Investigating Gender Differences in Terms of Teaching Strategies in Kurdish EFL (English as a Foreign Language) Classes

The importance of teaching strategies is an essential factor in teaching EFL classes. Moreover, teaching strategies are vital for promoting effective learning in higher education, and little attention has been given to how gender differences affect the choice and implementation of these strategies at the university level. Male and female teachers may vary in selecting strategies, which can influence students’ academic experiences in unique ways. However, many studies fail to address this variation. As a result, there is a gap in comprehending whether and how gender influences the teaching strategies adopted by university lecturers, and what implications this may have for students’ academic outcomes and classroom dynamics. Thus, the main aim of this study is to investigate the teaching strategies of male and female teachers and discuss them in relation to gender differences. This paper was conducted in the College of Basic Education/ Salahaddin University. The number of participants is 20 teachers from the English Department morning and evening studies. The study used a mixed-method. The quantitative data were an observation checklist, and the qualitative data was an interview. An observation was used to collect information from the instructors, while an interview was used to elicit information from the same sample to double check their usage of the teaching strategies in the class. The study concluded that both EFL male and female teachers implemented these strategies but in different ways. Male teachers showed a moderate use of most teaching strategies, with the exception of the independent strategy, which was used at a high level, whereas female teachers employed most strategies more frequently, with the independent strategy used at a moderate level.