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Deborah Tannen

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In the excerpt “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently,” Deborah Tannen explores how participatory individuals are based on certain grouping and situations. She investigates the difference in homogeneous and heterogeneous interactions in a small group academic setting focusing on males and females. Her exploration into the “language” used based on gender also correlated within certain ethnicities. Her conclusions were women interacted more positively with each other than men, male interactions center around sarcasm and a sense of superiority, and the domination of academic discussions were by men even in heterogeneous gender groups. Tannen’s findings showed how women flourished in homogeneous groups. According to anthropologists and sociologists in Tannen’s studies, females tend to have one female companion or a few close confidants with whom sharing their most intimate and secret affairs are a rite of passage (Tannen 369). Females need that sense of camaraderie among themselves as a release of information in a manner, which allows them the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings in a non-judgmental …show more content…
Tannen states males have a hierarchical order to their groups where those dominant males take control of the submissive males in the group. Their dominance is expressed through showing off their abilities, flaunting their intelligence, and accepting and overcoming challenges from other males or adversaries (Tannen 369). In an educational setting, men control debate-like situations due to their comfort level with an authoritative stance being higher whereas women may shy away from it. Males in the classroom are not opposed to others participating in academic discussions but will “throw down the gauntlet” when their opinions are called into

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