Gender : Boys don’t talk or read as much

• Boys don’t talk or read that much

  The different genders spend their leisure time differently - boys are more likely to be physical and girls are more likely to chat. The value of conversation is that is develops the linguistic and reasoning skills needed for learning at school, especially in understanding and writing in assessments. Generally, girls prefer to read whereas boys see this as a waste of time. Reading has been 'feminised" in our culture le.g. magazines with lots of text, mothers reading to children, topic of most fiction. Boys tend to lose interest in reading around 8 years of age.
• Boys don’t talk or read that much

  The reading material differs too - girls read fiction while boys read for information. Most reading schemes are based on fiction and this puts girls at an early advantage. Even the understanding of a test is affected by gender: Oakhill & Petrides (2007) found that boys interest in the content influences their ability to understand the text whereas girls is not. Therefore girls understand the material without much interest required but boys need to have genuine interest in a subject to learn it.