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Why education needs linguistics, and linguistics needs education

Richard Hudson

Budapest March 2012

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Summary

• Language is central to education– So education needs to understand language– So education needs linguistics

• Education influences language– So linguistics needs to understand this

influence– So linguistics needs educational research– But linguistics also needs language education

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Language is central to education

• As instrument of education– for telling– for discussing– for controlling

• As content of education– education teaches the language of education– including its meanings and their relations

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Questions for linguists: language as instrument

• How do we use language for communicating?– e.g. This is a rectangle, isn't it?

• How do we use language for learning?– e.g. I wonder if this is a rectangle.

• How do we use language for controlling?– e.g. Would you mind sitting down, please?

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Questions for linguists:language as content

• How is the language of education special?– special sub-languages (e.g. rectangle, evaluate)– special languages (e.g. Viereck)– special medium: writing– special meanings: rectangles, equations, nouns

• Almost all of education is language education– So linguistics is central to education.

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What linguistics can offer

• ideas– How does language work? – How can we study it?

• models– How is language organised?

• descriptions– What details do we find in language X?

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Some ideas

• Descriptivism– We can and should describe language as it is.

• Variation– Any language varies with time, place, etc.

• Form and function are different– word-class against syntactic function– sentence-type against pragmatic function

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Some models

• Sounds and letters are different– e.g. not: 'the th sound' – but: the sound [θ] and the letters <th>

• Words and meanings are different– e.g. not: 'the fox is a monosyllable'– but: FOX is a monosyllable– the fox is a mammal

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Some more models

• Syntax and punctuation are different– e.g. not: A sentence is bounded by punctuation.– but: A sentence is defined by syntax, and

marked by punctuation.

• Lexemes and word-forms are different– e.g. not: Cat and cats are same/different word– but: Cat and cats are different word-forms but

the same lexeme.

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A simple model of language

meaning

sentence-structure

word-structure

pronunciation

alphabetical writing

GRAMMAR LEXICON

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Descriptions

• Descriptive frameworks– e.g. the International Phonetic Alphabet

• Books– Grammars– Dictionaries– Textbooks

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So what?

• Linguistics is important for education– Every teacher should know some linguistics– Some teachers should know a lot of linguistics– Teachers should deepen their linguistics while

teaching

• But linguistics is also a research subject

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The ideal education cycle

infant

adult researcher

school teacher

Year 1-13

university researchknow-ledge

know-ledge

know-ledge

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But in reality …

• In the UK, most teachers know very little linguistics– Maybe because research stopped in 1900-50?– Nothing in school– Nothing in university– Very little in teacher-training

• Probably far less than in Hungary?

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Moreover, linguists don't care

• In the UK/USA, many linguists don't see education as a potential 'consumer' of research.

• "You're a human being, and your time as a human being should be socially useful. It doesn't mean that your choices about helping other people have to be within the context of your professional training as a linguist. Maybe that training just doesn't help you to be useful to other people. In fact, it doesn't." (Chomsky 1991)

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So why does education matter?

• Why is education important to us linguists?

• Because we need to understand the impact of education on language.– Does education have any impact?

• And we need students and researchers who have been well educated.– Should linguistics be 'adults-only'?

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The impact of education on language?

• None– 'Explicit instruction has no effect'

• Popular in L1 teaching

– Education is generally ignored in language acquisition research

• Negative– 'Prestige English is not a natural language'

• Sobin 1999

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Education does have an impact

• …, an advantaged student … learns about twice as many words as a disadvantaged student. … This translates into a wide range of vocabulary size by age five or six, at which time an English-speaking child will have learned about 2,500–5,000 words. An average student learns some 3,000 words per year (Wikipedia: Vocabulary)

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Vocabulary growth

• Before school: 1,000 words per year

• During school: 3,000 words per year

• Why the difference?– because education teaches vocabulary– and writing– and thinking skills– and grammar, etc.

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Subordinate clauses per 100 words

0

1

2

3

4

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2b

3

4/F 5 6

7/C 8 A

grade

KS1

KS2

KS3

KS4

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The paradox

• Linguists like to describe 'natural language'– but they use themselves as subjects– and they are highly educated– so their own language isn't typical or 'natural'.

• But maybe no language is 'natural'– because everyone thinks about their language– and manipulates it.

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Educating the next generation…

• … of linguists – and of citizens– who need linguistics.

• How?– educate the teachers– challenge the children.

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The Linguistics Olympiad

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The UK Linguistics Olympiad

• Started 2010

• 2,000 competitors this year– Aged 12-18– three levels:

• Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced

• Round 1 in schools– Residential round 2, selecting for IOL

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Foundation level:Abma

Mwamni sileng. He drinks water.

Nutsu mwatbo mwamni sileng. The child keeps drinking water.

Nutsu mwegau. The child grows.

mwamni, sileng = drinks/drinking or water

nutsu = the child mwatbo = keeps mwegau = grows

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Advanced: Tangkhul

• Structure of problem:– 9 sentences in Tangkhul– 9 sentences in English that translate them.– but in a different order!

• Challenge:– Work out which E sentences translate which T

sentences– and which E words translate which T words!

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For instance

• Tangkhul:– (a) a masikserra.– (b) āni masikngarokei – (c) āthum masikngarokngāilā

• English:– (1) Do they want to pinch each other?– (2) Do you(sg) see it?– (3) Have you(pl) all come?

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International Linguistics Olympiad

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So what again?

• So linguistics could play the same role in education as mathematics– in understanding language

• the main tool of education

– in developing analytical thinking skills

• But linguistics doesn't even exist in most schools

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Thank you

• This talk can be downloaded from

www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/dick/talks.htm

• For the UK Linguistics Olympiad:

www.uklo.org