Gender Variation in the Writings of Ghanaian Colleges of Education Students - A Study of Syntactic Complexity

Oct 15, 2026

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The study explored differences in the writings produced by male and female students in Ghanaian colleges of education regarding syntactic complexity. Using a corpus of 200 examination essays collected from Assin Fosu, Wesley, and Presbyterian colleges of education, the research covered students who took English language studies (FDC 211) in 2018/2019. A descriptive design combined qualitative and quantitative methods. Results showed males were more syntactically complex, with variations in production unit length, sentence complexity, subordination and coordination, and specific structures. Implications and further research directions are discussed.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time15 min

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Theoretical Review

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Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 [www.alls.aiac.org.au](www.alls.aiac.org.au) | Gender Variation in the Writings of Ghanaian Colleges of Education Students: A Study of Syntactic Complexity
Richard Ansah1, Ebenezer Agbaglo2*, Regina A. T. Mensah1
1Department of English, Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) College of Education Cape Coast 2Department of English, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast
Corresponding Author: Ebenezer Agbaglo, E-mail: [ebenezer.agbaglo@stu.ucc.edu.gh](ebenezer.agbaglo@stu.ucc.edu.gh) | | | --- | --- | | ARTICLE INFO | ABSTRACT
This study explored the differences in the writings produced by both male and female students in colleges of education in Ghana with respect to syntactic complexity. The study was based on a corpus of two hundred examination essays which were collected from two hundred students in Assin Fosu, Wesley and Presbyterian colleges of education who took the English language Studies course (FDC 211) in 2018/2019 academic year. The study adopted a descriptive design, involving qualitative and quantitative methods. The analysis showed that the male students were more syntactically complex than the female students in their writings. The study established clear variations in the areas of length of production unit, sentence complexity, amount of subordination and coordination and particular structures. It has therefore upheld the difference version of gender and language theory as compared to the discursive theory. Implications and areas for further research are also discussed. | | Article history
Received: May 19, 2021
Accepted: June 22, 2021
Published: August 31, 2021
Volume: 12 Issue: 4
Advance access: July 2021 | | | Conflicts of interest: None
Funding: None | | | Key words:
Colleges Of Education, Examination Essays, Gender Variation,
Ghana,
Students,
Syntactic Complexity | | BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY In recent times, the language of males and females has been studied scientifically. While some researchers have documented some perceived gender differences in language use (Lakoff, 1975; McMillan, Clifton, McGrath & Gale, 1977), others have doubted the existence of any such differences (Dubios & Crouch, 1975). Herring (1994) argues that although men and women from a given social class belong to the same speech community, they may use different linguistic forms. Graddoland Swann (1989) have also hinted the possibility of some form of gender variation in any language at all linguistic levels. Lakoff (1975) reports the use of hedges, tag questions, intensive adverbs, hyper-politeness, [etc. as](etc. as) typical of women’s language, and Mulac, Weiman, Widenmann, and Gibson (1988) have confirmed the excessive use of questions in women’s contributions to dyadic interactions. Some studies have also revealed gender variations in the likelihood of being wordy (Mulac & Lundel 1994), offering opinion (Mulac, Studley, & Blau, 1990), and negotiation (Mulac, Seibold, & Ferris, 2000) . However, other studies have failed to confirm these findings (Newman et al., 2008; Thomson & Murachver, 2001) . Thomson and Murachver (2001), for instance, found no significant gender variation in the use of questions, compliments, apologies, opinions and insults during e-mail communication. While these previous studies have produced significant insights into gender variation, as noted by Baron (2004), most of such studies focused more on specific lexical items in spoken language as compared to written language. More recently, Obeng (2012) has also lamented a gap in the gender variationist research when it comes to the syntactic level of language. Generally, studies on syntactic complexity have compared native speakers to non-native speakers of English (Nasseri, 2016) . Studies that examined gender variation in syntactic complexity either focused on children or the prose genre (Waskita, 2008) . Significantly, studies that have attempted to examine

FAQs

What does the study investigate about Ghanaian college students' writing?

It investigates differences between male and female students’ writings in Ghanaian colleges of education with respect to syntactic complexity.

How was the dataset collected and what study design was used?

The study used a corpus of 200 examination essays collected from 200 students in three colleges who took English language studies (FDC 211) in 2018/2019. It adopted a descriptive design using qualitative and quantitative methods.

What key result does the analysis report regarding syntactic complexity?

Male students produced writing that was more syntactically complex than female students’ writing, with clear variations across multiple complexity areas and structures.

Oct 15, 2026

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