Gender differences in EFL oral and written comprehension in 6th-grade students from Spain and Croatia

Abstract

Contrary to the case of L1, gender differences in the field of L2 oral and written comprehension have been scantily studied. To address this issue, the current study aimed to investigate proficiency disparities between 6th-grade boys and girls in reading and listening comprehension of English as a foreign language in Spain and Croatia. In line with the literature of L1 comprehension and the few L2 studies that have tackled this matter, it was expected that girls would outperform boys in both skills and countries. To test this hypothesis, this piece of research adopted a cross-sectional design that involved 304 students evenly distributed in terms of country of origin and gender. The participants completed a reading test consisting of a 276-word text and ten questions within 20 minutes. 
After that, they listened to a one-and-a-half-minute audio clip twice and answered the eleven questions for the listening test. The results revealed that, while the outcomes tilted on the side of girls in Spain
in both skills —being statistically significant in the case of oral comprehension—, the exact opposite phenomenon was detected in Croatia. The varying international status of each first language coupled with diverse foreign language exposure habits between genders are suggested as potential  explanatory factors of these results. Learners and educators aiming at developing EFL comprehension are encouraged to consider this information; however, further research is needed to clarify it.