Final Writing

WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City


Title 1: Gender Differences in College Freshmen’s Writing at Capiz State
University

Title 2: Differences in College Writing of Freshmen Students at Capiz State
University: A Gender-Based Analysis

Title 3: An Analysis of Differences in Male’s and Female’s College Writing at
Capiz State University



A Concept Paper
Presented to the
Faculty of the Graduate School
College of Education
West Visayas State University
La Paz, Iloilo city




In Partial Fulfillment
Of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts in Education
Language Teaching (English)



Felyn Mae G. Yap
Candidate, M.A. Ed. Language Teaching (English)





August 2014
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

CHAPTER I

Background and Theoretical Framework of the Study

Capiz State University or CapSU is an institution for higher education. It
has ten (10) campuses strategically located in the first and second districts of
Capiz. CapSU Roxas City (Main Campus), CapSU Dayao, CapSU Pilar and CapSU
Pontevedra composes the first district while CapSU Tapaz, Sigma, Mambusao,
Burias, Dumarao and Sapian are the Campuse situated in the second district of
Capiz.
As an institution of higher learning, CapSU strongly believes that the
students should be well-equipped with necessary weapons in order to face the
real world after completing their college education. As stipulated in CapSU’s
VMGO, one of the institution’s goals is to have globally competitive graduates.
That is the foremost reason why the university promotes various researches
aimed to improve the quality of education to be offered to its clienteles.
Language learning and mastery is an important skill to become successful
someday. This idea is also in accordance with an article from PRWeb, a US base
online site. PRWeb revealed that the 21
st
century global competitiveness depends
in the foreign language mastery.
One possible research that may provide insights to improve language
learning is an investigation to the students’ college writing performance. Chiu
(2008) believes that speaking and writing are the two major productive skills in
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

language learning. However, she further reiterated that the role of writing
instruction has long been underestimated in the university education.
In CapSU, college freshmen are required to have English as their general
education subject. In the first semester, they are to take Intensive English
(English +) and Study and Thinking Skills (English 11). In the second semester,
they are obliged to enroll the subject Writing in the Discipline (English 12). These
subjects are embedded in their curriculum to hone their language skills. English
12 gave more emphasis in the improvement of their writing skills.
In this study, the researcher wanted to investigate if gender differences
are reflected in the writing performance of college freshmen. For the analysis of
the written outputs, the researcher will focus on a.) Writing quantity in terms of
length of sentences produced; b.) Writing performance which will be based on
the scores obtained using the five analytic criteria (content, organization,
grammar, diction and mechanics) and; c.) Writing performance in the different
genres (cause-effect paragraph, comparison paragraph, descriptive paragraph
and narrative paragraph).
Any significant results or findings that may shed light to gender writing
differences will also be noted. Some socio demographic profile of the
respondents will be also taken into account. These are socioeconomic status and
course. However these are just secondary or moderator variables for the primary
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

focus of this research lies on unearthing the differences in the male’s and
female’s college writing.

Research Paradigm


Independent Variables Dependent Variables






Figure 1. Paradigm showing the relationship between the Independent Variables and Dependent Variables.
Statement of the Problem

This research aims to identify the differences between men’s and women’s
college writing at Capiz State University. Specifically it sought answers to the
following questions:
1. What is the writing quantity in terms of the mean length of sentences
produced by the college freshmen?
College Writing
A. Writing Quantity
B. Writing
Performance
C. Writing
Performance in
different genres Female

Male

WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

2. Is there a significant difference between the male’s and female’s written
outputs in terms of the mean length of sentences they produced?
3. What is the writing performance of the college freshmen?
4. Is there a significant difference between male’s and female’s writing
performance?
5. What is the writing performance of college freshmen in the different
genres of writing?
6. Is there a significant difference between the male’s and female’s writing
performance in the different genres?
Hypothesis

As a guide to inquiry and investigation to accomplish the study, the following
hypotheses will be tested:
1. There is no significant difference between the male’s and female’s written
outputs in terms of the mean length of sentences they produced.
2. There is no significant difference between male’s and female’s writing
performance.
3. There is no significant difference between the male’s and female’s writing
performance in the different genres?





WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

Definition of Terms
For better understanding, the following terms are given their conceptual
and operational definition.

