1.Broadbridge (2003) examined the difference between male and female speakers consisting of two males and two females who worked for the same English-language school in Tokyo. The study results showed that men were the ones to interrupt most, and women were interrupted most. Similarly, Zimmerman’s and West’s (1975) study of mixed-sex conversations shows that men constantly infringe women’s right to finish a turn and roughly grab the floor. However, women are concerned not to violate the man’s turn but to wait until he has finished speaking.
In contrast, James, and Clarke (1993), in their studies of interruption, found no significant differences between genders in this respect and that both men and women interrupt other men and women.
However, according to James and Clarke (1993, p.268), ‘A small amount of evidence exists that females may use interruptions of the cooperative and rapport-building type to a greater extent than do males, at least in some circumstances (James, and Clarke in Wardhaugh, 2006, p. 325).
