The Role of Age and Gender Differences in Language Learning: A Case Study on Kurdish EFL Learners

Learning another language, apart from your mother tongue, becomes an influential part of life; however, it will be affected by many non-linguistic factors. Moreover, there is no doubt that language acquisition is a complex process which involves several factors, and that this process is highly influenced due to the plasticity of the brain. Furthermore, the types of memory systems involved in females and males also have a pivotal role that makes the genders distinct. Additionally, age and gender are among the factors that run in parallel with other factors and deeply influence language acquisition process. The study aims to investigate the role of age and gender problems and their influences, as it tries to differentiate between all ages and genders, in learning English as a foreign language. The participants in this research are students at different basic and secondary schools, and English department students at the University of Sulaimani; besides, several teachers were asked too. Mixed methods of data collection were used in this study (questionnaire and interview). The questionnaire section consists of ten questions and five for background information, which all were about age and gender. Moreover, twenty-eight students participated in the questionnaire section; and two teachers and one student participated in the interview section, which was consisted of five questions. The results of this research show the problems according to different ages and genders, and difficulties that faced Kurdish students through learning English; in which, it helps instructors to select their instructional strategies more effectively related to gender and age of students.