Small Research

GENDER DIFFERENCES OF STUDENTS’ INTERESTS TOWARDS READING FICTION AND NON-FICTION IN ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT (EED), GANESHA UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATION

Reading is an important activity which can broaden the reader’s knowledge and experience. Besides, reading can also be a good way to improve language skills and give pleasure. Of course, those benefits of reading really depend on what kind of literatures read by the readers called the readers’ reading interest. Reading interests often refer to the selection of subject matter or preference for a genre of literature being read (Rudman, 1957). Generally, those reading interests can be classified into two groups that are reading interest towards fiction and non-fiction. Fiction simply refers to a kind of literature describing imagery events and people. On the contrary, non-fiction deals with facts or not imagery stories. Related to those reading interest, there are gender-specific pattern towards fiction and non-fiction. Zainab (1977) found that there are gender differences in reading interests between students at the ages of 11-16 in a Cardiff school in Wales. It showed that boys read more non-fiction than girls. The World Book Day study (2002) in Abeyrathna & Zainab (2004) indicates that girls tend to spend more hours on reading for enjoyment than boys. Based on the theory, it is important to know how gender differences could also differentiate the literature choices for being read and whether or not this theory is applicable for the students of Ganesha University.

The study was done to investigate whether or not the theory is applicable in Ganesha University, especially for the students of English Education Department. The data was collected by interviewing six male and six female students of the fourth semester in EED who are almost homogeneous. It was done on Friday, May 22 2009 at campus of Undiksha. During the interview, those students were given the same questions about what kinds of literature between fiction and non-fiction they mostly like. Besides, they were also asked to give reasons related to their answers. The data obtained would be analysed to investigate whether gender differences also influence kinds of literature they read.

Based on the result of the interview, it can be seen that 33.33% (2 students) of the male students involved in this study like reading fiction and the rest that is 66.67% (4 students) of them like reading non-fiction. Meanwhile, 83.33% (5 students) of the female students interviewed like reading fiction and the rest (16.67% or only a student) likes reading non-fiction. It can be concluded from the chart above that male students prefer reading non-fiction to fiction. On the other hand, female students prefer reading fiction to non-fiction.

The result of the interview clearly reveals that there are gender differences of students’ interests towards reading fiction and non-fiction in EED. It means that the theory presented in this study is also applicable in EED. Most of the female students interviewed maintained that they enjoy reading fiction because they want to refresh their mind which has been busied by any tiring academic activity. On the other hand, most of the male students who prefer reading non-fiction said that they never read fiction for leisure. They did not really like reading any imaginative story and prefer to read other kind of literature related to their interest like, information about game, computer, and politics.

Theoretically, boys’ preference for non-fiction is assumed to be created by young boys modelling their genre preferences on the reading tastes of their fathers (assumed to be non-fiction) and against the reading tastes of their mothers (assumed to be fiction). Thus, narrative fiction stands for the (feminine) world of affect; non-fiction stands for a functional (and masculine) world of hard facts devoid of emotions (Gemma Moss: 2007). In the first chapter of Michael Smith's indispensable book Reading don't fix no Chevys is a quick review of a dozen major findings of that research related to boys (not just teens) and reading. He proposed that boys do not comprehend narrative (fiction) as well as girls. Boys are more inclined to read informational texts such as, magazine and newspaper articles, or to read about hobbies, sports and things they do or want to do. If reading is perceived as feminized, boys will go to great lengths to avoid it. Hall & Coles (1999) proposed that all of the 12-year-old boys interviewed tended to equate non-fiction with an excitement about finding out about “the real world”, whereas most of the 14-year-old girls said that they found it is boring, difficult to read and ‘does not acquire any imagination’.

The data obtained from the interview is equivalent with the theory in which it shows that males tend to read non-fiction rather than fiction. For males who do not really like reading imaginative stories, non-fiction is an appropriate literature to find their real world and support their interests in some cases. However, females tend to read fiction rather than non-fiction. Females tend to like reading imaginative stories, as they like to be imaginative. Reading non-fiction is too serious and boring reading for them. Besides, it seems that they cannot enjoy reading non-fiction as well as they enjoy reading fiction for leisure.