A Study On Gender Differences In Chinese College Students’ English Communication In Social Media

Gender communication studies were initially launched with the focus on men’s or women’s conversational styles in the face-to-face communication.With the prevalence of computers and advent of the Internet Age,it gradually shifts its focus to the study of how men and women communicate and undertake tasks in the Computer-mediated Communication(CMC).The study of gender communication has profound significance in that it justifiers gender equality and facilitates gender cooperation.This study aims to explore the gender differences of male and female Chinese college students manifested in CMC by analyzing their L2 communication data in QQ chat group.Six variables(language indicative of individual orientation,language indicative of group orientation,agreement,disagreement,total number of postings and emoticon use)are examined.Based on the previous research findings of gender differences in FtF communication,this study poses three hypotheses.Hypothesis 1:Language indicative of individual or group orientation for men and women will not differ in CMC.Hypothesis 2:Language delivery of agreement and disagreement for men and women will not differ in CMC.Hypothesis 3:Men and women will not differ in the amount of postings and use of emoticons.The results indicate that men and women basically do not differ in language indicative of individual,group orientation,language delivery of agreement and disagreement,but differ in total number of postings and emoticon use.Therefore,hypothesis 1 and 2 are supported,whereas hypothesis 3 is rejected.The findings of this research are supplementary to the studies of gender differences in social media,shedding light on group communication patterns,communication across gender,and computer-assisted language learning and teaching.