中学校の定期試験における英語の得点に見られる男女差

• Published in: 北海道英語教育学会 紀要 Vol. 8; pp. 83 - 102
• Main Author: 神谷, 信廣
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese
• Published: 北海道英語教育学会 2008
• ISSN: 1347-6343; 2434-0243
• DOI: 10.24675/helesje.8.0_83

The present study was conducted in order to examine whether there is a gender difference in the scores of English term tests in junior high schools in Japan. The scores were compared in light of total scores as well as the three components for English assessment in junior high schools in Japan: production skills (writing), reception skills (listening and reading), and knowledge and understanding concerning English (mainly grammar, vocabulary, and idioms). The data were collected over a period of nine years. In addition, the scores of speaking tests were compared over a period of two years. It was also examined how these differences changed as students became older. There were many cases where gender differences did not exist in the scores; however, in most cases when there was a significant difference, girls showed their preponderance in ability over boys. No components of term tests consistently favored boys nor girls except that girls regularly had higher scores than boys in knowledge and understanding concerning English although this occurred only when girls performed better than boys in the same grade. There were some cases wherein gender differences existed in speaking tests; however, which gender tends to have better scores is still inconclusive. In order to inspect whether girls generally tend to have better scores than boys in term tests of other subjects as well, the scores of the term tests of five subjects (Native Language, Social Studies, Math, Science, and English) in junior high school in Japan over a period of two years were compared to examine whether there was a gender difference. The results showed that although girls performed significantly better than boys in English and Native Language in most cases, gender differences were not usually shown in the scores of other subjects.2 Thus, it was concluded that although gender differences do not exist in most cases, when there is a difference, girls tend to perform better than boys only in subjects related to languages.