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A study of gender and language in teenage personal weblogs in Singapore
Author
Chionh, Fiona Jin Ping
Supervisor
Ho, Caroline
Abstract
This study investigates the use of language in Singapore male and female teenage blogs. In particular, the study focuses its analyses on a group of Chinese polytechnic students’ use of discourse features that are deemed to be distinctive in blog writing. More specifically, the research delved into areas pertaining to the structural properties of male and female blogs, the content type and replies to the blog entries. Further, the study also examined the use of lexicogrammatical, profane and emotive language features in these blogs. The findings show that overall, male and female blog entries did not reveal clear cut gendered differences, with the exception of the use of profane language. Based on the results, we can infer that participants of both genders seek to present themselves as members of a particular blogging community through the use of different discourse features. More significantly, we observed that the overall linguistic performance of the male and female participants was influenced by specific context driven motivating factors. Finally, these findings suggest important pedagogical implications for the use of blogs as a teaching tool in the language classroom.
Date Issued
2008
Call Number
P96.S48 Chi
Date Submitted
2008