At busuu we are always looking to find out what conditions lead to optimum language learning. This time, we looked at gender to see if the rumours are true – are women really better language learners? The results were certainly interesting!
A key difficulty for language learners is staying committed. Female busuu users complete more language learning units and, consequently, are more likely to achieve their goals.
Women are more likely to test themselves on their knowledge retention but they also like to trade in the rewards for their efforts. Interestingly, they prefer to buy ladybirds for their language garden, whilst men prefer kites!
Women are often considered to be very sociable, but is that true on busuu? It turns out it is. Women correct more exercises than men and are more likely to use the busuutalk function to converse with native speakers.
Judging by our data, women on busuu tend to be very committed to their language-learning, whether it’s learning new vocabulary, revising known words or practising what they’ve learned. However, this doesn’t mean that women are better at language learning, just that their strategies are different. It seems that our male users in fact tend to be more focused on finishing one course rather than several, and prefer to build up points rather than spend them!
What’s your reaction to these statistics? Do you think this is reflective of language learning in classroom situations? Let us know your opinion in the comments below.
