Verbal Deficit

Download or read book Verbal Deficit written by J. C. B. Gordon and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-09-14 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1981. Verbal deficit theories try to account for differential educational attainments in linguistic terms, suggesting that children reach varying levels of success in school as a result of their ability or inability to express themselves, and relate this to social class. This critique considers such theories, especially in the form propounded by Bernstein, primarily from a sociolinguistic viewpoint but with special attention to the historical and educational context behind the theories. It claims that verbal deficit theories are not only unscientific and non-linguistic, but are educationally damaging as well, and proposes instead a linguistic ‘difference’ theory.