A Discursive Psychology-Based Approach to Exploring the Psychological Dispositions Lying Behind Females’ Higher Speech Intelligibilit

Abstract

The present qualitative case study seeks to explore thedispositions (dispositionals/counterdispositionals) lying behind gender speech intelligibility among first, second and third EFL students at Yahia Fares University, Medea. It attempts to examine female EFL students’ dispositions to having higher speech intelligibility in comparison to male students. For this purpose, the study was initially conducted with 26 first, second and third year students (13 females/13 males) in the English Department. The 26 participants were designated to answer mundane/ everyday questions whose answers were recorded during the observation. Moreover, 14 students (7males/7females) among the 26 previously selected participants were chosen to participate in the semi-structured interview. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected through: the observation and the semi-structured interview. The findings of the research revealed that female students were far more intelligible than male students in dint of their higher pitch and lengthier expressions in addition to their subjectivity management attributed to their casual use of counter dispositionals. Male students’ speech however was marked with a relatively low pitch and shorter expressions along with their recurrent lack of subjectivity management attributed to their use of dispositionals which rendered them to be less intelligible than their female counterparts. On this basis, female EFL students at Yahia Fares University, Medea are disposed to be considerably more intelligible than the male students.