Gender issues in the GCSE ORAL English examination: Part II

Abstract

In a previous paper we analysed the interpersonal skills shown by fifteen girls and boys participating in group discussions as part of the General Certificate of Secondary Education English oral examination. In this paper we report a subsequent stage of the research, in which teachers were asked to assess the performance of the pupils who had participated in the group discussions, using the guidelines set out by the examining board. We found that teachers tended to use different criteria to assess the contributions of boys and girls. They were very appreciative of the boys’ efforts to be cooperative group members and rewarded them for this, despite the fact that it was the girls who had enabled the boys to contribute competently and effectively. Teachers appeared to judge the girls by stricter criteria than they applied to the boys. Furthermore the male assessor appeared to perceive and evaluate the conversational skills of the boys and girls differently from the female teachers. We conclude that the GCSE oral examination gives official recognition to the development of sensitivity to the reciprocal nature of group talk but that at present it may be boys who benefit more from the cooperative skills that girls bring to group discussions.