This article presents data collected from small discussion groups in English classrooms. The research contributes to debates about boys' relative under-achievement in comparison with that of girls, examining the processes of pupils' learning through talk-related activities. Using discourse analysis techniques, the ways in which pupils signal gender allegiances are explored. It is shown how the girls tended to use a linguistic style in which their engagement with the topic was congruent with their relationship with each other, thus enhancing a co-operative climate for learning. Boys' discourse styles tended to be more dislocated; the discourse of learning conflicted with expressions of heterosexual masculinity. Aspects of the boys' discussions constructed definitions of gender which were obstructive to learning, in a manner likely to impact upon examination results, but more importantly sustaining gendered inequity.
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