Fifth graders (18 boys, 15 girls) listened to tape recordings of adult male-female speaker pairs reading an identical passage and selected for each pair the speaker they would prefer to have as their own teacher. Girls selected female significantly more often than male speakers, and boys selected male more often than female speakers, but not significantly so. Girls selected female speakers significantly more often and male speakers significantly less often than boys did. Results are interpreted in terms of sex-role identification and girls' superior sensitivity to vocalic cues. Children's selections of speakers were reliable, and, overall, there was significant agreement among children's preferences for individual speakers. Vocalic cues in addition to those associated with speakers' sex appeared to affect children's selections. (Author)