EL EFECTO DEL GÉNERO EN LA COMPETENCIA ESTRATÉGICA: UN ESTUDIO A TRAVÉS DE CUESTIONARIOS SOBRE ESTRATEGIAS COMPENSATORIAS EN UN CONTEXTO AICLE
Palabras clave:
gender, compensatory strategies, CLIL, L3 English, género, estrategias compensatorias, inglés como tercera lenguaResumen
La investigación en el campo de la adquisición de segundas lenguas ha demostrado que las mujeres frecuentemente son mejores aprendices que los hombres (Pavlenko & Piller, 2008). También muestran tener mejor actitud y mayor motivación (Spolsky, 1989). Sin embargo, estas diferencias se desdibujan en metodologías orientadas al significado, tales como el Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE) (Fernández Fontecha & Canga Alonso, 2014). En cuanto a la competencia estratégica, se han llevado a cabo pocos estudios sobre el efecto del género en el uso de las estrategias de aprendizaje (Ehrman & Oxford, 1989) y menos aún en el uso de estrategias compensatorias (Kocoglu, 1997). Por otro lado, no existen estudios que aborden el efecto del género en el uso de estrategias compensatorias en alumnado AICLE. Este estudio analiza la existencia de diferencias de género en alumnado de 5º y 6º de Educación Primaria en cuanto a cantidad y tipo de estrategias preferidas según un cuestionario sobre el uso de estrategias compensatorias (adivinar el significado de una palabra, mimo, creatividad morfológica, uso del diccionario, predicción, parafraseo, préstamo, calco, adaptación, evitación y petición de ayuda). En cuanto al uso general, no se encontraron diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los dos grupos, en la línea de estudios anteriores que apuntan a que las diferencias de género desaparecen en contextos AICLE. En cuanto al tipo de estrategias, las mujeres muestran una tendencia a evitar contestar si no están seguras, mientras que los hombres prefieren adivinar y se sienten más cómodos ante la ambigüedad. Las mujeres también recurren al préstamo, como garante de que el mensaje se transmite sin ambigüedad, a diferencia de los hombres, que prefieren predecir, son más valientes, y se arriesgan más durante la comunicación (véase Oxford & Ehrman, 1988).
Second language research has shown that females usually outperform their male counterparts (Pavlenko & Piller, 2008). They also have more positive attitudes and greater motivation (Spolsky, 1989). Nevertheless, these tendencies have been found to be blurred in meaning-oriented approaches such as Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) (Fernández Fontecha & Canga Alonso, 2014). As regards strategic competence, very little research has been conducted on the effect of gender on the use of language learning strategies (Ehrman & Oxford, 1989) and much less on compensatory strategies (Kocoglu, 1997). Besides, there is a lack of research investigating the effect of gender on the use of compensatory strategies by CLIL learners. This study examines the existence of gender differences in the 5th and 6th grades of Primary Education as regards amount and type of strategies preferred in a self-reported questionnaire on compensatory strategy use (i.e. guessing, miming, morphological creativity, dictionary, predicting paraphrasing, borrowing, calque, foreignising, avoidance and appeal for assistance). In terms of overall amount, no statistically significant differences emerged, which seem to be in line with those CLIL studies that credit a vanishing effect on gender-related differences. As for types, females tend to avoid answering if they are not sure whereas males prefer to guess and feel more at ease in ambiguity. Females also rely more on borrowing, which makes them feel secure that the content of their message is unambiguously conveyed. In contrast, males prefer to predict and are braver, and take more risks when communicating (see Oxford & Ehrman, 1988).
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