Deborah Tannen

Deborah Tannen’s case study entitled “Can’t We Talk?” is the most relevant reading that I have ever done for any class. It relates to a problem that every person regardless of age, race or sex, will have to face many times in his or her lifetime. The problem is that men and women communicate differently and these differences can often lead to conflict. This case study is very informative because it helps to clarify the thought process of each sex. That said this reading leaves the reader somewhat unfulfilled because Tannen does not offer a solution to the problem.

In 1991, a linguist teacher by the name of Deborah Tannen published "Conversational Styles "in the Chronicle of Higher Education,a weekly newspaper for college professors ."Conversational Style"is the way we converse with one another.Tannen felt as if "small-group interaction should be a part of any class ",but rather than state facts to support her argument she relied on her expertise in public speaking& her own personal experiences to strengthen her point of view.Tannen felt that men accounted for an higher percentage than woman when participating in class discussion, because men are more comfortable speaking in a public setting than woman.Tannen stated"That men are more likely to be comfortable with the debate-like form"that commonly takes

Conversation is a normal part of every day life. People converse everywhere they go; whether they are with their friends’, at school or even while at the store, a conversation is bound to ignite. While communicating has its ups, it also has its downs; these ‘downs’ can happen especially when men and women are communicating because, according to Deborah Tannen, they have different communication styles. Tannen illustrates this in her video, He Said, She Said: Gender, Language, & Communication, where she talks about and gives many examples of how men and women differ in their conversational approaches. I definitely agree with Tannen in regards that conversation between the sexes is asymmetrical.

Women’s desire for connection, men’s desire for status. Women engage in communication to build and maintain relationships with others. By contrast, men are more likely to engage in talk only when it makes them look good, strong, or independent. Second, Style of Communicating: Women use rapport talk, men use report talk. Women express emotions, share personal feelings, relate stories, and listen with emotions, that is rapport talk. Men engage in competitive joking and definite speech that control of the conversation is report talk. The third one is speech communities. The different ways women and men talk reflect their separate cultures. The role of women and men in social development is different, thus they have different social roles. Last but not least, Language. We speak the same language, but each gender has its own words. Each gender has its own set of vocabulary and preferred topics, and they use spoken language differently. Men talk to get things done, however, women talk to interact with

Deborah Tannen is an American academic and professor of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Her research mainly focuses on the expression of interpersonal relationships in conversational interactions, including how these interactions are affected by gender and cultural differences. In her essay Tannen uses gender to reveal the differences between male and female conversational styles in classroom discussions. She formulates the theory that males naturally prefer and dominate contributions to these debate-like discussions while females incline to contribute to less hostile conversations. Tannen presents her argument effectively using simple vocabulary and appropriate literary devices however, as the essay progresses she

In a study by (citation) females and males rated communication styles by gender tended to rate females as better at non-verbal communication and males as more likely to display loud disruptive behaviours. Through observational studies these were confirmed to be significant showing that how we view genders does impact communication styles. For me, I do see these behaviours in my life and find I am able to communicate and read body language very well. In a study by (citation) female managers were more likely to use longer sentences, sub-sentences and more adjectives. (How this affects my

A concluding thing that was found useful in Deborah Tannen’s essay was she clarified the ‘content’ difference of conversations between men and women. She had mentioned that women would spend more time on one topic and would go more in-depth discussing that one topic. Men on the other hand, tend to jump from topic to topic in relative haste. Personally, I feel this is useful for both genders for a few different reasons. One of the reasons being it aids men to understand that women like to slow down and discuss one topic more thoroughly than men typically would. In contrast, women can distinguish that men change gears a lot more frequently and that if they stay on one subject for too long they possibly will lose the males interest in the discussion matter. Men and women stand a larger chance of producing more

The reason gender effect ways of speaking is because women and men communicate differently. Women are more sympathetic and men tend to be more problem solvers. For example, women wallow in their problems and constantly talk about them, whereas the men find a solution to the problem or leave it alone. According to Deborah Tannen book, You Just Don’t Understand, She mentions that “Trying to solve a problem or fix a trouble focuses on the message level of talk”. (52) It means that solving a problem is an expression of understanding; having women and men more understanding of their use of language will decrease the complaint “You just don’t understand.”

Have you ever noticed the way men and women converse with each other? Is there a difference with how they communicate verbally and non-verbally? Studies and experiments by linguist have30 shown that differences in speech and body language are apparent between the male and female gender. First, men impose and lecture their side of the story when conversating while women on the other hand have a more open exchange of ideas. Second, men do not show any body signals indicating that they are listening but women on the other hand give signs that show their affirmation or opposal. Third, men generally dominate the conversation most of the time while women just listen passively.

In the excerpt "How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently" originally published in a book called You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation in 1990, Deborah Tannen observes that one method of teaching a class does not necessarily work for all other classes. Based on her research, she finds that classrooms are often dominated by male students, because most instructors use a teaching method called “ritual opposition”, which exhibits "public display followed by argument and challenge" that cater to male students more than female students (Tannen 370). Most instructors believe that classroom participation, where students are expected to contribute to classroom discussions, will determine students' success. Consequently,

In the article "Sex, Lies and Conversation: Why is it so hard for Men and Women to Talk to Each Other?" by Deborah Tannen, she talks about how men and women have different ways of speaking to each other. She explains that men and women have different conversation patterns which can have an impact on relationships. She explains the many examples of how men conversate between people and women conversate between people. She talks about studies that have been done to show the difference between men and women when they speak. I feel like Tannen is right about how men and women can't conversate between each other like how they would if they were talking to their own gender.

After reading the language and gender section of our textbook I found very interesting what Robin Lakoff proposes about the set of traits which distinguish women’s language from men’s language. Moreover, Deborah Tannen gave great examples of the differences of women’s and men’s language. In addition, I enjoyed watching the video about how children communicate. Bases on what Lakoff proposed, the textbook mentions that women use a greater use of hedges and indirect speech acts. Also, that woman used fewer taboo terms for sexual and bodily functions than men do. Moreover, that boys talk more than girls and that teachers are likely to give more attention to boys. In addition, Women like to speak in a private/small way and men speak in a public

Do different teaching techniques give one sex an advantage over the other in the classroom? Should class teaching strategies be based on the sex of the students? Deborah Tannen’s article, How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently, compares and contrast how men and women learn and converse differently in the classroom. The author pin points the different types of educational practices that are used in school that allow one gender to dominate the other. Tannen uses many examples to support her main points of the article; the difference of male and female conversational style.

Gender is defined as a cultural and social difference between male and female. It includes the characteristics that are outlined by being masculine or feminine. Gender attitudes and behaviors are seen at different levels as individuals, social institutions, wider societies and cultures. Communication is an activity that is done on a daily basis, wherever a conversation transpires regardless of gender, race or culture. There are barriers to effective communication as well as factors that somewhat twist or change the meaning of certain things being conveyed. In a work place, gender can influence communication styles and leadership styles as both parties have different ways of getting across information to others.

In classrooms, men tend to show that they are mentally superior to the group that they are surrounded by. Speaking in a confident tone when giving the answer allows them to gain a vast amount of confidence, men do this in order to show who’s boss. Tannen concludes that boys tend to move in groups arranged in a hierarchical structure based on dominance. Therefore, boys must use language to draw attention to themselves and demonstrate dominance over those around them (par 3. 369). Prinz elaborates by mentioning “ Men speak four times as often and shout out answers eight times as often” (par. 33. 638). In other words, men will often try to show dominance in a group by language, it will eventually initiate a competitive side within the group. At