Guy Cook’s Applied Linguistics
Lecture 2
Chapter 2 : PRESCRIBING AND DESCRIBING:
’POPULAR AND ACADEMIC VIEWS OF ‘CORRECTNESS
Dina M Bensureiti
.
• There is an area of constant disagreement when
we try to relate theory to practice; language as
viewed by the expert and language as
everyone’s lived experience.
• This can be clearly seen in beliefs about and
attitudes towards the education of children and
the “best” language they should be taught.
• Note: This issue does not exist in Arabic, mainly
due to the phenomenon of diglossia.
Language Learning and Education
Terminology
First Language: (native language) – the first language learned by a •
.child, usually the language of his/her home
Second/foreign language: a language learned subsequent to a •
.speaker’s native language
Acquisition: the gradual development of ability in a first or second •
.language by using it naturally in communicative situations
Learning: the conscious process of accumulating knowledge, in •
.contrast to acquisition
.
• - Approach: An approach to language teaching is something that reflects a
certain model or research paradigm- a theory if you like.
• - Method: is a set of procedures, i.e., a system that spells out rather precisely
how to teach a language.
- Technique: is a classroom device or activity(e.g. imitation and repetition).
• We now understand that an approach is general (e.g., Cognitive), that a
method is specific set of procedures more or less compatible with an approach
(e.g., Silent Way), and that a technique is a very specific type of learning
activity used in one or more methods ( e.g., using rods to cue and facilitate
language practice).
• Historically, an approach or a method also tends to be used in conjunction with
a syllabus, which is an inventory of things the learner should master; this
inventory is sometimes presented in a recommended sequence and is used to
design courses and teaching materials.
Children’s language at home and school
• Every parent knows young children speak idiosyncratically.
A child growing up in an English – speaking family might
say ‘I brang it’ , even though everyone around them says ‘I
brought it’ to mean the same thing. This does not usually
worry families as the meaning is clear and idiosyncrasies
disappear over time.
• At school, however, the situation is very different. Here the
child is expected, and taught , to use the language
‘correctly’. English - speaking children are expected to say
the words ‘ I brought it’ clearly and properly pronounced,
and to write them correctly spelt and punctuated.
.
• Indeed, teaching children their own national language is, in
many people’s view synonymous with eliminating such
deviations. Within the school context by far the most
controversial aspect of this situation involves the relationship
of the standard form of the language dialects.
• The standard is generally used in written communication,
taught in schools, and codified in dictionaries and grammar
books. Dialects are regional and social – class varieties of the
language which differ from the standard in pronunciation,
grammar, and vocabulary, and are seldom written down at all.
,
• The teaching of the standard can be viewed in
two quite contradictory ways. It can be seen
as conferring an unfair advantage upon those
children who already speak a variety close to
it, while simultaneously denying the worth of
other dialects damaging the heritage of those
children who speak them. On the other hand
the standard exists, has prestige and power,
and provides a gateway to written knowledge.
.
• In the educational theory from 1960 the claim
made by educational sociologist Basil Bernstein ,
that some social – class variations indicate not
only differences but deficits. In Bernstein’s view
the language used in some sections in society is
a restricted code which lacks the full resources
of more elaborated code of the standard. Others
strongly disagree and argue that all varieties are
equally complex, functional, and expressive.
.
• Schools are a good barometer of both language use
and social values, and their approach to teaching the
national language or languages , which is much the
same all over the world, arises from two facts: A
language – any language – is subject to enormous
variation. Many people are intolerant of this variation.
• Given the depth of feeling which such apparently
trivial differences can arouse, applied linguistics need
to approach such debates with both caution and
respect.
Description Vs. prescription
• Linguists choose description (saying what does
happen) over prescription (saying what should
happen).
• Linguists are focused on knowledge as a goal
in itself rather than on the action based upon
that knowledge.
• Prescription is a social phenomenon.
Thus linguists tend to favor description over prescription and argue that, from a •
linguistics point of view , the standard is neither superior nor more stable than
any other variety, to justify their views they point to such facts as the following:
If there was never any deviation from the norm then languages would never
change. If a single standard was absolute and unassailable then regional
.standards would never gain independence
Slide 12 •
Dialects have their own consistent rule governed grammars, every bit as complex •
and expressive as those of standard forms. The standard form of language is
often similar to the usage of the most economically and politically powerful class
of region. The grammar written language differs considerably from that of
speech even among speakers whose variety is closest to the standard, and
writing carries more prestige and authority. Some supposedly correct forms have
been invented and imposed by grammarians through analogy with another
.language
• Linguists may assume a superior air and insist
that their concern is with objective
description, but in taking that stance they
necessarily distance themselves from people’s
everyday experience of language. Linguists
concern is that knowledge as an end in itself
rather then with based upon action based
upon that knowledge.
.
• For applied linguistics , however , withdrawal is not
an option; it is committed by definition to
engagement with problems in the world in which
language is implicated. Applied linguistics have a
responsibility to investigate the reasons behind the
impasse between descriptivist and prescriptivism,
to engage with the practical consequences of
holding one view or another , and to mediate
between academic and public concern.
.
• While there is force in descriptivist
arguments , there are also valid reservations
to be made about them: to talk about
language at all, there must be some
preexisting notion of what it does and does
not count as an example. In deciding what
does count as an example of the language,
linguists often base their decisions upon
native- speaker use or judgement.
.
• Despite descriptivist insistence on the equality of all
varieties , it is nevertheless the standard which is most
often used in their analyses while other varieties are
described as departures from it. if linguists are
concerned with describing and explaining facts about
language, then the widespread belief in prescriptivism
and the effect of this belief on the language use , is
itself a fact about language which needs describing
and explaining . Paradoxically to advocate description
and outlaw prescription is itself perspective.
An applied linguistics perspective
• To make any head way have the difficult task
of trying to find points of contact in the
contrary views so that necessary decisions can
be made. Descriptivist tell us that all language
varies, that all language carries markers of
social identity. A major task for an applied
linguistic is to investigate what it means to
know a language and to use it well.
.
• Language is a lived experience intimately involved
with peoples sense of worth and identity. It does
not lend itself to easy or simple answers , and it
cannot for this reason be treated. language has
aspects of a nature that eludes casual speculation,
and that can be enriched by academic research. The
task of applied linguistics is to mediate between
these two very different perspectives. It’s a difficult
task but it is what applied linguistics and what
makes it worthwhile.
