lecture summary by Vicky

I think my summary is a little bit long,so please keep reading patiently,haha....Vicky.

Different languages, used by different cultures, use different expressions to communicate ideas and thoughts. First of all, the organization of grammar and order are different in many languages. Secondly, the same word could mean different meanings in different cultures. Thirdly, how people choose the words to communicate also makes a difference. As a result, gender and cultures play a vital role for expressing human feelings. As a result, it is important to understand how culture and gender affect daily behavior.
Researchers grouped Japanese and American students to test their reactions to various questions. Several groups were formed two males and two females; all spoke the same language. Researchers did a series of comparisons in different ages, cultures and genders. Initially, they arranged students group discussions. The result showed American students directly express what they thought, regardless of age, status, or gender. In contrast, Japanese students were more selective of the words they used, depending on the listeners social status, age, and gender. In addition, Japanese students avoided argument during their communication.
Second, researchers gave several topics for students to discuss, then record how did each group start and handle a conversation, how did they express their thought and how did they negotiate with each other. Researchers found American students didn’t care who began the discussions. However, Japanese students would negotiate who should speak first. In general, the younger people or females would start the discussion..
Thirdly, researchers were interested in how age and gender affected students’ behaviors, so they settled the same gender pairs of friends for performing 20 minutes conversations. This study showed several results:
1st :7th grade girls were more likely to face to face during their conversation, compared to the same grade boys.
2nd : 2nd grade boys were more difficult to continue communication than 2nd grade girls.
3rd : 6th grade boys could not stand on same topics for a while; girls could take it longer.
4th :10th grade boys were able to start adult conversation but they only wanted to express their own experiences instead of listening to others; 10th grade girls were likely to tell their troubles and share mutual experiences.
5th :25-year-old men liked to discuss serious topic, such as financial, business, politics; 25-year-old women enjoyed sharing their personal affairs and attempt to assist each others.
Fourthly, men and women also had different behaviors in workplace.
1st: colleagues were more likely to be convinced by men than women, even they provided similar suggestion: because men always spoke as experts.
2nd : men and women also gave different performance during the meetings. If it was open discussion, both of them spent almost the same time on announcing their opinions; however, it is one person speaking at time, women would be less talking than men did: in general, men took ten to twenty seconds to take turn :but women only spent three to ten seconds.
This is interesting unit, because it is related to our daily life. We can think about the results and compare to our life to tell is it true or not. In my opinion, I agree above results which are reasonable for me.