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A Critical Study of Arab Males and Females Interactional Styles in Formal Face- to- Face Conversations When Using English as a Second Language

Received: 6 January 2019     Accepted: 27 February 2019     Published: 20 March 2019
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Abstract

It is obvious that the differences between Arab males and females interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations when using English as a second language is interesting and uneasy task at the same time. In the light of the current research paper findings, the linguistic styles of males and females are quite different in regard with the conversation function itself, feedback of the conversation, the dominant gender in the whole conversation, some phonological variations and so on. Females prefer avoiding direct disagreement and maintaining the social rapport with other opposite gender. Females also depend on more easy ways or strategies to get the other speakers engaged in the dialogue as possible. Males, regardless of their status and educational level, seem less professional speakers and less cooperative than females seem. The process of communication among males and females; particularly, in the Arab word is complex since it is ruled by social and religious norms. But this process doesn't indicate that understanding their interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations in a second language is not possible despite the small number of research papers conducted in such a field. However, subcultures play a basic role in distinguishing between males and females in conversation; meaning that if one gender comprehends other's subcultures, he or she will definitely be able to communicate in a much better way. The current research paper interestingly indicates that males are less fusty than females in dialogues as the last ones actually employ more strategies of politeness than males do. The researcher applied a descriptive method which is considered the most appropriate way for this current research paper; it is the method that describes the phenomena or the real situation as it is available in reality. However, more research papers are preferred to be conducted to highlight the differences between Arab males and females' interactional styles in; specially, formal face-to-face conversations in regards with prosodic characteristics just like pitch and intonation since such types of papers are rare in the Arab world.

Published in English Language, Literature & Culture (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11
Page(s) 1-7
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Interactional Style, Gender, Conversation, Phonological Variation

References
[1] Brown, P. & Levinson, S. (1987). Politeness: Some Universals in Language Usage. Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press.
[2] Coates, J. (1998) Language and Gender: A Reader. Blackwell.
[3] Harahsheh, A. (2014). Language and Gender Differences in Jordanian Spoken Arabic: A Sociolinguistics Perspective, Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 4(5): 872-882.
[4] Goddard, A. & Patterson, L. (2000). Language and gender, London: Routledge.
[5] González, D. (2011). Phonetic differences between male and female speech (online). Available form: https://prezi.com/-kyk6mg4u8ff/phonetic-differences-between-male-and-female-speech/ [Accessed on May 21st , 2018].
[6] Holmes, J. (2008). Introduction to Sociolinguistics . Pearson Longman: New York.
[7] Holmes, J. (1998). Complimenting –A positive Politeness Strategy: Language and Gender. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
[8] Hutchby, I., & Wooffitt, R. (1998). Conversation Analysis: Principles, Practices and Applications. Cambridge: Polity Press.
[9] Johnstone, B. (2008). Discourse Analysis. USA: Blackwell Publishing.
[10] Lakoff R. (1975) Language and Women’s Place Harper and Row, New York.
[11] Trugdill, P. (1968). Sex and Covert Prestige. In Coates. Language and Gender: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
[12] Wallace, M. J. (1998). Action Research for Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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  • APA Style

    Hussain Al-Ali, Katy Mann. (2019). A Critical Study of Arab Males and Females Interactional Styles in Formal Face- to- Face Conversations When Using English as a Second Language. English Language, Literature & Culture, 4(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11

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    ACS Style

    Hussain Al-Ali; Katy Mann. A Critical Study of Arab Males and Females Interactional Styles in Formal Face- to- Face Conversations When Using English as a Second Language. Engl. Lang. Lit. Cult. 2019, 4(1), 1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11

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    AMA Style

    Hussain Al-Ali, Katy Mann. A Critical Study of Arab Males and Females Interactional Styles in Formal Face- to- Face Conversations When Using English as a Second Language. Engl Lang Lit Cult. 2019;4(1):1-7. doi: 10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11,
      author = {Hussain Al-Ali and Katy Mann},
      title = {A Critical Study of Arab Males and Females Interactional Styles in Formal Face- to- Face Conversations When Using English as a Second Language},
      journal = {English Language, Literature & Culture},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {1-7},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ellc.20190401.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ellc.20190401.11},
      abstract = {It is obvious that the differences between Arab males and females interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations when using English as a second language is interesting and uneasy task at the same time. In the light of the current research paper findings, the linguistic styles of males and females are quite different in regard with the conversation function itself, feedback of the conversation, the dominant gender in the whole conversation, some phonological variations and so on. Females prefer avoiding direct disagreement and maintaining the social rapport with other opposite gender. Females also depend on more easy ways or strategies to get the other speakers engaged in the dialogue as possible. Males, regardless of their status and educational level, seem less professional speakers and less cooperative than females seem. The process of communication among males and females; particularly, in the Arab word is complex since it is ruled by social and religious norms. But this process doesn't indicate that understanding their interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations in a second language is not possible despite the small number of research papers conducted in such a field. However, subcultures play a basic role in distinguishing between males and females in conversation; meaning that if one gender comprehends other's subcultures, he or she will definitely be able to communicate in a much better way. The current research paper interestingly indicates that males are less fusty than females in dialogues as the last ones actually employ more strategies of politeness than males do. The researcher applied a descriptive method which is considered the most appropriate way for this current research paper; it is the method that describes the phenomena or the real situation as it is available in reality. However, more research papers are preferred to be conducted to highlight the differences between Arab males and females' interactional styles in; specially, formal face-to-face conversations in regards with prosodic characteristics just like pitch and intonation since such types of papers are rare in the Arab world.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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    AB  - It is obvious that the differences between Arab males and females interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations when using English as a second language is interesting and uneasy task at the same time. In the light of the current research paper findings, the linguistic styles of males and females are quite different in regard with the conversation function itself, feedback of the conversation, the dominant gender in the whole conversation, some phonological variations and so on. Females prefer avoiding direct disagreement and maintaining the social rapport with other opposite gender. Females also depend on more easy ways or strategies to get the other speakers engaged in the dialogue as possible. Males, regardless of their status and educational level, seem less professional speakers and less cooperative than females seem. The process of communication among males and females; particularly, in the Arab word is complex since it is ruled by social and religious norms. But this process doesn't indicate that understanding their interactional styles in formal face-to-face conversations in a second language is not possible despite the small number of research papers conducted in such a field. However, subcultures play a basic role in distinguishing between males and females in conversation; meaning that if one gender comprehends other's subcultures, he or she will definitely be able to communicate in a much better way. The current research paper interestingly indicates that males are less fusty than females in dialogues as the last ones actually employ more strategies of politeness than males do. The researcher applied a descriptive method which is considered the most appropriate way for this current research paper; it is the method that describes the phenomena or the real situation as it is available in reality. However, more research papers are preferred to be conducted to highlight the differences between Arab males and females' interactional styles in; specially, formal face-to-face conversations in regards with prosodic characteristics just like pitch and intonation since such types of papers are rare in the Arab world.
    VL  - 4
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Author Information
  • Department of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Faculty of Education and Society, The University of Sunderland, Sunderland City, UK

  • Department of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), Faculty of Education and Society, The University of Sunderland, Sunderland City, UK

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