have been a shift, as statistics in the United States show that boys get most D’s and F’s and a minority of A’s. in all 50 states; they obtain lower results than girls and have a higher high school dropout rate (Gurian & Stevens, 2010). Girls are surpassing boys in all learning areas, including those that were previously dominated by boys such as maths and science (Francis, 2000). In 2012 and 2013, South African learners in Grades 3, 6 and 9 wrote the Annual National Assessments (ANA) in home
language and maths. Below is a gender comparison of the results of assessments for Grade 6 boys and girls in maths and home language in 2012 and 2013 respectively.
35 30 25 20 15 10 5
0 EC FS GP KN LP MP NC NW WC TOTAL
Figure 6: Average % mark in Grade 6 maths by gender in 2012 Source: DBE (2012, p.48)
60 50 40 30 20 10
0 EC FS GP KN LP MP NC NW WC TOTAL
Figure 7: Average % mark in Grade 6 home language by gender in 2012 Source: DBE (2012, p.48)
Girls Boys
Boys Girls
Figure 8: Average % mark in Grade 6 maths by gender in 2013 Source: DBE (2013, p.66)
Figure 9: Average % mark in Grade 6 home language by gender in 2013 Source: DBE (2013, p.66)
These results clearly reflect that in both 2012 and 2013, in maths and home language
15 10 5 0
Girls Boys 50
45 40 35 30 25 20
80 70 60 50 40
30 Girls
Boys 20
10 0
in all 9 provinces in South Africa, the girls achieved higher average percentages than the boys. The results obtained by the girls could be largely attributed to the feminist movement, which has fought to ensure women and girls receive fair and equal treatment and representation in all spheres (Francis, 2000). A further reason for the improvement could be the role that language plays in all learning areas. The link between all learning is language. To succeed in any learning, learners must have the ability to communicate effectively in the language of learning and teaching. A study conducted in Minnesota confirms this as it was found that students who performed better in language also achieved better results in other learning areas (Albus, Klein, Liu & Thurlow, 2004).
Francis and Skelton (2005) state that there is a significant gap which favours girls in language and learning internationally. Epstein, Elwood, Hey and Maw (1998) contend that girls’ most marked area of success at school has been in languages. According to the 2006 PIRLS, South African Grade 5 girls achieved 421 points in reading achievement, while the boys achieved 384 points, and in 2011 the girls obtained 434 points, with the boys scoring a lower 408 points (Howie, et al, 2012). This trend was noted internationally in 2011, with girls obtaining 520 points, and boys scoring 504 points (Howie et al, 2012), and the gender gap in SA was the second highest in 2016 (Howie et al, 2017).
Furthermore, gender studies conducted internationally have also found the same.
According to Zhao (2017, p.781) “The boy crisis is not unique in China. It has become an international phenomenon.” These countries include the United States (Li & Sun, 2009), Australia (Pavy, 2006), Seychelles (Geisler & Pardiwalla, 2009), France (Pritchard, 1987) and Germany (Maubach & Morgan, 2001) and have all concluded that girls achieve better results in language than boys. Related to this, Clark and Trafford (1995) contend that the disparity between boys and girls in language performance is significant; therefore patterns of learning and teaching need to be reviewed. Gxilishe (1993) found the same to be true amongst Xhosa learners in South Africa, as the girls in his study performed better than the boys.
Similar findings were made by Kissau and Turnbull (2008), who explain that due to lack of male interest in language learning, girls continue to attain better results in the
language classroom. Zhao (2017) contends that reasons for the boys’ academic inferiority include: influence of school and family education, lack of educational research and support from education departments, culture and social change, and physiological and psychological differences.
Scientific research suggests that girls outperform boys in language acquisition because the language area of the brain in girls develops before the areas used for spatial relations, whereas the opposite is true for boys (Sax, 1995). Additionally, it is easier for girls to discuss their emotions, whereas in boys, the regions involved in feeling are separate from those involved in talking (Sax, 1995). Zhao (2017, p.790) provides more insight in this regard:
- There is more dopamine content in boys’ blood and more blood flowing through a boy’s cerebellum, so it is more active. This could explain why boys prefer to move and experience challenges with sitting still in class.
- A boy’s temporal lobe has a less powerful neural connection than a girls’, which is why girls are better at hearing, particularly tone of voice. This means that boys will not do as well as girls in classrooms were much talking is prevalent as they prefer learning through doing.
- The memory area of the brain (hippocampus) differs for boys and girls. Boys need more time to remember what teachers say which may make them tired and give up easily.
- A boy’s front lobe is less active and develops later than girls which is why boys make more impulsive decisions and why keeping them fixed in the seat of learning will reduce their learning.
- A girl’s main language center develops earlier than boys and the blood flow to a boy’s brain is less than that to a girl’s. This slower blood flow means that they need to focus on a single task and continue deep learning for a long time.
Changing tasks very often hinders their performance.
However, differences in academic performance between boys and girls extends beyond only physiological differences. Other reasons for boys performing poorer than girls could include social or psychological differences such as: boys’ disregard for authority, academic work, homework and formal achievement; formation of concepts of masculinity in conflict with the ethos of the school; differences in attitudes to work;
girls’ increased maturity and more effective learning strategies, with the emphasis on collaboration and sharing feelings; and teachers’ tendency to interact differently with boys and girls (Younger, 2005). According to Chapman (1995) boys’ poorer academic achievement could be attributed to the fact that the socialisation of gender is reinforced at school and is embedded in lessons and textbooks. Gender socialisation refers to the learning of behaviour and attitudes considered appropriate for a given sex by society (Maubach & Morgan, 2001). Boys learn to be ‘boys’ and girls learn to be ‘girls’.
This “learning” happens by way of different agents of socialisation like families, peers, mass media and schools (Maubach & Morgan, 2001).
Furthermore, the role that socialisation may play in boys achieving lower results and the way language educators connect with boys in their classrooms are extremely important because their influence in the classroom is greater than any other variable (Pavy, 2006). Boys are relational learners, so they need to connect with their teacher and show a higher level of productivity when the teacher creates a positive, structured, demanding and “no-nonsense” approach (Hawley & Reichert, 2010). In research conducted by Rowe, boys said that good teachers are firm, friendly, fun, fair and focused (as cited in Pavy, 2006). Additionally, Pavy (2006) states that a language educator who engages with boys is one who cares. This means that they connect with their learners, actively involve themselves in learning, are relaxed and have a sense of fun, are enthusiastic about the language that they are teaching and are able to strike a balance between fun and discipline.
In contrast, Zhao (2017) states that female teachers make up the larger portion of teachers in primary school which may not be favourable to boys who need male role models in school. Huang and Tang (2016, as cited in Zhao, 2017) contend that boys and girls receive the same education and evaluation in school with does not account for boys’ learning needs. As such “departments of education and education researchers, to fully understand the urgency and significance of boy education, and provide the necessary intellectual support for boys’ education” (Zhao, 2017, p.789).
Zhao (2017, pp792-795) suggests the following 7 strategies to give boys and girls the same opportunities to compete in schools:
1. Create enough space for boys’ growth
2. Objective evaluation of boys’ inappropriate behaviour
3. Mobilize the power of parents
4. Create more display platforms in schools 5. Strengthen the development of the curriculum
6. Form flexible and effective mechanisms of process evaluation to keep boys’
interested in learning
7. Develop boys’ good learning habits in a planned way
As can be seen, there are many possible reasons and strategies suggested by researchers to account for the boys’ academic crisis. However, the background, experiences and contexts of SA is different so there is still a need for reasons and strategies to privilege SA boys and help empower them academically.