Gender Differences and Equal Opportunities in the ESL Classroom

There is good evidence from cross-gender conversations between the various possible combinations of native speakers & nonnative speakers to suggest that men & women tend to use conversation for different purposes. It would appear that men take advantage of the conversation in a way that allows them to promote their performance/production ability, whereas women utilize the conversation to promote their comprehension ability. The main pedagogical conclusion to be drawn from the available evidence is that the English as a second/foreign language teacher, equipped with a good syllabus & good methodology, should be able to engineer situations that create equal opportunities for both males & females in all aspects of classroom interaction. However, it is also suggested that more empirical research be done into (1) the origin(s) of gender difference (biological/innate, psychological, or sociocultural) & (2) its effect on second-language learning.