Gender and Paragraph Writing Skills Among Students at The Komenda College of Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study sought to assess how paragraph unity and coherence in writing are achieved among students of the Komenda College of Education, with respect to gender. Lakoff’s Theory, Difference Theory and the Performativity Theory underpinned the study. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were employed, and the descriptive design was used. The sample size comprised 60 (40 males and 20 females) Level 200 students from the Department of English of the Komenda College of Education, selected using the census techniques. Paragraphs written by the students were analysed using narratives, and quantitative data analysed using mean, standard deviation and the independent samples t-test. The results revealed that both male and female students introduce a topic sentence positioned at the beginning of the paragraph, followed by supporting sentences, then illustrations, all on one idea, in achieving paragraph unity; however, males frequently used firstly, secondly, etc.; therefore; however, and though whilst females used because, for example and again to achieve the same purpose of paragraph unity. It was also found that both males and females used repetitions and transitional words to achieve coherence; however, males frequently used coordinating conjunctions as females used synonyms frequently. Finally, it was revealed that there is no significant difference between males and females, with respect to achieving unity and coherence. It was concluded that gender has no influence on paragraph writing. It was then recommended that colleges employ the same methods of paragraph writing in training both gender groups. The researcher made suggestions for future studies.