Vocabulary Use in Swedish Male and Female EFL Students’ Writing

Sammanfattning: This study set out to investigate how male and female vocabulary skills differ in terms of frequency level and CEFR level. It was hypothesised that the female students would outperform the males both in terms of how wide and advanced their vocabulary is. In order to investigate this, fifty essays were analysed using a method inspired by that of Walker and Allan (2018), and Holmerg Sjöling (2019). In the analysis, three programs were used in order to find the frequency levels and CEFR levels of the vocabulary in the student essays: VocabProfiler VP Compleat, Tex Lex Compare, and English Profile. The results and subsequent discussion revealed that there were no significant differences between the male and female students in relation to frequency level and CEFR level. However, it was found that the males appear to have command over a more varied vocabulary, which does not conform with the stated expectations. In all, it was concluded that the initial hypothesis was not supported. Moreover, it was argued that the results presented may be related to the unique, neutral position that the English language has among men and women, and how this affects students’ motivation. Additionally, it was speculated that the schools of the participants have been successful in sustaining their male students’ motivation to learn the English language. Finally, there are interesting aspects that are not fully explored in the present study that could constitute the basis for further research. Firstly, while vocabulary size is not the only metric considered in grading, it would be interesting to analyse how it relates to the students’ final grades and, indeed, to other aspects of language proficiency, such as reading skills. Secondly, it would have been interesting to have more data on the participating students’ views on the English language and their motivation to learn it – both in relation to gender and their individual vocabulary skills.