English Learners Research Significance

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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

This chapter consists of two sections: theoretical description and theoretical framework. The first section is theoretical description that provides the theoretical review related to the topic of this research. The second section is theoretical framework which provides information about the relation between the theories and the research question of this research .

A. Theoretical Description

In this theoretical description section, the researcher discusses the theoretical review related to the topic of this research. There are four main parts in this section: language and gender, femininity and masculinity, women’s language, and women’s language features.

1. Language and Gender

Language is used by individuals to communicate. Chomsky 1957, p. 13 explains that “language is a set finite or infinite of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a finite set of elements” as cited by Lyons, 1981, p. 7. Each set of sentences or language has meaning either in their spoken or written form. By using a language, people can deliver their ideas, information, and knowledge to each other. Eckert and Ginet 2003 state that, “a language is a highly-structured system of signs, or combinations of form and meaning p. 60.” Gender has a relation to the sign of the system and to their use in communication. They further 10 explain that, “gender can be the actual content of a linguistic sign p. 60”. It can be considered that gender contributes to communicative practice in different ways. Gender influences an individual in using language. Men and women are different when they use language to communicate. Based on Kramer 1977 as cited by Spender 1980, p. 33: English speakers believe that men’s speech is forceful, efficient, blunt, authoritative, serious, effective, sparing and masterful. Women usually are seen by one side because women are regarded as weak creatures. It is different from what they believe about women’s speech which is weak, trivial, ineffectual, tentative, hesitant, hyper polite, euphemistic and is often marked by gossip and gibberish. Men are seen to be effective when they use language. It is different from women who are lack of power in society. Women’s speech is powerless so that they need to be careful in using language. Therefore, both men and women have different ways in expressing their utterances through the language they use.

2. Femininity and Masculinity

Femininity and masculinity describe someone’s gender identity. According to Burke, Stets and Pirog-Good 1988, and Spence 1985, femininity and masculinity refer to the degree to which persons see themselves as masculine or feminine given what it means to be a man or woman in society. Femininity and masculinity are socially constructed. They are more social one’s gender rather than biological one’s sex. People in society construct what being male or female means. Generally, males will define themselves as masculine and females will define themselves as feminine. However, Holmes 2013 states that since it is