Gender and the Perceived Expertness of the Speaker as Factors in ESL Listening Recall

The study reported in this article examined the effects of gender and the perceived expertness of a speaker on the recall of orally presented material. A total of 45 advanced and 53 intermediate ESL subjects listened to an expository prose passage (536 words) concerning the Pennsylvania Dutch. The four treatment conditions were (a) presentation of the passage by a male speaker who was not introduced; (b) presentation by a female speaker who was not introduced; (c) presentation by an expert male speaker, preceded by a brief, fictitious introduction concerning the speaker's educational training and publications; and (d) presentation by an expert female speaker, preceded by a brief, fictitious introduction concerning the speaker's educational training and publications. The results indicated that the level of student proficiency and passage condition were significantly (p < .01) related to recall, with no interaction effects. Both advanced and intermediate subjects listened more attentively to the male speaker. Although the topic requires further exploration, the findings also indicated that the introduction (expertness factor) had the effect of neutralizing the gender bias.