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Men are Chatterboxes too!
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/ 9- Details
- Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons
- Category: Relationships Lessons
- Written by Chris Cotter
Who do you think speaks more, men or women? Many people believe that women are more talkative. There are many jokes about how much, and what, women talk about. But new research which may be surprising shows that both men and women speak more or less equally.
Four hundred university students in the United States and Mexico participated in the study. Researchers recorded the students' daily conversations for several days. After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that women used a little more than 16,000 words every day. And as for men, they used a little less than 16,000 words. However, the report also admits these numbers could change as men and women grow older.
Several myths were proven wrong because of the report. For example, it isn't true that men speak only when there is something important to say. In fact, men gossip as much as women. However, according to the study, women actually talk more about relationships!
A psychologist at Yale University commented about stereotypes between men and women. She said men and women may have different speaking habits during an argument, and the idea about men and women probably come from arguments between the genders. Other studies have shown that guys become quiet and women talk more during conflict.
Preview some of the lesson material:
Warm Up: Do you agree or disagree? Why?
- Women talk more than men.
- Men only speak when there's something important to say.
- Men and women love to gossip equally.
- Men talk more about relationships than women.
- Men: Women talk too much! // Women: Men don't talk enough!
True or False?: Guess (before the article) or answer (after the article) whether the sentence is true or false. If false, correct the sentence.
- Many people believed that men speak less than women.
- More than four hundred students participated in the research.
- The report doesn't know if elderly women speak more than elderly men.
- Men don't gossip as much as women.
- Men are usually quiet when they argue with women.
post-Comprehension: Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!
- Who do you think speaks more, men or women?
- What do you think men mostly talk about?
- What do you think women mostly talk about?
- What do you think of stereotypes in general? Are they good, bad, based on reality?
- Will this research change the men's and women's opinions of one another?
Google Search: Type "chatterboxes" into Google. Look at the websites, and/or read additional articles on this topic. Discuss or write an essay about your findings.
