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<font size=3>Dick: You raise an important issue, and help clarify
the problem, I think. When I suggest that we need to understand the
nature of language use in the educational context, I mean that we need to
know more about not only the learners' language use, but what the
expectations of the educational system are as well. What is this
"cognitive academic language proficiency" / school language we
educational linguists are interested in? Helping our learners
develop a rich repertoire of linguistic choices, appropriate for the many
contexts they'll find themselves negotiating as they move through the
system and enter the workplace as adults is what we're about, it seems to
me. <br><br>
Cheers,<br>
Dan <br><br>
At 07:26 PM 12/15/2003 +0000, you wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Dear Dan,<br>
I'm not sure what you mean by this:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite> The bottom line is
understanding the nature of language use in the educational context, it
seems to me, and, as you suggest, tests can be used to encourage teachers
to discover the complex language systems pupils already
control.</blockquote><br>
You seem to be assuming that educational language is just a particular
way of using a child's existing language resources. While agreeing that
there has been a tendency for teachers to underestimate these resources,
I also think there's a danger of overestimating them. One of the
foundations for language work (in L1 English) over here in England is the
(Hallidayan) belief that those resources need to grow - schools teach new
language, in fact a very great deal of it. New vocabulary, new syntax and
new meanings that the children wouldn't have without schooling. Maybe you
wouldn't agree, but if you do, would that be covered by your
"language use"?<br><br>
Dick<br><br>
Richard (= Dick) Hudson<br><br>
Phonetics and Linguistics, University College London,<br>
Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT.<br>
+44(0)20 7679 3152; fax +44(0)20 7383 4108;
<a href="http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm" eudora="autourl">http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/home.htm</a><br><br>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Professor, TESL/Applied Linguistics Program<br>
Co-editor, <i>Language Testing<br>
</i>English Department<br>
Iowa State University<br>
Ames, IA 50011, USA<br>
Phone: (515) 294-9365<br>
Fax: (515) 294-6814<br>
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