Basil Bernstein

Research: language and class in context of education

Hes ideas were immediately controversial deficit hypothesis
Working class (lower-working class) children
o Do badly at school because they use restricted code at
home. i.e. short simple and often incomplete sentence,
limited vocabulary, frequent use of you know.
o Little understanding of elaborated code complex
sentences, use of subordination, extended vocabulary,
use of the first person I
o Position oriented or closed families
Close physical contact
Context bound
Share common assumptions
Imply rather than spelled meaning
Middle Class
o They use the elaborated code
o Person oriented or open families
More impersonal
Context-free
Less likely to assure shared attitudes and views

Jenny Cheshire (1982)

Research: the use of non-standard English grammatical
variables.
Working class teenagers:
o Lack of agreement between subject and verb (you
was)
o The use of double negative
o Using what as a substitute for the relative pronoun
that
o Use of present for past tense
Vernacular Index/colloquial speech
o Boys non-standard vernacular forms according to
culture and peer group
Ambition, degree of toughness and peer group
status
o Girls much less consistent patterns of vernacular
loyalty
Related to personal factors, including preference
for prestige forms