Gender, writing and genre in a Year 5 class

Abstract

The aim of this dissertation is to examine the differences between 9 to 10 year old boys’ and girls’ writing across genres and to look at the effect of variation in writing genres in order to reduce stereotyping. Data for this research were obtained through participant observations, interviews, and log keeping of writing tasks. Participants in this study were ten children and a teacher in a primary school. In the first part of the dissertation, different studies are reviewed. These provide a context on gender and gender theories, gender and literacy, importance of reading and writing and the different types of genre which are taught in primary schools. This dissertation then provides a detailed description of the research methods used in the study. Different tasks given in class and children’s responses to different writing genres are examined. Children’s and teacher’s point of views, through interviews, are then presented. Furthermore, to explain the teacher’s responses, the teacher was asked to complete a logbook over the period of five weeks. As a result, data was obtained on different writing genres across six curricular subjects. Results are compared with academic literature presented in the first part of this dissertation. In conclusion, this dissertation argues that if teachers engage children in different writing genres, gender differences in writing preferences can decrease. Teachers’ awareness of gender differences present in the classroom provides them with the tool to intervene and teach in ways that challenge these stereotypes. This dissertation recommends that teachers and student teachers vary their writing tasks given in class so that both sexes will be familiar with every type of writing genre, to decrease gender stereotyping in writing.