THE ROLE OF GENDER IN ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ROMANIAN AND ITALIAN MILITARY STUDENTS
THE ROLE OF GENDER IN ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ROMANIAN AND ITALIAN MILITARY STUDENTS

Summary/Abstract: The teaching of English to military students has been set as a major priority in the Italian and Romanian academic curricula ever since these countries became NATO state members. Speaking English fluently is vital for future officers and enlisted personnel who intend to enhance their professional and academic development and pursue a successful military career in the Italian as well as in the Romanian armed forces. Along with other factors such as motivation and cultural background, gender plays an important role in shaping second language acquisition (SLA). This paper aims to provide a theoretical framework concerning the impact of gender on the process of English acquisition. Likewise, it analyses a selection of data collected during a 2022 multilevel survey that engaged forty Italian and Romanian military students aged 18-20. Participants were divided into two equal groups of twenty members based on their gender and invited to answer twenty-five questions in English. The information obtained reveals the similitudes and differences that occur between female and male military students in terms of English learning, attitudes, motivation and social interaction. This study is not meant to support single-sex education, which has been enforced in the Italian and Romanian military schools and academies for so many years, nor to rationalize gender-specific teaching methods. Its goal is to raise academic awareness concerning the way in which gender influences the language learning styles of military students - a special group whose linguistic needs are rarely addressed at a national and international level.

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