Gender And Conversational Interaction In Non-native English Speakers: A Corpus-based Study Of TV Talk Shows

The traditional studies of gender and communication have been mostly carried out on free spontaneous conversations under natural circumstances and focused on native speakers. Since very little has been done on language use concerning non-native speakers, this study aims to explore the gender-linked communicative differences among non-native English speakers in TV talk shows to enrich the theories and findings of this field.Two methods are used in this study to analyze TV talk shows conducted by non-native English speakers. One is a data study applying conversation analysis, and the other is a qualitative analysis within the frameworks of systematic functional grammar. Statistically significant differences are found in the conversation analysis: amount of talks, interruptions, questions and overlaps, etc. By transcribing and analyzing the data, we find the following results: the speech of non-native males shows more features of assertiveness and dominance, while that of non-native females is more featured by supportiveness and cooperation. The findings are consistent with what we have found in native speakers. However, the research also shows given similar circumstancess and purpose, gender differences are not as salient as what they are in free conversations. Gender differences at the discourse level are further examined in terms of a qualitative analysis within the frameworks of systemic functional grammar. This analysis is further composed of transitivity analysis, mood and modality analysis and textual analysis respectively located at three levels of metafunctions in functional grammar. This analysis discloses although both host and male guests preserve a more determinate attitude, it is the host who exerts dominant influence on guests. This result is consistent with the one we find in the quantitative study—communicator role has stronger influences on language production than gender.