Gender Differences in Vocabulary Use in Essay Writing by University Students

Abstract

This study investigates gender differences in language use in argumentative essays written by male and female university students on designated topics under controlled conditions. Previous studies have usually focused on texts produced in uncontrolled conditions. Therefore, we cannot deny the possibility that other factors than gender may have affected the results. The results of the study presented here indicate that there are indeed gender differences in language use in essay writing, suggesting that male students tend to use more nouns related to social economic activities to convey information or facts about the given topics, whereas female students tend to use more pronouns, more intensifiers and modifiers, and words related to psychological cognitive processes so that they might convey their feelings and develop a good relationship with other people.

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