Biases in Interpersonal Communication: How Engineering Students Perceive Gender Typical Speech Acts in Teamwork |
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| Authors: | Joanna Wolfe Elizabeth Powell |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of English University of Louisville;2. Joanna Wolfe is an associate professor of English at the University of Louisville where she teaches classes in technical writing, human‐computer interaction, and research methods. Dr. Wolfe is the author of Team Writing, a textbook on writing collaboratively and has published multiple essays on teamwork in education. Her vita is available at http:louisville.edujlwolf02.;3. Department of English University of Tennessee‐Martin;4. Elizabeth Powell is assistant professor of English at the University of Tennessee‐Martin where she teaches courses in technical writing and composition. Her dissertation was on Social and Cultural Differences in Utterances of Complaints and she is currently doing research on multimodal literacy. Her vita is available at http:www.utm.edustaffbpowellcv.htm. |
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| Abstract: | This research investigates differences in how engineering and non‐engineering men and women perceive common speech acts in team settings. Participants completed surveys asking them to rate the speakers of three male typical and three female typical speech acts. Male engineering students were significantly harsher than other groups on female typical speech acts in which the speaker conceded weaknesses, even if this concession was for strategic purposes such as trying to help another teammate “save face.” This bias against female typical speech was consistent regardless of the speaker's gender, suggesting that students were reacting to speech patterns rather than to biological gender. These findings provide hope that women may be able to help manage perceptions of their everyday team interactions by avoiding statements that imply weaknesses, even if such speech is normal in other situations. |
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| Keywords: | communication styles gender teamwork women in engineering |
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