Özet:

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relationship between gender and personal pronoun usage from a sociolinguistic perspective. The study was conducted in an educational setting with Turkish learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) enrolled in the first year of an undergraduate teacher training program at a government university in Izmir, Turkey and learners of English as a second language (ESL) attending an Immersion Program at a government university in New York, U.S. Data were collected via essays, which were analyzed for any significant differences among personal pronoun usage by both groups and between males and females in their use of the pronouns. Data were also examined to find out whether the use of pronouns carried any social meanings. The results of the paired-samples t-tests showed that the ESL learners as a whole as well as the male and female ESL learners used ‘I’ at a significantly higher rate than the other pronouns. No significant differences were observed between males and females in both groups regarding the use of personal pronouns. The results are discussed in accordance with the social motivations for the use of certain pronouns and recommendations are provided with respect to the teaching of personal pronouns in writing classrooms.

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