An unexpected finding in contemporary New Zealand children's peer discourses: How early is talk gendered?

Abstract

There has been considerable study over recent decades of gender differences in the ways we talk with each other. However most of this study has been of adults (e.g., Holmes, 2006), and the little there is on children has tended to centre on specific discourses, such as those of literacy (e.g. Davis, 2007). There has been a tendency to deny the existence or the significance of gender differences in talk, especially with regards to children, but it has relevance to accessing discourse and to academic success. This paper will present on some results of a study into NZ children's development of oral discourses of negotiation and explanation through the primary school years. The samples were of same-sex dyads of children aged from 5 years through to 8 years of age who engaged in semi-authentic tasks that required them to negotiate tasks or explain them to each other. The study did not intend to examine gender differences, but they were hard to ignore. They appeared from the very earliest ages in the sample and were evident throughout. They included many of the same characteristics as have been noted in the adult texts, such as the girls offering opportunities to the partner more than boys; boys using direct forms more than girls, and the incidence of the language of appraisal taking different forms for the two groups. These differences will be discussed along with the possible significance they may have for success in school and other life experiences.