Gender is the fact that they are male or female. In grammar, the gender of a
noun, pronoun or adjective is whether it is masculine, feminine or neuter.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2014
In this study, gender refers to the state of being a male or a female of the
respondents.

Writing is the production of visual symbols defined to produce different verbal
responses in a reader (Smith, 1980).
In this study writing refers to how the medium to be used by the
respondents to express their thoughts and ideas.

College Writing refers to any writing done to fulfill a requirement of a college or a
university. This includes writing assignments and outputs in an academic setting.
www.umuc.edu/writingcenter/onlineguide/chapter1-01.cfm
In this study, college writing is represented by the written outputs of the
college freshmen students enrolled in an English 12 class.

Writing Quantity
In this study, writing quantity refers to the length of sentences produced
by the respondents individually.

Writing Performance
The analysis for the writing performance of the respondents will be based
on the on the five analytic criteria which includes the content, organization,
grammar, diction and mechanics.

Genres in Writing
In this study, genres in writing refer to the four writing test that will be
given to the respondents. These are the cause-effect paragraph, comparison
paragraph, descriptive paragraph and narrative paragraph.







WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

CHAPTER II

Review of Literature

Gender plays an important role in the lives of human beings. For instance,
a blue blanket wrapped around a baby would indicate that he is boy. A pink one
obviously states that the baby is a girl. Society dictates what is consider proper
for men or women. From the very first breaths, humans are taught to follow a
strict code of behavior that differs depending on their sex.
That is why gender is an interesting topic that may capture the attention
of a researcher or any student that studies sociolinguistic. The mind-bugling
difference between a man and a woman holds various questions that demand for
answers. Colley et al (2004) stated that the last several decades have seen an
explosion of research on the nature and existence of differences between men
and women. One particularly popular question has been the extent to which men
and women use language differently. This popularity stems, in part, from the fact
that language is an inherently social phenomenon and can provide insight into
how men and women approach their social worlds.
Oral/speaking differences between men and women proved to be a
popular zone of research in the modern times (Broadbridge, 2003; Voegeli,
2005; Nemati, 2007; and Holmquist, 2008). Beforehand, Sunderland (2000)
discovered that only a few studies are conducted on literacy. This could be
explained by the fact that speaking skill is commonly used as the measure of
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

language ability. However, Waskita, (2008) stated that this should not be a
justification for neglecting the importance of writing skills.
Lilis (2001) stresses the importance of student writing in higher
education. In the United Kingdom and Australia, writing skills are important in
determining factor in the success of students in Higher Education. This skill is
practically important in passing the final assessment in pursuing their career.
Another study by Morris (1998) as cited in Waskita, (2008) shed light to
differences between men and women in terms of their written output. She
studied gender differences in ESL writing at a Junior College in Quebec, Canada.
The study revealed that the women ESL writers tended to outperform the men
because their essays showed much higher level of adherence to guidelines than
the men’s, and the evaluation grid richly rewarded this adherence. However, it
was found that women’s and men’s text to be comparable quality as regards to
accuracy and readability.
In a study of 96 schoolchildren taken from the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades,
Mulac, Studley, and Blau (1990) as cited by Newman et al (2007), found that
boys in all three age groups were more likely than girls to offer opinions. When
mean sentence length is calculated, women come out as the wordier gender in
writing. This study showcase that differences between two genders occurs.
In addition to this, Goldberg and Roswell (2002) as cited in Chiu (2008)
concluded that girls were better at describing the words in texts than boys.
Further study reveals that girls were more likely to use their own observations
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

and experiences to construct meanings. Boys, on the other hand, were good at
debating and reasoning.
Interestingly, Chiu (2008) found out that in pre-writing test male students
wrote slightly better than female ones. Female students, on the contrary,
performed better than male students in the post-writing tests.
According to Waskita (2008) human gender characteristics are not just
given, but rather socially constructed. Institutions and practices can be described
as gendering. Gendering shapes gender roles: what men and women, boys and
girls do, occupationally and socially. Based on this concept, human gender
characteristics of a particular sex could possibly be modified. If women are
socially constructed to be good second language learners, particularly as
academic writers, then those skills may be acquired by men, if the language
learning and second language teaching can be adjusted for male academic
writers. Chiu (2008) also supported this idea. She believes that Language
teachers should provide appropriate assistances toward different gender to
facilitate learning.
This research believes in this premise. It does not aim to produce another
kind of gender stereotyping or demean any gender. Rather it aims to provide
input for improving the teaching of English, specifically in the English writing
courses at Capiz State University by looking at the differences of men and
women in writing. Results that will be obtained from this study are foreseen to
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

provide helpful teaching strategies for the realization of the English writing
subjects.

































WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

CHAPTER III

Research Design and Methodology


The Participants

The respondents that will be utilized in this research are the freshmen
students taking up English 12 (Writing in the Discipline) who are officially
enrolled at Capiz State University. They will be classified according to gender,
socioeconomic status and course.

The Data Gathering Instrument

The freshmen students will be required to submit a mini research at the
end of the semester. The mini research will consist of introduction and
background of the study, review of related literature, methodology, findings and
discussions. The students’ first draft which were not given feedback/comments
and not yet graded will be analyzed.
The data will be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. The researcher
will use mean and frequency in identifying the length of sentences produced by
the students. For the analysis of gender differences, an independent t-test will be
utilized. integration of cited sources, each of the samples will be categorized as
one of the following types: direct quotation, paraphrase, or synthesis. Lastly for
the presentation of ideas and arguments the researcher will design a rubric to
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

grade the written outputs. Specifically, the methods of presenting thesis
statements and organizing ideas and arguments will be the researcher’s center of
attention.































WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City

List of References

Broadbridge, J. 2003. An investigation into differences between women’s and
men’s speech. Module 5 Sociolinguistics from:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-
artslaw/cels/essays/sociolinguistics/JamesBroadbridgeSociolinguisticsAnInvestigat
ionintoDifferencesbetweenWomensandMensSpeech.pdf (Retrieved 20 March,
2014)

Chui, C. 2008, An investigation of gender differences in EFL college writing. The
Asian EFL Journal ( Vol. 10, No. 1) From http://www.baal.org.uk/proc08/chiu.pdf
(Retrieved 16 June, 2014)

Colley, A., Todd, Z., Bland, M., Holmes, M., Khanom, M., & Pike, H. 2004.
Style and content in emails and letters to male and female friends. Journal of
Language and Social Psychology, 23, 369–378. From:
http://m.referencerepository.com (Retrieved 20, March 2014)

Holmquist, J. 2008. Gender in context: Features and factors in men’s and
women’s speech in rural Puerto Rico. Temple University. From:
http://www.lingref.com/cpp/wss/4/paper1752.pdf (Retrieved 20 March 2014)

Lilis, T. M. 2001. Student writing: access, regulation, desire. London:
Routledge.

Meinhof, U.H. 1997. The most important event of my life! A comparison of
male and female narratives. (Retrieved 17, March 2014)

Nemati, A. 2007. Gender differences in the use of linguistic forms in the
speech of men and women: A comparative study of Persian and English. Central
Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore, India. From
http://bibliotecavirtualut.suagm.edu/Glossa2/Journal/dec2007/
GenderDifferencesintheUseofLinguisticFormsintheSpeechofMenandWomen.pdf
(Retrieved 20, March 2014)

Newman, M., Groom, C., Hendelman, L., & Pennebaker, J. 2007.Gender
Differences in Language Use: An Analysis of 14,000 Text Samples. Taylor &
Francis Group, LLC from:
http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/HomePage/Faculty/Pennebaker/Reprints/Newm
anSexDif2007.pdf (Retrieved 17, March 2014)

Sunderland, J. 2000. Issues of language and gender in second and foreign
language education. Language Teaching 33: 203-223
WEST VISAYAS STATE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
GRADUATE SCHOOL
Iloilo City


Voegeli, F. 2005. Differences in the speech of men and women: Linguistic
construction and performance of gender. From:
http://www.venusboyz.com/PDF/DissertationFVoegeli.pdf (Retrieved 20, March
2014)

Waskita, D. 2008. Differences in men’s and women’s ESL academic writing at
the University of Melbourne. Jurnal Sosioteknologi Edisi 14 From:
http://www.fsrd.itb.ac.id/wp-content/uploads/6%20Dana.pdf (Retrieved 17,
March 2014)