A Level English Language

Deborah Tannen

L.O.

To explore the language and gender theories of Deborah Tannen.

​

​

​

​

Grade D/E – I can recall…

Grade B/C – I can discuss/apply…

Grade A*/A – I can evaluate…

Revision of research:

• Dominance theory: in mixed-sex conversations men are more likely to interrupt than women. Zimmerman and West

​

• Deficit theory: women's speech is deficient in relation to a male norm. Lakoff

The Difference Approach – Deborah Tannen:

• Men and women belong to different sub-cultures and preferences.

​

• This approach avoids “blaming” men for being dominant, and avoids suggesting women’s speech is inferior.

​

• She identified 6 “differences”:

Status vs. Support.

Men see conversation as a contest, women do not think of the people they converse with as ‘trying to get one up on them’.

​

Independence vs. Intimacy.

Men see consulting with their partner to be ‘asking for permission’ rather than simply discussing.

​

Advice vs. Understanding.

To many men a complaint is a challenge to come up with a solution, but often women are looking for emotional support, not solutions.

​

Information vs. Feelings.

To men, talk is information. It has a practical purpose, and if it does not…it’s just not worth saying!

​

Orders vs. Proposals

Women hedge their orders, “Let’s…”. Men can feel that by doing this, a woman is trying to slyly manipulate him to do something rather than just directly ask, like he would.

​

Conflict vs. Compromise.

Women are reluctant to openly oppose others

In pairs…

• You will be given one of Tannen’s six ‘differences’

​

• You will have approximately 10 mins to write a short dialogue, showcasing this difference

​

​

​

​

Deborah Tannen

L.O.

To explore the language and gender theories of Deborah Tannen.

​

​

​

Grade D/E – I can recall…

Grade B/C – I can discuss/apply…

Grade A*/A – I can evaluate…

Jennifer Coates

Jennifer Coates looks at all-female conversation and builds on Deborah Tannen's ideas.�

• All female-talk is co-operative: speakers negotiate discussions and support each other’s rights as speakers.
• These patterns are not found in mixed- sex talk.

Jane Pilkington (1992)

• Women in same-sex talk are more collaborative than men in all male talk.
• Women aim for more positive politeness strategies.
• Men are less supportive and complimentary to each other.

Koenraad Kuiper (1991)

• Studied all-male talk amongst a rugby team.
• Men pay less regard to the need to save face and use insults as a way of expressing solidarity.

Deborah Tannen (1990)

You Just Don’t Understand: Men and Women in Conversation�

• Controversial – looked at mixed-gender conversation.
• She attempts to explain “male-female miscommunication” by claiming that male-female speech is “cross-cultural communication”.

Criticism:

• Does Tannen ignore the issue of power?
• Did she really have enough research evidence for her claims?

Gender, Society or Power?

• Gender is a social construct after all – male and female are not static fixed identities.
• How is gender constructed?
• What factors are significant?

Deborah Tannen

L.O.

To explore the language and gender theories of Deborah Tannen.

​

​

​

Grade D/E – I can recall…

Grade B/C – I can discuss/apply…

Grade A*/A – I can evaluate…

Applying theory

HOW CAN WE USE THIS IN ANALYSIS?

• It’s really easy to incorporate the theories into language analysis.
• You will always get a text which has obvious links to gender and identifies some sort of stereotype.
• You can discuss the theories when there is stereotype, and also when there is a challenge to gender stereotypes.

​

• For example, if you’re looking at a transcript between a man and a woman, and the man interrupts the woman and the woman comes across as less powerful than the man, how might you include one or even 2 of the theories?

​

“This transcript is a clear example of the Dominance theory in action, developed by Zimmerman and West in which they identified that men will interrupt women in 98% of conversations. The theory is supported when participant A_______. This also supports Robin Lakoff’s Deficit theory, that women’s language is somehow deficient and less powerful than men’s language, as demonstrated in the utterance______.”

BUILDING UP ANALYSIS

• Think back to your analysis of the Anatomicals shower gel. Re-write your analysis, demonstrating the text’s links to the theories.

Example

The packaging supports Lakoff’s deficit model with the repetition of the polysemic* adjective ‘blooming’. It is used here as an extremely mild taboo term, supporting the idea that women avoid swearing. However, Lakoff’s model is accused of being outdated, and it is unlikely that a company would use any kind of profanity to promote a this type of product. Blooming provides a viable, humorous alternative.

​

*polysemic = having multiple meanings

Feedback

AO1 - Apply appropriate methods of language analysis, using associated terminology and coherent written expression 10 marks

​

AO2 - Demonstrate critical understanding of concepts and issues relevant to language use 20 marks

Deborah Tannen

L.O.

To explore the language and gender theories of Deborah Tannen.

​

​

​

Grade D/E – I can recall…

Grade B/C – I can discuss/apply…

Grade A*/A – I can evaluate…