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Pupils Will Learn To Talk Proper

This was part of the headline in The Times of February 6th 2007.

The obvious deliberate error is a journalistic cliché but the underlying attitude that there is a "proper" way to talk and that it can be taught, is alinguistically important discussion.

Put simply - Do you think there is, or should be, a standard of correctness? What are the advantages, socially and linguistically? Who approves this standard? Can it be taught? Does the standard change and develop or remain fixed - and what would this mean for change in language? Do you agree with the research findings of QCA? Is it inappropriate to use "anyway" in formal speech?

Discuss using the following extracts.

Teenagers will be taught to speak properly, and recognise how to use standard English in formal settings, under an overhaul of the school curriculum for 11-14 year-olds.

The proposals will place strict emphasis on teaching children to banish expressions such as "they was", "I done", "them books" and "I ain't" from use in debates and presentations and to use colloquial language such as "anyway" and "okay" only where appropriate.

According to research by the QCA, young people in their first jobs said that one of the biggest challenges they faced was speaking confidently on the telephone to a stranger.

 

Give your comments in a formal letter to Sue Horner at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority.

 

 See also

The Notion of Correctness