How gender might impact patterns of communication

How gender might impact patterns of communication

Read Bevan on gender and communication. Then, ask two people (one male and one female) to allow you to record your conversations with them on your phone. Here are some themes you can discuss: the weather on that day, some news event you just heard about, or something going on in your or their family. Keep the conversation to 2 to 3 minutes. Then, listen to the recordings and make note of whether you hear the more masculine or feminine styles of communication outlined in Bevan.

In addition to what Bevan says, here are five features that are often found in more stereotypically “feminine” and “masculine” styles of communication:

Feminine Styles:

Tag questions (ending statements with phrases such as “isn’t it?” or “don’t you think?”). This is thought to undermine the speaker and demonstrate a lack of confidence.

Flowery language (phrases such as absolutely or precision of color or taste)

Hedging statements (mitigating assertiveness, including words such as “quite” or “at that time”)

Intensifiers (words such as absolutely or incredible)

Bonding (searching for common ground, agreement)

Masculine Styles:

Certainty (speaks as if from fact, rather than opinion)

Vulgarity/profanity

Sentence fragments/informality

Confrontation/argumentative

Interrupting

Did you find that you or the two people you spoke with illustrated any of these patterns of more masculine or feminine styles of communication? Write a one to two-paragraph summary of your results. Include some of the expressions you heard to demonstrate your key points.

· Step 1 - Describe the findings. (100 to 150 words)

· Step 2 - Apply what you have learned during this class, especially the basic principles of effective communication, ideas of the self, or culture, to your exercise results, using and citing at least two course resources to support you and one can be a video. (This must be 200 to 250 words.)