engleski

Gender and Language: Assessing English Oral Skills within Sports-related Conference

This article explores the issue of whether there are gender difference in oral communication skills and competences in English language, i.e. among the non-native English speakers/presenters (male and female) at the International Society for History of the Physical Education and Sport Conference (ISHPEES). The study addressed the following issues: a) are there gender differences in English oral communicative skills and competences ; b) are there differences in the self-assessment and the assessment of others’ English oral communicative skills and competences in presenting a paper at the Conference? A questionnaire was given to a sample of 30 conference presenters (19 male and 11 female ; age 44.4 ± 14.7) at the. ISHPEES in 2015. Variable sample consisted of a questionnaire of 6 particles. The questionnaire was reliable (Cronbach’s alpha 0.88, Inter-Item correlation 0.23). Gender differences were analyzed using the non-parametric statistics. Significant statistical gender differences were found in the first hypothesis regarding English oral communicative skills and competences. The results showed that the female assess their English language competences higher than the males do and, accordingly, tend to have better English oral communication skills and competences (pronunciation, syntax, vocabulary). However, results have also revealed that there is no difference between self-assessment of English oral communicative competences and the assessment of others’ oral communicative skills and competences in presenting a paper at the Conference. To conclude, the study opens the door not only for further research on the topic, but also to reconsidering the choice of each teaching strategy and approach to the learners’ mastery of English oral communicative skills with particular emphasis on their communicative skills and competences need for a conference paper presentations.

English ; gender ; communication ; competences ; skills ; sports

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