Male and Female Communication Strategies based on Lakof Model: Evidence from Iranian Television Interviews

Communication strategies are the strategies people use to communicate more effectively and efficiently. In this study, we have examined the communication strategies used in Iranian television interviews between a TV announcer as the host of a program and an expert as the guest on the program. Guests and hosts were selected from both sex groups to determine the effect of gender on the use of these strategies. A total of six strategies (three aggressive strategies and three supportive strategies) were considered and 26 television interviews from Iranian television networks were recorded and transcribed. Then the extent of usage of these strategies were examined and analyzed. The findings showed that guest women used more hedges, back channels, intensifiers and delays than guest men. Host men used more intensifiers and silences than host women. Also, guest women used more hedges and intensifiers than host men. Guest men used the silence strategy more often than host women. Considering these findings, it can be argued that there is a significant difference between communication strategies used by men and women, but gender is not the only determining variable and the position of individuals has played a role in the use of communication strategies .