The course offers an introduction to some of the major differences in the language of men and women, boys and girls; discusses possible causes and consequences of these differences and develops students' research skills in language and gender. A wide range of current issues in the academic field of language and gender will be presented, and different approaches to analysing the impact of gender in both spoken and written texts will be discussed. Cultural variation will also be in focus. The emphasis will be on developing the students' awareness and critical thinking of gender in their own experiences of language use and learning, as well as applying their knowledge to educational contexts. Besides working on assigned materials, students will be asked to collect and analyse their own data, using the theoretical frameworks from the course.