Gender Analysis of Writing E-Mails Received from Graduate Students at Saudi Universities

Abstract

The relationships students form with faculty play a critical role in their success at university, it can ease students’ fears about seeking assistance on assignments and other issues they may encounter. Therefore, e-mails have become an important part of the educational process. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the impact of gender orientation on the language used by Saudi students writing e-mails to their instructors at Saudi universities. The study depends on Media-Richness Theory (MRT). It intends to stay away from misinterpretation or disarray in cross-gender communications and encourage instructors and students to gain more familiarity with common communication styles in Saudi Arabia. MRT is used to analyze three linguistic features, namely abbreviations, emoticons, and word length. This study utilized a quantitative research design. Considering 24 e-mail samples, 12 were received from male students and 12 were from females. Among male students, the findings indicate that abbreviations are used in their e-mail communications but less often by female students. With regards to emoticons, female students tend to use them more frequently than male students. Lastly, in the case of word length, female students appeared with a significant number of words per e-mail, whereas few male students did.