A new study reveals that boys and girls learn languages differently, emphasizing the need for different teaching methods in the classroom.
Language experts believe that learning a language requires a combination of mental dictionary and grammar. The first includes the memorization of common phrases, sounds and words while the latter includes the construction of longer and more complicated sentences. Though many studies have been carried out on how these processes take place in adults, only a few have been conducted on children.
"Most researchers agree that the way we use language in our minds involves both storing and real-time composition," said lead researcher Dr Cristina Dye from Newcastle University in a press statement. "But a lot of the specifics about how this happens are unclear, such as identifying exactly which parts of language are stored and which are composed. Most research on this topic has concentrated on adults and we wanted to see if studying children could help us learn more about these processes."
In the study, a group of young participants were shown 29 irregular verbs and 29 regular verbs. All these verbs were familiar to eight-year-olds. The words were used in two sentences. In one sentence the word featured in the context. In the other sentence, there was a blank which required the children to fill in the past-tense form of the verb. (Every day I walk to school. Just like every day, yesterday I ____ to school.) The participants were asked to fill in the blank as fast and accurately as possible. Researchers recorded and analyzed their timings to discover which words were stored or created in real-time.
Researchers found that girls used their mental dictionary more while boys used their mental grammar more. This means that girls were more likely to used memorized words than boys.
"What we found as we carried out the study was that girls were far more likely to remember forms like 'walked' while boys relied much more on their mental grammar to compose 'walked' from 'walk' and 'ed'. This fits in with previous research, which has identified differences between the sexes when it comes to memorizing facts and events, where girls also seem to have an advantage compared to boys," the study authors said.
Researchers also pointed out that the reason why girls tend to outperform boys in language classes is because the curriculum in most schools benefits girls more than boys. Therefore, the researchers suggest that there may be a need to implement new teaching techniques and changes in the curriculum so that boys can benefit just as much.
Findings were published online in PLOS ONE. The study was funded by the National Institution of Health, National Alliance for Autism Research, the Mabel Flory Trust, and the Simons Foundation.
